Globality: Attractions Around the World
Bonjour! Hola! Guten Tag! Skoll! Moshi Moshi! Velcommen to der Globality Gallery! To our international friends -- who wonder "What about MY nation's treasures?" -- we devotethis special section of Roadside America.
Long before the web put the world on your desktop, America was putting the world in its own backyard. Next time you're in the States, stop by and compare a complete concrete Stonehenge (in Maryhill, Washington) with England's decrepit version, or a stay in an Iowan Dutch town or a South Carolinian African village...
The Parthenon
In a nod to its appreciation of classical Greek architecture, Nashville, Tennessee erected a full-sized Parthenon in the 1920s to replace the version built out of temporary materials for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Renovations in the 1990s restored this magnificent copy of the admittedly droopy and worn-down original in Athens. Inside, you can worship the goddess Athena -- a guilded sculpture that's 42 feet tall.
Address: 2600 W. End Ave., Nashville, TN
Directions: I-440 exit 1. Drive east on West End Ave., then turn left at 26th Ave. into Centennial Park.
Admission: Adults $6, Senior and Kids $4
Hours: Tu-Sa 9-4:30. June-August hours are extended to Su 12:30-4:30. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and N (Call to verify)
Phone: 615-862-8431
How Americans See the World
A representative sampling:
- African: Oyotunji Village, near Sheldon, South Carolina
- Danish: The Little Mermaid, Kimballton, Iowa
- Dutch: Holland, Michigan
- English: Assorted Stonehenges
- Finland: St. Urho, who chased out the grasshoppers
- French: Eiffel Tower replica, Paris, Texas
- German: Bavarian-themed town of Kellogg, Idaho
- Greek: Spongeorama, Tarpon Springs, Florida
- Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee
- Italian: Leaning Tower of Niles, Illinois
- Mexican: South of the Border, Dillon, South Carolina
- Norwegian/Scandanavian: Vikings in America and Runes
