Tennessee Welcome Center and “Portal Grouping” Sculpture
Date Visited: January 17th, 2020
Address: 6111 Lake Spring Road – Portland, TN 37148
GPS: 36.63543, -86.57337
Website: Tennessee Tourism
Phone: (615) 325-4721
Welcome to the I-65 Welcome Center for Tennessee located in Mitchellville/Robertson County. This welcome center is clean, with friendly staff and all the brochures on Tennessee you could ever read. There are also a number of vending machines.
This is part of the Blue Star Memorial Highway. It has a standing plaque to honor all the members of the armed forces who have defended the United States. There is also a gravestone structure honoring all veterans who have served.
Inside the welcome center is a sitting area surrounded by brochures and some comfy rocking chairs in front of a large fireplace. There is also a very nice informational display on the Tennessee civil war. By this display on the floor are 3 little boxes with these little dioramas in it which unfortunately didn’t come out in my pics.
Outside is a sculpture named “Portal Grouping” by Phillip Van Der Weg. It’s a bunch of steel (maybe) silhouettes of different people. I’m gonna be honest not sure what its suppose to stand for. I don’t get art. For all you art aficionados out there maybe you can clue me in?
