Davidson County · Middle Tennessee
Living in Green Hills
Green Hills is an established Nashville neighborhood about six miles southwest of downtown, built around a commercial spine on Hillsboro Pike with residential streets on either side. It is one of the few places in the metro where a short commute, established housing stock and full retail all sit together.
- County
- Davidson
- Distance to downtown Nashville
- ~6 miles
- Character
- Established residential streets around a retail core
What’s actually there
- The Mall at Green Hills and the surrounding Hillsboro Pike retail
- Green Hills Library
- Quick access to Belle Meade, Sylvan Park and downtown
The housing stock
Mid-century homes on established streets, many since renovated or replaced. Teardown-and-rebuild activity is real here, which means adjacent houses can be sixty years apart in age and construction. Knowing which you are looking at, and what was done to it, matters more than the listing photos will tell you.
Getting around
Roughly 15 minutes to downtown off-peak via Hillsboro Pike or I-440. Vanderbilt and the medical center are closer still.
Things to do in Green Hills
Places worth knowing before you decide whether you want to live here.
The Bluebird Cafe
Ninety-seat listening room where songwriters play in the round. Books months ahead.
Parnassus Books
Independent bookshop co-founded by Ann Patchett, with a regular author event calendar.
The Mall at Green Hills
The area’s enclosed retail center on Hillsboro Pike.
Radnor Lake State Natural Area
Walking-only preserve just south of the neighborhood.
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 Green Hills
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.
Burton Hills
The named development on the east side of Green Hills, off Hillsboro Pike, built on what had been the Burton family farm. It is three different things under one name: single family houses, townhomes, and The Villages of Burton Hills condominiums, plus an office park along Burton Hills Boulevard that is not residential at all.
- The land was the Burton farm, once about 750 acres. The Burton family deeded it to David Lipscomb College, which later sold it to developers.
- During the Battle of Nashville the original house on the property was used as a hospital treating wounded men from both armies.
- Built out primarily in 1986 and 1987. Cherry Glen, a section inside Burton Hills that sat undeveloped, was bought in 1996 by Spiva and Hill with the Gianikas group and later sold to David Weekley Homes.
- Three housing types under one name, which is why two Burton Hills listings can look nothing alike. Confirm whether an address is a detached house, a townhome or a condominium before you compare it to anything.
- The office park on Burton Hills Boulevard, including 40 Burton Hills Boulevard, is commercial. If you are searching this name looking for a house, that is not it.
Green Hills, the original subdivision
The 1926 filing the whole area is named for, on Green Hills Drive and North and South Observatory Drive off Belmont Boulevard.
- 67 lots recorded December 16, 1926, with a second plat in 1927 and a 1962 addition that created Observatory Court. Resubdivisions as recently as 2019.
- Developed by John Calhoun, who went on to develop the Courts of Belle Meade and the Manors of Belle Meade.
- Metro’s own history of the area attributes the Green Hills name to three hills roughly a mile south, possibly including Shy’s Hill. Bonner Avenue is named for T.F. Bonner, 1861 to 1939, and Burton Avenue for Andrew Mizell Burton, 1879 to 1966.
- Single family, with duplex classification on Eden Avenue.
- Metro Historic Preservation has published a draft neighborhood conservation zoning overlay for Green Hills East and held a community meeting on it. As of those documents it is a draft, not adopted. If you are buying here with plans to build, confirm its current status before you rely on either answer.
Woodmont Estates
The 1930s subdivision on Hilldale Drive, Valley Brook Road and Sugartree Road, and the only Green Hills subdivision here with meaningful mapped flood hazard.
- Two blocks of 64 lots each recorded August 20, 1937, and a further 56 lots in August 1946. Resubdivision has continued through the 2010s. About 168 parcels today.
- Mostly single family, with residential condominium parcels on Hilldale Drive and Woodmont Boulevard.
- No homeowners association appears in Metro ownership records.
- A rectangle over the recorded plats returns 26 mapped FEMA polygons, all Zone AE, and 11 in the interior. That is real mapped flood hazard inside the subdivision, and it is the exception in Green Hills rather than the rule. Pull the map on the specific parcel.
Woodmont Lane Homesites
On Woodmont Lane, Dartmouth Avenue and Auburn Lane near Abbott Martin Road, and the most mixed housing classification in Green Hills.
