Our trip to Franklin / Brentwood and Franklin pics (Knoxville, Hendersonville: appointed, for sale)

[Obrero]

Well, here we are back in sunny NJ after our quick trip to the Nashville area. Overall I would say we were pleasantly surprised. We were only there for 2 days because our last trip to the Tri-Cities and Knoxville was so hugely disappointing we figured Nashville wouldn't be for us either, but we wanted to see it before we ruled it out. We didn't want to waste more than 2 days. It's now top of our list.

We basically spent both days around Franklin and Brentwood with a quick foray into Thompson’s Station just for good measure. We were staying in Cool Springs and our first stop was to downtown Franklin to get a Starbucks. We noticed immediiately how clean and friendly it was. Many many people talked to us in Starbucks and even on the street as our kids generally tried to tear up the place While I was outside on the sidewalk trying to stop my youngest from running into oncoming traffic, I looked up and noticed all the cars had stopped since I was standing near (not right at but near) a crosswalk. Holy cow, cars actually stop at crosswalks? I live in town with a "cute" downtown but if you go near the crosswalk you are considered a target. I was most impressed with the politeness of the drivers in general. While on the highway we both commented on how wonderful it was for people to keep right except for overtaking. When we got back to Jersey it was back to a free-for-all with cars zipping all around, cutting in front of you and giving you the finger for going too slowly (less than 80 mph). But, I digress. We were very impressed downtown - there is something intangible there - a good feeling / vibe that would be impossible to describe and can only be experienced firsthand. We did venture back to downtown later to eat some of the worst pizza in the world at the Mushroom place. However, what a great location - we were able to sit outside in the warm early evening air and watch the world go by. Just wonderful.

The rest of our time was spent driving around every single sub-division in Brentwood and Franklin. OK maybe not everyone but oodles of them. In fact it took me 2 days of looking to realize that I mostly don’t like sub-divisions. I wish I was a faster learner. I was very impressed with the affluence of Brentwood. Mega house, after mega house, after mega house. Although I loved the feel of Brentwood I am really looking for a house with some more privacy. I want a few private acres, with a pool with no onlookers. We drove round all the subdivisions mentioned to me in a different thread. (As an aside, thanks again to everyone who suggested sub-divisions for us to look at. Your suggestions were invaluable). In Franklin all we really liked was Rosemont, but even that seemed a little close for us. I guess I don't like the big open back yards that all flow into each other. I must be very anti-social. We ventured down to Leipers Fork and found 2 sub-divisions that that we actually liked. Our very very favorite is Kinnard Springs. We looked at 2 houses there that would work for us. Also Beechwood Plantation looks like it could be interesting.

Just as an aside (another one) - when we in Rosemont, we saw a sign that said "lot for sale". So I called the guy and he told me it wasn't for sale any longer and that he was sorry for the confusion. Ok no big deal. 10 minutes later I get a call back from the guy who is calling to apologize for rushing me off the phone but he was busy with his kid when I called. He explains that he is going to be building a house there for himself and we talked about the area a bit. Again he says sorry for being rude and we say our goodbyes. Can anyone reading this from Jersey imagine this happening here? Not in a million.


On Friday night we ventured into downtown Nashville to see what it was like. If there was one area I was disappointed in, it would be here. I was hoping for some upscale restaurants and shops but found none. To be fair the area was swamped with people from the hockey game so maybe I missed some stuff. Overall the area seemed clean and safe and I had no problem walking around there with my kids. Leaving downtown we got lost and ended up in some mini ghetto area where we got stopped by the slowest freight train in the world. We decided to back up and go around it, which somehow we figured out. This was the only time we felt even mildly unsafe but it was nothing like as bad as some of the areas in NYC of NJ.

Well I guess I have babbled on long enough about my trip. I am disappointed we didn't have more time to visit Belle Meade and Hendersonville, but we will be back. We have a few other cities to look at but I think we will make it back there in June. I have to say, they are going to have to go some to compete with the Nashville area.

I took a couple of pics of downtown Franklin which I will attempt to post after this.

Thanks again to everyone for their help.

[Obrero]

Pics from Franklin:

[sissy910]

Very nice pictures! Thanks for sharing!!

[alleycat]

Nice post, UKOK.

Just for anyone else reading, most of the upscale restaurants are out in Midtown, 21st Avenue, West End, Green Hills and other areas. There's a few nice restaurants downtown, but many more outside of downtown.

[TNSoundsGood2Me]

Sounds like a good trip! I'm glad you enjoyed your time here!

[suecen]

UKOK: If you are still on here and this is off-point, but what did you not like about Tri-Cities area?? Thanks.

[KH02]

thanks for the pics and the write up. I am hoping to visit myself sometime..so if you have more pics, please post them.

[Tunky]

Great post! We had a lot of the same impressions on our first visit to Franklin/Nashville and we have not been disappointed with our choice to move here.

Oh...and give Mellow Mushroom another try. Their Cosmic Karma pizza is very good!

Another nice thing about Franklin is that there are homes that are not crammed into subdivisions. One day, we would like to have a place that is in the country, but not too far out from conveniences and that seems plentiful in Franklin.

[46Barb]

What a great posting. I enjoyed the pics you took and will definitely make the effort to go to downtown Franklin especially with such nice weather at the end of this week.

I haven't tried the pizza at that place, but being that I'm originally from NY, you are probably comparing it to NY/NJ pizza which I always do.

[storey13]

If you want pizza that is comparable to NYC pizza, try Joey's House of Pizza in Brentwood. They also have a location in Spring Hill now too, but I haven't tried that location.