What three things is Germantown most famous for?

February 19, 2026

Ask people who know Nashville and the answer comes back the same way almost every time: food, history, and walkability. These three things are not incidental to Germantown they define what the neighborhood is for and explain why it draws both residents and visitors who are actively trying to avoid Broadway.

1. Food

Germantown has the most concentrated collection of serious restaurants in Nashville. Not chain restaurants, not bars with menus, but actual chef-driven restaurants that have attracted national attention and earned competitive accolades.

City House, opened by chef Tandy Wilson in 2007, was one of the first restaurants to plant a flag in Germantown before the neighborhood’s current renaissance was underway. Wilson won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2016, making him the first Nashville chef to win that award. The menu is Italian-inflected Southern cooking, and the Sunday Supper format has become one of the better dining traditions in the city.

Rolf and Daughters, opened by chef Philip Krajeck in 2012, was named one of America’s Best New Restaurants by both Bon Appétit and Esquire. It still holds up as one of Nashville’s most consistent and interesting restaurants, built around handmade pasta, seasonal vegetables, and a natural wine list that was unusual for Nashville when it opened.

Henrietta Red, opened by chef Julia Sullivan in 2017, was named one of America’s 50 Best New Restaurants by Bon Appétit and a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist. The raw bar is still one of the best in Nashville.

These three restaurants alone would make Germantown a food destination. Add 5th & Taylor, Butchertown Hall, Tailor, O-Ku, The Optimist, and several others, and the neighborhood’s culinary reputation is not exaggerated.

2. History and architecture

Germantown is Nashville’s oldest neighborhood. The historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since August 1979, spans 18 city blocks and contains buildings from the 1840s through the present. The architectural range is unusually wide Italianate townhouses, Queen Anne cottages, Gothic Revival church architecture, and Eastlake details appear within steps of each other, with 20th-century warehouse buildings and contemporary new construction inserted between them.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, dedicated in 1859 and partially built from bricks salvaged from Nashville’s first Catholic church, is the neighborhood’s architectural centerpiece. The Tennessee State Museum, opened in its current location in 2018, is free and covers Tennessee history from pre-colonial times through the present. Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, adjacent to the farmers market, is a 19-acre park with views of the State Capitol.

The neighborhood’s history as Nashville’s first suburb, its German immigrant roots, its period of mid-century decline, and its revival from the 1970s onward give it more historical texture than almost any other Nashville neighborhood.

3. Walkability

Germantown consistently rates as one of Nashville’s most walkable neighborhoods, which is a meaningful distinction in a city where most things require a car. The Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association describes it as “just over one mile north of downtown,” and Walk Score rates it as “very walkable.” The brick sidewalks that line the historic streets are part of why walking the neighborhood feels different from walking most of Nashville.

Within Germantown’s 18 blocks, you can reach coffee, groceries, restaurants, a brewery, a farmers market, a baseball stadium, two museums, a major park, and the Cumberland River Greenway without getting in a car. The Music City Bikeway runs through the neighborhood, and the Greenway connects it to broader trail networks. For a city that built itself around highways and parking lots, Germantown is the exception that makes the rule obvious.

Sources

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