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Nashville: Tune that fiddle!

After historic floods devastated many popular Nashville sites in early May, the city is looking forward to the reopening of several attractions this autumn and winter.

Among the hardest-hit areas were a number of Gaylord-owned properties in the Opryland area. Flood damage forced the closing of the Opry House, home to the live radio broadcasts of the “Grand Ole Opry,” as well as Gaylord’s flagship Opryland Resort and the Opry Mills Mall.

After round-the-clock restoration work, the Opry House was scheduled to reopen on Sept. 28, just in time to celebrate the Opry’s 85th anniversary on Oct. 8.

While the building was closed for repairs, the shows and live broadcasts continued from the Ryman Auditorium, the Opry’s historic home in downtown Nashville.

Opryland Resort will open with several new features and redesigned public areas on Nov. 15, just before kicking off its annual A Country Christmas celebration on Nov. 19. No official opening date has been announced for Opry Mills Mall.

Downtown, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center also sustained extensive damage during the flooding. The beautiful neoclassical building was completed in 2006 at a cost of some $123 million; the center’s losses due to the flood are estimated at $42 million.

This spring’s floodwaters damaged the interior of the building and the console of the 3,500-pipe organ, which was custom built for the Schermerhorn center. Crews are working on restoring the building and the organ, and concerts are scheduled to resume on Jan. 6.

For more on Nashville:

An American icon
Tune that fiddle!
From mastodons to muskets
WEB EXCLUSIVES! Two more Nashville icons

Brian Jewell

Brian Jewell is the executive editor of The Group Travel Leader. In more than a decade of travel journalism he has visited 48 states and 25 foreign countries.