Entry No. 5 — the Nashville file — filed under: outdoor
Fannie Mae Dees Park ("Dragon Park")
A 200-foot cement-and-wire sea serpent — everyone calls it a dragon, but it's technically a serpent — winds through this park, covered top to tail in mosaic tile that neighborhood volunteers glued on themselves in the early 1980s under sculptor Pedro Silva. It was restored in 2016 and kids (and adults) climb and slide down its humps.
The story
You won't find "Dragon Park" on an official municipal map. The city knows this green space off Blakemore Avenue as Fannie Mae Dees Park, named in 1978 for a local civic leader and advocate. But nobody calls it that. The real authority here sits in the center of the lawn: a 200-foot sea serpent that curves through the grass like an unearthed leviathan.
In the late 1970s, Chilean sculptor Pedro Silva—who had previously directed the famous community mosaic project around Grant’s Tomb in New York City—was brought to Nashville to orchestrate the structure. Silva built the serpent’s bones out of steel armature and ferro-cement, then turned the job of skinning it over to the neighborhood. Local volunteers and schoolchildren spent months setting thousands of broken ceramic tiles, mirror shards, and glass pebbles directly into the mortar. A full-scale restoration in 2016 stabilized the aging folk art, keeping the serpent's spine intact for climbing.
What it's like
Drive along Blakemore near 24th Avenue South and you'll see bright, mosaic-covered arches breaking through the turf. Midday on a Saturday belongs to toddlers scrambling over the serpent's concrete ribs, but if you drop by during golden hour on a weeknight, the park clears out. You can walk the full length of the serpent, sit inside its coiled tail, and examine the raw, hand-laid tilework up close without fighting for space.
The move: Climb the serpent's back at golden hour, sit in its coiled tail for photos, then walk to a nearby West End spot for a drink — it reads as playful, slightly absurd first-date territory rather than a standard park stroll.
- 📍 Hillsboro-West End, near Vanderbilt
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 2400 Blakemore Ave, Nashville, TN 37212
Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Belcourt Theatre Midnight Movies — Walk a quarter-mile east into Hillsboro Village to trade outdoor folk art for vintage cult prints and VHS roulette at this 1925 cinema house.
- Old Glory — Head less than a mile south to Edgehill to follow up the serpent's raw concrete with drinks hidden inside a 1920s dry-cleaning boiler room.
- Salt and Soles — Pair climbing on open-air public cement art with a quiet, darkened session inside a custom-built Edgehill salt cave down the road.
Good to know
Is the sculpture actually a dragon or a sea serpent?
Sculptor Pedro Silva designed it specifically as an undulating sea serpent—it has no wings or legs—but decades of neighborhood shorthand locked in the 'Dragon Park' nickname.
Are you allowed to climb on the sculpture?
Yes. It was built specifically as interactive play equipment, and visitors of all ages scale its humps and sit along its back daily.
Who was Fannie Mae Dees?
Fannie Mae Dees was a prominent local Nashville civic leader and community activist who fought for local neighborhood preservation and housing initiatives.
Is there an admission fee or dedicated parking?
The park is free and open to the public. You can park in the small designated park lot or find street parking along 24th Avenue South and Blakemore Avenue.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: nashville.gov · nashville.citycast.fm · mosaicartsource.wordpress.com · nashvillescene.com · nashvillepublicradio.org · nashvillepublicart.com
last checked: 2026-07-20