The Gulch
Nashville's most vertical neighborhood — a former rail yard that transformed into a dense walkable urban district of condos, boutique hotels, and excellent restaurants. Home to Thompson Nashville, Station Inn, and some of the best dining in the city. LEED-certified as a neighborhood, which is rare in Nashville.
Twenty-some years ago The Gulch was a dead rail yard — commuter lines through Union Station had shut down in 1979, and what was left was garages, warehouses, and gravel lots wedged between downtown and Music Row. Young developers started building here in the early 2000s, and the neighborhood that resulted is the densest, most vertical part of Nashville: condo towers, boutique hotels, and street-level restaurants stacked on top of each other on a walkable grid. In 2009 it became the first LEED-certified green neighborhood in the American South, which is an unusually deliberate distinction for a city that mostly grows without a master plan.
The Thompson Nashville anchors the neighborhood's hotel scene with a rooftop bar overlooking downtown, and the restaurant density rivals anywhere else in the city. But the single most improbable thing about The Gulch is the Station Inn, a cash-at-the-door bluegrass venue that's been running since 1974 and moved into its current spot on 12th Avenue South in 1978 — a full quarter-century before any of the glass towers around it existed. It's a genuinely unpretentious, low-ceilinged room where touring bluegrass and roots acts play surrounded on all sides by luxury condos, and it hasn't changed its format to accommodate any of it.
The Gulch works best for people who want an urban, walkable Nashville experience without being on Broadway — a night that might start with dinner, end at Station Inn, and never require a car.
Highlights
- —First LEED-certified green neighborhood in the American South (2009)
- —Station Inn has run continuously since 1974, cash only at the door
- —Built on the site of a former rail yard that shut down in 1979
- —Thompson Nashville anchors the neighborhood's boutique hotel and rooftop bar scene
- —Dense, walkable grid — one of the only Nashville neighborhoods built without needing a car
Insider tip
Station Inn only takes cash at the door and seating is first-come — get there well before showtime if you want a table near the stage rather than standing room.
Address
The Gulch, Nashville, TN