Plan

Walk the Shelby Bottoms trailway. It is an easy place to lose an hour before a show.

Dawn to dusk

A lawn and walking path in front of the Metro Courthouse at Union and 3rd, built on top of a parking garage. Fountains, an observation deck over the Cumberland, and benches. Free.

Open daily

132 acres on West End, open since 1903. Lake Watauga and the sunken garden are the walkable parts. The north side is fenced for construction through fall 2026, but the lake and garden paths stay open.

Sunrise to 11pm

Ten acres of Gothic stone buildings at 19th and Grand, built for Scarritt College and now run as a conference and retreat center. The grounds are quiet and free to walk. Open weekdays only.

Weekdays 9am to 4pm

Known as Dragon Park for the 200-foot mosaic sea serpent that runs through it, built by artist Pedro Silva with volunteers. Tennis and basketball courts and a playground alongside. Open dawn to dusk on Blakemore Ave.

Dawn to dusk

A park across the Harpeth River from downtown with a one mile paved loop, joined to Main Street by the Sue Douglas Berry pedestrian bridge. A trail climbs from the park to Fort Granger, the Union earthwork that served as a command post during the Battle of Franklin in 1864.

Dawn to dusk

A 198 acre former horse farm a half mile north of Main Street. W. W. Harlin started it in 1933 and it produced Midnight Sun, the Tennessee Walking Horse stallion that took World Grand Championships in 1945 and 1946. Franklin bought the land in 2004 and opened it as a park in 2007. Walking trails, open fields and a four acre dog park.

Dawn to dusk

The 1909 Shelby Street Bridge, closed to cars in 1998 and reopened for walking in 2003. About 3,150 feet across the Cumberland to the East Bank, with the skyline on one side. Free and always open.

Open all hours

Twenty acres on the hill above 8th, built around a reservoir that city engineer J.A. Jowett designed in 1887 and finished in August 1889. The limestone walls stand about thirty-four feet and you can walk the full perimeter for a view over the south side. Courts, a playground, and picnic shelters sit on the lower ground, on the site of the Civil War earthwork called Fort Casino.

Dawn to dusk

Food stalls, produce and local vendors. Easy place to spend an hour before heading out.

Daytime

Nine acres of indoor gardens under glass, with waterfalls, winding paths and a 4.5 acre atrium that a flat-bottom riverboat runs through. Non-guests can walk the gardens for free. Park at Opry Mills and take the walkway to the Delta entrance to skip the resort parking fee.

Open daily, all day

A 374 acre park where the Stones River meets the Cumberland. The Stones River Greenway runs eight miles west toward Percy Priest Dam and east over a pedestrian bridge to Shelby Bottoms. There is a disc golf course, a skate park and a dog park, and Two Rivers Mansion, the Italianate house David McGavock built in 1859, stands on the grounds.

Dawn to 11pm daily

The largest inland stone fortification built during the American Civil War, on a hill south of the neighborhood. A half-mile blacktop path circles the fort, with about a quarter mile of boardwalk and twenty interpretive panels along the way. Leashed dogs are allowed and the grounds are free.

Grounds dawn to dusk, visitors center Tue to Fri 12pm to 4pm and Sat 9am to 4pm