Unique stops in Tennessee

We tried to be adventurous on our trip to Tennessee and here are a few of our favorite unique places that we found...

On the Sunday that we were in Nashville, we attended church at Christ Church in Nashville. That had been a dream of mine and it was exciting to see that dream fulfilled. Christ Church is famous for its choir. (it's funny that most people have never even heard of the Christ Church Choir, but they really are famous!) This choir has been on some of the Gaither videos in the past, which is how I would have first heard of them. The choir is directed by Landy Gardner and his wife Joy is the worship leader. Joy sings on a lot of the videos and I always really enjoy her style. I thoroughly enjoyed the choir that morning and it was extra special to hear Joy sing a solo during the communion part of the service. After the service we got into the car and had no clue where to go for lunch. I opened up the Nasvhille guide book and checked out restaurants in the area we were at. Came across the Copper Kettle and we thought it sounded good enough, and easy to get to from where we were. So off we went, and as we started down Granny White Parkway, we realized that we'd hit the very upscale part of Nashville. It was a gorgeous drive, windy & rolling streets, massive homes on acreages, lots of trees, so worth the drive. And then in the middle of nowhere, was the restaurant we were looking for, and as you can see by the picture (above) , it doesn't look anything upscale! Henry even questioned me whether or not we should stop, but it was 1 o clock and I was hungry, so I said lets try it. You had to walk around the gas pipes to get to the front door, and the host was standing outside to let us in. BUT, it was a really unique little restaurant, and so worth the stop. They only served brunch on Sunday, which was a little pricier that we'd have liked, but it was FABULOUS food! So if you're ever in the Nashville area, we highly recommend this gem of a place!

This picture shows the main street of Franklin, TN. Franklin is about 20 minutes from Nashville and has a very historic downtown. The buildings are amazing, and many are well over 100 years old. We toured all the little shops. Definietly more upscale than Bell Buckle, but fun to wander around. We had lunch in another unique restuarant. We enjoyed Key Lime & Pecan pie for dessert, well worth the purchase!

This was my dessert at the Bell Buckle Cafe! Old fashioned oatmeal spice cake with homemade caramel topping. Yum, yum! The food was amazing at this place. All homemade and delicious but you do have to like your food deep fried if you want to eat foods from their culture! The smoked pork chop is a must try!

This is the inside of the Bell Buckle Cafe. The ceiling had business card tiles.

This is the main street of Bell Buckle Tennessee! I had come across Tori Taff's blog a number of months ago (Russ Taff's wife). I went there once, and never much thought of it again. A week before we were to leave, I surfed through her blog again. She was blogging about little weekend trips her and the girls were making to all the unique places around Nashville, and she blogged about Bell Buckle TN and it's amazing Cafe and antique shops. (Her daughters have actually run into Keith Urban at the Cafe in the past) So I checked it out on the map and realized it was only 5 miles off our path! I was so excited! We had a lot of fun checking out the antique shops, old general store, more modern stores and the Cafe. The Cafe has live music on Friday nights, so we were able to enjoy a little bit of that as well before we left. In this town, the people were extremely friendly and hospitable. One storeowner gave us lots of tips and suggestions of things to do and see in Nashville. We took her advice about the Gaylord Opryland Hotel...more to come on another entry. Bell Buckle...worth the stop!