Nashville - Tennessee State Capitol

  On Friday we headed down from Springfield to Nashville to see the State Capitol.  We parked at the farmer's market near the Bicentennial Mall and had a great view of the Capitol building sitting up on the hill - the highest ground in Nashville.  We explored the Mall a little - I loved the map of Tennessee that covers the ground under the railroad tracks.  The first comment the kids made when they saw the hill was that they wanted to roll down it in the grass.

  We made our way to the Capitol with Dianne and Kerry Roberts.  We were fortunate to have Kerry take the time to show us around - he is uniquely qualified after serving as a Tennessee State Senator.  It's a beautiful building, and the kids were especially impressed with the spiral staircase in the library.  The Capitol was designed by William Strickland and construction began in 1845.  Strickland died several years before construction was complete, and he is entombed in one of the walls. 

  After we toured the inside of the Capitol, we went back outside and found some of the historic architectural elements that were replaced during renovations.  This area is called the Charles Warterfield Reliquary after the man who supervised the renovations, and it's a great spot for pictures.  (We seem to have a hard time passing those up!)  It's on the northwest side of building.  My daughter helped to get a shot of me with Dianne. 

 

 

  As we started back down the hill to the car, the kids decided they couldn't resist temptation.  This was their favorite part of the day:

   After tumbling down the hill several times, we headed back towards the car.  We strolled around the farmer's market and ending up buying some peaches from a local vendor.  There were a variety of places inside the market to buy lunch.  After grabbing some food, our next stop was Nashville's Centennial Park.  The centerpiece of the park is a full scale model of the Athenian Parthenon dating back to the Centennial and International Exposition in 1897.  The original was built of plaster and began to deteriorate, so in the 1920s it was rebuilt in concrete and steel.  It's an impressive site to behold!

 
  The building houses a museum and art gallery, but since our time was limited we walked the grounds of the park and had a picnic rather than paying to enter the museum.  There are many pretty spots in the park for a picnic, but the kids picked out a spot next to a large tree they wanted to climb.  My son made it up, then found out he had company in the tree. 

  The kids both enjoyed trying to share a few nibbles of their lunch with the friendly squirrels.

  After lunch, we walked around to see the various sunken gardens and other attractions in the park.  Dianne snapped a shot of me with both kids. 

  After a daring rescue from the train tracks, everyone was ready to head back home.  We had a great day visiting some really gorgeous locations.  I'd recommend all of them as good inexpensive options that are family friendly.  Like most families with kids, we aren't made of money, so we have really tried to find opportunities to see what attractions there are around the country that don't cost much.  It's nice to find that there are plenty of interesting places that fit the bill! 

 

  Feel free to post any comments, questions or suggestions about these locations in the comments under this post.