Williamson County · Middle Tennessee
Living in Franklin
Franklin is a historic town about 20 miles south of downtown Nashville, built around a preserved 19th-century Main Street that still functions as the center of daily life rather than as a tourist exhibit. It is the seat of Williamson County.
- County
- Williamson
- Distance to downtown Nashville
- ~20 miles
- Character
- Historic core, established suburbs, new construction on the edges
What’s actually there
- Main Street, with independent shops, restaurants and the Franklin Theatre, a restored 1937 cinema
- The Factory at Franklin, a former stove factory converted to shops, food and event space
- Pinkerton Park and the Harpeth River greenway
- Downtown Franklin Farmers Market, year-round on Saturdays
- Regular street festivals that close Main Street
The housing stock
Three distinct kinds of housing sit close together here. Restored historic homes in and around the downtown grid. Established subdivisions from the 1990s and 2000s with mature trees. And continuing new construction further out, where the lots are larger and the finishes are current. Which one you want changes the search entirely.
Getting around
I-65 runs north to Nashville; the drive is roughly 30 minutes off-peak and appreciably longer in morning and evening peaks. Cool Springs sits between Franklin and Brentwood and is itself a large employment center, so a good number of Franklin residents commute a few minutes rather than to downtown.
Things to do in Franklin
Places worth knowing before you decide whether you want to live here.
Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant
Main Street institution serving Southern plates with live music, 120 4th Ave S.
Franklin Theatre
Restored 1937 cinema on Main Street, running films and live shows year-round.
The Factory at Franklin
Former stove factory converted to shops, dining and event space, currently mid-revitalization.
The Park at Harlinsdale Farm
Two-hundred-acre former walking horse farm, now a city park with trails and event fields.
Main Street Festival
Spring street festival that closes downtown Franklin to traffic.
Dickens of a Christmas
December Victorian street festival on Main Street, 41st annual in 2026.
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 Franklin
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.
Westhaven
A 1,500 acre traditional neighborhood development on the south side of Highway 96 West, about three miles west of the square, by Southern Land Company. The first homeowners moved in during 2003 and the developer projects build out through 2031.
- Roughly 3,500 residential units planned across single family homes, townhomes and condominiums, plus active adult housing. More than 2,400 households were occupied at the twenty year mark.
- Westhaven Golf Club is an 18 hole par 72 Arthur Hills course laid out as a core course with no houses on it, across about 200 acres, with its own clubhouse and grille.
- A 15,000 square foot residents club with a fitness center, movement studio, art center, a 37 seat theater and drop in daycare. Multiple pools, tennis and pickleball, nine miles of trails and twenty parks.
- A village center inside the neighborhood with restaurants, retail, healthcare and professional services. About half the acreage is kept as green space.
- Not gated. HOA.
Fieldstone Farms
The big one on Hillsboro Road in 37069: 2,137 homes on 720 acres, built in a six year run beginning in 1987. Fieldstone Parkway, Lexington Parkway and Black Horse Parkway are the spines.
- 2,137 homes on 720 acres, under a master association with a set of sub associations beneath it. Which sub association you are in changes what you pay for and who you call.
- Two pools with clubhouses: Club West at 1530 Lexington Parkway and Club East at 501 Black Horse Parkway. Two clay and two hard tennis courts, pickleball and a fitness center.
- Five parks, Lynwood, Lexington, Black Horse, Stanley and Susie Sims, with a dog park at Lynwood and paved paths throughout.
- The land was Cecilwood Farm from the 1930s until 1987, and traces back to a Revolutionary War grant to Thomas Edmiston that was sold to Daniel Perkins in 1800. Susie Sims Irvin and her husband chose the Harlon Company as developer in 1987.
- The name comes from the fieldstones scattered across the working farm. The clubhouse sits on the foundation of the original log cabin and the white farm fences were kept.
McKay’s Mill
Off McEwen Drive in 37067, about two miles east of the Cool Springs Boulevard interchange, built from 2000 to 2014 across more than thirty platted sections.
- Roughly 540 acres and more than 1,300 homes, mixing single family, villas, patio homes, townhomes and condominiums.
- Four associations, not one: McKay’s Mill Master, McKay’s Mill Single Family, Villas of Montgomery Place, and Park Run Condos. Find out which one your address falls under before you assume anything about it.
- Olympic size saltwater pool, tennis courts, a clubhouse and fitness center of about 5,000 square feet on Habersham Way, three walking trails, and pocket parks and playgrounds.
- A village center of about 60,000 square feet at Liberty Pike and Oxford Glen Drive with a Publix, medical offices, restaurants and childcare, inside the neighborhood.
Ladd Park
A 615 acre community in southeast Franklin, east of I-65 behind the Williamson County Ag Expo Park, running along the Harpeth River between Carothers Parkway and the interstate. Building since 2007.
- 615 acres with 1,146 homes in the plan. Sections include The Highlands, Brenley Crossing, Carothers Cove, Enderly Pointe, The Crest, Foxglove Farms, The Overlook and The Ridge.
- Two miles of Harpeth River frontage with a canoe and kayak launch, an observation site, a nature plant reserve and an arboretum.
- More than ten miles of paved walking and biking trails, 240 acres of common area and parks, two pools and a clubhouse on Beamon Drive.
- Developed by Trillium Ventures with a long roster of builders across the sections, which is why two Ladd Park houses can be very different products at the same address range.
Berry Farms
A 600 acre mixed use community at the I-65 and Peytonsville Road interchange, the southern gateway into Franklin. Approved and broken ground in 2011 after three years of planning.
- A town center with ground floor retail across nine buildings, about 27,000 square feet, plus offices. Ramsey Solutions built a 223,000 square foot headquarters here.
