Grounds and Gardens

There’s a whole world waiting to be discovered in the 50-acre Heritage Park at Discovery Park of America—and in 2025, it’s growing even more exciting. Plans are underway to introduce a wide variety of new horticulture and agriculture experiences designed to educate, inspire and connect guests to the beauty and importance of the natural world. Soon, visitors will be able to explore display gardens, row crop plots, native habitats, pollinator-friendly landscapes and more. While strolling the park’s nearly two miles of walking paths—surrounded by waterfalls, bridges, art installations and a man-made river—guests may spot wildlife like rabbits, turtles and ducks as they take in the sights of this expanding outdoor experience.

Unlike other gardens, Discovery Park is best experienced with all the senses, so feel free to take off your shoes and feel the grass beneath your feet. Guests will find “Please feel free to walk on our grass” signs throughout the park.

STEM Landing

STEM Landing features a showcase of great STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) achievements. This area encourages guests of all ages to explore the different ways that STEM principles help shape our world. You will find a collection of NASA mission patches inside the geodesic dome, as well as an orbiter and other space-related artifacts. Then, you can walk outside and see an F-84 Jet and a Blue Angels plane on display, as well as a 110-foot Titan I missile donated by NASA. Everyone in the family will find something they will enjoy at STEM Landing.

Children’s Discovery Garden

A babbling brook and a variety of shrubs and flowers that attract pollinators like butterflies make the area a garden, but Discovery Park’s youngest guests will find even more to discover in the one-of-a-kind, nature-inspired playground experience. Featured is a PlayOdyssey Tower, log steppers, log balance beams, hillside climbers, slides and a mini zip line. A chessboard with 3-foot tall pieces provides an opportunity to spend a little competitive family time.

The collection of chimes, bells, metallophones and drums were designed by Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments to allow musicians of all skill levels to experience subtle shifts of tones and individual sounds combinations while making music in outdoor setting. The joy of making music can be experienced at any age so the instruments are close enough to the ground to be inviting to guests of any age.

The climbing structures were designed using using real rocks and boilders as molds and feature artificial embedded fossils. These fossils, along with a “dino bone pit” sandbox provide a chance for young—or young at heart—guests to try their hand at paleontology.

The Train Depot

The Train Depot is modeled after two historic train stations: Matson Switch, located nearby between Woodland Mills, Tennessee and Hickman, Kentucky and the Cookeville Train Depot in Cookeville, Tennessee. This is an appropriate place for a depot because a portion of Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) railroad track once ran through the property that Discovery Park now sits upon. The Hickman & Obion Railroad was incorporated in 1853-1854 to build a line from Hickman, Kentucky to some point in Tennessee to connect to the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad. After the grading between Hickman and Union City was essentially complete, the property was sold to the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad in 1855, which railed the line and opened it to traffic before 1860. The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad was sold to the Nashville & Chattanooga in 1871, and the Nashville & Chattanooga changed its name to the Nashville, Chattonooga & St. Louis Railway in 1873. The line running from Union City to Hickman—and right through Discovery Park’s property—was abandoned in 1951.

After checking out The Depot, you’ll want to take a seat on Discovery Park’s train and relax a while or walk from car to car and experience this unique example of mid-twentieth-century train travel. As you walk the length of the cars on this track, you’ll see why train travel became a comfortable and sometimes glamourous way to get from town to town or across the whole country. Included here are cars for riding, eating, and drinking comfortably, and even includes a full kitchen for preparing the meals. All these were manufactured in the early 1960s.

Be sure to check out the 1913 steam engine, the coal tender and the caboose located across the platform. The bright red caboose, manufactured in 1946, was used by Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad. You can still pull the cord and make the whistle blow, just like they did more than a hundred years ago.

The Chapel

The history of The Chapel, formerly New Chapel United Methodist Church, dates to the early nineteenth century in what was then known as Beech Point, Tennessee. The community would later change its name to Elbridge in honor of local physician, Dr. Elbridge Richardson. The Chapel was donated to Discovery Park by the Elbridge Cemetery Association and moved to its current location in 2012.

Descendants of former church members of New Chapel United Methodist Church gather periodically for a reunion at The Chapel and throughout the year weddings, special services and performances are held in there.

