Davidson County · Middle Tennessee
Living in East Nashville
East Nashville is a collection of distinct neighborhoods across the Cumberland River from downtown, known for independent restaurants, music venues and a housing stock of historic homes alongside heavy renovation and infill. It is not one neighborhood but a dozen, and they differ considerably.
- County
- Davidson
- Distance to downtown Nashville
- ~2 miles across the river
- Character
- Independent, music-forward, historic stock with active renovation
What’s actually there
- Five Points, the commercial heart, with restaurants, bars and venues
- Shelby Park and Shelby Bottoms Greenway, running along the Cumberland
- Riverside Village and the Eastland Avenue corridor
- Historic Edgefield and Lockeland Springs, each with their own architectural character
- The pedestrian bridge and a short drive or ride into downtown
The housing stock
Craftsman and Victorian housing stock, much of it renovated over the past two decades, mixed with substantial new infill. Quality of renovation varies enormously here, more than anywhere else on this list. Two houses on the same block, both “renovated”, can be entirely different propositions once you look at what is behind the finishes.
Getting around
Roughly 10 minutes to downtown off-peak across the river. Shelby Bottoms Greenway connects into the wider greenway network for cyclists.
Things to do in East Nashville
Places worth knowing before you decide whether you want to live here.
Five Points Pizza
New York style slices at 1012 Woodland St, in the Five Points corner.
The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden
Burgers and house sodas at 731 McFerrin Ave, with one of the city’s larger beer gardens.
Lockeland Table
Community kitchen at 1520 Woodland St in a 1939 corner building. Dinner Monday through Saturday.
Butcher & Bee
Mediterranean small plates at 902 Main St.
Tomato Art Fest
Free August street festival in Five Points. The 23rd annual ran August 7 and 8, 2026.
Shelby Bottoms Greenway
Paved and natural-surface trail along the Cumberland, dawn to dusk, with a nature center.
Checked against each business as of August 14, 2026. Nashville loses restaurants faster than most cities, so if something here has closed since, tell me and I’ll get it corrected.
Subdivisions and named developments in East Nashville
Once you are actually looking, you stop searching by city and start searching by subdivision. These are the names that come up, and what is true about each one that will still be true in three years. No prices, no dues, no days on market, because those change and this page would go stale telling you about them.
Which East Nashville neighborhoods are actually regulated
The whole picture in one place, because no two of these neighborhoods are governed the same way.
- Only one historic preservation overlay exists east of the river: Edgefield, ordinance O90-1399. It is the strictest tier and it reviews repairs and materials as well as new construction.
- Six conservation overlays cover parts of East Nashville: Lockeland Springs and East End, Eastwood, Maxwell Heights, Greenwood, Inglewood Place, and Eastdale.
- Everything else east of the river has no design review at all. That includes Highland Heights entirely, most of Cleveland Park, and the blocks south of Shelby Avenue.
- I checked Metro’s complete list, all 43 conservation records and all 97 historic preservation records countywide, and confirmed each one’s side of the river.
The conservation overlays, with dates
When each neighborhood came under review, which decides what was already built by then.
- Lockeland Springs and East End: BL2003-1369 effective May 24 2003 covering 48.05 acres, then BL2004-477 January 22 2005, BL2014-737 May 23 2014 and BL2014-812 July 25 2014.
- Maxwell Heights: BL2008-181 effective June 2 2008, 65.12 acres. Greenwood: BL2008-191 effective the same day, 72.4 acres.
- Eastwood: BL2007-1501 effective July 25 2007, extended by BL2013-586 February 7 2014, BL2014-703 April 18 2014 and BL2018-1228 July 20 2018.
- Inglewood Place: BL2016-107 effective February 26 2016, 164.9 acres. Eastdale: BL2017-667 effective May 19 2017, about 72.44 acres.
What a conservation overlay does and does not do
The most misunderstood thing on this side of the river, in Metro’s own words.
- A conservation overlay reviews new construction, additions, demolition in whole or in part, relocation of structures, and setback determinations.
- It explicitly does not review paint color, roof color or replacement roofing materials. Metro’s published guidelines say so directly.
- A historic preservation overlay, which only Edgefield has here, adds repairs and alterations to existing structures, appurtenances and signage to that list.
- And a National Register listing reviews nothing at all. Metro’s own Edgefield guidelines warn that the historic zoning district and the National Register district are two separate entities with different boundaries.
The National Register districts
Three of them east of the river, none of which restricts a private owner.
- Edgefield Historic District, reference 77001263, listed July 13, 1977.
- East Nashville Historic District, reference 82003960, listed April 15, 1982, roughly bounded by Gallatin Pike, Edgewood Place, North 16th and Russell Streets.
- Inglewood Place Historic District, reference 16000117, listed March 22, 2016.
- A separate listing covers East Nashville High and Junior High Schools at 110 and 112 Gallatin Road, reference 01001552, listed January 25, 2002.
Metro draws no boundary around any of this
Something worth knowing before you argue with anyone about where a neighborhood starts.
- Metro publishes no neighborhood boundary layer. Its boundaries service contains exactly three layers: zip codes, community planning areas and redevelopment districts.
- So for nearly every neighborhood on this side of the river, any line you see on a listing site is an editorial choice rather than a government fact.
- The exception is Highland Heights, which has an adopted planning study boundary of 434.32 acres, bounded by Dickerson Pike, Douglas Avenue, Ellington Parkway and East Trinity Lane, adopted June 14, 2018.
- What is legally defined is the overlay boundary and the zip code. Everything else is convention, which is exactly why I check the parcel rather than the neighborhood name.
Flood exposure across the east side
Four zip codes, four very different answers.
- In the 2010 flood, damaged structures were recorded on about 703 parcels in 37207, 341 in 37216, 246 in 37206 and 55 in 37213.
- Together that is about 1,345 parcels, roughly eleven and a half percent of the 11,648 recorded countywide.
- The proportions matter more than the totals. Zip 37206 lost about two percent of its parcels. Zip 37213, the small low-lying East Bank, lost about forty-two percent of its 130.
- The historic neighborhoods sit on the bluff and largely came through. The bottom land did not. Neither fact substitutes for the FEMA panel on a specific address.
Schools
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Look up an address with the district →
East Nashville addresses are served by Metro Nashville Public Schools. Because East Nashville spans a dozen distinct neighborhoods, zoned assignment changes over a short distance, so two houses a few streets apart can be zoned differently. Run the specific address through the district’s Zone Finder, and check the current choice and magnet options for that zone.
I publish district and school zoning as published fact and nothing more. No ratings, no rankings, no comparisons. School zones are set by the district, assigned by address rather than by subdivision or city name, and they change. Confirm any address with the district itself, and evaluate the schools yourself against what matters to your family.
Common questions
Which part of East Nashville should I look at?
That is the right question, because they are not interchangeable. Historic Edgefield, Lockeland Springs, Inglewood and Riverside Village each have their own housing stock, streets and feel. Tell me how you actually want to live and I will narrow it rather than sending you the whole east side.
How do I judge a renovated home in East Nashville?
This is where I earn my keep. A lot of renovation here was done to sell rather than to last, and the shortcuts show up at inspection or at resale rather than at the showing. I have built and renovated, so I know where to look.
What is there to do in East Nashville?
Five Points is the center of it. Five Points Pizza, The Pharmacy and Lockeland Table are all within a few blocks, with Butcher & Bee over on Main Street. Shelby Bottoms Greenway runs along the river for anyone who wants trails rather than restaurants, and Tomato Art Fest takes over Five Points every August.
Thinking about East Nashville?
What are some of your must haves to make it a perfect home for you in this neighborhood?