Nashville Sites with Jessica Reeves
This week I interview preservationist and public historian Jessica Reeves. Jessica works as a Preservationist 1 for the Nashville Metropolitan Historical Commission. The MHC is currently developing a website called “Nashville Sites” which will be an interactive website of free scholarly self-guided tours of Nashville.
Jessica has a degree in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations and a Master in History with an emphasis in Public History; both from Middle Tennessee State University. During her graduate studies Jessica completed an internship at Chief Plenty Coups State Park in Pryor Montana. She wrote her thesis on the cultural landscape of the state park. She also worked as a graduate research assistant at MTSU and helped research the trail of tears route through Tennessee.
Currently Jessica works for the Metro Historical Commission in Nashville. The MHC is responsible for preservation programming and research, Section 106 reviews, historical markers and local preservation awards. Currently she and her team are working on the Nashville Sites project which will be a “mobile friendly website that allows people to do free scholarly self-guided tours of downtown Nashville.” The program started as an extension of the marker program and was first proposed by Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel. Dr. Pethel is the head of the History Department at Harpeth Hall and is on the board of the MHC Foundation which is a non-profit that assists the Metro Historical Commission.
The Nashville Sites website will contain tours related to the following topics: women’s history, architecture, religion, and music. The website will launch in October with an estimated 22 tours available, with more to be added in the near future. Users will be able to scan a QR code located on historical markers or buildings and get recorded information on the topic. Jessica’s current role for the project is Director of Tours.
Email Jessica at jessica.reeves@nashville.gov
