Tell me about Nashville and surrounding areas

[whitestavern]

Dh may have the opportunity to relocate to the Nashville area within the next few years.  I guess anything within a half hour to an hour would be a commutable distance.  We were both born, raised, and have lived our entire lives in New England, so this would be a change.  Would love to know what areas would be good to look at.  We would likely be looking at a smallish town (less than 10,000) charming, safe, and vibrant communities.  We are a pretty outdoorsy family but also enjoy cultural opportunities. 

 

What public transportation, if any, is there from the suburban areas to Nashville?  If driving, is the traffic horrendous?  Also, what are typical home prices in the towns you recommend?  What are pros and cons of this area?  What about weather?  FYI, by the time we do this the kids would not be homeschooled anymore so laws and such have no bearing on our decision.  Anything else you think we should know?  If there's anyone that's moved there from New England I'd love to know how it's similar and different to this region.  TIA!

[ScoutTN]

We love living in Nashville!   :thumbup1:   Lots of fun things to do! Nice parks, good symphony, theater, library system, hospitals etc. Good local restaurants. Strong economy and not dependent on only one thing. Vanderbilt and a host of smaller colleges add lots of students to the mix. Airport is reasonable and Southwest flies here. You can get here from there. 

 

Would your DH be working in downtown Nashville? What else might steer your choices? Church or other activities that are a priority ion your lives?

Some people look for housing near those things as well as a reasonable drive from work.

 

An hour commute would give you quite a range of places to live and prices for homes.  You can find lots of COL info online. Traffic is there, but not ridiculous like it is in many really large cities.

Public transportation is minimal. Just buses within Nashville. Franklin is a great place to live just south of Nashville. A bedroom community rather than a completely distinct town now. Lots of Civil war history here, as well as music industry. 

 

Weather is hot and humid in the summer. Mild, short winter. Rolling hills, very pretty. Gardening zone 6.

 

Culture here is very different from NE! Nashville is a mix of old South and zillions of transplants. 

 

PM me if you want a longer conversation.  :001_smile:

 

[JFSinIL]

try and be up a hill a bit...away from potential flood zone.

[Susan in TN]

Smallish town - you might look into Leiper's Fork where your neighbor on one side might be a 6th generation hillbilly and on the other side a country music/film actor mega star. And behind you lives retired hippies who have started an organic sustainable beet farm with a sign that reads "fresh goat's milk for sale". The Natchez Trace Parkway runs right along side it and the area is stunning.

 

College Grove is another small town south of Nashville. Maybe Thompson's Station, Fairview, or Nolensville as well, though not as small. All of these places have decent access to shopping and hospitals.

 

As Scout said, the economy is quite strong here and the fact that there is no state income tax tends to attract companies.

 

There are definitely 4 seasons, though a good winter snowfall (2-3") is a rare treat. Hot weather is from mid-June to mid-September. You will want a jacket by mid-October. The bradford pear trees are in full color early-to-mid November, and by Thanksgiving weekend all the leaves are down and ready to be raked. Daffodils start popping up at the end of January (except this year when the winter was unusually cold). Early gardens (lettuce, raddishes, carrots, etc) go in by mid March. In April all the winter clothes are put away, though mornings may be a little cool.

 

I am familiar with the south side of town, but I'm sure there are great options in other areas.

[fairfarmhand]

I live on the Northwest side. 35 minute commute for my dh. You need to figure out where your dh will be working, so you can then decide which side of town to live on.

 

Pleasant view is nice. Springfield and Clarksville are pretty too. (Cville will be a bit further away) Ashland City is alright.

[whitestavern]

Thanks for all the replies so far.  Nashville sounds great!  Looks like we'd want the north or western suburbs.  Any new advice based on that?

[fairfarmhand]

Clarksville has many opportunities for homeschoolers, especially with having APSU there. If you want to live halfway between Nashville and Clarksville, you could have the best of both worlds, with both "big" towns less than 30 minutes away. The downside is that you may have to drive 20 minutes to do much of anything if you choose the middle ground. (that's what I do.)

 

I'm going to PM you with some more info.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My sister is a Chicago transplant to the Nashville area.  One thing to watch out for is ice.  While snow may be a rare treat, ice is not.  My sister lives on a hill and she cannot leave her house whenever there is freezing rain.  She worked from home a lot this winter.  I sent her some YakTrax, but it was still too dangerous to leave her house.  She would slide down her driveway very long driveway into a fairly busy street on a blind curve.  "Death waiting to happen" is what she called it.  She learned how to live off what she had in her pantry during a particularly long stretch when she could not get to the grocery store.  She is only 30 minutes north of Nashville. 

[maize]

Nashville is on our list of places we might like to relocate to. How affordable is the local housing market?

[Susan in TN]

Nashville is on our list of places we might like to relocate to. How affordable is the local housing market?

I think in general the housing market is quite affordable compared to other similar sized cities. It really depends on the area/suburb - 5 years ago we sold our 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath w/ full finished basement 1960's ranch (quiet neighborhood, south end of town) for $165K. According to a recent article, the Nashville housing market is hot these days - whatever that means. Prices are probably on the rise, but still reasonable comparatively.

