Marathon Village In Nashville: Everything you need to know

It’s completely free to visit Marathon Village in Nashville (although it will cost you if you’re going to drink or dine there, buy souvenirs, etc., but viewing the cars and memorabilia is free).

If you’re trying to stretch your budget by looking for other inexpensive activities in Music City, our Free Things To Do In Nashville is filled with ideas.

Marathon Cars History

Marathon was originally the Southern Engine and Boiler Works company, a car company founded in Jackson, Tennessee in 1884.

The company was creating (you guessed it) small engines and boilers.

While working there, an engineer by the name of William Henry Collier had the brilliant idea to build a car with a gas-powered engine from Southern Engine and Boiler Works.

Long story short, he got the approval and by 1907, the company announced its automobiles, which were the first cars entirely manufactured in house the South (a distinction it held until Saturn in 1990).

The car was called the Southerns originally, but, after a name dispute a year later, the car portion of the company was renamed Marathon Motor Works moved to Nashville to operate in a building originally constructed for the Nashville Cotton Mills.

Four long years later, the demand far exceeded what Marathon could produce and it closed in 1914.

Marathon Village

So, the car company closed but the building remained — and remains now, thanks to a Nashville transplant named Barry Walker.

Put a pin in him for a second.

So, Marathon stopped making cars in 1914.

The Werthan Bag Company was the old factory’s next tenant before it eventually closed up shop and the building sat vacant, unless you count trespassers.

The building’s fate was for it to be demolished, but Barry Walker — an artist, a creative, a visionary — stepped in.

He bought the administrative building, then the back of the factory, then the front, then eventually basically everything in the area and dubbing it Marathon Village.

He renovated all the buildings and, one by one, moved in artists and retailers — and memorabilia.

One day, he went back to Jackson, Tennessee (oddly enough, his hometown) and met with a man by the name of Mr. Wallace, a 92-year-old who owned the Southern Engine and Boiler Works building who had heard stories of the Marathon car.

Barry went through the building and stumbled over a dark room filled with photographs, illustrations of the company’s history.

These photographs, this history, is the main focus of the halls of Marathon Village, a series of retail stores and restaurants, all within the four blocks of buildings. It was home to Antique Archaeology, an extension of/shop for the television show American Pickers, but that closed in April 2025, just a few months before we visited.

My parents were able to visit when they went to Nashville a few years before us and really enjoyed it.

We really went for the souvenirs because I saw on Facebook that there were a couple shops selling Nashville-branded items like t-shirts and tank tops, which I wanted to buy to bring home.

I was happy with that.

Pete was happy with the very start of Marathon Village, which houses Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, which is the oldest distillery in Tennessee (although not the oldest continually operating registered distillery in Tennessee; that distinction goes to Jack Daniels — which has a small shop in Marathon Village).

Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery has a really interesting origin story, although that is a long tangent. Maybe I’ll write a full post about that later, but basically the family lore was that the family owned a distillery way back in the 1900s.

After visiting the town and uncovering some facts and realizing the lore was true, the great great grandsons of Nelson’s decided to reopen the distillery in Nashville.

It’s in the same building as Marathon Music Works, a performance and event venue that has very cool shows (like the upcoming Motion City Soundtrack show that I would absolutely go to if we were just a little bit closer to Nashville).

And so is the newly opened (well, new as in less than a year old), It’s Now or Never: Museum of Music Icons, a free museum (which feels like a personal collection on display, honestly) run by Brian Oxley, a songwriter, film-maker, and current owner of Johnny Cash’s former farm, The Hideaway Farm.

The museum is filled with items jackets worn by Waylon Jennings and Fats Domino, Johnny Cash’s shoes, posters, records, and — because it is Nashville — a stage with a singer playing live.

There are a few other distilleries, if you want more Tennessee whiskey, Grinder’s Switch Winery if you need something else to drink, Third Coast Comedy Club, The Southern Engine Deli and Just Love Coffee Shop, if you’re hungry or thirsty, and Dead End Records, a record shop that opened three days after we visited Marathon Village.