Freedom Square

Standing on the southwest corner of Discovery Park, Freedom Square takes its inspiration from an early twentieth century, small-town Main Street. In this area, guests experience Liberty Hall, the Barbershop, the Firehouse and Hobb’s Drug Store. Along the brick-paved walkway are the Walk of Heroes featuring historic and mythological figures founder Robert Kirkland regarded as inspiring. Included are Prometheus, Ayn Rand, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

Liberty Hall, sponsored by Magnolia Place Assisted Living, pays tribute to the courthouses or municipal buildings of that time period. The Great Seal of the United States hangs on the front of the building, and guests can still ring the tower bell originally used in Union City’s first public school.

Two fire engines can be found in the Firehouse: a 1915 American LaFrance Fire Engine, donated by Martha Sharpe of Jackson, Tennessee, and a 1926 American LaFrance Type 75 Fire Engine. This Fire Engine was purchased new and shipped to Union City in September 1925. It remained in service for many years. In the early 1990s, it was restored by the Union City Fire Department to its current condition.

A full-scale replica of the Liberty Bell stands in the center of the rotunda of Liberty Hall. Cast by Petit & Fritsen Bellfoundry of the Netherlands, it took over a year to cast. Petit & Fritsen first opened in 1660, making it one of the oldest family-owned businesses in The Netherlands.

The stories of three local congressmen are told in exhibits in Liberty Hall: David Crockett, Robert A. “Fats” Everett and John Tanner.

For many years, the memorial to those from Obion County who died in Vietnam serving in the military included Lt. Richard C. “Tito” Lannom. An Obion County native, the 27-year-old Lannom was assigned to the aircraft carrier Enterprise when his A-6A Intruder aircraft went missing during a March 1968 mission over North Vietnam. Lannom and the pilot were declared missing after a search and rescue mission failed to locate the plane. A Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons team excavated a crash site in late 2017. Lannom was identified in September 2018 through DNA testing and evidence found at the site. His memorial service and a ceremony unveiling of corrected Vietnam Memorial Monument was held at Discovery Park on March 2, 2019.

Mill Ridge

Located on the northeastern edge of the North Lake, Mill Ridge features the Brewer-Austin Mill, C. Grooms’ Smithy, Hugh Wade’s Feed Store, an original one-room schoolhouse, “his and her” outhouses and a windmill.

On select Saturdays, Discovery Park of America offers a free add-on experience for guests. Watch blacksmiths at work in The Smithy, meet historical reenactors near The Settlement, and step into The Wade Cabin for hands-on mid-1800s crafts and activities. It’s a casual, come-and-go program that brings the park’s history to life.

The Brewer-Austin Mill features an actual gristmill that was originally used in the Massengill Mill, about 25 miles northeast of Knoxville. The Massengill Mill was first opened in 1796, and the mill now at Discovery Park was first installed in 1816. It remained in operation until the Massengill family was forced to close it during the Great Depression.

The Schoolhouse once stood about six miles west of Discovery Park on Maupin Road and is one of the last one-room schoolhouses that can be found in the region.

Simmons Bank Ag Center

Located along the western edge and extending through the northwest corner of Discovery Park, the Simmons Bank Ag Center showcases “AgriCulture: Innovating for Our Survival,” a permanent exhibit that tells the story of farming innovation in the past, present—and especially—future in a fun and interactive way. Visitors of all ages will gain an understanding of how food, fuel and fiber get from the farm to the family, and the role technological, scientific and genetic innovation in agriculture plays in society and culture around the world. In addition to the Simmons Bank Ag Center, the area features a row crop exhibit, a wildflower garden and a vineyard. Depending on the time of year, a visit provides a rare opportunity to see and touch crops growing in the field or watch as they are harvested.

The Settlement

Featuring nearly a dozen structures, the little settlement on the North Lake includes farmhouses plus a corn crib, tool barn, smokehouse, hog barn, loom house, doctor’s cabin, well house and woodshed. The collection of hand-hewn log buildings resembles what one might have found in a mid-nineteenth century frontier settlement. All the buildings were generously donated to Discovery Park by families from around the region and were moved to The Settlement by Carlos Lewis and Sons House Movers of Indian Mound, Tennessee. The logs are original and joined at the corners using a “chamfer and notch” system.

On select Saturdays, Discovery Park offers a free add-on experience for guests. Watch blacksmiths at work in The Smithy, meet historical reenactors near The Settlement, and step into The Wade Cabin for hands-on mid-1800s crafts and activities. It’s a casual, come-and-go program that brings the park’s history to life.

Check out our cabin restoration on WNPT PBS “Tennessee Crossroads” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fo9eCgr2KYQ.