Tennessee State Museum

What a beautiful museum! The staff was super friendly and knowledgeable. The museum was free and expansive, covering a variety of topics and the timeline of TN history. I recommend wearing good shoes and planning to spend a couple hours here. They had a great children's area with lots of things to do. This museum is within walking distance to the capitol building, and there was a good amount of free parking.

There is honestly almost too much to see here, all for there great price of FREE. The whole family had a great time, from age 5 to 75. There is a children's gallery with interactive play, which was a hit with all the kiddos. The main galleries are upstairs, including permanent and specialty exhibits. The Tunnel of Time was really cool, and there are short videos to introduce every major time period, from pre-historic to the present. One thing we especially found really awesome was a gallery of needlework samplers and quilts from the mid-19th century. Everything was so well preserved that the beautiful, tiny stitches were still legible and neat. The interactive exhibit featuring the Tennessee music scene was also great. There were a couple of galleries toward the end that we weren't able to see, since little feet were tired, but I am positive they were just as good. They do have a 2 p.m. guided highlights tour to acquaint you with, well, the highlights. Highly recommended for all ages, but there may be too much walking for small children or those with mobility issues. Parking is a whole other thing - it's very limited and located between the museum and a farmer's market, which I would also highly recommend.