[Dmmetler]

One of the best things about Nashville-McKay's Books! I get a lot of my homeschooling stuff at McKays, and they buy almost all of our non-consumable materials. We live in West TN, but can usually manage to visit Nashville a couple of times a year.

[rutamattatt]

We are about 30 minutes north of Nashville.  My DH and i are originally from PA and spent 5 years in OH.  We've been here now for 10 years and we love it.  

 

One thing that we had to get used to is the state sales tax - it's like 9.75%.  So that takes some getting used to.  The upside is we don't pay any state income tax.  

 

The ice warning above is true.  We have fabulous weather most of the year, but every so often we get an ice storm and it can be brutal.  As Northerners, we scoffed at first, but the truth is no matter how used to snow you are, driving on ice is not safe.  Heck, walking on it is crazy dangerous too.   

 

In the spring we tend to have periodic severe water - tornado warnings, strong storms, straight line winds.  Several years ago a tornado touched down where we live and several people were killed.  It can be freaky, but once you are used to it and know how to prepare, it just becomes part of spring (and sometimes fall) life.

 

Traffic in and out of the city can be heavy at rush hour, but is still better than the city we used to live in in Ohio.   

 

Although Nashville is known mostly for country music, there is a lot of other great cultural things here as well.  TPAC (TN Performing Arts Center) brings in great performers and tours.  The symphony is great.  If you like sports we have the Titans (OK, they have not been great, but one of these years it has to turn around, right?) and the Predators.  We also have the Sounds - a AA baseball team.  The sporting events are usually very fun and pretty family friendly.  Lots of parks and historical places to visit.  

 

Feel free to PM me if there is anything more specific you want to know about up in our neck of the Nashville woods!

[QueenCat]

One of the best things about Nashville-McKay's Books! I get a lot of my homeschooling stuff at McKays, and they buy almost all of our non-consumable materials. We live in West TN, but can usually manage to visit Nashville a couple of times a year.

 

My favorite bookstore!

[Mommy22alyns]

McKays... love, love, love!!

[fairfarmhand]

We are about 30 minutes north of Nashville.  My DH and i are originally from PA and spent 5 years in OH.  We've been here now for 10 years and we love it.  

 

One thing that we had to get used to is the state sales tax - it's like 9.75%.  So that takes some getting used to.  The upside is we don't pay any state income tax.  

 

The ice warning above is true.  We have fabulous weather most of the year, but every so often we get an ice storm and it can be brutal.  As Northerners, we scoffed at first, but the truth is no matter how used to snow you are, driving on ice is not safe.  Heck, walking on it is crazy dangerous too.   

 

By the way, most places don't have enough salt trucks or scrapers to do all the roads, so it's usually main roads that are prepared for the ice. Good luck getting out of your driveway! Also, so many people are completely ignorant of how to drive in icy snowy weather so be prepared for the idiots who think "I have 4WD! that means that I can drive 60 on a inch thick sheet of ice on the interstate!"

 

 

In the spring we tend to have periodic severe water - tornado warnings, strong storms, straight line winds.  Several years ago a tornado touched down where we live and several people were killed.  It can be freaky, but once you are used to it and know how to prepare, it just becomes part of spring (and sometimes fall) life.

 

Traffic in and out of the city can be heavy at rush hour, but is still better than the city we used to live in in Ohio.   

 

Although Nashville is known mostly for country music, there is a lot of other great cultural things here as well.  TPAC (TN Performing Arts Center) brings in great performers and tours.  The symphony is great.  If you like sports we have the Titans (OK, they have not been great, but one of these years it has to turn around, right?) and the Predators.  We also have the Sounds - a AA baseball team.  The sporting events are usually very fun and pretty family friendly.  Lots of parks and historical places to visit.  

 

Feel free to PM me if there is anything more specific you want to know about up in our neck of the Nashville woods!

 

Nashville is great! There is also the Frist and the Parthenon is pretty cool too.

[CrispyBiscuit]

My husband and I lived in Nashville for 3 years as newlyweds back in '97 to '00.     We loved it.     Nice mild weather.    Lots to do.   Don't know too much about affordability portion as we rented an apartment "back then" and I recall it being reasonable rent.      Lots of homeschoolers.   More progressive, liberal than other Tennessee towns, however.   Great medical facilities -- many supurb hospitals.     We didn't have kiddos back then, but seemed like a great place for raising children.   

My only negative memories were trying to learn that many roads had like 4 names for the same road and the cicada infestation which occurs every 13 years or so :-). We enjoyed it SO much that even though we live 9 hours away from there, we vacation to Nashville about once every other year to visit our old haunts -- Opryland Hotel, Nashville Zoo, Parthenon, The Gerst Haus Restaurant (love it), Vanderbilt campus (my alma mater), Pancake Pantry, and many others.

 

 

 

 

 

[CrispyBiscuit]

Ooopps...double posted.......