Some of you guys may remember my archived thread about possibly relocating to the Nashville area.  It's HERE

Well, after much soul searching and anxiety, we are finally making the move from the great state of Texas, to the great state of Tennessee  We will be moving to the Hendersonville area, so if anybody has some helpful information they'd like to offer up, I'd be much grateful.

Best neighborhoods, schools, gun shops, ranges, etc.....



Update.....We made it!   We arrived in Hendersonville on 6/4.  We'll miss TX, but after being here for about a week, we already know that we made a good decision.  We plan on being here for a very long time  

Anyway, thanks for the info you guys provided, both in this thread and my archived thread!  

Luckily one of the better gun shops in the Nashville area is in Hendersonville. Guns and Leather has stores in Hendersonville and the original in Greenbrier. Good selection and an indoor range down stairs.
http://gunsandleather.com/
They used to have the best gun show in the area (in my opinion) at Hendersonville, but I guess a dispute over raising the rates at the convention center pissed off the promoter so no more Hendersonville show it seems. There is an Academy Sports down the road and another gun shop around the corner by Rivergate mall, but I can't remember the name. D&T or something like that.

Oh, and if you are into 3 gun/multi-gun, Rock Castle is not too far away near Bowling Green KY.

I second Swimm's recommendation of Guns and Leather of both Hendersonville and Greenbrier.

Welcome to TN FlashHole! I used to live in Hendersonville (now in Nashville) and would be glad to buy you a beer and answer any questions.

Will you be here in time for the next TN HTF shoot (6/7/14)?

Thanks for the info guys.  We know mostly nothing about the area, so any info is helpful.

We will likely be showing up that weekend, but I highly doubt I'll have any spare time.  Moving a family is a logistical nightmare, especially when you've been in the same place for so long.  I think it will be worth it in the long run.  Really looking forward to some new scenery.  

I also have a jeep.  Are there any good places in the Nashville area to get off-road?  

Born in Hendersonville myself. I dont everyone else has given good info so far and i'd like to add in that there are quite a few places to fish, even if you dont have a boat that are very close. Also: if you find yourself needing furniture/homegoods and such that break/get lost or left in the move i'd reccomend going to Essex, its right on the main strip there in town. From what I remember and hear these days Hendersonville schools are all pretty good to go.

Where does everybody hunt in TN?  Is it like TX where you have to have a deer lease, or is there plenty of public land to go around?

Nothing worthwhile that's close.

There's two open-to-the-the-public places that are in Mid-TN. One is a state park called "Land Between the Lakes" & the wheeling area is Turkey Bay (IIRC?). Roughly an 1-1/2 hr leisurely drive from H'ville. I've been there twice, it's ok but nothing special.

The better one is Wheelin' in the Country. They're private property that sells access to 4 wheelers. Something like 200 acres or so of goodness, from mild to wild. They're down in Lawrence Co., about 2hrs~ from H'ville.

As for "best" gun shop, it's no longer Guns-n-Leather. Yes, their range is indoors & it's nice. But their inventory in the last 2-3 years has taken a big dip from years past. Their H'ville store never has been big on inventory since they've opened, IMO.

Aside from gun shows, the best inventory AND pricing by far in Mid-TN is Nashville Gun Co. Black rifles out the wazoo, handguns galore & hard-to-find guns as well. The only thing they lack is upper tier O&U shotties. Once they move into their new store, this may be resolved too. They're located on Old Hickory Blvd., in Lakewood (or Old Hickory, it gets called both). They're about 20 minutes from H'ville, their owner lives in H'ville in fact.

Now, a word of caution about "Old Hickory Blvd." This "street" can be found literally all over Davidson Co. (Nashville). Confusingly, it does NOT connect in its meanderings. It stops & starts about a gazillion times & can confuse the living shit out of newcomers. What locals do is ask "which part of OHB?" when told of a location. The answer will usually be a specific part of town that it's in: Antioch, Brentwood, Hermitage, Belle Meade, etc.

About the only 4WD specific store in Mid-TN is 4WD Parts on Nolensville Rd. in Nashville. While their catalog is large, their in-stock inventory is minimal, sadly. But they're happy to order whatever it is you might want. In-store pick-up saves you freight costs although you get to pay sales tax.

Welcome to the area, hope your family adjusts well to the move!    

You asked about schools - what ages are you children?

