Tennessee State Museum

The Tennessee State Museum occupies a long, low building of Tennessee marble located at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street. Its construction in nineteen eighty-one brought the state’s scattered historical artifacts into one consolidated collection for the first time. The most jarring piece inside is a set of original, rusted shackles from the state’s early slave markets. They sit behind glass near the permanent exhibits, a quiet weight that anchors the narrative of Tennessee’s past before the galleries begin.