5 Nashville Educational Attractions for the Whole Family

As we continue to get used to a “new normal,” and with the kids going back to school, weekends are becoming more important than ever. They are a time for families to get out of the house and decompress.

Those looking for something that provides a great learning experience for the kids, and something that everyone can do together, Nashville has lots of opportunities.

While it is just up the road, Nashville offers a number of cultural monuments that have recently reopened. Here are some details to get your weekend started.

Frist Art Museum

919 Broadway
Nashville, Tennessee
615-244-3340
Website: https://fristartmuseum.org/
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.
Reservations and tickets are required and can be made online.

The Frist offers a number of activities online, but they are extending their current exhibits, that began as COVID-19 hit Nashville. Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Alter will be open until January 2021, as will The Nashville Flood: Ten Year Later.

tennessee state museum

1000 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee
615-741-2692
Website: https://tnmuseum.org/
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Closed Monday

Admission is free, however, you do need to plan your visit. Details are online.

Doors to the Tennessee State Museum reopened on July 1, but with no Children’s Gallery, touch screens, or guided tours. Still, there is a wealth of history available in their many galleries. One exhibit well worth visiting is Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote. This year is the 100th Anniversary of women receiving the right to vote, and Tennessee was the swing state.

Capitol Mall and WWII Memorial photo by Kem Hinton
photo by Kem Hinton

600 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, Tennessee
Tennessee State Parks: 615-741-5280
Website: https://tnstateparks.com/parks/bicentennial-mall

Admission is free. It is an open-air state park.

Outside the museum sits the Tennessee Bicentennial Capital Mall. The Mall totally changed the face of the area in which it is located. Once a land fill and the location of the old and dilapidated Nashville Farmer’s Market, the 19-acre site was redesigned to incorporate the state’s rich history, diverse people, unique geography, and growing musical legacy. The main focus of the Mall is an unobstructed view of the state capitol building.

Architectural firm Tuck-Hinton created a unique space with a 200-foot state map etched into granite, fountains along a river wall honoring the 31 major rivers in Tennessee, and a 1,400-foot-long wall noting the states most significant moments in history that leads up to the brand-new Tennessee State Museum.

The Bicentennial Mall project involved a massive team that included historians from across the state, landscape architects, builders, and government representatives who all came together under one vision. A vision employing elements from classical Greco-Roman architecture, as well as Baroque, and more modern influences like Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.

The mall also contains a World War II Memorial that was chaired by Gen. Enoch Stephens, and included Senator Douglas Henry as the government representative, and other powerful delegates, including the formidable Murfreesboro resident Harriet Howard, a strong voice for women in the military.

Kem Hinton made a trip to Normandy that inspired his design concept. Standing with those who had been at D- Day, looking out over Omaha Beach, he knew he wanted to reproduce the power of that experience with the memorial site in Nashville.

chihuly at cheekwood
Photo: Cheekwood Instagram

1200 Forrest Park Drive
Nashville, Tennessee
615-356-8000
Website: https://cheekwood.org/
Reservations and tickets are required and can be made online.

Cheekwood Estate and Gardens is reopened with the return of the art of Chihuly. Seventeen pieces are displayed around the 55-acre grounds with additional artwork inside the Cheekwood Mansion. The home was originally built in 1929 by Leslie and Mable Cheek and the museum was converted into a museum of art and botanical garden in 1960, hosting activities for all ages year round. The Chihuly exhibit will be open during the day, but also in the evening where after dark views display all of its drama.

Dale Chihuly is a world-famous glass artist whose innovative and fearless technique has shattered old views of the medium by stretching glasswork to its limits all in the name of reaching his artistic visions. His massive installations are often created to work with the landscape, and in fact he has created new pieces just for the Cheekwood exhibit.

5. Country Music Hall of Fame

country music hall of fame exterior (

222 5th Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
222 5th Ave S, Nashville
Website: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/
Reservations and tickets are required and can be made online.

With interactive exhibits, family-friendly programming and more, there’s lots to see and do at the Country Music Hall of Fame®

Current exhibits include Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s, celebrating this era of cultural and artistic exchange between Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, revealing untold stories and never-seen artifacts; Kacey Musgraves: All of the Colors, celebrating the six-time Grammy winner’s rising career, universally acclaimed album Golden Hour, and more. Visitors will get an inside glimpse into the singer-songwriter’s life and music, from childhood keepsakes and stories to song manuscripts and stagewear. Also, don’t miss Brooks & Dunn: Kings of Neon, showcasing the duo’s early solo careers, the circumstances that united them as performers and their innovative approach to stage production and touring and more.

Among other offerings, The Museum also has an extensive, permanent objects collection. This collection includes more than eight hundred stage costumes, over six hundred instruments, and hundreds of other objects—from microphones to automobiles—documenting the history of country music. You can also take tours of historic RCA Studio B tour and Hatch Show Print.

Family Learning Opportunity

With field trips and many hands-on activities limited by the pandemic, a visit to all or some of these locations offers the entire family an opportunity to stretch their legs and to learn something new. There are unexpected gems at each location, like the Tennessee Timeline of History on the Capitol Mall that tells the story of the state from prehistoric times, to the lush gardens of Cheekwood bursting with native plantings. Something of interest can be found for everyone in the family.