Arrive To: CHECK-IN: Please arrive at the hotel between 3:00-5:00pm. Check into your room at the front desk and then register with Road Scholar staff in the Main lobby. At this time you'll be given a welcome packet containing your name tag, up-to-date itinerary and other useful information.

Dinner: Dinner is served at one of the Opryland Hotels restaurants

Evening: ORIENTATION: After dinner we will have our Orientaion. This will provide you with information about the hotel, program itinerary, instructors, venues and on site staff.

Lodging: Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast is served at one of the hotel's restaurants

Morning: PRESENTATIONS: Today we meet with staff of the hotel for a walking program of the hotel followed by the Green Leaf Experience led by the Gaylord Horticultural Department Staff. Green Leaf Department gives a potted plant arrangement experience.

Lunch: You will have a meal voucher that is good at either Stax Burgers or Pisano's Pizza and Italian.

Afternoon: PRESENTATION: This afteroon we meet with the Gaylord staff as they lead us on a behind the scenes look at the Gaylord Hotel which is the largest non-casino hotel in the world. We will explore the housekeeping, room service and banquet departments at the hotel.

Dinner: Dinner is included this evening.

Evening: FREE EVENING: Evening is free to enjoy one of the hotel's many entertainment venues. The hotel is chuck full of evening entertainment and your Road Scholar staff is happy to help you with suggestions.

Lodging: Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Voucher towards breakfast at one of the food outlets or restaurants.

Morning: FIELD TRIP: Today we explore the home of Andrew Jackson. To Andrew Jackson The Hermitage meant more than just the mansion; it meant his entire farm. It also meant refuge from the trials and frustrations of public life. But before Jackson purchased The Hermitage, the property was owned and settled by Nathaniel Hays. In 1780, Nathaniel laid claim to a 640- acre preemption land grant comprised of heavily forested level land with rich soil served by natural springs and creeks. The Cumberland and Stone’s rivers were less than two miles away from Hays’ land that would eventually become The Hermitage.

Lunch: Enjoy a traditional southern BBQ with all the fixins

Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: Visit Belle Meade Plantation. In 1807, Virginian John Harding bought 250 acres and a log cabin known as Dunham Station, a trading post on the Natchez Trace. In 1853 John Harding’s son, William Giles Harding, completed the Greek Revival mansion, doubling its size and adding the front porch and columns, which are solid limestone. Harding was very wealthy and very pro-secession and donated $500,000 to the Southern cause. When the Federals occupied Nashville in February 1862, Harding was arrested and sent north to Fort Mackinac in Michigan to be imprisoned. His wife, Elizabeth I. McGavock, was left to tend their farm in his absence. In September, Harding was released on parole and returned to Belle Meade. Belle Meade was headquarters to Confederate Gen. James R. Chalmers of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry command prior to the Battle of Nashville in December 1864. On the first day of the battle, Union soldiers burned the Rebel wagons parked at the racetrack while Chalmers was elsewhere. Returning to Belle Meade, Chalmers’ men charged the Yankees and drove them back before running into an enemy infantry camp. The Yankees fired as the cavalry galloped back past the mansion, where Selene Harding, 19, waved a handkerchief despite the bullets flying around her. Bullet holes can still be seen in the porch columns. After the war, William Harding turned over control of the farm to his son-in-law, William Jackson, a West Point graduate who had commanded a cavalry division under Gen. S.D. Lee in Mississippi and Louisiana. Under Jackson’s tutelage, Belle Meade (French for “beautiful meadow”) became an internationally renown thoroughbred farm and showplace. The farm sold breeding stock of ponies, Alderney cattle, Cotswold sheep, and Cashmere goats. The vast estate also featured a 600-acre deer park.

Dinner: Dinner is not included as we will be having a very large lunch at the Belle Meade Plantation.

Evening: FREE EVENING: Evening is free to enjoy the hotel amenities.

Lodging: Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Lecture on Gaylord Family & Entertainment, Backstage exploration at Grand Old Opry

Breakfast: Breakfast voucher towards two breakfast outlets at hotel.

Morning: PRESENTATION: This morning we enjoy a presentation by the Opryland Staff on the history of the Gaylord Family and Opryland Hotel.

Morning: FIELD TRIP: Backstage exploration of the Grand Old Opry House. We will visit the entire complex with a local expert. The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee that has presented the biggest stars of the genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of legends and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, folk, comedy, and gospel. Considered an American icon, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and Internet listeners. The Opry, today part of the American landscape, is "the show that made country music famous", and has been called the "home of American music" and "country’s most famous stage."

Lunch: Lunch is included today at the hotel.

Afternoon: FREE TIME: Enjoy a free afternoon to explore Nashville or other area attractions. Your Road Scholar staff is happy to help you with suggestions.

Dinner: Dinner is included at a local restaurant.

Lodging: Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast included at one of the hotel's restaurants

Morning: FIELD TRIP: Today we travel to Shelbyville where we visit the Celebration Grounds, home of the World Championships for Tennessee Walking Horses. Next we travel to Clearview Farm where we will enjoy a horse show and talks with trainers, riders and staff of the farm. The Tennessee Walker or Tennessee Walking Horse is a breed of riding horse. The breed was originally bred in the Southern United States to carry the owners of plantations around their lands. They are known for their unique four-beat "running walk". The breed is rarely seen in any of the sport horse disciplines; however, they are popular in trail riding because of their smooth gaits, stamina and easy temper. In addition they are also seen in Western riding disciplines and in harness.

Lunch: Lunch included at local restaurant

Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: This afternoon we visit the Jack Daniel's Distillery for a guided exploration of their working facility. The Jack Daniel's Distillery – the oldest registered distillery in the U.S. – is where it all happens. It’s where Mr. Jack first crafted the recipe for Old No. 7. It’s where the pure, iron-free cave spring water flows. And it’s where every drop of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Sippin’ Whiskey is still made today.

Dinner: Dinner is included this evening.

Evening: FREE EVENING: Free to explore one of many entertainment venues

Lodging: Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Depart From: Depart following the program

Breakfast: Breakfast is included

Morning: FINAL PROGRAM: What would a visit to Nashville be without meeting a singer/songwriter? This morning you will meet with a professional singer and songwriter as you write your own song.

Meals Included: Breakfast