There are some assumptions that people have about Nashville that aren’t quite right — and plenty of quirks that baffle all the tourists who visit. So in this special episode taped live on stage, three local experts unravel some of the most essential history of the city and then take questions from attendees.

Curious Nashville is a project of Nashville Public Radio. The executive producer is Tony Gonzalez, with editing by Emily Siner and Anita Bugg, audio mastering by Carl Pedersen, web production by Mack Linebaugh, and promotions by Elle Turner. The theme music is by Podington Bear.

Out in the thick woods of West Nashville there’s an epic remnant of Cold War history. But it is largely unknown. The former fallout shelter where Tennessee’s governors would have gone in the case of nuclear attack has rarely appeared in news stories.

But a question to Curious Nashville revealed that a local businessman now owns the unusual underground facility — and after a tour and other research and interviews, the history is no longer hidden.

Credits: Curious Nashville is a project of Nashville Public Radio. The executive producer is Tony Gonzalez, with editing by Emily Siner and Anita Bugg, audio mastering by Carl Pedersen. Web production and promotions by Mack Linebaugh and Elle Turner. The theme music is by Podington Bear.

A massive Nashville development includes a construction pit that is eight stories deep. It looks like a quarry, with sheer cliffs carved into the gray limestone. But when the project stalled, the hole filled with water, and it became nicknamed "Lake Palmer,” after its struggling developer.

It’s been 15 years since the Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel — a whirling artistic marvel by pop artist Red Grooms — was taken down from the Nashville riverfront. Its wild figurines, which depict famous Tennesseans, were put into storage.

Yet the legend of the carousel lives on.

And now there’s hope that the carousel’s riverboats, giant banjos, mountain scenery and crazy caricatures will spin again. WPLN Senior Editor Chas Sisk has been reporting on the fate of the carousel for three years, and opens up his notebook to share fascinating nuggets of history and his latest findings about its future.

From plastic straws to old lightbulbs and shredded paper, it’s not always obvious what we’re allowed to recycle in Nashville. So after another wave of recycling questions to Curious Nashville, we’re back with a “lightning round” of fast answers, plus updates about changes coming to curbside recycling and the city’s attempt to gather glass from downtown honky tonks.

Animals prompt unusual questions to Curious Nashville, so we delve into three: a rumor about piranhas, the history of the city’s first zoo, and the reason a large pink elephant has stood alongside Charlotte Pike for decades.

From the proper vantage point it materializes unmistakably: A gigantic peace sign, cut into roughly 3 acres of forest next to the Nashville International Airport. It can appear to anyone browsing satellite photography, and to air travelers like Nashville attorney Kelsey Bridges. She was the first person (of four) to ask Curious Nashville about what she’d seen. "There’s a giant peace sign, visible only from an aerial view, carved out of a wooded area near the airport. Who’s responsible for it?"

For most people, recycling means placing an empty soda can or some scrap paper in a blue bin. They might take that bin to the curb or to a drop-off site. But beyond that, the process is mysterious, filled with arbitrary rules and a vague reassurance that we’re doing the right thing for the environment. So WPLN listener Mark McCaw, an avid recycler, asked us this question: "What happens if I put the wrong item in the recycling bin?"

Even many Nashville natives don’t know about the head-on train crash at Dutchman’s Curve on July 9, 1918. It killed 101 people — mostly African Americans — and by most counts remains the deadliest train accident in American history.

We started looking into it after listener named Russell asked us this question as part of our Curious Nashville series: "I’d like to know more about the wreck at Dutchman’s Curve. How did it happen and what changes resulted from it?"

We tackle a question that’s elemental to Nashville these days: What happens to the waste when old houses get demolished? To explore the subject, WPLN’s Meribah Knight picked a house in Inglewood and followed it from demolition permit to landfill. Then she tracked down the family that called it home for more than 50 years.