Looking for a small-town feel (Franklin, Hendersonville: theater, high school, university)

[Tomandjerry45]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

The countryside around Lebanon is quite scenic and the town has that old Southern charm....The buildings reminds me of a lot of downtown Ashland, Oregon, but even older.

You've got to be kidding me.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

If you are in the western part of Lebanon, you can actually be in downtown Nashville in 25 min. I know, because its where I live; although, I'm not actually in the city, itself, but the countryside.

I drive through Lebanon every day to get to work near Mt Juliet. There is absolutely no way to get from Lebanon to downtown Nashville during rush hour in 25 minutes.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

The countryside around Lebanon is quite scenic and the town has that old Southern charm. It doesn't feel like a suburb, yet it kind of is. The downtown is historic, well-kept and interesting. I like the well preserved old buildings. The buildings reminds me of a lot of downtown Ashland, Oregon, but even older.

Originally Posted by Tomandjerry45

You've got to be kidding me.

My reaction as well.

[RotseCherut]

Originally Posted by Tomandjerry45

You've got to be kidding me.

Well, I have only lived here for two weeks.. So, I am no expert on it, but the town looked nice to me.. Some may not like how Southern it is, as Nashville itself is not too Southern. Not sure what the hate of Lebanon is here? They have a nice quaint coffeeshop downtown in an old historic building. Demo's has great steaks and pasta for good price too.. I like this family restaurant, a lot. The Cedars of Lebanon State Park is scenic and right outside of the town.



I found the downtown has some charm.. But I like old historic downtowns.. Not everyone's cup of tea.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamaboy1941/7363900592

Originally Posted by JMT

I drive through Lebanon every day to get to work near Mt Juliet. There is absolutely no way to get from Lebanon to downtown Nashville during rush hour in 25 minutes.

My reaction as well.

Oh, I must have not read thoroughly the OP's post.. Get to downtown Nashville in 25 minutes during rush hour? You would need to live in city limits of almost any larger city in order to get to the downtown of that city at rush hour. In fact, the worst part of my drive into Nashville from Lebanon (I'm a bit west of the city), is when I hit the Nashville city limits and then have to crawl when I hit the merging freeways when you approach downtown.

I thought the OP just wanted to live 30 minutes , not during rush hour, but thats what I get for not reading the post thoroughly. You cannot live in the country and expect to get to downtown Nashville quickly at rush hour.


JMT, also anti-Lebanon? Hahaha, I am not married to the place, believe me.. I found a good deal on an apartment and I am outside of the town of Lebanon. The area looks scenic to me, but to each their own. The changing color trees looks spectacular in the countryside around here.

LoadedGoat, I noticed in your post you said you found Franklin to be pretentious.. Well, Lebanon is the opposite.. The people are not the most outgoing and smiley, but they seem genuine and definitely have a strong Southern culture. The people at Home Depot there helped me out a lot with a big project I was doing and were real nice and went out of their way for me.


BTW, if the traffic to Franklin is anything like what I experienced going to Brentwood, you could almost be in downtown Nashville the same time as Franklin, but not the West-side, since its the wrong direction.


P.S.
Overall, compared to Seattle, Portland, Denver and even St. Louis, Nashville's traffic is really a breeze; except during freak accidents or when they shut all the lanes down for construction. But they do that in other cities too and its even worse. I went to a meetup group in West Nashville on Friday rush hour. I decided to leave 45 minutes earlier than I would normally leave. Well, I ended up getting there 25 minutes early.. I thought I would be late; as if I was in Seattle or Portland I would have just giving myself only 45 minutes head start. I was shocked how I could get so quickly to the west side of the city right on a Friday rush hour.

[N.Cal]

You cannot live in the country and expect to get to downtown Nashville quickly at rush hour.

Sure you can. White's Creek, Joelton, Cheatham County. You can be country in 10-15 miles from downtown.

[Tomandjerry45]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Overall, compared to Seattle, Portland, Denver and even St. Louis, Nashville's traffic is really a breeze.

No way St. Louis traffic is more difficult than Nashville. No recent traffic study supports this.

[RotseCherut]

Originally Posted by Tomandjerry45

No way St. Louis traffic is more difficult than Nashville. No recent traffic study supports this.

