September 2o, 2025
Traveling south from Profitstown I wanted to stay in an RV park closer to Louisville but there were no available RV sites. We continued an extra hour south to Cave Country RV on September 19. So glad we did. It’s a very nice park with a great place to walk the dogs. The only hitch were road crews were cleaning out a ditch next to I-65 and had a lane blocked. One lane closed out to two caused a traffic jam 7 miles long, a 45 minute delay- all stop and go. Sheesh!
We were fortunate to get the last RV site at Grand Ole RV park in Goodlettsville Tennessee, a suburb of Hendersonville. Our RV is a wee bit big for the site but it has to do. We’d prefer being closer to the large grassy area so we don’t have to walk Buster down rows of RV’s. Sunday in most RV parks is what a friend who was a campground host used to call “Hoover Day”. To him everyone leaving on Sunday is like a big Hoover Vacuum is sucking them out of camp.
Some areas are pretty congested while others are spacious
Well, Hoover Day worked in our favor. We went into the office to ask if a newly vacated site was available and it was. It’s the best site in the park for our matzos. We open the door of the RV and walk right out onto an acre of mowed grass.
So you ask why are you in Goodlettsville (3000 souls)? We have family- a daughter, her two sons and her hubby live in nearby Shackle Island. You may have never heard of Goodlettsville yet it is corporate headquarters for Dollar General. The main city around here other than Nashville is Hendersonville (61,000 souls).
How was Shackle Island (3300 souls) named? Earliest reference to Shackle Island was by surveyor William Lytle who wrote in 1779 “Beginning at a sweet gum, honey locust, and elm standing on an island. . . on the West side below the Great Road”. The great road he referred to was Long Hollow Pike, and the body of water that created the island was Drake’s Creek. Unproven theory suggests the name derived from a site where enslaved people were held, referencing the fact that hundreds of enslaved individuals were marched through Tennessee to western markets.
Long Hollow Pike still exists and we’ve taken the pike to quite a few places east of Goodlettsville and so does Drakes Creek. The Pike begins in Goodlettsville and goes 15 miles east through hill and dale to Gallatin. The countryside is drop dead gorgeous. The homes are well kept and beautiful. My favorites are the older homes that sit way back on their lot and majestically oversee the pike.
Downtown Springville is 20 miles from Hendersonville
This is hill country located on the north shore of Old Hickory Lake, a reservoir on the Cumberland River. Nashville (686,513 souls) is 18 miles southeast of here. There are many communities and all seem to be reached by traveling curvy roads following streams and hollows. Within the general area are Goodlettsville. Springfield, Cross Plains, Calista, Walnut Grove, Whitehouse, Cottontown, Shackle Island, and Gallatin. We’ve been to Springfield, Whitehouse, and Shackle Island, Gallatin and Cottontown. They each have their own charm and populations range from 44,000 in Gallatin to around a 356 souls in Cottonwood. There’s plenty more places but these are no more than 30 miles from Hendersonville.
I was disappointed visiting Hendersonville as the business district is just one long strip mall with no central core. Springfield has a beautiful historic downtown and so does Gallatin. But Hendersonville lies on the shore of Old Hickory Lake and goes up into the beautiful hillsides. I’ve heard many celebrity country western singers live here. Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash are buried here. Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson live here. Others that have lived in Sumner County are Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, Ricky Skaggs, The Carter Sisters, and one of my favorite current county western stars, Garth Brooks. Impressive? You betcha. Our daughter says that you can run into one of them at the market or in a restaurant.
As one can imagine this area is just packed with history. Gallatin has the historic 5600 square foot Stonewall mansion. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage is across the lake from Hendersonville. Mansker’s Station is right here in Goodlettsville. There’s just too many to list here but you get the idea- there’s lot of historic places to visit.
The kids want us to move closer to one of them. All but one live in Kali-Fornia which is not an option for us. So it looks like we’ll be looking for a home here in the Hendersonville area. We spent quite a bit of time visiting family. Jil’s daughter Rebecca knows the area very well so we spent a lot of time visiting areas that offered some large lots, some newer places with smaller lots, even a new seniors community.
Typical country homes. Big Lots, homes made of brick but just a mile or two from city.
The new seniors community, Nexus South in Gallatin is very nice but so are a lot of older homes, most on lots larger than what Nexus South offers. We are not ready to put our house on the market- we’ll most likely do that in April. That’s when we get more serious about our house hunting.
While in the Gallatin area we went to Bledsoe Creek State Park. The park has a really nice campground with well spaced sites, and a small lake all with a cool forest setting.
We’ve been fortunate that the weather has been decent. A couple of thunderstorms at night, a little cloudy for a couple of days which made the humidity tolerable for us desert rats. And it’s not been too terribly hot when the sun is out.
We dined out with our family a few times. Jakes is located in an unexpected location- in a housing development. Jakes has really good barbecue and authentic southern side dishes. It’s very popular with the locals.
Downtown Gallatin
So we are winding up our visit to the Hendersonville area. We’ve had a nice visit with our family, so good Southern food, quite a few car rides through beautiful countryside. What more could we ask for?
So for now we’ll say “See you soon!”
Travel With Jil and Mike 