Curious Nashville Nashville Public Radio

Something new has hit Nashville’s hot real estate market: a beach, right smack in the middle of downtown Nashville.

But, until it’s sold, Nashvillians driving through the intersection of Lafayette, Division and 4th Avenue may wonder: What is that sandy triangle doing there?

One listener directed this question to our Curious Nashville project, so we took a brief “vacation” to SoBro to find the answer.

Photos: Visit this story at WPLN.org to see photos of the Little Chill Beach.

On a small island in the middle of Centennial Park’s Lake Watauga stand five towers of beehives. One of our listeners spotted the hard-to-reach hives and inquired about the bees: Who cares for them? What happens to the honey? Do other parks have hives?

In 2017, a listener wrote to ask: “On Sulphur Creek Road, in Coble, Tennessee, we saw what appeared to be a ‘space capsule’ with a NASA logo on the end. What is it?”

Now, for the first time anywhere, Curious Nashville has the story for the Hickman County space capsule.

Credits: Curious Nashville is a project of Nashville Public Radio. Tony Gonzalez is executive producer, and Paula Ramirez reported this story. Paige Pfleger edited this episode. The music is from the Blue Dot Sessions.

Curious Nashville turns the tables and asks you to help us solve a mystery. It involves Bob Dylan, John Cale, and Edie Sedgwick — and a song that brings them together.

This intriguing tale comes to us from Justin Barney, assistant program director for WNXP, the music discovery station that Nashville Public Radio launched in 2020.

Alongside some Tennessee roads, you might notice knee-high cement markers — usually quite weathered — that have this inscription: “H’Y R.W.” In learning what those are all about, Curious Nashville also revisits a fascinating saga from local history.

To see photos that accompany this podcast, visit www.wpln.org/curious.

Lawmakers are back in Nashville for session, and it’s busy again inside the Tennessee State Capitol. But all year round, the historic building draws interest and provides tours — and it has prompted several questions to Curious Nashville that we’re answering in a batch today.

You can see photos related to this story, and learn more, at this story on WPLN.org.