Fun Facts & Trivia for Your Nashville Vacation

The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson

The Hermitage

The property, purchased by Andrew Jackson in 1804, includes the mansion, several outbuildings, and the modest (although expensively decorated) log farmhouse that Jackson and his wife Rachel lived in for the first sixteen years of their land ownership. 

Taking a trip to Nashville without learning a little bit about its history is like listening to country music without paying attention to the lyrics. In fact, a well-rounded appreciation of the heart of the country music may start as early as 1779, which is when Nashville was founded. What does that have to do with the Nashville we know today? Keep reading for great trivia questions, or print this page to share with your family and friends on the drive or flight to Music City!

Nashville History Trivia

• Pioneers built Fort Nashborough along the banks of the Cumberland River. Among the early settlers was Rachel Donelson, who would later become the wife of President Andrew Jackson. Our seventh President's Nashville home, The Hermitage, has a driveway (originally for horse-drawn wagons, of course) that just happens to be in the shape of a guitar. Hmm. Was it a premonition on President Jackson's part? A visit to The Hermitage may answer that question.
• The Belle Meade Plantation was the origin of many fine thoroughbred horses. Among them were War Admiral and Seabiscuit, both of which were again popularized by the novel and movie, Seabiscuit. War Admiral and Seabiscuit were actually descended from the sires of Bonnie Scotland, a prize horse of Belle Meade, making them not-so-distant cousins.

Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

• When you visit the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, be sure to take a close looking at the building. On one end is an RKO-style radio tower, while the main building has tall, narrow windows resembling a piano keyboard. The entire building then scoops up and out in an upswept angle, much in the shape of a classic Cadillac tailfin.

Nashville Music Trivia

• In 1941, Nashville was granted the first FM license in the United States. Today, we could hardly imagine listening to music without FM radio in our cars or on our bedside clock-radios.

General Fun Facts About Nashville

• The Standard Candy Company uses more than 3 million pounds of chocolate a year. Founded in 1901, it is the home of a native Nashville confection called the GooGoo. The GooGoo is a cluster of peanuts, caramel, marshmallow and milk chocolate. It is said that GOO stands for Grand Ole Opry.
• Fun facts about Nashville wouldn't be complete with some mention of "The King", Elvis Presley. Elvis recorded more than 200 of his songs at RCA's historic Studio B on Music Row. If you stop in for a visit, you may notice the red, green and blue lights in the studio. Those were installed when Elvis was recording one of his Christmas albums. In order for it to be released in time for the holiday season, it was recorded in July. Not hardly filled with the Christmas spirit in the middle of summer, the crew decided to string lights, put up a Christmas tree and turn the air conditioning up as high as it would go to create the festive atmosphere. To this day, the lights remain to commemorate their ingenuity and dedication.
• Some interesting things about Nashville have little to do with music but are familiar to us in other ways. For instance, the words "good to the last drop" were first uttered by President Franklin Roosevelt, after sipping coffee at the Maxwell House Hotel. Those words became the slogan for the Maxwell House coffee brand, a coffee created locally by the Cheek family, whose home is now Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art.