Union Station

During World War II, a young woman named Abigail came to the top balcony of Union Station to wave goodbye to her beau before he shipped off to France. When the war was over, she went back to the same spot, but instead of a long anticipated reunion, she was told he had been killed in action. That’s when, as the story goes, she threw herself onto the tracks in front of a train. Stories of a haunting at Union Station in downtown Nashville have been passed down through the years. Most of them include Room 711 on Union Station Hotel’s top floor, which overlooks the train tracks. According to news reports in 2017, the hotel decided to pay homage to Abigail and to embrace her spirit. Today, Room 711 is decorated with a 1940s theme and commemorates lost love.

Union Station’s original purpose was as a train station, which was a major intersection for both commercial and commuter rail. Completed in 1900, the station was a major feat for the city of Nashville, designed in the architectural style known as Romanesque Revival. Architect Richard Montfort’s vision included large stained glass windows, Italian marble, soaring ceilings, and ornate wood carvings. The building, constructed of Bowling Green gray stone and Tennessee marble, features a central interior arcade with skylights that flood the station with natural light. The tower that overlooks downtown Nashville is topped by a bronze statue of Mercury—the Roman god of commerce, travelers, and luck. The statue has been replaced and restored several times over the last century.

As transportation shifted from train to car to plane from 1900 to 1970, Union Station’s glory days quickly faded into the memory of a by-gone era. The station was abandoned in 1979 after passenger services were permanently discontinued. For the next seven years the building sat vacant until 1986 when the building was purchased by a group of investors. Aftera major restoration, the former station reopened as a luxury hotel. A second $11 million renovation took place in 2007. In 2014, the hotel was sold for $52 million to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, based in Maryland, and underwent another $15 million renovation. Take a tour of this historic train station, offered by the hotel staff, each Wednesday and Friday each Wednesday and every Saturday at 2 p.m. Call ahead to book a tour, and if you stay at the Union Station Hotel and seek a supernatural experience, be sure to book Room 711.

Walk the opposite way of Broadway, passing the US Post Office on your left, down Tenth Avenue South towards Union Station’s parking lot. You will notice an entry road past the Flying Saucer leading down to the Public Parking and Gateway Garage lot. Here you will see two train cars, marking your second stop.