Ryman Auditorium

Riverboat captain Thomas Ryman built the hall in 1892 as a tabernacle for a traveling revival preacher, which is why it still looks and sounds like a church — the pews are original, and the acoustics that make it famous come from the same wood-frame, no-frills construction meant to carry a sermon to the back row without a microphone. The Confederate Gallery balcony was added in 1897. From 1943 to 1974 it was home to the Grand Ole Opry, and that's the stretch of history people mean when they call it the Mother Church of Country Music — Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash all played the Opry here before it moved out to Music Valley.

The building nearly didn't survive: it sat empty and deteriorating through the '70s and '80s after the Opry left, and only a 1990s restoration by Gaylord Entertainment saved it. Today it holds 2,362 seats across the main floor and that same steep balcony, and the room's reputation for sound has made it a bucket-list stop for artists well outside country — Jack White, Radiohead members, and countless others have recorded live albums here specifically because of how it sounds.

Daytime self-guided and guided tours walk the stage, the dressing rooms, and the museum-style exhibits on the building's Opry years; the reimagined Backstage Tour goes further into the areas performers actually use before a show. But the building is a working concert hall first — check the calendar for an actual show if you can, since sitting in a pew for a live set is a different experience than walking through in daylight.