Nashville

Nashville is a city in Davidson County and the capital of the American state of Tennessee. It is sometimes called the "Country Music Capital of the World" or more often "Music City, USA"; however, in recent years, Nashville has done much to escape its country music image and become a regional center of culture and commerce. In fact, Dell, Nissan, and Saturn have all moved some operations to or near the city. The music is various; major rap artists and rock bands (Young Buck, Haystak, Kings of Leon, Paramore, and Ben Folds) claim Nashville as their hometown.

Nashville has been the home of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry since 1925. The Opry has been located in the Grand Ole Opry House in eastern Nashville since 1974. From 1974 to 1997 the Opry House was part of a theme park called Opryland USA, which closed due to low attendance and was subsequently torn down and replaced with a mega-shopping mall called Opry Mills. Rumors that the Opry is haunted persist to this day as more than 35 people closely associated with the Opry have been met with untimely deaths. These country stars have been burned to death, have been beaten, robbed and shot, have been victims of car and plane crashes and have perished from alcohol and drugs.

Civil War history is important to the city's tourism industry. Sites pertaining to the Battle of Nashville and the nearby Battle of Franklin and Battle of Stones River can be seen, along with several well-preserved antebellum plantation houses such as Belle Meade Plantation, Carnton plantation in Franklin and Belmont Mansion.

Nashville has several arts centers and museums, including the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located in the former post office building; Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art; the Tennessee State Museum; Fisk University's Van Vechten and Aaron Douglas Galleries; Vanderbilt University's Fine Art Gallery and Sarratt Gallery; and the Parthenon. The Nashville Zoo is one of the city's newer attractions.