PreservationNation Blog: National Preservation Conference

Downtown Franklin, Tennessee – A Distinctive Destination

Farin Salahuddin
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:40:14 +0000

Over the next few months, the staff of the National Preservation Conference will be blogging about their experiences during their pre-conference site visit trip to Nashville. Register now for the 2009 conference, which  will take place October 13-19.

Carnton Plantation

Franklin’s lazy, southern charm is the perfect compliment to Nashville’s sparkle and energy.  But Franklin wasn’t always a glowing model of small city life.  It once was the site of a bloody civil war battle that is said to have been the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Come and see how Franklin’s bloody past and prosperous present are mingled in the streetscape, shops and boutiques.

Top 5 reasons to visit Franklin, Tennessee

1.       Included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of 2009’s Distinctive Destinations.

2.       Winner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s first ever Great American Main Street Award in 1995.

3.       Carter House, a National Registered Landmark and a significant reminder of the Battle of Franklin.

Dessert (well, actually, desserts) at Pucketts.

4.       Historic Carnton Plantation, home of the New York Times bestseller, Widow of the South, by Robert Hicks (Hicks will be our Friday Night Special Lecture speaker).

5.       Delicious Southern cooking!  Enjoy the sweet and savory delights of Puckett’s Grocery and a number of other tasty vittles along Main Street.

Franklin is a sparkling example of many preservation efforts including land conservation, battlefield reclamation and the revitalization and maintenance of a vibrant main street.  Register for this field session and see what all the fuss is about!

(This field session is offered on Wednesday, Oct 14 and Friday, Oct 16)

Farin Salahuddin is a conference coordinator of the National Preservation Conference.  Farin’s interests include photographing her food at restaurants.

Nashville’s Station Inn Stays True to its Bluegrass Roots

Adam Robinson
Tue, 26 May 2009 18:24:47 +0000

Over the next few months, the staff of the National Preservation Conference will be blogging about their experiences during their pre-conference site visit trip to Nashville. The 2009 conference will take place October 13-19 in Nashville. Registration opens on June 1.

After many excursions to dive bars, dark music venues, and sultry art alleys throughout the nation, I think I found my favorite. It could have been the delicious barbecue I randomly came across while taking a half day tour of Nashville or the hilarious Doyle and Debbie show I caught, but I think the Station Inn in the Nashville Gulch took my heart. As if anything could have made my week-long trip to Nashville any better, this randomly placed, dark dive bar really took the cake. With a random assortment of furniture and one small “bar,” if you could call it that, that sold bar food and small snacks, this place made you feel comfortable no matter what region or walk of life you came from.

(An aside: if you ever get the chance, go see Doyle and Debbie. They are hilarious, sing some songs that would make the most vulgar comedians blush and even, somehow, incorporate a hair piece into their act that bleeds down Doyle’s face. Beware the front row.)

Anyway… this bar is great, and what makes it even better is the history behind it. Surrounding it are upscale, nouveau riche restaurants just recently built, modern sky-scraping townhouses, and even an Urban Outfitters across the street –  but it stays true to the history it has created. An old bluegrass music venue, it remains faithful to its purpose and provides simple entertainment without the glitz and glamour of the up-and-coming area it resides in. So if you get the chance, go visit this place, day or night. You won’t regret it, trust me.

Adam Robinson is the program assistant for conferences and training in the Center for Preservation Leadership at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Nashville: Site of 2009 Conference is Full of “Must Sees” and “Can’t Misses”

Lori Feinman
Thu, 21 May 2009 16:30:52 +0000

Nashville's 2nd Avenue by night.

Despite a long-simmering crush on Johnny Cash (that I’ll have you know existed long, long before he was portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line…  not that there was anything wrong with THAT), I vehemently deny any affection for country music. And, for that reason, Nashville has never been high on my list of Cities I Must Visit. So when the time came to go to Nashville for the conference department’s annual site visit, when we “dry run” all the field sessions, I looked forward to the barbecue more than anything else.

Friends, I was WRONG, so very, very, wrong.

Over the next few months, the staff of the National Preservation Conference will be blogging about our experiences during this trip in Nashville. What we found was a city rich in history, yet amazingly hip. That music industry — the one I thought of as Hee-Haw writ large — transcends genres and displays infinitely more talent than you’ll find in the Billboard Top 40. The neighborhoods are charming, and tell stories of decline and revitalization, of visionaries who fought for a diverse and vibrant urban fabric. Civil War history is thick there — The Battle of Nashville and the Battle of Franklin await discovery only miles from Lower Broad, where honky-tonks offer live music all day long and Hatch Show Print sells vintage letterpress posters alongside those for the hottest shows currently on tour. Fisk University helps tell the story of the civil rights movement and the important strides that were made in Nashville. The compact downtown includes icons such as the Ryman Auditorium, churches where Presidents worshiped, live music, residential lofts, the Tennessee State Capitol, live music, a state of the art symphony center, several historic hotels, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and live music. And preserving all of this — the buildings, the history, the culture, the landscapes — is a priority to the city and to the residents. This is a town of proud and extremely hospitable people, who made us feel welcome everywhere we went.

So, to prepare for Nashville, I recommend that you go get yourself some Jack Daniels and read our blog as we’ll be periodically filling you in on special Nashville places and stories. You can then make your own lists of “must-sees,” and “can’t misses” (because those are the only categories I came up with after two weeks in town).

And I wasn’t wrong about the barbecue. There is plenty of good ‘cue in Nashville, too.

Lori Feinman is the associate director for conferences and training in the Center for Preservation Leadership at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The 2009 National Preservation Conference will take place October 13-19 in Nashville. Registration opens on June 1.