Nashville’s Cumberland Park becomes ‘Wasioto’ with unanimous vote for the river’s Shawnee name.

A prominent Nashville park on the east bank of the Cumberland River near downtown has a new name. What has been Cumberland Park since opening in 2012 will now be Wasioto Park — the original Shawnee name for the Cumberland River.

Metro’s Parks Board tends to resist name changes — but unanimously adopted this change at its Tuesday meeting. The parks department says its public feedback sessions found overwhelming support for the renaming.

The change movement was led by the Indigenous Peoples Coalition and backed by members of the Global Education Center and the Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

“Wasioto” — also spelled “Warioto” — comes from the Shawnee people who lived in the region until the 1700s.

Downtown Nashville’s Cumberland Park could soon be going by a traditional, Indigenous name