I've heard of Turkey bay.  Probably be the first place I hit, once I have the opportunity.   I grew up in So. IL., so the land between the lakes isn't completely foreign to me.  I've done a lot of camping in the Shawnee National forest just north of Paducha KY.  The Bell Smith Springs area is my old stomping grounds.  Can't wait to get back to an area that has some nice hiking.  That's one of the main reasons we are moving.  




Son is 2 and my daughter is 8.   We are obviously mostly concerned about my daughter at the moment, but we aren't planning on moving again before they both graduate high school.  

We haven't heard anything really bad about any of the Hendersonville schools, but I'm sure that some are better than others and there will be nuances that aren't easily understood via the internet.
 
At first, I think we will be concentrating our home search in the neighborhoods around the lake.  That seems to be a nice area, and it looks like it all goes to Hendersonville High School(not sure about the elementary and junior high schools).   What I haven't figured out is if there are nice areas beyond that, or perhaps just outside of Hendersonville where you can get a little more home/land for the money, yet still go to decent schools.  

My wife will be working for Dollar General in Goodlettsville, so really, anywhere within a decent commute to/from there will work, providing the schools are good.    

ETA....Thanks for the heads up on Old Hickory Blvd.  That information will likely come in handy.  

Hendersonville schools are good to go, at least from a public school perspective and in comparison to Nashville/Davidson county schools. I have family that teaches in that school system, so if you have specific questions about a school (or teacher) PM them to me and I'll try to get you useful answers.

Will you be working in Sumner county as a real estate appraiser, or will you be doing business in Nashville? If both you and your wife will be Sumner county centric (Goodlettsville is on the border of Davidson and Sumner county, so treat it as the far edge of Sumner), you would be well served to consider Gallatin in your search. Hendersonville has grown dramatically in the past 15 years (most of what you see now was farmland or hunting land a decade ago.

The commute down Vietnam Vets in the morning sucks. There's no two ways about it - that road was built decades ago and was perfectly adequate for the number of residents back then. Since most people in Hendersonville commute to Nashville, southbound Vietnam Vets can be a parking lot in the mornings. Your wife will likely have three possible commute routes - Long Hollow Pike, Vietnam Vets, or Gallatin Pike. Whichever communities you look at you should try each route during rush hour and see if the commute is good to go. Even at its worst, Nashville traffic still beats Atlanta traffic.

For your son - look at Bright Horizons on DG's campus. You'll stop looking after that.

Thank you!   That's really good to know about Hendersonville schools.  I'll  PM you if we have specific questions.  

I'm 90% certain that the boy will be going to the daycare at DG.  The wifey checked it out when she was there for her interview and was quite satisfied.   It's really expensive, but any good daycare is.

We certainly haven't ruled out Gallatin.  What kind of commute would it be from Gallatin to DG?    It would seem that you get a little more house for the money there, but it's hard to know for sure with such limited resources.  Being an appraiser, I'm used to having full access to MLS, so not having that is driving me a little bit insane trying to figure the housing market out.  

Yes, the TN appraisal board has a reciprocity agreement TX, so TN will just issue me a license based on my experience in TX.   I will just have to re-build my appraisal business.  That sucks because I've been doing this for about 12 years here and haven't had to look for work for a very long time.   As for coverage area, I cover 4 counties here, so I assume that I will likely cover the entire Nashville metropolitan area and immediate surrounding areas.   That is one of the things that remains to be seen.  I'm confident that it will work out though.

What can you tell me about the Shackle Island area?   Based on pictures I've seen of listed homes, it looks like a really pretty area.  I'm confused though, is it part of Hendersonville, or is it a separate city?  

I've looked at facilities all over Nashville - you're lucky that the best one happens to be onsite where you wife works. Expensive, but you really do get what you pay for in this case.

Gallatin to Goodlettsville is a 10 - 25 minute commute depending on A) where in Gallatin you live and B) what time of day you are driving. Hendersonville and Gallatin used to be where all of the country singers lived (for example, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison lived in Hendersonville, Reba Mcentire lived in Gallatin). During the 60s - 80s these two towns were small bedroom communities. Hendersonville has grown fast over the past 15 years and is trying to compete with Franklin and Brentwood for the younger/non-music professionals. As Nashville has grown into a diverse marketplace (we're not just country music singers and wannabe cowboys), what used to be separate and distinct communities have turned into massive suburbs and outgrowths of the city.

