When booking my spring break trip this year, I was pretty hesitant to visit the southern city dominated by male country music. While there was an overabundance of cowboys in Nashville, my friends and I were able to find lots of spots free of beer and brawn to spend our time.
- White Limozeen (The Dolly Parton Cafe)
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The number one action item on our groupchat’s itinerary was brunch at the Dolly Parton café. White Limozeen, located on the rooftop of the Hilton Graduate Hotel, was the female sanctuary we were looking for on this girls’ trip.
The poolside rooftop patio is positioned next to a vintage bar, with floral couches and pink frilly accessories embellishing the entire atmosphere. Serving up delicious cocktails and southern delicacies, this restaurant was the perfect place for photo ops and morning-after debriefs.
Not only was the food phenomenal, so was the crowd. Nashville is already filled with bachelorette parties and celebrations, but being surrounded by primarily women encouraged me to congratulate strangers on their achievements and generally boosted feminine spirits all around.
- Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa
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Possibly my favorite bar on Broadway, Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa offered the perfect combination of chill live music during the day and a routier club scene at night.
Inside the bar is a gift shop with lots of cute merch for the girls with a sit-down Tex-Mex cantina just upstairs.
The downstairs bar and rooftop scene are equally decorated with fluorescent lights and sparkly accents. Combined with female country performances, this bar is a must to feel like a Cowgirl on your next trip to Nashville.
- Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery
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As a girl notorious for not being able to handle her liquor, I was terrified to try moonshine while in Tennessee. This clear, high-proof whiskey with a corn base is infamous for its potency, so I was pleasantly surprised when it tasted like dessert.
At the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery, my friends and I got nine moonshine samples, ranging from mint chocolate chip and peanut butter to moonshine soaked pickles. While it may not be easy to escape the beer culture in the bars of Nashville, this tasting was surprisingly easy, cheap, and tasty (and for the beer girlies, did come with a free taster of your draft of choice).
Alex Frank / Spoon - The Country Music Hall of Fame
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The only educational endeavor of my trip took place in The Country Music Hall of Fame. A perfect way to escape the Nashville heat for a few hours, the museum features two floors that walk you through the history of country music.
Defining its roots in the introduction of rhythm and blues, and traversing through the twentieth century with influences from the rock and indie-folk movements, country music encapsulates a rich political history of music in the United States.
The museum did a phenomenal job highlighting female country stars over the years, and the impact they have left on the genre. From Joan Baez to Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves, I was enthralled to see some of my favorite artists and their achievements in an exhibit I feared would focus primarily on men.
- Taylor Swift’s Bench at Centennial Park
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Arguably what I was most looking forward to seeing on this trip, was Taylor Swift’s bench in Centennial Park. Dedicated to the country artist turned pop star, the bench features lyrics of Swift’s 2020 track, Invisible String.
While I was stoked to cross off this bucket list item, I can attest that the park itself was a bit underwhelming. The tulip garden and pond full of geese were nice additions to the landscape, but generally the park was pretty, anticlimactic.
That being said, my key takeaway was that being able to create something so alluring from such a mediocre space truly highlights Swift’s poetic abilities (not that I was ever in doubt).
