NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — What started as a class project has become an easy-to-access wealth of knowledge for people to learn more about Nashville.
Seven years ago, Belmont University Associate Professor Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel helped create what is now called Nashville Sites: a free website full of virtual and self-guided walking and driving tours all around the city.
“I reached out to the Metro Historical Commission to do a project where we used existing historical markers to create a little walking tour,” Pethel said. “As I did that, I realized that Nashville didn’t really have anything and other comparably-sized cities did.”
“We want to make sure that we’re telling the full story of Nashville’s histories and all of the different parts — whether it’s a neighborhood [or] whether it’s a group of people, we really want to tell the full story,” Pethel added.
Through Nashville Sites, anyone can learn about women’s sports history, the relationship between food and social justice, South Broadway architecture and more at just the click of a button.
“Whether you’ve just moved here, you’ve lived here your whole life [or] you’re a student working on a project, we want to have something available for you and also make sure that you know you can trust the information,” Jessica Fitzpatrick, Director of Tours for Nashville Sites told News 2.
On average, the website gets about three thousand hits each week. It’s used by people from all over the world, including Nashvillians who’ve lived in Music City for decades, like Blaine Fuhs.
“To hear that the State Capitol building has this Greek historical context — and obviously with the Parthenon being that as well — it’s surprising,” Fuhs, who studies art history, told News 2. “But Nashville is a melting pot of a lot of different places and people.”
Nashville Sites is also a partner of Metro Nashville Public Schools and the site has a number of lesson plans available to help teachers.
