Nashville Murals: A Local's Guide to the Walls Worth Finding
- Paul Whitten
- Aug 1
- 4 min read
By Paul Whitten, Founder of Nashville Adventures
Somewhere in your camera roll, or your friend's, or your cousin's bachelorette album, there's a photo of someone standing in front of a pair of painted wings in Nashville. I'd bet money on it.
Nashville murals have become their own tourist economy. People plan entire afternoons around them, and honestly, they're right to. But here's what the Instagram guides won't tell you: the best Nashville murals aren't just backdrops. They're arguments about what this city is, painted by people with strong opinions on the matter.
I tell Nashville's history for a living, and I've come to think of the city's walls as its most honest historians. Here's where to find them, and what they're actually saying.
The Icons: Nashville Murals That Built the Trend
"I Believe in Nashville," 12South (plus Marathon Village and East Nashville). Adrien Saporiti painted the original on a whim in 2012, and it became the city's unofficial civic creed. The red, white, and blue tri-star design gets vandalized occasionally, and every time, the city repaints it fast, which tells you something about what it means to people. Saporiti has said the point was its openness:
"It's simple, positive, and allows every person a chance to personally connect their experiences to the greater whole." (via I Believe in Nashville)
That's the whole Nashville trick, by the way. A city that lets everyone believe their version of it.
The "What Lifts You" Wings in the Gulch. Kelsey Montague's white angel wings might be the most photographed wall in Tennessee. Expect a line on weekends. Go before 9 a.m. and you'll have them to yourself.
The Draper James Stripes in 12South. Reese Witherspoon's blue and white striped wall proved a mural doesn't need words to become a landmark.
The Ones Locals Actually Love
The famous walls earn their crowds. But the murals that tell you the most about Nashville are the ones without a line out front.
Off Broadway and down the alleys, downtown hides painted history most visitors walk right past: tributes to the city's music legends, its neighborhoods, and moments the guidebooks skip. Some of my favorite walls in the city are within two blocks of streets people say they've "already seen."
East Nashville treats murals the way it treats everything: independent, a little defiant, constantly changing. Walls turn over year to year, which means no two visits match.
The Nations, West Nashville's former industrial pocket, is home to the city's most audacious piece: a 15-story portrait of a local man named Lee Estes, painted by Australian artist Guido van Helten on a concrete silo. Estes lived in the neighborhood for decades, and now he watches over it, six stories taller than anything around him. No sign, no gift shop. Just a neighborhood that put one of its own on the biggest canvas it had. The Nashville Walls Project helped bring international artists like van Helten to town, and the city's inventory of serious public art has grown every year since.
Bicentennial Mall and Jefferson Street carry the city's civil rights and Black music history in paint. These walls do real historical work, in a part of town whose story too many visitors never hear.
How to Do a Mural Day Right
Go early. The famous walls photograph best before the crowds arrive, and before the light goes flat and harsh at midday.
Cluster your stops. 12South is one cluster, the Gulch another, East Nashville a third. Don't zigzag; you'll spend your day parking.
Look up and look behind. Some of the best pieces are above eye level or on the back side of the building everyone photographs from the front.
Tip like the wall is a busker. If a mural sits outside a small business, buy something. That wall is likely the reason the shop survives.
Get the story, not just the shot. A mural with its history attached is a different experience than a backdrop.
That last one is the whole reason we built our Nashville mural photo tour, a guided walk that pairs the city's best walls with the stories behind them, plus someone who knows the angles, so everyone ends up in the photos instead of taking them.
Why a City Paints Itself
Here's the historian's take, free of charge.
Nashville has always advertised its identity: on barn roofs for the Opry, on guitar-shaped signs, on rhinestone suits. Murals are just the newest verse of a very old song, a city that knows it's being looked at, deciding what to show.
What I love is that the walls don't agree with each other. Some sell the boomtown. Some mourn what the boom bulldozed. Some just want you to feel welcome for one photo. Walk enough of them in one afternoon and you'll understand more about modern Nashville than any bus tour will teach you.
Paint fades. Buildings sell. Whole walls disappear behind new construction. Muralists here know their work is temporary, and they paint anyway. If that's not the most Nashville thing you've ever heard, you haven't met enough songwriters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are the most famous murals in Nashville?
The heaviest hitters cluster in three areas: 12South ("I Believe in Nashville," the Draper James stripes), the Gulch (the "What Lifts You" wings), and East Nashville's ever-changing walls. The Nations holds the giant silo portrait.
Are Nashville murals free to visit?
Yes. Every outdoor mural in this guide is free to visit and photograph. Just be respectful of the businesses they're painted on, especially if you're lining up a photo during shop hours.
How long does it take to see Nashville's murals?
A focused half-day covers one or two neighborhoods comfortably. A guided mural tour covers the best downtown-area walls in about two hours, with the stories and photo help included.
What is the big face mural on the silo in Nashville?
That's Guido van Helten's 15-story portrait of Lee Estes, a longtime resident of The Nations neighborhood, painted on a concrete silo off 51st Avenue North in 2017. It's the largest mural in the city.
Bring Your Camera. We'll Bring the Stories.
If you're going to spend an afternoon chasing walls, do it with someone who knows which ones matter and how to shoot them. Our Nashville mural photo tour handles the route, the history, and the photography, and it's become a favorite for bachelorette groups who want pictures that don't look like everyone else's. Morning slots have the best light and they book first, so grab yours here.
The walls are waiting. They repaint faster than you think.
