Southern Eye Candy

I expected to find country music, humidity and Andrew Jackson in Nashville.

What I didn’t expect to find was such a cool collection of old houses.

See, when we planned the Southern trip we took earlier this month, we specifically scheduled a stop in Asheville, North Carolina because I’m a bungalow freak and Asheville is supposed to be a bungalow paradise – sort of like the Pasadena of the South, minus the smog. They even hold an annual Arts and Crafts Conference at the very arts-and-crafts Grove Park Inn.

But somehow we managed to miss most of the bungalows, partly because we were in the wrong neighborhoods (Victorian and Craftsman-inspired mini mansions – and castle-inspired real mansions – rather than the modest cottages I was after).

And partly because we just plain ran out of time.

So I couldn’t believe my luck when, soon after arriving in Music City, we drove through row-upon-row of – you guessed it – bungalows.

And Tudors, four-squares and colonials. And some styles that I just couldn’t place. Some were residences; some now housed record labels and recording studios.

So I did what any old house lover would do – I broke out my camera and started snapping away like a madwoman, hoping to bring some Southern inspiration home with me.

 

I only wish we had more time to visit the many historic places in the Nashville area. If you’re going to judge a place by how it preserves its old buildings, Nashville is top-notch.

Plus, it’s got character.