- 149 lots recorded August 10, 1940, with replats as recent as December 2023. About 140 parcels today.
- Single family, duplex, zero lot line and residential condominium classifications all appear under this one plat name. This is the Green Hills subdivision where you are most likely to be looking at attached product without realizing it.
- Zero lot line and condominium change your financing and what you actually own. Read the Assessor classification on the specific parcel rather than the listing description.
- No association appears at the plat level in Metro records.
Abbottsford
The 1980s planned unit development off Abbott Martin Road, with an English park naming scheme: Overton Park, Bowring Park, Kensington Park, Hyde Park.
- 129 lots recorded April 18, 1985, with a second phase of 49 lots recorded March 2002. About 176 parcels today.
- All single family, with no condominium, duplex or zero lot line classification. Unusual for Green Hills.
- HOA. The Abbottsford Homeowners Association holds parcels of record, and the plat itself carries the planned unit development designation.
- A rectangle over the recorded plats returns no mapped FEMA floodplain at all.
Glen Echo
Off Hillsboro Pike on Glen Echo Road, a 1948 subdivision that has been infilled steadily since 2003.
- 43 lots recorded April 30, 1948, followed by Glen Echo Hall in 2003, a revision in 2007, Phase 2 in 2007 and eight further lot level resubdivisions between 2006 and 2025. About 101 parcels today.
- Single family, residential condominium and zero lot line, plus commercial classifications along the Hillsboro Pike frontage including retail, office and medical office. This is a mixed corridor, not a uniformly detached subdivision.
- Two separate associations: the Glen Echo Homeowners Association and a distinct townhome association. Which one covers you depends on the parcel.
- A rectangle over the plats returns no mapped FEMA floodplain.
Belmont Park Terrace
The cluster on Belmont Park Terrace and Belmont Park Court, and the clearest example anywhere in Green Hills of regimes changing house by house.
- About 75 parcels, carrying residential condominium, single family, duplex, park and recreation classifications.
- The legal descriptions show a stack of separately named regimes rather than one: Belmont Park Terrace Townhomes, Belmont Park Court I and II Townhomes with their own amendments, Belmont Park Cottages, Belmont Park Commons, Belmont Park Condominiums, and several named for individual addresses. Each has its own common area parcel.
- The practical consequence is that on Belmont Park Terrace the ownership structure can change from one house to the next. Two neighbors can own fundamentally different things.
- Do not confuse this with the better known Belmont Park in 37212 near Hillsboro Village. They are different places and get conflated constantly.
Esteswood and Esteswood Estates
The Estes Road corridor, platted in two filings fourteen years apart.
- 45 lots recorded August 30, 1937 as Esteswood, and 23 lots recorded November 15, 1951 as Esteswood Estates. About 36 parcels today.
- All single family, with no condominium, duplex or zero lot line classification.
- Worth knowing about the corridor generally: the adjoining Woodmont Park subdivision, recorded 1927, carries duplex classification on Cantrell Avenue, Estes Road, Wilson Boulevard and Woodmont Boulevard. Estes Road is not uniformly detached single family.
- Golf Club Lane, Hobbs Road and Estes Road are street corridors, not platted subdivisions. The plats along them carry their own names, so search by plat name rather than by street.
Schools
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Look up an address with the district →
Green Hills addresses are served by Metro Nashville Public Schools. Metro runs zoned schools alongside a choice and magnet application process, so the zoned school is a starting point rather than the whole picture. Run the address through the district’s own Zone Finder and check the current choice 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
Why is Green Hills expensive?
Location and scarcity. It is close to downtown, Vanderbilt and the medical center, on established streets with limited land to add more housing. When supply cannot grow, proximity gets priced in.
Should I buy a renovated home or one to renovate in Green Hills?
That is exactly the question I would want to walk through with you on site. Having renovated myself, I can tell you fairly quickly whether a renovation was done properly or done to sell, and that difference is usually worth more than the asking-price gap.
What schools serve Green Hills?
Metro Nashville Public Schools, by address. Metro also runs a choice and magnet application process on top of zoned assignment, so two families on the same street can end up in different schools. Check the address in the district’s Zone Finder and look at the current choice options for that zone.
Thinking about Green Hills?
What are some of your must haves to make it a perfect home for you in this neighborhood?