As for the Shackle Island area - are you referring to where New Shackle Island Road intersects with Long Hollow Pike or somewhere else? New Shackle Island Road (and Old Shackle Island Road) south of Hwy 386 until it intersects with Gallatin Pike is mostly older homes (60s - 80s). It's not a bad area, but it is a mixed bag in terms of whether you end up with first time buyer neighbors, retirees, or questionable folks. I don't know much about the neighborhoods along New Shackle Island road north of Hwy 386 - most of them didn't exist the last time I lived in Hendersonville.

If you want to be on the lake, check out properties off Sanders Ferry Road, Walton Ferry Road, Curtis Cross Road, Saundersville Ferry Road (ETA: Brain fart), or off Indian Lake Road south of Gallatin Pike / Main Street.

One thing to consider - Hendersonville has a city ordnance against firing any weapon or launching any projectile. While some people break the law and get away with it, it is not legal to discharge a firearm, bb gun, airsoft gun, bow and arrow, crossbow, blowgun, or spit ball. Snowballs are technically forbidden as well, but since we only get snow every few years and it shuts everything down I don't think they bother enforcing it.

I'm not really sure where I'm referring to when i say Shackle Island.  I just keep seeing it on the listings.   I'll have to do a little more research.

The roads you mentioned are the areas where I think we'd like to be and will be targeting first.   We'll just have to see how much home we can afford in those areas.

As for firing a gun within the city limits, that's fine with me.  Pretty much what I'm used to now.    I am going to have to figure out all the CCW laws there, and what it takes to obtain a CCW license?   I've been carrying so long now, that I just don't want to go without for very long if I don't have to.  Does TN have open carry?    I feel like I read somewhere that you guys were trying to something passed this year.  If so, how did that go?

 

If you run into a MLS listing and want an opinion on the neighborhood/location, shoot it to me via PM. My father was raised in Hendersonville and I've lived there (and in Nashville) for years. I'll be glad to offer an opinion, for whatever little that may be worth.

As for a TN carry permit - the long and the short of it is if you have a pulse, an IQ higher than your shoe size, and can hit the broad side of a barn you'll get one no problem. The long version is you take a class (8 hours, including shooting time), a written test that is silly easy, shoot 50 rounds, provide fingerprints, and pay the fee. We do have open carry (with permit). You can carry in bars (don't drink and carry). You cannot carry at schools, federal buildings, etc. Pretty much normal carry rules, except our carry permits only apply to handguns. The only real impact on long guns that a carry permit brings is that you can have loaded long guns (no round in the chamber) in your vehicle if you have a carry permit.

All carry in TN is by permit only - we do not have constitutional carry / permitless open carry.

I'm a contract driver for a company out of Gallatin, and I would tell you to find someplace else to live besides there. There seems to be little middle ground between million dollar homes like in River Plantation(or whatever it's called), and the ghettoes. Rent is stupid expensive for what you get in Gallatin, too.

It seems like the carry rules and the license process is a lot like TX, with minor differences.   I didn't realize there was open carry with a permit.  That's certainly a plus.  And we can't carry in bars at all here.  We can however, drink and carry, but you can't be intoxicated and they don't define what that is.  It's officer discretion which is enough to keep me from pushing my luck.    We can open carry long guns and have loaded long guns in cars here, but I've never had a reason to do so, so I don't suppose I would miss that at all.   Are you guys able to carry in your cars without permits?  Here, our castle doctrine extends to our automobiles, so we are allowed to carry in our cars without a permit.      

Carry in cars without a permit is a no go here.

Without a permit you can't do much of anything. Fortunately, getting a permit is easy, relatively cheap, and reasonably fast.

There is a bill sitting on the governor's desk right now, just waiting for his signature, that would make it legal for anyone to carry a loaded firearm in their car, as long as they are legally allowed to own the firearm: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Billinfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1774&ga=108

If he signs it I believe it goes into effect July 1st. Of course if he were to veto it, now that the legislature has all gone home early in order to campaign for re-election, they would not be able to override his veto.

Is the Governor likely to sign it?  How's your legislature, pretty conservative or no?

I think he will sign it. But it is hard to tell. Our legislature is very conservative but also very corrupt.

I suppose corrupt conservatives are better than corrupt liberals

Update: he signed it yesterday.

Update in OP

Be sure to check out the local gun shows once you get settled in.............  

I won't feel settled until we find a house, which we haven't had any luck doing.