Centennial Park - Nashville, TN

Centennial Park in Nashville, TN is a 132 acre urban park located about 3 miles west of downtown Nashville, and in close proximity to the campus of Vanberbilt University.  It is home to a large lake, flocks of pigeons, ducks and geese, lots of squirrels, and a replica of the Greek Parthenon.

Here Is A Link to a very large panorama around the lake in Centennial Park.  Large File Warning!! - Be warned that this is a large 7 megabyte file so if you are on a dialup connection you might want to skip it!

The panorama covers an area of approximately 235° around the lake.  It is 27,952 pixels wide (that is twenty seven thousand pixels!) by 768 pixels high and consists of about 45 images taken 5° apart and stitched together.

Note that many browsers, notably Firefox and Internet Explorer, will fit the image to the width of the screen so it will appear very small.  When you put your cursor over the image it will change to a magnifying glass and you can click the image to view it full size.

Centennial Park - Various Dates

Centennial Park - March 26, 2011

The weather was forecast to be lousy today with lots of rain and wind, so I decided to stop at Centennial Park for a while where I'd be relatively close to my car if the bottom fell out.  It was cloudy and cool, but not too bad and a good day for a walk in the park.

While walking around I noticed some percussion instruments being set up in front of the Parthenon.  It turned out to be a band of students from Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH named Oberlin Steel.  They put on a great show and I really enjoyed listening to them for a while.

Centennial Park - December 24, 2010

After going Downtown for a little while this morning I also decided to stop at Centennial Park for a few minutes.  It was quiet, as would be expected on Christmas Eve so I didn't stick around very long.

This is only a few of the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of cards and decorations on the tree.  I'm sorry I didn't get them all, but there were just too many.  Note that some of the photographs were taken on December 26.  I decided that I wanted to get a few more and stopped by there again.

Centennial Park - October 23, 2010

I went by Centennial Park today because there is supposed to be an "Artwork" in the lake there.  The description of it on This Web Page made it sound interesting so I thought I'd check it out.  As usual, other people's ideas of "Art" differ wildly from my ideas of "Art".  I'm sure the builder put a lot of work into it and was proud of his result, but, sorry, to me it's just a bunch of half-sunken lumber floating around in the lake providing a place for the ducks to roost.

The band below is named the "WannaBeatles" and they are quite good.  Apparently their entire repertoire is based on old Beatles music but they do a marvelous job of reproducing them.  I think that in some respects they might even be better than the originals!

I walked back over to the lake and took a few photos of things that fly ;)

Centennial Park - August 8, 2010

It's far too hot and humid to get out and ride my motorcycles, or for that matter to spend much time outside at all these days, but I did want to get out and ride for a little while.  I rode downtown and took a few photos of Lower Broadway and then rode over to Centennial Park for a while.  Not much going on there either on a hot, humid Sunday morning so I took a few photos and then headed back home.

Centennial Park - June 19, 2010

I went by the Parthenon today simply because I have never seen the inside of it.  Now I remember why.  There are two levels, and photography is only allowed in the upper level.  The lower level is some sort of art gallery or something, but since photography isn't allowed I didn't bother going in.  The upper level contains a great big statue of Athena and some pieces of sculpture.  I guess it's interesting to artsy-type people but it did nothing for me.  I spent about 15 minutes there, took a few photos, and left.

I find the area outside the Parthenon around the lake far more interesting than the inside.  Art that doesn't look like anything does absolutely nothing for me.  If a placard in front of a statue is required to explain to me that it is the torso of some mythological Greek figure rather than my looking at it and seeing that it is the torso of some mythological Greek figure then I have better things to do with my time.  In this case it was to take photographs of the birds and kids around the lake.

Even tepid lake water feels good when it's this hot!

Kids and birds and lakes go together like, well, kids and birds and lakes ;)  These young ones were feeding the birds and having a great time.

Centennial Park - May 3, 2010

Spring finally made it to Tennessee once again.  The grass is green, the tress are filling out, and the baby ducks and geese are on the lakes.

Centennial Park - February 14, 2010

Cloudy, cold, spitting snow.  This has become the theme for February this year.  If it hasn't been bitter cold it is only because it's raining.  If it isn't raining it's only because it's so cold it's snowing.  One of these days it's going to clear up, warm up, and I'm going to get out and ride my motorcycles but today I once again spent some time at Centennial Park photographing the birds.

Centennial Park - January 31, 2010

A clear and brilliant day with about 6" of crusty snow on the ground after several days of gloom and snow really made me want to get out and play with my camera today.  I went to Radnor Lake yesterday so I made my customary stop at Centennial Park today.

Centennial Park - January 23, 2010

Wet but mild this morning.  Rain yesterday evening, rain all night, rain this morning.  Everything was soggy but at least it was mild and comfortable.  The birds and animals at Centennial Park didn't seem to mind the wet at all and were enjoying the mild weather.

For years he has stood his solitary post.  Head held high, a little bit dull and tarnished, he nevertheless maintains his vigilant poise.

This F-86L has been a part of Centennial Park for as long as I can remember.  I recall visiting the park as s young boy and seeing this airplane mounted above me.  The placard below says that it was mounted in 1982 however I think it means that it was remounted.  Regardless, this airplane will always epitomize Centennial Park to me.

Centennial Park - January 9, 2010

Bitter cold weather and some snow on the ground convinced me not to stay at Centennial Park very long today, but I did stop for a little while to take some photographs of the lake dwellers.  I thought the white-on-white lack of contrast between the Ring Billed Gull and the white snow behind him was rather interesing.

Centennial Park - January 2, 2010

It was cold and cloudy when I got up.  Cold as in 17° and cloudy as in a little bit of snow falling.  The clouds were forecast to move out so I headed for Centennial Park.  As forecast the clouds blew out leaving relatively clear skies behind.

The birds and waterfowl didn't seem to mind the cold at all, other than a few puffed-out feathers, but I wasn't real fond of it.

The pigeons, ducks, and geese were flying around and seemed to be enjoying the clear skies.

Centennial Park - December 24, 2009

Not being a big Christmas person I preferred to brave the elements and photograph some birds at Centennial Park rather than brave the crowds and go shopping today.  The crowds were horrendous, the elements were not so bad.  Last night's rain was just ending and the clouds starting to break up when I got there.  It was very windy though but the birds didn't seem to mind.

Centennial Park - December 6, 2009

It was way too cold to ride my motorcycles today, 23° when I got up, so I decided to head over to Centennial Park with my camera and take some photographs.  There is always something there worth wasting a bit of camera memory on.

The photographs below are of American Locomotive Works locomotive number 59786 constructed in 1942.  It drove for the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis (N.C. & St. L) Railroad.  There are also additional photographs of this locomotive further down this page.

The Parthenon replica, shown in the photographs below, was originally built in 1897 and then reconstructed in 1921-1931.  It is the only full-sized exact reproduction of the Athens Parthenon in the world.  There is some good information about this structure on Wikipedia.

The photograph above is a bronze statue of a Civil War soldier with the caption ""Duty Done Honor Won" engraved in the stone below.  I couldn't tell whether the statue is of a Union of Confederate soldier and then I realized that in truth it doesn't really matter which side he was on.  The dedication plaque on the other side of the statue did point it out, but I think it's more meaningful not knowing which side it was dedicated to or by.

Centennial Park - November 15, 2009

Centennial Park - November 12, 2009

Centennial Park, January 11, 2009

Centennial Park - February 23, 2008