Moving to Nashville - Brentwood area questions (Franklin, Spring Hill: vacation, zoned)

[halfbaked]

There is a huge posibility that my family and I will be moving to Nashville for work. We are looking in the Brentwood area but the sub divisions are becoming extremely overwhelming! We have 2 grade school children and my main concern is good schools. Second, good neighborhood. What are the best parts of Brentwood to live in? What is each sub division about? What are the best sub divisions to live in and which are the worst?

I was born and raised in California but have lived in Chicago for the past 4 1/2 years. I have gotten used to the mid-west and it has finally felt like home to me. I have never been to the south. How does it compare? Weather? Shopping, things to do, night life, etc.??? Is Brentwood or the state of Tennesse itself a very church oriented area? We teach our family to be good people and to do righ tby others but we do not believe in organized religion so will this be a huge problem?

Thanks for your time and feedback. It's appreciated!

[gbone]

You won't have any problems with good schools in Brentwood. It's part of the Williamson County school system which is rated the highest in the state. As far as neighborhoods, there are no bad neighborhoods in Brentwood, it just depends on what you are looking for. As far as "best and worst" you need to be more specific regarding your criteria. Brentwood is church oriented however there are many Brentwood residents who don't go to church and I think that you will find Brentwood residents fairly tolerant of diversity.
It will be difficult to just tell you about the differences between California and Nashville. You really need to come for a visit. Also, what part of California are you talking about? Nashville has four distinct seasons. Hot and humid in the summer, fairly short and moderately cold winter, beautiful spring and fall. Shopping won't be like San Francisco or L.A. but I don't think you will have any problems finding most anything you need. As far as night life it depends on what you are looking for. Plenty of good restaurants and live music venues. Nashville has a great symphony that plays in a world class venue, the Schermerhorn. Good Broadway shows at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. NFL and NHL professional teams. There are many beautiful parks in the area and large enough lakes for boating activities. Nashville is a very dynamic and growing area with a lot of things going on.
I think the biggest difference you will find between California and Nashville is that we take life a little slower here and tend to take time to smell the roses.
Hope this helps some. I think any anxieties you might have about the area will disappear once you have a chance to visit.

[rescue brew]

My wife and I are moving to Spring Hill from Naperville, IL. We couldn't be happier about it. We lived in Florida for a while as well and I can tell you that living in the south has a slower pace of life. It fits our personalities very well. We also do not attend a church and have never had a problem with conflict over it. I even work for a ministry based buisness, so I would not worry about that. Tennessee is a beautiful state, Nashville is a great town. Brentwood & Franklin are great places to live and work.

good luck

[imogene]

My family & I moved to Brentwood from LA about 1.5 yrs ago. As far as TN goes, Williamson County is supposed to have the best school system so you probably can't go wrong anywhere in the county. If you want to know specifics about school, you can ask your realtor about a school fact book which will break down each of the schools like racial diversity, which neighborhoods feed into which schools and I think it also gives a report card on each of the schools. There's also the county school system website Williamson County Schools.

That said, I've heard quite frequently from other moms who said they picked their neighborhood because they wanted to be in the Edmonson Elementary district. Why, I don't know. Most of these neighborhoods are in the east part of Brentwood, north of Concord Rd. But be careful, b/c it seems like they rezone every year.

We live in the Edmonson school district (we didn't pick our neighborhood for the school but just b/c we liked it) but I think if we could have afforded it, I would have preferred west Brentwood (west of Franklin Rd) because it's just closer to shopping but very nice part of town. I think most of these neighborhoods feed into Scales Elementary.

Hope this helped some.

[halfbaked]

Thank you Imogene, rescue brew (love the name) and bgone for the info. Still a bit confused on East vs. West Brentwood zoned by streets I guess so it looks like I will have to take a mini vacation there. I am originally from San Francisco and then moved to Los Angeles. I now live in Chicago and have gotten used to a slower paced life which I have to admit is quite nice. I miss Northern Cali but I hated Southern Cali and the type of people there are there so I am looking forward to still living in a nice town with good values and a sense of family atmosphere!

[JoAnn5]

You'll love Brentwood then

[hml1976]

Brentwood's great. We moved there from NYC and loved it. Wish we could sell our house there but otherwise great place!

[rescue brew]

Originally Posted by halfbaked

I am looking forward to still living in a nice town with good values and a sense of family atmosphere!

That ia a huge reason we are moving there as well. good luck !