12 South is a half-mile commercial strip running along 12th Avenue South, roughly 2 to 3 miles from Broadway. The name is literal: it refers to the road it sits on. But the neighborhood it anchors has become one of the most visited, photographed, and fought-over stretches of real estate in the entire city.
The commercial core runs between Linden Avenue to the north and Kirkwood Avenue to the south, bookended by Sevier Park on the southern end. The residential streets spreading out on either side are lined with arts-and-crafts bungalows, Queen Annes, and Tudor Revivals — homes built in the early 1900s that have been steadily renovated into some of the priciest real estate in Nashville. Median home sale prices in 12 South hit around $1.4 million in late 2025.
What turned 12 South into what it is today was a sequence of smart local businesses opening in formerly unremarkable storefronts. The inflection point came in 2009, when Matt and Carrie Eddmenson opened Imogene + Willie, a custom denim shop, in a converted gas station. The New York Times covered it. National attention followed. Within a few years, the strip was no longer a quiet neighborhood street — it was a destination.
Frothy Monkey had actually opened there in 2004, predating the boom, which is why locals who’ve been going there since the beginning treat it as something of a neighborhood anchor. Holly Williams (Hank Williams Jr.’s daughter) opened White’s Mercantile in December 2013 — a modern general store stocked with Southern goods — and Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James followed with its flagship location, which came with a mural that became the most photographed wall in Nashville.
Today the strip is a dense mix: boutique clothing stores, specialty coffee, brunch restaurants with long weekend waits, rooftop-less bars, a park, and farmers market. The southern end feels slightly more local. The northern end, near Draper James and the mural, is the tourist zone. The bungalows that run off either side of 12th Avenue hold the residents who walk their dogs through all of it.
The whole thing is genuinely walkable — 12 South is consistently ranked the most walkable neighborhood in Nashville — but the destination itself sits far enough from downtown that you need a ride to get there.
Sources
- Visit Nashville TN, 12South Neighborhood guide: visitmusiccity.com/nashville-neighborhoods/12south
- StyleBlueprint, “Your Updated Guide to Nashville’s 12 South Neighborhood” (December 2024): styleblueprint.com
- Homes.com, 12 South Neighborhood Guide: homes.com/local-guide/nashville-tn/12-south-neighborhood/
- Acre Real Estate, Guide to 12 South: acrestate.com/guide/guide-to-12-south-neighborhood-in-nashville-tn/
- Redfin, 12 South Nashville Housing Market (October 2025): redfin.com