Nashville

I have a lot of photographs taken around the Nashville area on these pages.  Centennial Park, Belle Meade Plantation, Edwin Warner Park, Lane Motor Museum, The Nashville Zoo, The Fairgrounds Speedway, the Natchez Trace Parkway, and Radnor Lake to mention a few.  I realized that I didn't actually have any photographs of Nashville itself though so this page will have a group of "Just Nashville" photographs.

Nashville Night - April 9, 2011

A few more shots of Nashville at night.

Downtown - April 2, 2011

I was downtown this morning and decided to grab a few photographs while there.

More Lower Broadway - December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve dawned cloudy and cold, a forerunner of the snow we are expecting tonight and tomorrow.  I drove downtown to take a few photographs of the Lower Broadway area, and to my surprise after a few minutes the sun started to peek between the clouds.

First Baptist Church Building

This building is actually what I wanted to photograph but when I got there I saw a bunch of road construction barricades and equipment in front of it so I didn't spend much time there.  It is the First Baptist Church building, and is for sale if you are interested in buying a huge, old church building.

Union Station

This is another one that I have been wanting to get photographs of.  It is, now, the Union Station Hotel, but before that it was simply Union Station.  It was originally a railroad station constructed in 1900.  The station went through up and down periods, and at one time was completely abandoned for a number of years.  Now it has been converted to an Historic Hotel.

Ryman Auditorium - November 26, 2010

These were taken on 4th Avenue across from the Ryman Auditorium.  The Ryman is the traditional home of the Grand Ole' Opry, and any country singer who is anything dreams of performing there.

Nashville Skyline - September 18, 2010

A couple of skyline shots from in front of the Adventure Science Center and Greer Field, home of the Nashville Sounds.

Riverfront Area - August 14, 2010

The "Riverfront Area" encompasses Riverfront Park and Lower Broad as well as First and Second Avenues.  I was down there today to watch part of the Dragon Boat Race and while walking to Riverfront Park I took a few additional photographs of the area.

Lower Broadway - August 8, 2010

Lower Broadway, as it is known, is the eastern end of Broadway Street where it ends at the Cumberland Rider.  This area used to be a really bad part of town infested with prostitutes, panhandlers, and other unsavory people.  Over the past couple of decades efforts have really been made to clean it up, and they have really gone in the right direction.  Now it is mostly restaurants, night clubs, souvenir stores, music, lights, and people.  A strong police presence has eliminated a lot of the people problems so it is an interesting area to visit now.

These photographs were taken on a hot and humid Sunday morning.  Unlike the photographs below there was certainly no snow falling!  I enjoy photographing this area on Sunday mornings because there are very few people there.  During the week, especially during the summer months, this area is wall-to-wall people.  The only people I saw this morning were a police motorcycle officer who made a couple of passes through, and one man who was, shall we say, sleeping off his overnight activities ;)

Lower Broadway - February 14, 2010

These photographs were taken on a cloudy, cold February Sunday morning.  There was not a trace of color in the sky because it was threatning snow and, in fact, was snowing lightly while I took the photos.

Nobody that I have talked to has a clue what the monstrosity in the two photographs below is.  I've asked several people and nobody knows.  Presumably whoever built it understands what it's supposed to mean, or perhaps I should say he could probably explain his interpretation of what it's supposed to mean.  Regardless of the what anyone says it's a great big pile of junk welded together (at least I think it's welded, it may just be piled there).

The concrete pilings and horizontal steel members are crane rails left over from the former Nashville Bridge Company facility, and were originally used for launching inland barge floats (and minesweepers during WWII).  Where the big red hoops and the piece of pipe lancing through them came from is anyone's guess.  There used to be a large scrap metal salvage yard about a mile downriver and I suspect they came from there, but I could be wrong.

Regardless, the ugly thing sits adjacent to the stadium right on the edge of the river.  If you figure out what it is please let me know.

Update - I did a little digging and found out that this "Thing" is called Ghost Ballet.  From what I read it appears it was constructed from junk left over when Opryland amusement park was torn down, so I guess the name fits.  One thing for sure is that the people of Davidson County paid $250,000 for this pile of junk.  Is that stupid or what?

I think I'm gonna start calling myself an artist.  Nah, on second thought I don't have the nerve to pile junk up, tell people it's artistic, and charge them $250,000 for it.

Actually I guess it's unfair to blame this so-called "Artist".  After all the Nashville Arts Commission hired her, approved of her work, and paid to have it constructed.  Guess that says a lot about the intelligence of our local government as well.

Night Shots - March 27, 2010

Here are a few taken at night ....

Not too bad for a little 300mm lens on a very windy night.

Marathon Motor Works - June 6, 2010

Marathon Motor Works built motorcars in Nashville from 1911 to 1914.  Their old facility on Clinton Street still exists and presently houses several small businesses.  The stone over the door i nthe first photo on the second row shows the year of construction as being 1881, and for a structure that old it is in rather decent shape.  I have frequently wanted to stop and take a look at the facility and finally got around to it.  I'd love to see the inside of it some time, so maybe I'll see what I can do about that!