Tennessee State Capitol

The Tennessee State Capitol sits on a high limestone bluff, capped by a central tower modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. Architect William Strickland spent his final years obsessing over its design, insisting on using native Tennessee marble and limestone. He died before the building opened in eighteen fifty-nine, and workers buried him in a hollowed-out section of the north wall. His remains stayed sealed inside the masonry for decades while legislators debated laws in the chambers nearby.