A statue of the legendary country music singer and songwriter Loretta Lynn stands on Ryman’s Icon Walk alongside the country music icons Bill Monroe and Little Jimmy Dickens at the entrance to the Ryman Auditorium. It was dedicated in her honor on October 20th, 2020, celebrating the 60th anniversary of her first performance at the Grand Ole Opry. The artist Ben Watts designed and sculpted it, depicting Lynn wearing a big smile, fringe Western garb, and boots, her guitar leans by her side. Lynn wasn’t able to attend the ceremony but sent a statement “I will never forget the morning Dolittle, and I pulled in and parked in front of the Ryman Auditorium…For many years I’ve stood on the stage of the Ryman and there’s no place like it.” Loretta Lynn (1932-2022) was born and raised in a small log cabin with seven siblings in a coal mining town in rural Kentucky. Singing and music have been part of her life since she was little. At 15, Loretta married Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn (“Doo”), and they moved to Custer, Washington. While she was occupied with the housework and raising their six children, she found comfort in music. Doo encouraged her to pursue her musical talent and bought her a guitar in 1953. She taught herself to play, wrote songs, and started performing in nightclubs in the area. In the late 1950s, she got discovered by Zero Records Executives, recorded her first album, and released it in 1960. While touring the country, she came to Nashville to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, and it became her second home. 1960 was the beginning of a 6-decades professional music career. Lynn wrote 160 songs, released 60 albums, toured and performed all over the world, and won many awards, including ten No. 1 albums and sixteen No. 1 singles on the country charts, three Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, thirteen Academy of Country Music, eight Country Music Association, twenty-six fan-voted Music City News awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013). Read more...

A magnificent bronze statue created by the Nashville artist Alan LeQuire in 2003. It is the largest bronze figure group in the US featuring 40-feet-tall nine figures who are celebrating in a circle the joy and happiness of music. The statue is located in a wide roundabout at the entrance to Music Row and is considered as one of the symbols of Nashville. On May 31st, 2019, it was renamed to Boudleaux and Felice Bryant Fountains of Musica, honoring Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the first professional songwriters of Nashville, representing all the songwriters who made Nashville a musical Mecca. Felice Bryant was born as Matilda Scaduto to an Italian family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She had a passion for writing poetry from a young age. When she was 19 years old, she met her soul mate, Boudleaux, a violin player, who arrived to perform in the hotel Felice worked as an elevator operator. They became a couple in their personal and professional life, writing songs together. The beginning was hard, but they managed to build themselves with several hits till they moved to Nashville and became the city’s first professional songwriters. Over the years, the Bryants wrote more than 6,000 songs, 1,500 of which were recorded, earned 59 BMI country, pop, and R&B music awards, and raised 2 sons. The statue will be upgraded in 2020 to have water fountains around it. Read more...

The Patsy Cline Museum, located on the second floor of the Johnny Cash Museum, is commemorating and celebrating the life and legacy of Patsy Cline, one of the most important country singers of all time. Patsy Cline died in a plane crash on her way home from a show in Kansas when she was only 31 years old. During her short life, she left a mark on the music industry, recorded 3 albums, and reached to the top of the Billboard country chart, twice. The museum was founded by Shannon and Bill Miller and is open since 2017. Its exhibits are arranged in chronological order and focus on different stages in Cline’s life, from her growing up in Winchester, Virginia, to her tragic death. See the original porch seat from her childhood house and stop by the Drugstore she worked in as a teenager, with its wooden both, soda fountain, and milkshake maker. Continue to the vinyl records hall, which has an entire wall covered with every 45’s record Cline released during her life, accompanied by photos of her taken while recording. At the theater, you can watch a short movie detailing Cline’s story and clips from her performances over the years. Pay a visit to Cline’s home with her husband, walk through the living room and kitchen, and take your time in the record room to watch her performances on the TV and to explore some of the couple’s favorite albums. The museum houses an extensive collection of Cline’s memorabilia and artifacts, including a vast selection of her stage costumes, some of them made by her mother, awards she was given over time, her salt and pepper shaker collection, her membership card to the Jimmy Dean fan club, handwritten letters, the Key to New York City given to her in 1961 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner, and many more items. Some of the items on display are related to Cline’s accident, such as a condolences telegram sent to Cline’s family from Elvis Presley’s manager. Read more...

Located in Centennial Park, not far from Nashville’s iconic building, the Parthenon. The monument was unveiled on August 26th, 2016, which is Women’s Equality Day, and commissioned by Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument Inc. It features the five important suffragists in Nashville, who contributed to the battle of the ratification of the 19th amendment: Anne Dallas Dudley, who founded the Nashville Equal Suffrage League; Abby Crawford Milton, who was the last president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association; Frankie Pierce, the founder of the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in Nashville (there is also a park next to Tennessee State Capitol honoring her); Sue Shelton White, a feminist leader and one of the national suffrage movement leaders (there is also a monument commemorating her at Jackson City Hall); And Carrie Chapman Catt, a national suffrage leader who traveled to Nashville to guide the suffragists during the last crucial battle. The monument was created by Nashville-based sculptor Alan LeQuire who also designed the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial located in Knoxville, as well as the Suffrage Bas Relief sculpture hanging in the State Capitol between the House and Senate chambers. Every year on Women’s Equality Day, an event commemorating this day is held at the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument. Read more...

This historic house was the summer residence of Adelicia Acklen and her family in 1853-1887. Acklen was the wealthiest woman in Tennessee and a plantation owner after the death of her first husband. She built this mansion with her second husband from 1849 to 1853. Besides the 36 rooms Italian villa-style house, it contained a guest house with a bowling alley, art gallery, lavish gardens, water tower, greenhouse conservatories, aviary, lake, and a zoo. Acklen opened the zoo to the public since there weren’t public zoos at this time. In 1890 it was bought by two women from Philadelphia who converted the house to a girls’ school, which later became present-days Belmont University. Today, the mansion is one of the largest house museums in Tennessee and one of the few 19th-century homes in the US whose history revolves around the life of a woman. A visit to the house will bring you back in time to the life of a celebrity in the 19th century. On display are in the many rooms are unique furniture, Acklen’s art collection, Glassware, and more. Guided tours are offered at additional cost. Besides the standard guided tour, there is also an art tour, focusing on the art collection, and a garden tour, which focuses on historic gardening experts, as well as the Lasting Impression tour, which captures the story of Tamera Alexander’s novel A Lasting Impression. The mansion holds special events like concerts, Victorian Christmas tours during the holiday season, Victorian Mourning Traditions, lectures, and more. The house can be rented for private events and is also a favorite spot for weddings. Read more...