Tennessee
April, 2021
New to Tennessee, we were surprised and delighted by the lush, verdant surroundings and the splendid fun there was to be had in Nashville, our home base for a month!
Nashville
Nashville was a giant big surprise and we loved it. I know what your thinking - you loved that downtown with the slightly sleazy bar street? NO, we loved all of Nashville. The neighborhoods outside of downtown are busy reinventing themselves with little town centers with lots of restaurants, and stores and parks lining the streets. Everywhere we went evidence of creativity, problem solving and a yearning for the community that forms when people have small retail portions of a town to themselves was evident. Nashville is home to one of the best museums I have ever been to: The National Museum of Afro-American Music. Nashville is lively, interesting and compelling.
Franklin
Franklin is a little gem of a town about 22 miles southwest of Nashville. It’s 12 or so downtown blocks are delightful! Little boutiques and stores snuggle up to cafes, restaurants and bars. There are four or five historic mansions and farms in the area to explore. It is nearly the starting the point of the Federal Natchez Trace Parkway. It’s history as a prosperous county seat in the nineteenth century, provided solidly pretty architecture, flourishes and fountains. All of which had a seedy period from 1920 to about 1975 when the surrounding countryside switched from rural agriculture to suburbia and the town was renovated to serve the growing numbers of people with middle class incomes. Whoever was responsible for the renovations did a great job. The town is easy on the eyes and the stores, restaurants and historic sites provide entertainment. We loved it!
The Natchez Trace Parkway
The Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville to the TN border is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It will take your breath away. Not only is the Tennessee landscape one of the most beautiful we’ve seen, but the design of the parkway as it winds and weaves through the countryside with none of the accompanying billboards, businesses and trash that normally obstruct your view on a major highway enhances that beauty. The Trace parkway was designed to highlight every mile that you pass through. It took our breath away. We loved it so much we will be exploring the southern half from Natchez to Jackson in June.
Liepers Fork
Liepers Fork is an odd little town with a unique history. The architecture is perfectly preserved as a National Historic Site, but the buildings have been converted into very modern, upscale businesses. Click Read More to find out the whole interesting story about how Liepers Fork was rehabilitated and why. It’s a good story!
Memphis
In a word, Memphis was disappointing. The downtown area is rather desolate, without much greenery and does not appear to be a place to reside. Beale Street, once a bastion of African American local businesses, was torn down during a period of so-called urban revitalization. Now it is a 2 block street, blocked off from traffic, with one honky tonk bar after another. It was distinctly uninteresting. So, why go? Read on….
Anecdotal Stories & Experiences
We had lunch with a former colleague of mine and her husband from my corporate days. An experienced and world savvy citizen, I asked her what her thoughts were about the city.
She shared with me that the top three industries in Nashville are music, real estate and health care. She also told me that it has been difficult to make friends and create a community and that this was in part because she did not “grow up” in Nashville nor build a career in Nashville, particularly in one of those three areas. She also told us that building codes in Nashville are either non-existent or unenforced (as evidenced by a tornado that came through and completely destroyed a number of newly built homes - apparently they had not been secured to their foundations - whereas homes built in the 50’s survived just fine). She alluded to alleged corruption playing a role in awarding building contracts, but who knows? She also mentioned that it was important to wait a few seconds before moving forward with a green light - seems lots of folks don’t like to stop for a red light and that this causes many an accident!