Nashville has more to boast than just its role in music history. Browse the city landscape and free attractions available to tourists, from a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece to the first settlers’ fort to an Egyptian mummy shipped to the state during Antebellum. Put on some walking shoes, leave your wallet behind and get ready to explore these top 10 historic attractions, all for free.

1. The Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park: Nashville’s biggest park has open spaces for relaxing and picnicking, and plenty of monuments to see including a river wall that represents the state’s waterways, a history wall and standing columns remaining from the former state Capitol. But the centerpiece is a full-sized replica of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, originally built for the state’s centennial exposition in 1897. Admission inside, where a re-creation of an Athena statue stands, costs 4-6 but feel free to explore the outside of the structure.
2. Music Row: Offices of numerous record labels populate this area in downtown, concentrated around 16th and 17th Avenues South (Music Square East and Music Square West). Represented musical genres include country, gospel and contemporary Christian.
3. Printer’s Alley: A few blocks away from Broadway Street in downtown, the area was known as the Men’s Quarter in the late 19th century and later boasted publishing and printing businesses that became important to the growing music industry. Now it’s best known for its current night clubs, along with famous performers like Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins and Hank Williams whom performed in the location’s past night clubs.
4. Ernest Tubb Record Shop: The Texas Troubadour was a regular at the Grand Ole Opry and hosted his own radio show after the Opry on Saturday nights called “Midnite Jamboree.” Now the shop sells hard-to-find country and bluegrass recordings, and showcases relics from Tubb and other “Jamboree” regulars like sequined cowboy suits and a steel guitar.
5. Tennessee State Capitol: The building (designed after the Lysicrates monument in Athens, Greece) was captured shortly after its completion and served as Fort Johnson during the Union army’s occupation of the city from 1962-5. The remains of President and Mrs. James K. Polk are buried on site nearby statues of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson.
6. Fort Negley: Enter the visitor’s center and learn about how the Union army captured the city during the Civil War in 1862, and the fort was built by free blacks and slaves, many of which died during construction or didn’t receive pay for their work. The structure’s remains are adjacent to the visitor’s center.
7. Fort Nashborough: Visit Riverfront Park in downtown for a self-guided tour of the fort’s replica that housed the first settlers of what would become Nashville. It lies slightly south of the original site where the settlers came on January 1, 1780.
8. Tennessee State Museum: View rotating and permanent collections like The Age of Jackson featuring some of the president’s artifacts and Antebellum with a 3,600-year-old Egyptian mummy brought to the area in 1860. Admission is always free, but the museum is closed on Mondays and a few holidays.
9. Broadway Street: Walk along the stretch of bars, restaurants and shops (including the Ernest Tubb Record Shop) to meet all your tourists needs in between visits to nearby sites like the Ryman Auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
10. Hatch Show Print: Most famously known for its posters of Grand Ole Opry stars, the company has been around since 1879 and continues to print posters for current music stars across genres, like Ben Folds, David Byrne and Wilco. The company is now a division of the Country Music Hall of Fame,

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