Programs and Services

Fort Negley Visitors Center offers and hosts a variety of events, lectures and programs sure to please every member of your family or group.

School Programs and Field Trips

Let Fort Negley’s knowledgeable staff and volunteers provide a memorable experience for your students!

 Fort Negley offers FREE school programs and field trips Tuesday through Friday with advanced reservations. Please make reservations at least two weeks in advance.

School programs and field trips include a guided tour of Fort Negley, access to Fort Negley Visitors Center’s exhibits and films and a choice of one or more of a variety of hands-on activities tailored to meet your specific needs.

Groups of 30 or more must be divided and rotated between a film, the tour and other activities prepared by Fort Negley staff.

All programs and tours are adapted according to grade level and address Tennessee state performance indicators for social studies.

Please allow a minimum of one to two hours for your visit.

Our guided walking tour "Fort Negley: A Symbol of Union Occupation" emphasizes the fort’s impact on military operations, race relations and occupied civilians through first-person accounts and official records. Interpretive panels located at the fort illustrate life in occupied Nashville, Fort Negley’s construction, key political and military figures and a variety of other topics. Boardwalks located within the fort offer students access to the largest inland masonry fortification built during the Civil War and better understanding of design and construction. Fort Negley’s commanding position atop St. Cloud Hill, 260 feet above the Cumberland River, provides students a one-of-a-kind view of the city. Please allow a minimum of one hour to tour the fort.

Fort Negley Visitors Center recommends combining the tour with one or both of the 20 minute films offered.

“The Fall of Nashville” serves as an introduction to Nashville’s importance to Union and Confederate military objectives in the Western Theater.

“Defending Nashville: The Story of Fort Negley” focuses on the building of Nashville’s fortification system and Fort Negley’s role during the Civil War.

Hands On Activities

Fort Negley’s staff and volunteers offer a variety of activities tailored to meet your educational needs.

Our Fort Construction / Destruction activity allows students the opportunity to experiment with fort design and construction. Students love building a fort wall from cardboard boxes and knocking it down with projectiles (bean bags) of different sizes and weights.

Our Life in a Civil War Army activity, led by knowledgeable and dedicated reenactors, introduces the equipment, clothing and food used by Civil War soldiers.

Our Basic Principles of Artillery activity illustrates the importance of rifled weapons one the amazing technological advances developed during the mid-19th Century.

Our Defenses of Nashville activity explores the types and purposes of fortifications using illustrations and maps. Suitable for students fifth grade and up.

Each activity lasts approximately 20 minutes.

Guided Group Tours

Interested in bringing your group or club to Fort Negley?

Free guided group tours are available Tuesday through Saturday with reservations. Please make reservations a minimum of two weeks in advance by calling Fort Negley Visitors Center at 615-862-8470. Group tours include one or both of our 20 minute videos, a tour of Fort Negley guided by our knowledgeable staff and volunteers and an opportunity to explore the visitors center and the gift shop.

Our guided walking tour "Fort Negley: A Symbol of Union Occupation" emphasizes the fort’s impact on military operations, race relations and occupied civilians through first-person accounts and official records. Interpretive panels located at the fort illustrate life in occupied Nashville, Fort Negley’s construction, key political and military figures and a variety of other topics. Boardwalks located within the fort offer visitors access to the largest inland masonry fortification built during the Civil War and better understanding of design and construction. Fort Negley’s commanding position atop St. Cloud Hill, 260 feet above the Cumberland River, provides visitors a one-of-a-kind view of the city. Please allow a minimum of one hour to tour the fort.

“The Fall of Nashville” serves as an introduction to Nashville’s importance to Union and Confederate military objectives in the Western Theater.

“Defending Nashville: The Story of Fort Negley” focuses on the building of Nashville’s fortification system and Fort Negley’s role during the Civil War.

Become a Fort Negley Junior Historian!

The Junior Historian program is free and open to all school age children visiting the site. Just pick up the Junior Historian scavenger hunt in the visitors center and complete the questions using the interpretive panels at the fort. Bring the completed scavenger hunt back to the visitors center to receive your certificate and a prize.

Nashville Civil War Roundtable

Founded in 2009, the Nashville Civil War Roundtable provides a relaxed atmosphere for all those interested in the American Civil War to learn and discuss.

Join the Nashville Civil War Roundtable on the third Monday of each month at 7:00 pm at the Fort Negley Visitors Center for an extraordinary line-up of presentations, lectures and programs.

All programs are free and open to the public but the group also encourages membership. Annual membership dues along with proceeds from the silent auction support programming and local preservation causes. For more information, please visit http://nashvillecivilwarroundtable.wordpress.com/. Find us on Facebook!

Fort Donelson Camp No. 62

Sons of Union Veterans

 Fort Donelson Camp No. 62, Sons of Union Veterans, meets at Fort Negley Visitors Center on the fourth Tuesday every other month. The next meeting is scheduled for January 22, 2013. The business meeting begins at 6 p.m. followed by the program at 7 p.m. All programs are free and open to the public. For more information, check out the web site at http://www.tnsuvcw.org/.

Special Events

Each year, Fort Negley Visitors Center and Historical Park offers a variety of special events including living histories. If you would like to receive information on upcoming events by joining our email events list, please send your name and email address to Fort Negley Visitors Center or contact us at 615-862-8470. 

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Interested in receiving more information about upcoming events and programs at Fort Negley Visitors Center? Our regular events emails and bi-monthly newsletter the Fort Negley Wig Wag will keep you up to date! To subscribe, simply contract us at 615-862-8470 or email us your name and email address.

Fort Negley Wig Wag January/February 2013

Fort Negley Wig Wag March/April 2013