East German Town

The upper portion of StreetAdvisor’s map of East Germantown eerily matches the lines on Metro Nashville’s map marking the inundation area of the May 2010 flood. The little strip between First Avenue North and First Avenue was particularly heavily hit, but the water reached out to lap at Morgan Park down at 3rd and Hume.

It’s amazing to see what a difference the topography of this area made. A couple of weeks ago I took a bus ride through here, up 3rd Avenue and then back down 2nd; I could barely tell that there might be some construction and cleanup still happening closer to the river.

That area by the river is business/industrial, while the area on the other side of my route is residential. A lot of people’s homes escaped disaster by only a couple of blocks.

I learned something else from my ride: people here don’t feel safe. A couple of industrial yards were surrounded by chain-link fence topped with barbed wire—with razor wire looped through the barbed. And the doors and windows of more than one house sported those wrought-iron metal bars that are more than decoration.

The public transportation here is reasonable. I was riding the number 9 out to Metro Center. In addition, the 28 and the 41 have routes that take them along the southern edge of the East Germantown area.

East Germantown is, not surprisingly, an area east of Germantown in Nashville. It is bordered by Jefferson/Spring St,, 3rd Ave. North, Garfield Street, and Cheatham Lake.

Driving around the area, you find a mix of industrial buildings, single family homes, and new condo developments.

It is very close to the wonderful restaurants in Germantown and downtown proper. One of East Germantown's best assets is the Nashville Jazz Workshop, located at 1319 Adams St., which offers quality jazz instruction and performances.