The Tennessee Central Railway Museum is a 501(c)(3) located in Nashville that works to preserve Tennessee's railroad heritage. The museum has a growing collection of rolling stock and, since 1989, provides visitors with the opportunity to experience history first-hand. Passenger trains currently depart from the museum to Lebanon, Watertown, Cookeville, and Monterey, Tennessee. The museum has the largest collection of artifacts related to the Tennessee Central Railway Museum in the nation. Pieces within the collection include passenger cars, cabooses, freight cars, and locomotives. The collection is restored and maintained by volunteers.
Having been established in 1856, Mount Olivet Cemetery is the last resting place for many past leaders of Tennessee. During the Civil War, Mount Olivet Cemetery became one of many "Confederate Circles", or spots were large amounts of Confederate soldiers were buried and memorialized. This cemetery, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was also founded by a women association out of Nashville, Tennessee.
The mansion at 2250 Lebanon Pike (Rt. 70) in Donelson, just west of the Briley Parkway (Rt. 156), is an antebellum house named Belair. The mansion was built in 1832 as a wedding present from John Harding of Belle Meade Plantation, the bride's father. The next owner in 1838 was a Nashville merchant and mayor, William Nichol; the house stayed in the family for the rest of his life. Belair became a National Register-listed property in 1971 but was on the list of most endangered historic buildings in Nashville by 2014. New owners purchased Belair in 2016 on five acres and saved the property from being developed. The house was restored and turned into a 15-room bed and breakfast called Belle Air Mansion. It has been the scene of music videos and is popular for corporate retreats.
Two Rivers Mansion is among the last elaborate antebellum country homes in the Nashville area and is the earliest and best-preserved Italianate style home built in Middle Tennessee. Three generations of the McGavock family inhabited Two Rivers Mansion until the last heir died and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County bought the property for nearly $1 million. Today, Two Rivers Mansion, once an 1100-acre plantation, is a fourteen-acre tract, and it includes its predecessor, a two-story brick house called the 1802 House, among Nashville’s oldest brick houses. The 1802 House and Two Rivers Mansion are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are available to tour.
Constructed in 1858, this antebellum mansion was the center of a vast plantation, a state home for the mentally disabled, and has been the home of the Tennessee Historical Commission and the State Historic Preservation Office since 1994. Clover Bottom Mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 1975 for its architectural and historical significance. Today, the Clover Bottom Mansion and a portion of the original plantation are owned by the State of Tennessee with the Tennessee School for the Blind campus located less than a mile from the mansion. The property includes several restored slave cabins and markers that interpret the history of the enslaved persons, wealthy planters, and patients who have lived at Clover Bottom for the past two centuries.
The James Buchanan House in Nashville, Tennessee (not to be confused with Wheatland, the President James Buchanan House, which is located in Lancaster, PA) is a two-story log house built around 1800. The Buchanan House may be the oldest example of this house type in Davidson County, except for the Fredrick Stump House. The structure is situated on a small knoll about seven miles east of downtown Nashville and is surrounded by chestnut rail fencing and large magnolia trees. The house was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places under criteria B and C, and was added in March, 1984. It is significant under criterion B due to its historical association with James Buchanan, a pioneer settler in Davidson County, Judge Thomas N. Frazier, an important figure in Reconstruction politics, and his son James B. Frazier, Governor of Tennessee from 1903-1905. Under criterion C, the house is significant as one of the oldest two-story log structures in Middle Tennessee. The house is open to the public.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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Start at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum in southeastern Nashville & check out the exhibits. Then drive east toward Donelson. Stop by an historical cemetery, antebellum mansions, & the second-oldest log cabin in the area, just a stone's throw from the airport.
