Travel writer Margaret Littman checks in with us from Nashville, where she lives when she’s not in Chicago (or wandering the world):
My backyard is eerily pitch black. I live on the Cumberland River, which flows behind Opryland, home to the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland Hotel. Normally I enjoy the best light pollution. The hotel’s glass ceiling atrium glows in the dark all night long. The signage from the Opry is dotted by lit lampposts.
When the Cumberland River rose over the retaining wall Sunday, bringing 10 feet of water in to the Opryland hotel, Opry, parking lot and the rest of the resort, the power went out and I saw my backyard and my view in darkness for the first time.
Nashville is cleaning up, bailing out and moving on after the historic flood. It will be weeks or months before all the damage is tallied—from the farmland to Keith Urban’s guitars to the NFL stadium. But there are city blocks where it looks like spring as usual, with dark purple clematis climbing up a mailbox. Icons like the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts have re-opened their doors.
I’m making sure my guest room is ready for any friends and family who want to come visit and stimulate the local economy. But until my private night sky is illuminated by the bright lights of Opryland again, Nashville isn’t going to feel back to normal to me.
Margaret is working on the Nashville Essentials Guide, a digital guidebook to the city. Watch for updates on her website.
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