On Saturday, October 19, the Tennessee State Museum will celebrate its 26th annual Haunted Museum Storytelling Festival from 10:00 AM – 2:30 PM. Begun in the fall of 1998, this family day has become one of the most anticipated days of the year at the Museum. It offers families a free, fun and safe Halloween event for children of all ages.
Each year, the Museum dresses up in its Halloween décor and presents games, crafts, stories and prizes. Kids wear their costumes and settle in to hear spooky stories from Tennessee’s past. Throughout the day, local storytellers Charlie McCoin, Allen Dyer, Tonya Abari, Lisa Bubert, and Antonia Royal Whitmore will tell tales in the Digital Learning Center (DLC).
The beloved Nashville Puppet Truck will perform two shows at 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Children will also receive a free book from the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation when collecting stamps at their spooky stations. Head upstairs to the Museum galleries for “Tales from the Past,” which guides visitors through various strange and not-so-scary stories throughout Tennessee history.
An American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter from their community partner, BRIDGES For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, will be present during the Nashville Puppet Truck performances and stories in the DLC.
Lunch and Learn: The Nashville Musical History Tour: Traveling Beyond Music Row Thursday, October 17 at TSM
Everybody who lives in Nashville knows at least a handful of legendary stories from the city’s rich musical legacy. Where they happened, though, that’s another matter. Music historian and journalist Brian Mansfield, who runs the Nashville Musical History Tour Facebook page, will lead a virtual tour of Music City, sharing many of these stories, along with the exact locations where they took place. From the secret history of Nashville’s parking lots to remarkable tales from unexceptional houses, this presentation could change the way you see places you pass by every day.
A Nashville native, Brian Mansfield is a nationally recognized music journalist and historian who currently serves as managing editor for Country Insider, a daily email newsletter for the country radio industry. Additionally, he operates the Nashville Musical History Tour Facebook page, re-telling the stories of Nashville music through the locations at which the events took place.
Mansfield spent 18 years as USA Today’s Nashville correspondent and has written for publications including Variety, The Tennessean, and the Nashville Scene. A graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music who also attended Nashville’s Belmont University, Mansfield is a former President of Historic Nashville, Inc., and formerly served on the board of directors for the Country Music Association.
This Lunch and Learn event is in-person in the Museum’s Digital Learning Center at 12:00 p.m. Thursday, October 17. No RSVPs are required to attend this free event. It will also be livestreamed on the Museum’s website at TNMuseum.org/Videos.
