Some Nashville questions (Franklin, Cookeville, Crossville: apartment, how much, neighborhoods)

[Upstateman92]

I am from upstate New York , how much hotter and humid is the climate in
Nashville ? What are spring winter and fall like ?

I understand Nashville is booming and hundreds moving there everyday , but can I still find a nice 1 bedroom for less than 1200?

Where should I look for an apartment in a nicer area ?

I would be working at the Nashville airport


How bad is traffic ?

Are the people nice and friendly ?
A weird one but I know Nashville is in the south and a country music hub but what are the politics like ?
Is it a big rebel flag country folk ?

How is the fitness scene ? I like to work out and eat clean and would be interested in living in a young city likewise in interests

How far is Nashville from mountains and forests

[septimus]

Nashville has 4 seasons. The summers will be a bit hotter than upstate, winters will definitely be milder. It gets cold but few days of 20 degree weather and everyone starts complaining. We don't get a lot of snow and you'll die that everything shuts down at the hint of snow, but the south just isn't prepared for it. We are about to be hit with a big ice storm. Ice is the worst. Spring and fall are absolutely lovely although some years it seems they are only 1 week long and we go straight to summers (90s).

You should be able to find a nice apartment for $1200. Maybe not a high rise but not undoable.

If you are working the airport anywhere with easy I-40 access is where I'd look.

Locals will say the traffic has gotten bad. It is relative. It isn't bad like commuting into NYC or Boston bad. Bad is the commute that was once 15 min is now 20 min.

People are generally very friendly and helpufl.

Politically Nashville leans left (but not San Francisco left) but most of the suburban areas are conservative. I've only seen the confederate flag at the Nathan Bedford Forrest statute along I-65 (private property), on teenagers' trucks at Sonic in Franklin and if I'm pretty far out in the country.

There are plenty of good gyms here. The Y is very good and plenty of chains like OrangeTheory and Iron Tribe along with boutique gyms.

Nashville itself is pretty green and has rolling hills. If you head east towards the Cumberland gap you'll hit lots of great outdoor activities.

As much as I bemoan some aspects of TN state government, generally TN has some of the best state parks and highways in the country.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by septimus

Nashville itself is pretty green and has rolling hills. If you head east towards the Cumberland gap you'll hit lots of great outdoor activities.

As much as I bemoan some aspects of TN state government, generally TN has some of the best state parks and highways in the country.

Just one minor correction: I think you meant the Cumberland Plateau (Cookeville/Monterey/Crossville) and not Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap is where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet, about 4 hours away from Nashville.

And yes, the Tennessee state park system is a jewel. Some of the state parks just east of Nashville in the Highland Rim/Cumberland Plateau that are worth spending a day or two exploring:

Burgess Falls (4 waterfalls, hiking trails):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrS-ZgZdESs

Cummins Falls (named one of the country's top 10 swimming holes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3TOyvzo8SQ

Edgar Evins (6000 acres along the shores of Center Hill Lake):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ3mygW_uRA

Fall Creek Falls (26,000 acres, several waterfalls including the tallest east of the Rocky Mountains):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_y_WMi86Dw

Rock Island (waterfalls, kayaking):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVifatogSO0

Window Cliffs (strenuous hike, 9 creek crossings, several waterfalls, natural arches):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzxdWGZmWk

[septimus]

Originally Posted by JMT

Just one minor correction: I think you meant the Cumberland Plateau (Cookeville/Monterey/Crossville) and not Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap is where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet, about 4 hours away from Nashville.

oops you are right. I meant the Plateau.

[Upstateman92]

Originally Posted by JMT

Just one minor correction: I think you meant the Cumberland Plateau (Cookeville/Monterey/Crossville) and not Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap is where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet, about 4 hours away from Nashville.

And yes, the Tennessee state park system is a jewel. Some of the state parks just east of Nashville in the Highland Rim/Cumberland Plateau that are worth spending a day or two exploring:

Burgess Falls (4 waterfalls, hiking trails):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrS-ZgZdESs

Cummins Falls (named one of the country's top 10 swimming holes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3TOyvzo8SQ

Edgar Evins (6000 acres along the shores of Center Hill Lake):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ3mygW_uRA

Fall Creek Falls (26,000 acres, several waterfalls including the tallest east of the Rocky Mountains):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_y_WMi86Dw

Rock Island (waterfalls, kayaking):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVifatogSO0

Window Cliffs (strenuous hike, 9 creek crossings, several waterfalls, natural arches):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzxdWGZmWk

All of those are near Nashville ?

[Drake744]

Originally Posted by Upstateman92

All of those are near Nashville ?

They're pretty much all in the general vicinity of Cookeville, which itself is about 70 to 80 miles east of downtown. Depends on which area you live in as to how far away they would be but yeah they're all relatively near Nashville.

[Upstateman92]

SO what are the suburbs or neighborhoods I should be looking at ?

[artemis]

Donelson or hermitage.

[shinestx]

I am from upstate New York , how much hotter and humid is the climate in
Nashville ? What are spring winter and fall like ?

Spring is beautiful and lasts March-thru-May (give or take a week)
June is transitional and can be hot/humid or pleasantly (low humidity) 80s. July and August are uncomfortably hot (90s).
Fall is even more beautiful, especially so after a wet summer
Winters are mild (temps: lows-20s-30s his-40s-50s) and skies can be dreary. Any amount of snow shuts down the city but it happens about 1-2 times per year.

I understand Nashville is booming and hundreds moving there everyday , but can I still find a nice 1 bedroom for less than 1200?

I heard on the news the metro population increases 110 people per day. It increased by 41,000 last year, including live births and relocations. Metro popluation will reach 2 million by 2020.


Where should I look for an apartment in a nicer area ?

Check out one of the suburban counties (Rutherford, Wilson, Sumner). Depending on where you will need to go routinely, traffic might be a hassle.

I would be working at the Nashville airport
I'd look in Wilson County, or possibly East Davidson in the Stewarts Ferry area (east of the airport). That area is called Hermitage.

How bad is traffic ?

At certain times of day... crummy. But if you learn the city, you can find ways around the worst traffic. Nashville is a typical Southern city in that the Interstates are the main commuter arteries. So rush hours on the expressways are usually really bad.

Are the people nice and friendly ?
Very nice. Unpretentious; creative; professional; educated; diverse; entrepreneurial; cosmopolitan and welcoming;

A weird one but I know Nashville is in the south and a country music hub but what are the politics like ?
Is it a big rebel flag country folk ?

You'll see them infrequently. But people in Nashville are not snowflakes, even if they're from other parts of the country. They just go about their business. That's true for just about any loony behavior, that doesn't physically harm others. Nashville is very live-and-let-live.

How is the fitness scene ? I like to work out and eat clean and would be interested in living in a young city likewise in interests

I've said this on many occasions. The women in Nashville are among the most beautiful I've ever seen around all my extensive travels. Very pretty, trim, physically attractive women. My wife echoes that for the men... but I'm skeptical. Lot of them are hipsters.

How far is Nashville from mountains and forests

Forests are all over the fringes of the metro. There are even parks that have solid forests (old growth, I'm doubtful), but still very large and thick. Trees and plants grow very well in Tennessee's subtropical climate. One park just nine miles from downtown has over 3000 acres.

The mountains are an easy three hours to the east. But there are some stunningly beautiful plateaus with caves and waterfalls just a little more than an hour to the east. The terrain of Nashville is very hilly.