USA Guide
The South
Nashville
Set amid the gentle hills and farmlands of central Tennessee, sprawling Nashville attracts millions of visitors each year. The majority come to immerse themselves in country music, whether at mainstream showcases like the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, or in the smaller clubs and honky-tonks found not only downtown but also in Nashville's many neighbourhoods.
Behind the rhinestone glitter and showbiz exists a hard-working conservative city. Nashville has been the leading settlement in middle Tennessee since Fort Nashborough was established in 1779. A state capital since 1843, it is now the financial and insurance center of the mid-South. Rapid development since World War II has transformed a once-compact town into a maze-like conurbation, stretching out in all directions along the undulating roads, here known as pikes.
For all its "Nash-Vegas" image, the city has maintained a strong reputation for learning since planter times. As well as holding over a thousand churches – more per capita than anywhere else in the country – it has been tagged the "Protestant Vatican" for its proliferation of training colleges for preachers and missionaries, church administrative offices, and Bible-publishing plants.
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