Nashville: A city that honours its history

No doubt I am mindful of the importance of establishing a pride in history because I have just returned from doing research in Nashville, Tennessee for the second year in a row. Once again, I am awe struck by the way the city of Nashville packages and markets its history every day of the year .

People in Nashville take pride in their city and their history. Nashville’s attention to detail in the tourist industry is astounding .

The Nashville airport provides a row of wooden rocking chairs in the baggage claim area for weary traveLlers to sit on while they wait for their luggage. Need I point out how dull, uncomfortable and inhospitable our airport is? There isn’t enough seating anywhere .

Everywhere you walk in Nashville there are signs pointing out something of historical significance .

There seems to be a surprise at every turn: statues of country music icons like Ray Aiken or a bust of an early French trapper adorn the walking tour .

The plaque on an empty office by my hotel says it was the law office of President Andrew Jackson .

Signs mark important civil rights demonstrations or historical buildings like a church used as a hospital during the Civil War .

Downtown, it is impossible to go anywhere and not hear live music .

One corner had a music box on the corner so that pedestrians can hear music while waiting to cross the street. Why can’t we hear calypso on our street corners – and I don’t mean calypso blasting from speakers playing pirated CDs .

The downtown Walmart, has Nashville t-shirts and cups, but also little Nashville party emergency kits. Even Nashville’s pralines (a maple fudge with pecans) comes in packaging marked “historical” .

Nashville boldly markets food evokes the south. Signs advertise voodoo chicken and one sign brags “Catfish served every day.” The art exhibit in the Nashville library didn’t allow anyone to forget that a teenage Oprah Winfrey once lived with her father in Nashville .

Pictures documented Nashville’s hidden history including the building where Lay’s potato chips became a business. The exhibit included a guest book that encouraged everyone to point out any hidden historical treasures that might not have been documented in the exhibition .

New buildings have their own sense of character and are not permitted to cast ugly shadows over historical buildings. Modern architecture doesn’t compete with the historical buildings or overwhelm the historical architecture of the city .

My hotel preserved the Cutler Mailing system of the historical building (named after James G .

Cutler). Running alongside the elevator on each floor, guests could see the beautifully ordained bronze mail shoot that allowed people in newly developed high-rise buildings of the 19th century to send mail to the bottom floor .

Nashville played a crucial role in the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. It had the first integrated lunch counters in the south when students led a protest to the Mayor’s office after someone destroyed Antiguan-born Zephaniah Alexander Looby’s home with dynamite. It is a southern city and historically speaking that possessed all the problems of segregation that southern cities had, but it worked hard to overcome much of its baggage from the past and package it as a lesson for all. It did not remain stuck in the past. It built a city on its history, and Nashville is much richer for it .

Why can’t we do this here?