With the Richland Creek Boardwalk Out, Sylvan Park's Morning Loop Moves to Charlotte Avenue

"Should reopen around Christmas, weather permitting." District 24 Councilmember Brenda Gadd used that line in her November newsletter about the Richland Creek Greenway boardwalk running from the end of Colorado Avenue to 51st Avenue. The stretch closed for replacement in mid-October. Metro Parks puts the closure at roughly 11 to 14 weeks.

For anyone whose morning starts in Sylvan Park and heads for the creek, that means the familiar through-route is broken for the rest of the year. The timing works out reasonably well, though. Over the same weeks, Charlotte Avenue picked up a new coffee bar, a new lunch-and-dinner spot and a new boutique. Richland Park still holds its Saturday market and is getting ready for its second tree lighting. Until the boardwalk reopens, Charlotte is where the neighborhood's daily walk has somewhere to go.

The piece of the loop that's missing

According to Metro Parks' closure notice, the boardwalk "from Colorado Avenue to the 51st Avenue area" closed beginning October 11 for replacement and is expected to stay closed for approximately 11 to 14 weeks. Gadd's newsletter gives the closing date as October 12 and points to a reopening around Christmas. Either way, the walk that used to go down to the water and keep going now stops at that segment for about four more weeks after Thanksgiving.

There's a second disruption nearby. The same newsletter says Spire is replacing about 400 feet of exposed gas main near the CSX underpass at Sloan and Cherokee Roads, close to McCabe. Expect one-way traffic with flaggers Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and steel plates over the work after hours. Walkers can still get under the bridge, and crews planned to finish by Thanksgiving. Gadd also wrote that neighbors had reported the closure starting before 8:30 a.m., and that she was working with Metro and Spire on it.

So for now, both the creek route and the road near McCabe come with conditions. Charlotte Avenue doesn't.

Charlotte Avenue added the stops a walk needs

Three openings this fall cover the hours when the greenway used to fill the day.

Elegy Coffee opened its Sylvan Park shop on November 6, according to Nashville Guru's new-business tracker. It's at 4101 Charlotte Ave., Suite D120, and Elegy lists its hours as 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It opens early enough for a pre-work walk and stays open late enough for an afternoon one.

Two Ten Jack opened at Sylvan Supply, 4109 Charlotte Ave., on September 21, per the same Nashville Guru tracker. Visit Nashville's restaurant roundup notes that it took over the former Otaku Ramen space. It serves lunch on weekdays and dinner six nights a week, with a weekday happy hour.

Palo Santo, a boutique at 3820 Charlotte Ave., Suite 118, opened November 1, according to Nashville Guru. That puts a shopping stop on the same stretch just as holiday shopping starts.

Here is how those three line up with the park across the course of a week:

Two Ten Jack is closed Sunday and serves only dinner on Saturday, so weekend mornings belong to Elegy and the park.

Saturday already had its anchor

The Richland Park Farmers Market sets up at 4711 Charlotte Ave. Its vendor rules say it operates "every Saturday, all year-long, from 9am-12pm, April through December, and 10am-12pm, January through March."

The weather policy matters in winter. Markets go on through rain, wind and snow, and are canceled only when conditions are severe the morning of the market, such as thunderstorms or tornado threats during market hours, or icy roads. For winter ice, the market can sometimes give a day or two of notice. The rules also say that when the field is wet, some vendors set up along the Charlotte Avenue side near the parking lot. On a soggy December morning, the market can end up right along the sidewalk.

With Elegy opening at 7 a.m. and the market at 9, a Saturday walk works without the creek: coffee first, the park next, and back home along Charlotte.

The calendar between now and the boardwalk

The boardwalk closure runs right through the neighborhood's holiday season. In order, here's what falls inside it:

1. Saturdays, November 21 and 28. The Richland Park Farmers Market keeps its 9 a.m. to noon hours.
2. By Thanksgiving. This is the crews' target for wrapping up the Spire gas-main work near the Sloan and Cherokee underpass.
3. Sunday, December 6. Friends of Richland Park hosts its second annual Richland Park Holiday Tree Lighting. Nashville Guru reports that last year's first event drew more than 250 neighbors for hot chocolate, crafts, carols and a countdown as the park's evergreen lit up. The start time will be posted on the Friends of Richland Park Instagram.
4. Monday, December 7. Xul Beer Company holds Christmas Vacation Trivia at its Nations taproom at 7 p.m.
5. Around Christmas. This is Gadd's weather-dependent estimate for the boardwalk reopening.
6. January. The market moves to its winter hours, 10 a.m. to noon.

The tree lighting is the event to plan around. It falls about three weeks before the projected reopening, at the park where the market sets up, and Friends of Richland Park calls the park West Nashville's "shared front yard."

When it's too cold to walk at all

Some December days are too cold or wet for any loop. The Nations side of 37209 added indoor options this fall.

Uni Uni Boba arrived in The Nations in September, according to Visit Nashville. It's at 5300 Centennial Blvd., C3, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Down the boulevard, Xul Beer Company has renovated its West Nashville taproom at 5012 Centennial Blvd. It's open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Vault Golf Club, an indoor golf club at 404 Morrow Road, opened October 4, according to Nashville Guru. It's one of the few new places in the area built for the weather the boardwalk work is racing.

What the greenway gets back

When the boardwalk reopens, the rest of the trail will have some recent upgrades. In her newsletter, Gadd credits an Eagle Scout from Troop 31 with replacing the cracked and worn mile marker posts along the Richland Creek Greenway. He worked with Greenways for Nashville, the Metro Parks carpentry shop, McCabe Golf Course and District 24 Beautification Commissioner Kate Parrish. In October, Sylvan Park neighbors and the Harpeth Conservancy cleaned up the creek. Gadd also wrote that she has kept asking Metro Parks for more dog waste stations and trash cans along the trail.

At the McCabe end, the park has a new playground. Friends of McCabe Park spent three years raising more than $400,000 to replace a 20-year-old playground, working with the Nashville Parks Foundation and Metro Parks, and it reopened May 15.

Once the boardwalk is back, a route can cover both: out along the creek past the new mile markers toward McCabe, then home along Charlotte past Richland Park, Two Ten Jack and Elegy.

Our design work starts with how a home fits the rhythm of its street, and in Sylvan Park this winter that rhythm runs along Charlotte Avenue. If you're weighing a move within 37209 or preparing a home here for spring, Angela Peach would be glad to walk the neighborhood with you. Request a private consultation.