About Where We Live: Nashville, Tennessee

We moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2001 from Pensacola, Florida.

We rented a big house on the Williamson/Davidson county line that was actually in the town of Brentwood. Lived there for a year until we finished building our new house.

Our new home is located in Franklin, Tennessee.

It was built by Ryan Homes in “record time” (only 72 days!), and we’ve been really happy with all aspects of our first home together. It’s the “Harpeth” plan. (I know when I was looking at new houses, it always helped to know which floor plan I was looking at.)

Here are photos taken while we were building our home in Franklin, TN.

Why Franklin?

We chose to build in Franklin, Tennessee because the property values continued to appreciate and the outlook remained strong for this area.

Specifically: Williamson County was ranked the “9th wealthiest county in the U.S.” and the “3rd highest county in the U.S. for economic growth potential”. It is also strategically positioned within Nashville’s growth corridor (along I-65 the 840 outer loop, and the Mack Hatcher connector).

When we bought, there were 805 homes for sale in the town of Franklin (17 in our particular subdivision). Houses in Franklin ranged from $76,000 to $12.5 million (average $436,000).

Check this out!… 37064 is the HOTTEST Zip Code in Tennessee!

In the end, the house we BUILT in Franklin, Tennessee cost us less per month than the house we were RENTING in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Our Favorite Things About Franklin, Tennessee

Every day we feel fortunate to live in the town of Franklin, Tennessee. It’s a small, quaint town with a very big community and family feel. It’s quite historic, and the town leaders have done a great job preserving Franklin’s past for us and future generations to enjoy!

For us, Franklin is just far enough away from the hustle and bustle of downtown metro Nashville, yet close enough to everything there is to see and do.

Some of our favorites:

• Mellow Mushroom – where we can frequently be found eating their famous “white pizza” while playing NTN Trivia.
• Franklin Cinema – a “draft-house” movie theater where you can kick your feet up on the benches in front of you or use them as a table for your pizza & beer or popcorn & soda that they serve on-site.
• Natchez Trace – you can bike for days or drive for hours on this beautiful lightly-traveled stretch of road that runs from Tennessee to Mississippi.
• Nacho’s Mexican Restaurant – where they know us by name and they treat us to XL drink glasses and special “sides”. Their one-of-a-kind entrees beat other Mexican restaurants’… hands down. (Juan and Beto… you rock!)
• Chlay’s Thai Diner – a tiny, hole-in-the-wall diner that’s run by a brother & sister. If you want authentic Thai food at a reasonable price, check ’em out …they’re hidden between the liquor store and the video rental place in Independence Square.
• Bunganut Pig Restaurant & Bar – the name’s a little weird (so is their website), but their music (and food) is just right!
• The Franklin Pig – the town’s favorite porch critter (…can’t talk about Franklin without a tip of the hat to “the Pig”.)

Some things we think the town of Franklin needs:

1. A Smoothie King! (We wish we didn’t have to drive to Cool Springs to get our smoothie fix.)

2. Even more outdoor cafes & street-side park benches. (It’s becoming more and more “quaint” every day – thanks, Franklin businesses!)

3. Regular, well publicized community-wide activities in the many area parks. (Alas, this is getting a little better.)

4. A skateboard park (…Finally, there is one!)

Our Favorite Places In The Nashville Area

One of our favorite things about the city of Nashville is the fact that it’s a huge metropolitan city with lots of state-of-the-art resources and facilities, yet it still maintains that community-feel that gives Nashville its charm.

It’s not hard to get in and out of the city. In fact, you can get virtually anywhere within Tennessee in a day’s drive or less. And you can get to tons of other popular places outside of Tennessee within 8 hours or less.

And did you know that Tennessee touches 8 other states? That’s more than any other state in the Union. They say that 2/3rds of the country is within a 1-day drive of our state!

There’s also a lot to see and do around Nashville, Music City USA.

Some of our favorites:

• 3rd & Lindsley – see today’s top artists play 2-hour live concerts there for just $10 per person
• The Bluebird Cafe – the smallest, quaintest venue where the songwriters behind today’s hit songs sit “in the round” and tell the stories behind their songs as they strum on their guitars
• Carmike Thoroughbred 20 Cinemas – wide range of movies to choose from any time of the day (…if you don’t mind the short drive to Brentwood, then you’ll enjoy 100 Oaks Movie Theatre!
• Opry Mills Mall – aka “the guy mall” because they have mega TV screens and seating all throughout the mall …cool stores & restaurants too!
• Nashville Predators NHL Hockey – we’re loyal Preds fans. Spent $1,000 on tickets the first year we moved here, but now we watch from the infamous Section 303!
• Jasmine’s Thai Restaurant – authentic Thai food …it doesn’t get any fresher and tastier than this – and you always leave feeling like you’ve eaten “healthy” food
• Smoothie King – can’t get enough of ’em (especially with all the buy-one-get-one-free coupons they distribute!)
• Percy Warner Park – a great place for an afternoon drive, long walks, or hiking through the woods with the dogs
• Tin Roof – a happening bar where you can often catch celebrities stopping by… many even get on stage and sing with the house band!

And, believe it or not, we live in the Bible belt… and Nashville is “the buckle”. In fact, there are more churches per capita in Nashville than in any other city in America. Guess it only makes sense that we finally found a great church that we actually look forward to going to!

Check out some of the places we’ve lived in the past…