But, if you’re just looking for history, you don’t have to stop in any of the shops. Just walk through the buildings.

Car parts and machinery, carefully curated by Barry Walker, line the walls.

There are paint brushes and old newspaper clippings; automobile equipment in the middle of the halls.

Photos are hung, some of which describe what was happening at Marathon Motor Works back in the day, and most that don’t.

There’s an old North Nashville post office that’s just … there. I can’t find out why, but I did really enjoy looking at it (it reminded me of the old post office in Mast General Store near Boone, NC, which was built in 1882, a year after construction began on the Marathon Village buildings).

There are offices on the second floor — and more Marathon memorabilia for you to check out.

You can take a self-guided tour, which honestly, was a lot of me just looking at things and moving on to the next thing — very similar to my high school days — and Pete using some app on his phone to figure out what things are.

What we didn’t know (until I was writing this post) was that you can actually book a guided tour for $15 a person. So, if you want to actually know what you’re looking at, do that.

Marathon Motor Works Show Room

Across the street is a smaller brick building, which was the original Marathon Motor Works show room. It’s currently the home to five of the eight remaining Marathon cars.

We missed that portion originally.

I didn’t know it was there. And when we bumped into a resident who adopted us on the walk from Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery to the rest of Marathon Village and asked her what it was when we passed, she said she didn’t know. So we didn’t even think it could be something cool.

It was only later, when we were back at the hotel, looking up the history of the Marathon car company, that we saw cars. So, we went back.

That museum is so cool because you get to see the cars and read about them, like the one that was won in a raffle for $1 and the one that’s probably a Marathon car but also probably stolen and had the emblem pulled off when it was stolen.

We loved looking at the springs popping out of the seats, imagining just how uncomfortable the rides must have been.

Looking at the cars was my favorite part, so I’m so glad we went back for it.

Visitor’s Info:

Marathon Village is Trolly Stop #1 on the Old Town Trolly Tours’ Nashville Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour. So, if you’re planning on one of those tours when you’re in town, you’ll be able to see Marathon Village that way.

If you’re driving, there’s ample street parking outside of Marathon Village, with some free street parking and some lots.

Lot A is free for locals weekdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Visitors (without a Nashville address) have to pay $10 for parking.

Within the lots is a fully restored Shell self-serve gas station (dated 1915, according to something I saw online), so that’s very cool to see.

We rented bikes and there’s a Bcycle station one block away from Marathon Village, so we parked our bikes there.

If you’re going to take rideshare there, be really careful about choosing the address. We picked the right location, but our Uber driver dropped us off at the apartments behind the actual building. That area felt a little less safe than Marathon Village itself (honestly, the area used to be really dicey and is still a little rugged compared to the tourist areas of Nashville).

Since you’re going to be walking through the old building, we suggest wearing comfortable, sensible shoes. You are walking on gravel and up and down stairs, so you don’t want to do that in heels.

The entire space is wheelchair accessible. That makes it stroller accessible too, although this space is not really interesting for young kids.

Marathon Motor Works is really close to downtown Nashville. It took us less than 15 minutes to ride from Fort Nashborough, off of Broadway, to Marathon Village. Walking takes a little over 30 minutes. And driving is under 10 minutes.

It took us about five minutes to ride from there to the Nashville Farmer’s Market.

It’s less than five minutes to bike to The Gulch and Pins Mechanical Company, a 30,000-square foot space with free video games and duckpin bowling.

Also, don’t miss the very cool Nashville Looks Good On You mural that’s facing the parking lot that’s across the tower from Marathon Village. The building it’s on is technically at 1206 Milson Avenue, although the mural faces the parking lot and the building that houses the cars.

Murals are so popular in Nashville and the NLGOY series is super popular (there’s another in 12 South, one on Nolensville Pike, one at 21st Ave Hillsboro Village, and a few others you can see on the list here).

Marathon Village: Frequently Asked Questions