Nashville Tennessee

Greetings, we've been in Nashville Tennessee for the last several days. After our quick stops in St Louis, Louisville and Bowling Green we took a day off and enjoyed the beautiful park like setting of our Corp of Engineers campground before delving into the Nashville music scene.

Cedar Creek Campground

In order to make this post easier to follow I first offer a little explanation about the Grand Ole Opry.The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee. It is broadcast on the radio and dates back to 1925.  The show was moved several times before it acquired a permanent home at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. In 1974, the show left the Rymon and has been broadcast from a new theater east of downtown Nashville called The Grand Ole Opry House.

That should be simple enough but the old Rymon which is held in reverence as "home of American music" and "country’s most famous stage" has been refurbished and once again hosts a weekly radio show. The new show at the home of the old Grand Ole Opry is produced by the same company that hosts the original Grand ole Opry at the new Grand Ole Opry House. The new show at the old theater is called Country Classics and features the very same radio announcer, band, back up vocalists, stage crew, etc that work the old Grand Ole Opry Show at the new Grand old Opry House. In the winter months the The Grand Ole Opry moves from the The Grand Ole Opry House and returns to its former home at the Ryman so sometimes the old show is back in the old theater. Doesn't that make everything perfectly clear!   

On Thursday evening we went to the Ryman and saw the Country Classics show. On Friday we went to the Grand Ole Opry House and saw the Grand Ole Opry show.

Ryman Auditorium

The Rymon is a wonderful wooden amphitheater that has perfect acoustics and a warm friendly ambiance. The Grand Ole Opry House has the same circular shape as the Ryman but is two or three times larger. It's obvious they were trying to reproduce the Ryman with a larger seating capacity. Millie and I both agree the new theater isn't as nice an experience as the old one. if you go to the downtown theater in addition to the Ryman experience  you can walk to the Honky Tonk district which is 1/2 block away.

The Grand Ole Opry House

While in Nashville we also visited the Hermitage, home of our seventh president Andrew Jackson. I'm not sure whats going on politically, but somethings amiss at the historical site. We had to come home and research Andrew Jackson on the internet to learn about the man.

Andrew Jackson's home

They barely mentioned and didn't elaborate his place in American history. For example; during his military service, General Jackson defeated the British in the battle of New Orleans, his political activities included starting the Democratic party, or his presidential actions, one of many is the relocation of indians to Oklahoma on a march that became known as the trail of tears.

grave of Andrew and Rachel Jackson

What we did hear about at every turn of the corner was slavery. In the early 1800's the hermitage was a working farm that was run with slave labor. Jackson owned 150-200 slaves and for some reason that was all they choose to elaborate on. I don't even know what else to say, it was very strange.