Tennessee State Capitol

There is more than meets the eye at the Tennessee State Capitol, including some ghostly tenants. In fact, four prominent Tennesseans have found their final resting places on Capitol Hill. Interestingly, James K. and Sarah Childress Polk were first buried at their home on 7th Ave. You’ll learn more about them later in the tour, but after the sale of the Polk Place in 1893, their remains were moved to the East Garden of the Capitol. Their tomb was designed by one of the men who is buried nearby: William Strickland. 

Strickland was the building’s architect and considered it to be his greatest achievement, but he did not live to see its completion. He died in 1854 before the building’s dedication in 1859. His request to be buried inside the building was honored and his body rests in a crypt on the North wall. Businessman Samuel Morgan is the final person buried inside of the building. Morgan was a member of the commission that oversaw the construction of the Capitol and he was instrumental in recruiting William Strickland for the job. 

Here is where it gets spooky: Some people claim that Strickland and Morgan constantly disagreed over the construction budget. Employees and visitors to the Capitol have reported hearing men arguing, even when nobody is left in the building. Could it be the two men arguing all these years later? This is not the only strange experience people have had at the Capitol. Some have reported seeing a woman in an antebellum dress, possibly Andrew Jackson’s wife Rachel. Others have seen an apparition kneeling next to the Polks’ gravesite. Finally, both the ghosts of Confederate and Union soldiers have been seen guarding the Capitol from time to time. Whether these haunts are real or imagined, the Tennessee State Capitol makes it a perfect setting for a good ghost story. 

For more on the Tennessee State Capitol visit several other Nashville Sites tours that include this building. They include: Capitol and Church Architecture, Woman’s Suffrage, Civic and Public Spaces, and many more!

Turn around and walk back towards the center of the plaza to and click “Next Stop” to begin the narration for Legislative and War Memorial Plazas.