5 Historic Nashville Neighborhoods
In recent years Nashville has been praised for its rapid development and healthy economy: new restaurants, new industries, new skyscrapers, and new home builds. While there is plenty to celebrate in the “new” category, it’s worth appreciating the historic events and cultural phenomena that undergird all of this growth. In other words, Nashville may be an “it” city now, but it always had something to offer.
The Nashville Historic Zoning Commission has designated select neighborhoods across the city as “historically protected” to preserve the architectural character of the homes and to guard historic homes from demolition. While the city’s robust development is largely welcomed by residents, this commission is lauded for protecting significant properties of historical importance.
If you want to connect with the old side of the city, consider these five historic Nashville neighborhoods.
Germantown
Widely regarded as simply one of the coolest neighborhoods in Nashville (and maybe in the country), Germantown is beloved for the cultural impact that it has had on the city.
The renowned American intellectual and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois was famously educated here at the historic Fisk University in the late 1800s, and the area was at the heart of Nashville’s civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
The neighborhood gets its name from the German community that settled in the area along with Swiss and Italian immigrants at the turn of the century, and the many Victorian- and Italianate-style homes contribute to Germantown’s reputation as having the city’s most unique architectural landscape.
Today the neighborhood’s housing is largely characterized by repurposed industrial buildings like the Werthan Mills Lofts, and with burgeoning culinary, coffee, and visual art scenes, Germantown will be a Nashville darling for many years to come.
Downtown
If you look beyond the tourists and new developments that fill Downtown Nashville, you’ll be surprised to learn just how significant the neighborhood’s role has been in many of the most important cultural changes in America’s history.
One notable landmark in this history is the Hermitage Hotel. Originally built in 1910, Nashville’s oldest hotel had a role to play in the fight for women’s suffrage in 1920 when Tennessee was the last key state to ratify the 19th Amendment. Knowing that legislators frequented the hotel bar, as it was a mere two blocks from the state capitol, both pro- and anti-suffrage advocates camped out at the Hermitage Hotel for weeks on end, until one tie-breaking vote tipped the scales for suffrage.
Among the former five-and-dime stores that once dotted the Fifth Avenue Historic District is a stunning restoration of the former Woolworth building. Now called Woolworth on 5th, the dining establishment was famously the site of civil rights movement sit-ins during the segregation of lunch counters in the 1960s. The neighborhood is also home to the storied Ryman Auditorium, which was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.
The mix of these preserved and protected buildings and contemporary developments and sights—like bachelorette parties—makes Downtown a dynamic urban landscape offering the best of old and new Nashville.
Inglewood
In addition to being the largest sub-neighborhood of East Nashville, Inglewood is one of the few historically zoned neighborhoods in the city east of the Cumberland River.
Modeled after “garden and country club suburbs” popular in the 1900s, Inglewood is a former streetcar neighborhood not unlike 12 South and Belmont. Inglewood is distinct from the other neighborhoods mentioned in that it is not the site of prominent historical events. Rather, it is a shining example of Nashville’s development into the metropolis that it is today.
Homes in the area range from classic Craftsman bungalows to Tudor and Colonial Revival homes and, in some cases, estates. While East Nashville has grown into a popular urban area teeming with bars, restaurants, and retail, Inglewood has preserved its character with vast swaths of greenspace and tree cover.
Music Row
The recent release of Ken Burns’ latest PBS documentary, “Country Music," has Nashville’s music industry buzzing with excitement and reflecting on the history of the city’s most popular export. Once a sleepy residential neighborhood just south of Downtown, Music Row became the epicenter of the “Nashville sound” in the 1950s, and by the 1990s, the industry had swallowed up nearly all of 16th and 17th avenues.
Despite the music industry-lead development over the years, many of the neighborhood’s original structures remain. Landmarks like RCA Studio B and Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut Studio loom large as the historic sites where artists such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, and Dolly Parton have recorded some of music’s biggest hits.
In charming contrast, many of the restored Craftsman homes along Music Row have been converted into offices for smaller, independent publishing companies or management firms. The first thing visitors notice when walking into these distinctly Music Row offices is that the front desk is clearly situated in what used to be a living room.
Belle Meade
Since its development as a neighborhood in the early 1900s, there has perhaps never been a time when Belle Meade wasn’t regarded as the tip top of Nashville’s uppercrust. Back when the city was primarily known as the “Athens of the South,” Belle Meade was the center of culture, politics, and academia. Not much has changed since then, and the sprawling neighborhood is still home to some of the city’s more prominent figures and beautiful, historic homes.
From the annual Iroquois Steeplechase horse race to the rotating art and contemporary sculpture exhibits on the grounds of Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, this neighborhood is overflowing with classy events at which to see and be seen. The neighborhood is bordered by Percy Warner Park, and with historic estates and mansions dotting the landscape, it’s no surprise that the median sale price is a whopping $1.7 million.