Riverfront Park

We were in town for a weekend and thought this would be one of the places we should see since Nashville is also a river town. Meh… I’ve seen better. The Cumberland River itself is not very wide. That LP field is just so hard to miss. It is really not a pretty sight unless you are a Titans fan. The park itself is not big. There is not much open grassy area. We saw a group of squatters or drifters congregating under one of the few shaded areas in the park. The riverbank was unkempt and growing wild with tall weeds. If you are on Broadway, I guess you should make a short stop around the corner to see the park. But there is no need to make a special trip to the riverfront.

We passed along through here and it was oookaaayyy. The park just seems kind of dingy and gray, and not much of a view. There’s a lot of renovating and construction going on right here, so it was just meh. I’m glad I didn’t have high expectations and was just passing through, or else I’d be pretty disappointed!

Despite the NYE barricades all week, we were able to enjoy a parcel of this great park in the cold weather, complementing Cumberland Park across the water.

Love this area! I moved to Nashville in June of 2014 and this was the first music venue I visited. They have a lot of free concerts and special events so there is always something to see. I live within walking distance so I am quite fond of it.
How wouldn’t love seeing a live show on the river with steamboats rolling down river, the moon over the pedestrian bridge and the city skylne and honky tonks right behind you?!

Riverfront Park is right on Broadway St. It overlooks the river. This is a nice place to relax, read a book or get some sun. There are these big concrete stairs that you can sit on. If you decide to walk down the stairs there are a few more benches for you to sit and enjoy the view.
However, the park is not very big it is a little on the small side and there is not much grass. It’s mostly concrete. It is not an ideal location for a picnic or to play a sport. If you are searching for a cab in Nashville this seems to be the central location where you can find a cab. Also, you can rent bikes within this central area as well.

Nashville. i didn’t know you had some sort of relief from the honky tonk and loud street of Broadway. It was a little area where you could probably snuggle with your sweetheart and be away from the hustle and bustle.
Lighting could be better considering it’s a park. You are able to talk to your friend or sweetheart without shouting. You can see the Stadium (for the Tennesse Titans) and you get to meet other strangers visiting.
I wish it was earlier and we could have walked around more but the lack of lighting prohibits me and my Nashville cohort to wander far from the crowd.

My travel companion loves to walk everywhere in order to really get the sense of a city. If it wasn’t for him, I would have never seen this little Nashville gem. One thing is for sure: I was happy we visited this park at night. It was so hot and humid in Nashville, visiting this park during the day would have been a nightmare.
What drew us to the park was the light cast from the pretty changing colors of the psychedelic elevator which brings you up to the the Shelby Street bridge. I saw it off in the distance while we were driving around, looking for a good spot to take skyline shots of Nashville’s skyscrapers. I also saw the bridge next to it and I was like, «Oooo, I wanna go there!» I got all excited about it and was yelling it out, pointing at it like 5 year olds do. What’s cool is that my travel partner gets the same way when he sees stuff like that and it automatically turns into a quest for him. We were so excited that we didn’t even notice that when we got there, we had literally parked the car in the middle of the road and left it there in front of the elevator.
The elevator was all glass and I’d say the ride up to the bridge is about 4 stories. I immediately ran up to the elevator with my friend and as soon as the elevator started going up, I realized that the height and the speed with which the elevator was climbing was not pleasant at all! I had to cover my face and not look out of the glass. The inside of the elevator also smelled like pee. It was gross. The city of Nashville should clean it out!
Walking up to the Shelby Street Bridge was amazing at night because of the way the spotlights illuminated the bridge, it really showed off the architecture. The only complaint that I would have is that the bridge is the best place to take skyline shots, and all of the bright lights on the bridge seriously mess with your nighttime photos. I had to hold my phone out from the bridge as far as possible in order to get a decent shot. The bridge is also a place where local teens like to go and smoke cigarettes, and no doubt, they like to party and chill there. This didn’t bother me, but I noticed that they really don’t have personal space issues and thought nothing of walking really close to me to get around me while the bridge itself was not busy. My travel partner saw this happening as well and did not like it at all.
The rest of the park is very clean. Under the bridge there are plenty of picnic tables for visitors to have lunch on better days. Looking at Unilocal photos, it also seems like this is a place where outdoor concerts happen and I couldn’t think of a better location. I really enjoyed exploring this part of the city. When we walked back, we took the stairs down and stayed away from the stinky scary elevator. Make sure you check this place out!

I went here last night for Americanarama (a concert featuring Wilco and Bob Dylan among others). My husband and I are too old (and I’m too short) to stand body to body with a lot of people with BO, so we opted for the only seated area, on a hill at the back of the venue. It was a pretty terrible experience. The biggest problem was WE COULDN’T HEAR THE MUSIC. The stage was probably a third of a mile away and the speakers were not powerful enough to get the music back there. They also had an ice cream stand with a huge, loud generator right at the base of the hill of the seated area, which further drowned out the music. And we couldn’t see a thing. It might as well have been ants performing.
Add to this that they don’t allow you to bring chairs or coolers or umbrellas (confiscated at the gate) and it made for a pretty cruddy experience. I won’t be back.