Interesting article, St. Louis rated #23 worst for bottlenecks .. That bottleneck is bad, because it is the main route through the city going to Illinois.
https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article128639744.html
https://atri-online.org/2017/01/17/2...ttleneck-list/


I have yet to be stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam trying to get out of Nashville like I was when I ended up hitting St. Louis at rush hour the time I was moving from North Carolina to Denver. It was pretty dreadful and was surprised at how bad the rush hour could get there. Kansas City was no picnic either. Both cities have worse traffic than Denver, in my opinion, except for some parts of I-25 in Denver which are bad, but can be avoided. I have crawled through Nashville's rush hour and it seems to move faster to me than St. Louis, which was just a dead stop for miles and miles.


I haven't driven on all of Nashville's highways/freeways, so I am sure I haven't experienced everything yet.



In fact, how can I forget ? I just got caught in a horrible traffic jam right outside Kansas City when I moved to Nashville from Denver during Labor Day weekend. There was so much traffic trying to get out of Kansas City it took me over 90 minutes to get out of the city and my GPS re-directed me to streets through Independence to avoid the massive parking lot portion of the freeway. KC/SL, in my opinion, are much worse than Nashville.

[Tomandjerry45]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Interesting article, St. Louis rated #23 worst for bottlenecks .. That bottleneck is bad, because it is the main route through the city going to Illinois.
https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article128639744.html
https://atri-online.org/2017/01/17/2...ttleneck-list/


I have yet to be stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam trying to get out of Nashville like I was when I ended up hitting St. Louis at rush hour the time I was moving from North Carolina to Denver. It was pretty dreadful and was surprised at how bad the rush hour could get there. Kansas City was no picnic either. Both cities have worse traffic than Denver, in my opinion, except for some parts of I-25 in Denver which are bad, but can be avoided. I have crawled through Nashville's rush hour and it seems to move faster to me than St. Louis, which was just a dead stop for miles and miles.


I haven't driven on all of Nashville's highways/freeways, so I am sure I haven't experienced everything yet.



In fact, how can I forget ? I just got caught in a horrible traffic jam right outside Kansas City when I moved to Nashville from Denver during Labor Day weekend. There was so much traffic trying to get out of Kansas City it took me over 90 minutes to get out of the city and my GPS re-directed me to streets through Independence to avoid the massive parking lot portion of the freeway. KC/SL, in my opinion, are much worse than Nashville.

You should read the top 100 bottlenecks in US link you posted. Nashville has three in the top 50 at #20, #29 and #48. St. Louis only has one at #23.

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by Tomandjerry45

You should read the top 100 bottlenecks in US link you posted. Nashville has three in the top 50 at #20, #29 and #48. St. Louis only has one at #23.

And two of the three have jumped up in the list significantly. Kansas City only has one and it dropped lower on the list.


I don't think he has tried to get in or out of downtown on a Friday afternoon or any day when there are multiple events happening.

[CountryGirl2b=]

My sister found it somewhat pretentious, as well. I do not. I think it had to do with the people she worked with. It's SO much friendlier and down to earth than Connecticut ever was.



"As an example, I lived in Charlottesville, VA twenty years ago" - The entire world was a different place twenty years ago, pre Instagram. You may have liked Franklin 20 years ago? Agree about the HOAs but I tired really hard to find a non-HOA house when I moved here 9 years ago and they were all out of my price range.


I was thinking about Dickson, as well. Further out than you wanted, but maybe? Bellevue was named the best place to live in the US by MONEY magazine. 2000 census counted 37,000. Suspect that has changed by now.

[the loaded goat]

I want to thank you all for your opinions and wisdom. I have to say, the more I read about Gallatin, the more it sounds like it's just what I'm looking for. I'll have to drive out there and spend some time, and see what the commute would really be like.

Many of the other places mentioned, like Nolensville and Fairview for example, are indeed more rural but there doesn't seem to be much of a town there, more like random shops and restaurants spread along the main road. Not really walkable. Gallatin has a town square, which is my ideal. I'm just afraid over 30 miles drive is going to be a little much, especially having to slip onto the 65 for a piece of it.

But I've learned a lot here! And I'm sure this info will help others out in the near future.