Bicentennial Mall State Park
The Bicentennial Mall State Park opened in Nashville in 1996 to mark the 200th anniversary of the US state of Tennessee . The 7.7 hectare state park is located in the middle of the city northwest of the Capitol. The soil conditions of the swamps in this direction next to the Cumberland River were not stable enough for skyscrapers and similar buildings that partially tower above the Capitol in the other directions. The park was laid out symmetrically as a long line of sight of the Tennessee State Capitol and contains numerous nature trails and memorials on the history and geography of Tennessee. The amphitheater has 2000 seats.
Park elements
In the southern area between 7th Avenue and the steel railroad trestle bridge is a 61 m wide walkable map of Tennessee made of granite slabs with cities, rivers and the 95 counties. There are shady picnic areas under the bridge.
Directly north of the bridge is a fountain system with 31 fountains, which represent the 31 major rivers and watercourses in the country, for which there are extensive explanations on one wall.
The entire length of the park is criss-crossed by the Pathway of History , a timeline consisting of a 122 m long wall with inscriptions on historical events since the country was founded. At the place of the Civil War there is a gap in the wall on purpose.
The memorial for the victims of the Second World War contains pillars with pictures and descriptions of the battles and stations of the war. In the middle of this memorial there is a rotatable globe with a diameter of 1.80 m made of black polished micro gabbro , a granite-like rock , on a water bed. The ball is in a basin made of Tittlingen granite . The rotation of the floating globe takes place in the inclination of the axis of rotation of the earth. On the 18,000 pound (8164 kg) stone ball is a map of the world on which all places are noted where soldiers from Tennessee were involved in fighting. 5631 of them were killed.
In the northern part of the park there are 50 columns arranged in a circle. They contain 95 bells for the 95 counties. The Tennessee Waltz sounds every hour in this carillon . In the center of the bell pillars are three large circles in the colors red, white and blue with stars in the middle, corresponding to the flag of Tennessee .
The Walkway Of Counties contains flagstones with interesting facts about each county. Underneath there is a time capsule that should not be opened until 2096.
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- ↑ http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/Bicentennial/
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_2.htm
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_3.htm
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_4.htm
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_6.htm Information on nashville.about.com
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Illustration of the fountain with world map
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated July 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_8.htm
- ↑ http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/ss/bicentmall_9.htm
Web links
- official website (English)
- Photo gallery at nashville.about.com/ (English)
- Video tour for kids (~ 10 min English; MOV ; 49.7 MB)
Coordinates: 36 ° 10 ′ 16 ″ N , 86 ° 47 ′ 16 ″ W.