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“Every person in here has a different Dolly Parton that they are
in love with,” Summers told a crowd of fans gathered Tuesday for
the opening of a new museum in Nashville dedicated to the
beloved singer who died in August at age 80.
The 20,000-square-foot Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum
includes exhibits focused on many different aspects of her life
and legacy, from her Smoky Mountain roots and Dollywood, to her
movie roles, her fashion, her faith, her family and the
Imagination Library.
“You’ve got to find her and find out where you fell in love with
her and then follow the path from there. So I think the journey
is what most people are going to enjoy the most,” Summers said.
The museum is located inside a 240-room themed hotel called
Dolly Parton’s SongTeller, where the lobby and open spaces are
adorned with glitter, rhinestones, guitars, butterflies, Dolly
portraits and lots and lots of pink. The building also includes
two performance spaces, a cafe and hotel rooms that come with
musical instruments to encourage songwriting.
One of the not-to-be-missed sights is Parton's original wedding
dress that she wore when she got married to husband Carl Dean.
The dress was believed lost until Parton's niece Rebecca Seaver,
who is curating the museum, found it about a year ago wrapped in
a paper bag and shoved into a trunk, Summers said.
For many in Parton's orbit, the opening of the museum and hotel
is bittersweet without the person who inspired it.
“We were as surprised as anybody that she’s not here to see it,”
Summers said. “It’s beautiful to get to see all of her work come
to life, and it’s hard to know that she won’t ever have seen
it.”
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