From Nashville, With Love

Image Courtesy: Hannah King  

These days, when you meet someone in Nashville, it is extremely rare that they were born and raised there. I am what locals like to call a Unicorn; someone who lived their whole life in Nashville. I’m using this term to emphasize the rarity of this kind of person, because most of the city’s population are either tourists or moved to Nashville in their 20s and 30s. 

I have lived in Nashville my entire life. I have lived in the same house, on the same street, going to the same grocery store, with the same neighbors, for my entire childhood. And I couldn’t love it more. However, I have since learned that the phrase, You never know what you have until it's gone, perfectly describes my love for this city. 

In high school, I enjoyed living in Nashville because of the duality of the city. I liked that I lived in a quiet neighborhood, but an afternoon stroll on Broadway was a mere 10-minute drive away. It was not until I went to college that I started to truly love being from Nashville. I love the experience of telling people I am from Nashville, as they always respond with an infatuated daze and always peppered me with follow-up questions: What was it like to grow up in a big and booming city? As a college student, I have found myself adoring the weekends spent at home with my friends and family. I embrace the city’s dynamic nature—one of my favorite things about the city of Nashville is the way it continues to transform over the years. 

The way I view the city and the way tourists view the city are two very different pictures. It is hard to explain, but I see Nashville as my hometown, whereas tourists view it as Honky Tonk Central. While both of these things are true, there are moments I wish that I could give every tourist a local’s guide to Nashville and help them explore the nooks within this beautiful city. I always just want people to know that Nashville is so much more than country music bars and cowgirl boots. 

On any given day, when walking through an up-and-coming neighborhood or driving through downtown, I will see groups of tourists or the oh-so-common “Nash Bash” bachelorette party. As a teenager, I often rolled my eyes at these people and wished that they weren’t crowding lines or blocking streets, looking for directions. But now, I can’t help but look at the tourists and visitors and take pride in the fact that they chose to come to Nashville. They chose Nashville. As a young adult, I have come to love the tourists in our city and knowing that people love Nashville. 

Nashville is the most perfect place to grow up, the most perfect place to return, and the most perfect place for newcomers to explore. Over, and over again, I love that I get to choose Nashville and call it my home. 

Strike Out,

Hannah King 

Editor: Grace Maneein

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