Reveling in Nashville - Part 6

The East Edition

{gourmet}

{lots of color in our hood}

{hot dog joint}

{tomato festival}

Since the end of May, David and I have been home owners on the East side! This part of town is full of history, diversity, eclecticism, charm, and culture. We love it!

Back in the early 1900's East Nashville was THE place to be if you wanted to be somebody. All the white upper class country-clubbers had their fancy cottages and plantation style houses. They sat on their front porches, waved at neighbors, and sipped their cocktails. However, when segregation ended all these "somebodies" hit the road (white flight if you will). The city stopped investing money in this area and over the years the neighborhoods got very run down, crime increased, and East Nashville was the "make sure you don't get off the bus over there" part of Nashville. Hope & restoration came in the form of a Tornado that swept through Nashville in 1998. East Nashville took a pretty big hit - but the upside was that it drew the city's attention back to this forgotten neighborhood. Insurance companies, disaster relief, and investor money started coming in all over the place. People started moving back in and investing themselves, their families, and their businesses in reviving the East Nashville Community.

There is no real easy way to describe East Nashville today. Unlike most other pockets of Nashville and surrounding suburbs, there is a beautiful array of skin tones and purse sizes. The small businesses, local festivals, restaurants, parks, architecture are all too much to touch on in one revel. I'm sure I'll be diving in deeper in the future. But to sum up in one word, East Nashville is.. Refreshing!