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The Nations (Nashville, Tennessee)

USA / Tennessee / Nashville / Nashville, Tennessee
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This area of West Nashville is known as The Nations. It is named after the Chickasaw Nations of Native Americans that lived here in the eighteenth century and traded with early settlers. The Chickasaw leader Piomingo and his tribe allied with white settlers in 1780. In 1783, James Robertson and tribal leaders met at the Treaty Oak (which once stood at the corner of 61st and Louisiana avenues) to sign a pact guaranteeing the rights of the Chickasaw Nations in exchange for their help in protecting the Nashville settlement.

Along with the majority of the Nashville urban core and that of similar cities nationwide, The Nations underwent a long period of decline when relocation to suburban areas became popular in the 1950s. By the 1980s the area was a haven for crime and drug activity. In recent years The Nations has experienced a vibrant renewal, with crime rates dropping to city average or below, new infill development, and professional rehabbing of some of the neighborhood's many vintage Craftsman and Victorian homes. The area has benefited from its proximity to the fashionable Sylvan Park Neighborhood.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   36°9'40"N   86°51'8"W

Comments

  • joe jingles (guest)
    being from nashville,my understanding of the term (The Nations) refers to the trail of tears wintering in the area.It is common knowledge around here.
  • Hornet (guest)
    Afraid not guys. It refers to the street names. My dad grew up there. Guess the old theories are just urban legends.
  • Lynn (guest)
    well...THAT's pretty racist, mam.
  • Sherrie Davids
    https://historicnashville.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/treaty-oak/
  • Sherrie Davids
    My Grandfather grew up in Sylvan Park. His Grandparents lived on Tennessee Avenue so he was on both sides of Charlotte a lot. He will be 90 this year. He has always known that side of Charlotte to be known as the Nations because of the Indian Tribes that were once on that land.
  • Ronda Taylor (guest)
    I am 77 yrs old and have lived in West Nashville all of my life. The area north of Charlotte Pike from Alabama Ave to Tennessee Ave was just called West Nashville. From Louisiana Ave to Centennial Blv. was called the Nations. It was very rough. I heard it was called that as people moved there to be near there loved ones in the prison. When West Nashville was first being developed it was called New Town and that is a great name for the new development in West Nashville
  • Lynda B. (guest)
    Incorrect! The street names are STATE names, not nations.
  • Tom Fetherling
    Tom Fetherling I am 76 years old and grew up in West Nashville. My grandmother lived on Tennessee back in the forties. The term "The Nations" was not used until the fifties. The term as we knew it referred to the streets. I have researched several history books written in the 1800's and early 1900's and none on them make any mention of the term The Nations when writing about that section of West Nashville. the only term that is used is the treaty Oak that the treaty between James Roberson and the Chickasaws was signed under. I am opened minded. If anyone can show me in a written document or book that this area was called the Nations before the fifties I will change my mind. metrotommy@aol.com
  • Edwin Herschel (guest)
    Correct but in the south, "states" and "nations" have sometimes been considered more synonymous than not. Some claim that a war was fought over that...
  • LindaKyle (guest)
    I lived in 5 different homes & duplexes in the Nation's from 1993-2009. Today 4 of those 5 homes have been torn down due to Gentrification. I can't afford anything in that neighborhood today.
  • LindaKyle (guest)
    Read the article again! They were named after the Indian Nations that lived and battled in the area!
  • LindaKyle (guest)
    You obviously didn't read the article?
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This article was last modified 11 years ago