First time I had been here and loved the space. Will be back at future events!

I decided to come down here for a quick short walk before work after it rained a whole heck of a lot. The water had risen up the steps and then you realize, yeah this isn’t that high compared to the flood of 2010. It’s nice to have this relatively quiet space downtown, which can easily be used for events also. Good work Nashville. Outdoor green spaces for the win!

The location is great — it’s right on the river (uh, you did notice the name, right?) and if you happen to be wandering Broadway, you can pop over to the park by walking just a couple of extra blocks.
Nice enough view, being that you are downtown and all, and a few nice benches to sit and watch the river run by. Unfortunately that’s about it. I hear that there are events that take place here, but if you don’t happen to be here when they are taking place, there really isn’t much else to do except sit and watch said river.
Still, it’s a nice park — just don’t look for much other than an escape from, well, everything else.

I love love love this space as it can host some pretty fabulous events like Pride Fest and this weekend’s Southern Ground Festival. How can you resist the backdrop of the bridge, waterfront, while being hugged by the downtown landscape?
Ah, would love to host my own event here someday… soon.
TIP: With a wealth of parking lots, garages, and street parking surrounding this area — parking is not an issue.

Great location. Very kid friendly with sandcastle making areas, rock wall, slides, etc. Great night views of the city as well.

On its own, it’s not very much to look at. I can see its value if there is some outdoor shindig going on.
To be honest, it reminds me of a similar setup I had at my high school — but this is about 3 times bigger.
We did keep in mind how much this area flooded recently and I was amazed at how much the water must have risen to overflow into downtown.
I don’t know if they’re part of the park, but my husband and I did enjoy looking at the random historical buildings nearby of what life during log cabin times must’ve been like in Nashville.

There’s not much to say about this park. It slopes downhill and has some seats, it’s cool to be at when there’s an event, but it’s not something you would want to go see on its own.
When there are events, it’s a neat space. It lacks any bathroom facilities though so you’re at the mercy of whatever company is providing port-​a-​johns this time and however badly they underestimate or overestimate the needs (ie if there is an event where you pay 1 price and get all the beer you can drink, bring an adult diaper or a bucket)
It’s a lawn, I sat on it when I was a broke kid and watched the water roll by, listened to the random noises and never really had any problems late at night other than I slipped on the dew.
The one sad thing about the place is how often it floods — if an event is held there, chances are it might be underwater and cancelled if there’s been mass rain upstream.

Unless you’re at Riverfront for a festival or concert, there’s really no appeal to it. It’s an okay place, but if you’re looking for a view of the river, take the Shelby Ave. bridge instead.

I’ve been to Riverfront Park a few times, and I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this place. When there’s no festival or event going on, I don’t see much other than green spaces and the occassional homeless folk walking around or sleeping.
However, I do love the fact that there are festivals near the water! It’s the spot for the 4^th of July celebration, the Music City BBQ Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, among other events. You have a great view of the cityscape, as well as a nice view of LP Field, and of course the weird red rollercoaster art structure. Still unsure what that is.
The park itself is really well maintained, and very green. Although, in general, I’d call this «steps»…not a park, really. It’s a great spot to pass by on a long run, or to have a little picnic by the water. Other than that, I really can’t see myself frequenting a place like this.

I was at Riverfront Park this past weekend for the annual Dragon Boat Races. The event itself was a whole lot of fun, minus the fact that it was 100 degrees outside and our team didn’t win the race.
Other than events, I’m not really sure what the park would be used for. I’m all for green spaces in downtown areas, but the set up of this park is rather strange. It seems like if there is no event going on it turns into a homeless hangout. Otherwise the park is really clean and well maintained, and you have a great view of LP Field across the Cumberland.

This is a really cool part of the downtown Nashville area. I first went there for the 4^th of July celebration w/​Darius Rucker performing. It was so cool to be outside enjoying the view of the river while listening to good live music.
I love watching the barges, boats, etc trail through the river. The other day I witnessed a speedboat pulling a skier.

Downtown parks and green space is almost never a bad idea. So Riverfront park on the bank of the Cumberland river has a fair amount of potential. The one downside is that it’s mostly concrete. There are giant stairs that you can sit on and look across the river which is pretty cool, but there’s not much else going on here.
I imagine it’s great for a concert and I see other people’s comments to this (how cool would a band on a barge be?). It’s also interesting to get a healthy respect for Mother Nature here: if you wander by, check out the giant flood monitor at the end of the park. It’s impressive how high the river can potentially go.