Nashville is known worldwide as “Music City,” and no doubt you’ve heard the nicknames “Athens of the South,” “Twangtown,” and “Third Coast.” But did you know Nashville is also called the “City of Parks”? Nashville owes that nickname to the abundance of parks and greenways here. You never have to travel far in Nashville to find green spaces. As of 2010, the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation operated 115 parks and greenways totaling 10,713 acres. The 2,058-acre Percy Warner Park is the largest; it’s about three times larger than New York City’s Central Park. The smallest is the nearly quarter-acre Bass Park, a playground in east Nashville.
Overview
Nashville’s first public park was the 8.5-acre Watkins Park, at Jo Johnston Avenue and 17th Avenue N. Watkins Park was given to the city by brick manufacturer and construction contractor Samuel Watkins in 1870. The property had served as an unofficial park known as Watkins Grove in the 1850s but was ravaged in the early 1860s by the Civil War. Around the turn of the 20th century, area residents were using the then-treeless and barren lot as a pasture and unofficial dump. With donated materials and some city funds, the park board stepped in and built an entrance and walkways, planted flowers, installed water and lighting systems, and placed benches on the property. In 1906 the Centennial Club took over and added the city’s first playground, including swings, a skating area, and a merry-go-round. It was such a success that in 1909 the board opened children’s playgrounds on vacant lots throughout Nashville. Watkins Park, by the way, is still there at 616 17th Ave. N. Today it has a community center, tennis courts, a basketball court, and a picnic shelter.
In November 2002 Metro Parks produced its first parks and greenways master plan, which is designed to guide the maintenance of existing green spaces and plan for the development of parks and recreational programs for the next 2 decades. The plan recommended $262 million in improvements and investment for the first 10 years. The funding of $35 million in 2004 to improve parks and greenways was the largest single appropriation in the history of the parks department. The establishment of greenways has been a major focus of the parks system in recent years. Often located along scenic roads, river floodplains, waterways, old railroad tracks, and wildlife areas, greenways provide space for conservation, recreation, and alternative transportation. The Metro Greenways Commission envisions Nashville and Davidson County linked together by a system of linear parks, bike paths, and hiking trails that connect neighborhoods to schools, shopping areas, downtown, and other points of activity. In this chapter we’ve chosen to list only a portion of Nashville’s many parks and green spaces—just enough to get you in the mood for getting out and about. To ensure that your park excursions are safe and enjoyable, take note of the rules and hours of operation. Many parks are open from sunrise to sunset, and unless otherwise noted, you can assume those are the operating hours. Be aware that even in a friendly city like Nashville, unless there is a park event taking place, it isn’t a good idea to be in most parks after dark. Similarly, cars parked in an area where the activities nearby—fishing, golfing, and so on—would keep their owners absent for a prolonged time may be especially vulnerable. Most parks offer wheelchair-accessible attractions and barrier-free access. Some are more accessible than others, so if accessibility is a concern, it’s a good idea to contact Metro Parks, Tennessee State Parks, or the individual park for more information. Metro Parks’s Special Recreation Program serves children and adults with disabilities. The programs are held in community centers, schools, and various spots around town. Admission is free at most area parks, but special activities or programs might require a fee.
The typical Nashvillian isn’t one to sit around idly and let the world go by. No, there’s just way too much to do here for that. Whatever your preferred method of recreation, you’ll probably find it in this city. We’ve mentioned elsewhere in this book how Nashville has earned the nickname “City of Parks,” among many others. That’s appropriate to bring up again here because many of the recreational opportunities available in Middle Tennessee are at parks. We’re talking about activities as varied as bicycling, hiking, swimming, tennis, and skating, to name just a few. And many parks have fields for team sports like baseball, softball, and soccer. But parks don’t have a monopoly on the action in Nashville. Tens of thousands of acres of water in area lakes just beg to be swum, fished, boated, and skied. You can put on your boots and cowboy hat and, instead of boot scootin’, go for a horseback ride through the country. You can enjoy nature’s beauty on an easy-paced walk or a strenuous hike.
Bad weather? That’s okay. It doesn’t have to ruin your day. As you’ll discover in this chapter, we have plenty of indoor recreational opportunities as well, like indoor swimming and tennis, bowling, billiards, and pumping iron. So you don’t need to climb the walls—although, if you really want to, that’s an option as well (see the Climbing section in this chapter for details). You’ll also find recreational opportunities in our Accommodations, Golf, Kidstuff, and Parks chapters as well as in Day Trips & Weekend Getaways.