For us? You shouldn’t have.
We think living in Nashville is the greatest gift of all, but our city has actually been on the receiving end of quite a few delightful donations. From Nashville’s first park to public art collections and more, check out these four gifts given to the city.
Watkins Park | Nashville’s first public park opened to locals in 1901, thirty years after being donated to the city by brickmaker Samuel Watkins. Fun fact: some park features like walkways were also built with donated materials, and this park was also home to the city’s first public playground.
Country music artifacts donated by music icon Marty Stuart | In the fall of 2024, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum received a historic donation from Stuart. In total, the collection spans ~22,000 items, including showstoppers like clothing, instruments, and personal items.
Nashville’s Parthenon is pretty enough to be its own painting.
Photo by @lukethroughmylens
The Parthenon’s permanent art collection | Nashville’s Grecian-inspired landmark houses a permanent collection of works by American artists from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The selection was donated in the 1920s by James M. Cowan, a businessman and art collector from Tennessee.
$4.5 million to Nashville Public Library Foundation | Dolly Parton’s nonprofit, The Dollywood Foundation, announced this gift last month. It is the most significant gift ever given to the National Public Library Foundation and will support early literacy programming in Davidson County.
These extraordinary gifts not only add character and value to our city, but also show how generosity can have a lasting impact. Do you know of another major gift donated to our city? Let us know.