- More than 600 homes planned, with 331 residences in the town center phase. Named villages include Hughes Mill, Chadwell and Reams Fleming.
- Clubhouses and pools, parks, preserved open space, pedestrian oriented streets and a seasonal Tuesday evening farmers market.
- The land was Rural Plains, settled in the early 1800s by Colonel Buck Martin, who served on Andrew Jackson’s staff in the War of 1812. The Hughes family built a Federal brick house here in 1830 and a mill near where Five Mile Creek meets the Harpeth.
- At least three Civil War skirmishes are documented on the property. Developed by Boyle Investment Company with Berry family descendants.
Poplar Farms
On the east side of Franklin in 37067, about 295 acres southeast of Clovercroft Road and Oxford Glen Drive. Approved in November 2021 and still building.
- The Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the plan on a five to four vote in November 2021, after the Planning Commission had recommended disapproval on density grounds.
- 546 homes approved on about 295 acres, with lot sizes varying widely. Roughly 42 percent of the site is unbuildable under Franklin’s hillside and hillcrest overlay, which is why the density sits where it does.
- The Manor at Poplar Farms amenity center: resort style pool, fitness center, clubhouse and covered patios. Trails through a 59 acre nature park, a play lawn and underground utilities.
- Homes by Meritage and Signature. The approved plan includes extending Market Street from Clovercroft Road down to Highway 96 with signals at both ends, so the traffic pattern here is still changing.
- Not gated. HOA.
Laurelbrooke
Gated, off Sneed Road in 37069, on 578 acres with roughly 200 acres left as woodland.
- 311 home sites on 578 acres, with lots from about 0.44 acres to just over three, in five named neighborhoods: The Woodlands, The Estates, The Reserve, The Lakes and The Boulevard.
- Gated, with two entrances and 24 hour staffed security.
- A clubhouse of about 4,000 square feet, resort pool, two lighted tennis courts, pickleball, fitness center, basketball court, athletic field, playground, two stocked fishing ponds and walking trails.
- Developed by Southern Land Company beginning in 1999, the same firm behind Westhaven.
Sullivan Farms
South Franklin off Mack Hatcher Memorial Parkway in 37064, developed between 1997 and 2003 and fully built out.
- Roughly 700 single family homes in seven sections: The Run, The Meadows, The Cove, The Downs, The Ridge, The Chase and The Highlands.
- Lots run from about a fifth of an acre to just over two acres on the wooded buffer lots.
- Pool, pavilion with restrooms, clubhouse, playground and a soccer field. Sidewalks in all seven sections, paths connecting them, underground utilities and streetlights.
- Sources disagree about whether the second boundary road is Donelson Parkway or Lewisburg Pike, so confirm the specific section rather than going by the neighborhood name.
Hincheyville Historic District
Not a subdivision in the modern sense. Hincheyville was Franklin’s first residential addition, platted in 1819 just west of the original town grid, and it is a National Register historic district today.
- Listed on the National Register April 15, 1982. About 53 acres with 70 contributing buildings at listing, bounded along West Main, Fair, and Sixth through Tenth Streets. The boundary was revised in 2020.
- Platted in 1819 with 59 lots by a group of Nashville businessmen, and named for Hinchey Petway, the merchant they bought the land from.
- Most standing houses are late nineteenth and early twentieth century: Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Foursquare, Colonial Revival, Craftsman and Tudor Revival.
- No HOA. What governs here is City of Franklin historic district design guidelines and Historic Zoning Commission review, which is a stricter animal than a covenant.
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which holds eight Louis Comfort Tiffany windows, and Cumberland Presbyterian Church are both inside the district.
Lewisburg Avenue Historic District
The historic district southeast of downtown Franklin, roughly bounded by South Margin Street, Lewisburg Avenue and Adams Street.
- Listed on the National Register April 13, 1988. About 28 acres, with 34 contributing buildings and three contributing structures at the time of listing.
- Housing is Late Victorian, early twentieth century revival styles, and Craftsman bungalows.
- No HOA. City of Franklin historic district design guidelines apply instead, so exterior work goes through review.
- Walking distance to downtown Franklin, which is the practical reason people search this name at all.
Schools
Franklin Special School District · PreK-8
Look up an address with the district →Williamson County Schools
Look up an address with the district →
Franklin is served by two separate school districts, and which one an address falls into is not obvious from the map. Franklin Special School District covers PreK through 8 only and has no high school, so its students move into Williamson County Schools high schools after 8th grade. FSSD’s boundaries were set in 1986 and, in the district’s own words, do not encompass the city of Franklin as a whole. Everything outside those lines is Williamson County Schools from the start. Zoning is assigned by address, not by subdivision name, so confirm the specific address with the district before you rely on it.
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 school district is a Franklin address in?
It depends on the address, and Franklin genuinely has two. Franklin Special School District serves PreK through 8 inside boundaries drawn in 1986 that cover only part of the city; everywhere else is Williamson County Schools. FSSD has no high school, so its students move into a Williamson County high school after 8th grade. Check the address itself with the district, because a subdivision name will not tell you.
Is Franklin a good place to buy right now?
It depends far more on which part of Franklin and what you are buying than on the month you buy in. Historic downtown, established subdivisions and new construction on the outskirts behave like three different markets. Ask me for current numbers on the specific one you are looking at.
How far is Franklin from downtown Nashville?
About 20 miles, or roughly 30 minutes off-peak via I-65. Peak-hour traffic adds meaningfully to that, so drive it at the hour you would actually be driving it before you decide.
What should I watch for buying new construction in Franklin?
The finish schedule and what is genuinely included versus what is an upgrade. I have built and renovated, so on a walkthrough I am looking at the things that show up at inspection or at resale rather than at the staging.
Thinking about Franklin?
What are some of your must haves to make it a perfect home for you in this neighborhood?