Driving through Nashville (Green Hill, Forest Hills, Belle Meade: housing, university, bank)

[brattpowered]

I'm driving through Nashville later this summer and I'd like to get a feel for the city. I won't have a long time to do this-- probably just over an hour or so--but I would like to find out what streets and neighboods I can explore. I like to visit old, traditional downtowns and ethnic neighborhoods, as well as the places young people enjoy going. I'd also like to see the things that made Nashville famous, like the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

I'm driving through Nashville later this summer and I'd like to get a feel for the city. I won't have a long time to do this-- probably just over an hour or so--but I would like to find out what streets and neighboods I can explore. I like to visit old, traditional downtowns and ethnic neighborhoods, as well as the places young people enjoy going. I'd also like to see the things that made Nashville famous, like the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman.

Much of that is available right downtown, or just west of downtown. What direction are you coming from?

When I take guests on a whirlwind tour of Nashville, I start at 2nd Ave downtown, it's the entertainment district by the river. The Ryman Auditorium is just a couple of blocks off 2nd (on 4th?). Then I take Broadway, starting at the river, and head west. There will be a crazy fork in the road just west of I-40; I like to stay to the right, where Broadway becomes West End. West End skirts around Vanderbilt University and Centennial Park, where you can view the world's only full-scale replica of the Parthenon. It's the only thing left from Tennessee's 1896 mini-world's fair celebrating Tennessee's 100th birthday. If you stay on West End, it ends up in the posh Belle Meade neighborhood which makes Beverly Hills look like a public housing project.

At the above-mentioned fork, if you go to the left, you'll go right through Vanderbilt and then end up in Green Hills, which is a wealthy neighborhood with a nice mall (yawn) and a lot of traffic. But the road eventually becomes Hillsboro Pike and goes through Forest Hills, another extremely wealthy neighborhood where many country music stars live.

People who live in Nashville will probably give you more information on where to go see ethnic neighborhoods (if there are any) in Nashville.

If you're going to be in Nashville during lunch, I HIGHLY recommend eating at Jack Arnold's which is located on 8th Avenue South, just south of downtown. It's goooood Southern food (he's Catholic, so fish is the meat on Fridays), and people from all walks of life converge there to gladly eat together: politicians, bankers, crooners, the homeless.

[brattpowered]

Thanks for the help! I will be coming in on I-40 heading east, if that helps.

p.s. Which intersection is the Ryman at/near?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

Thanks for the help! I will be coming in on I-40 heading east, if that helps.

p.s. Which intersection is the Ryman at/near?

The Ryman is on 5th Ave about one block north of Broadway. As you drive into downtown from the west, take the Broadway exit into downtown. Turn left at 5th Ave, and the Ryman will be on the right.