BY J.R. LIND

a charming clutch of 1930s homes that was the first housing development in Donelson, is just to the south and, sadly, unreachable by foot in any sensible way from here — and go along Old Lebanon Road.

McNamara’s Irish Pub, perhaps the finest Irish restaurant in a former funeral home in all of Christendom, looms at the corner of Old Lebanon Road and Lebanon Pike. Ace Hardware, which looks suspiciously like a paddock at Churchill Downs, shares space with beloved food-truck-into-brick-andmortar-do-it-all-restaurant Phat Bites.

Hearing air traffic is part and parcel of being outdoors — and probably indoors — in Donelson, with the airport just a few miles off. So regular is the coming and going of airliners that it doesn’t take long to simply get used to it, one’s attention refocused on the Boeings and Airbuses only when a glint of sun hits a silvery wing and bounces the light back to earth. With the high-shine glass facade of the The Salon Professional Academy catching one of the rays — sun to plane to window — it becomes a bit of a science experiment demonstrating light’s highly efficient method of travel.

Donelson bears the distinction of being the only place in Davidson County with two bowling alleys. In addition to Donelson Bowl (more properly, the Donelson Bowling Center), there’s the Strike & Spare in the lower level of a strip on Old Lebanon Road, down some stairs lit by gleefully 1970s light fixtures and next to a bartending school, another outpost of Southern Thrift and Donelson Air.

Across the street is Fletcher’s Pizza (no buffet at this time) and Uncle Bud’s Catfish. Donelson Church of Christ is a looming structure at the intersection of Old Lebanon Road and Knobview. Crossing the train tracks here and looking back south, there’s evidence that this is where the train station once was, years ago when rail travel was in fashion. And thus, it’s fair speculation that this was the center of downtown Donelson, such as it was.

An insurance company nearby is decorated with a mural on each side of its building, one clearly intended as a selfie spot, though no bachelorettes seem to be taking advantage. Old Lebanon hooks back up with Lebanon Pike in a flatiron — home of a Party Fowl that, to its credit, does a good job of fitting in aesthetically with the neighborhood and has a great sign that nods at Donelson Bowl — and it would seem an obvious place for a crosswalk back across the main drag. Alas, the sidewalks carry on farther along what remains of Old Lebanon Road, past some vintage stores, insurance agents and a compelling polyhedron that’s home to Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital. If you’ve ever wondered where you can get into fencing in Nashville (who hasn’t?), the Music City Fencing Club is nearby on Lebanon Pike.

Once Old Lebanon really and truly juts back into actual Lebanon, the latter begins a climb. At the top of the climb is another rise, and at the top of that is the truly dominating brick behemoth that is Donelson First Baptist. (The church purchased the tract in 1923 under a different name, so officially it’s owned by Donelson Missionary Baptist Church.)

A large Baptist church in a Nashville neighborhood isn’t particularly newsworthy, but what’s next door is certainly interesting. In a former bank building is a Romanian Baptist Church — the congregants call it Biserica Baptistă Română. The Baptist denomination has a long history in Romania, particularly in the eastern part of the country near Germany. The fact that there are enough members of the Romanian diaspora to support a congregation in Donelson, however, is a pleasant surprise.

Lebanon Pike slides back downhill after the Baptist churches to McGavock Pike, home of the Donelson Kroger — truly a landmark here, famous for its confounding and always crowded parking lot.

Confounding though it may be, at least it gets used.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

Nashville’s move to precedented times continues. The health department lifted the outdoor mask mandate, while still requiring masks be worn indoors and anywhere social distancing isn’t possible. At press time, nearly a third of Nashvillians have received at least one dose of vaccine, and nearly a fifth are fully vaccinated. Mayor John Cooper has set a goal of having 50 percent of the population vaccinated by May 1. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners and Vanderbilt University Medical Center teamed up to help reach that goal with a vaccination event at Valor Flagship Academy with a focus on the city’s large but undervaccinated Latinx and Kurdish communities. In addition, a coalition of 19 local organizations is pushing for 100 percent vaccination among people experiencing homelessness. With the assistance of Neighborhood Health and St. Thomas Health, the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being offered at encampments and shelters. The goal is to have every person experiencing homelessness vaccinated by Memorial Day, a goal that’s within reach in part because during February’s ice storm, vaccine doses that would have expired and gone unused were offered to guests of the Nashville Rescue Mission. … Less than two weeks after being abruptly stripped of his committee assignments, Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) is back on his panels following reinstatement by House Speaker Cameron Sexton. The dispute between Griffey and House leadership seemingly stemmed from Griffey’s unsuccessful effort to call a vote on an immigration bill that had previously failed in a subcommittee. “They’ve met, they had conversations, there was a caucus meeting, and they are moving forward,” says Doug Kufner, a spokesperson for Sexton. … A bipartisan effort to reform Tennessee’s harsh life sentencing law advanced out of a Senate committee. As Republican state Sen. Janice Bowling explained to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a person in Tennessee who is convicted of first-degree murder faces three possible sentences: life with the possibility of parole, life without the possibility of parole or death. But because of an extraordinarily harsh sentencing law, a person sentenced to life with the possibility of parole is not eligible to even be considered for release until they have served 51 years in prison. That’s double the national average, Bowling told the committee, and means most people facing the sentence will die before they ever get a chance at parole. The bill would lower parole eligibility to 25 years, where it was before the state changed its sentencing laws after Congress passed the 1994 crime bill. The bill is still awaiting action in the House. … Nashville’s latest new-versus-old, development-versus-preservation battle is, of course, centered on Exit/In (more on that on p. 10). Contributor Betsy Phillips notes that it’s just the latest skirmish in an eternal war. “A fundamental, basic trait of Nashville is the decades-long discussion of how we’re losing the ‘real’ Nashville and we need to figure out how to save it, and baked into the narrative of how we’re constantly losing the ‘real’ Nashville is losing,” she writes. “Preservationists in this city regularly fail.” Phillips explains that preservationists understand that listing a property on the National Register doesn’t protect it from the wrecking ball, and that even the city’s most stringent preservation mechanism — a historic overlay — is easy enough to work around. “If preserving Nashville’s history is actually important to Nashville,” she writes, “we need some preservation designations with teeth. Something that will actually proactively designate a site as off-limits to developers. We need a way to actually do the thing we think we’re already doing.” … Local legend and former Tennessee Titan Eddie George will take over as Tennessee State University’s football coach next season. Reports Michael Gallagher, “The 47-year-old George will take over for Rod Reed, who has a 60-69 record with the Tigers since 2010. Although he has no previous head coaching experience, George instantly boosts TSU’s recruiting profile in the way Deion Sanders’ hire did at Jackson State.” Also of note: Former Titans coach Jeff Fisher is serving as an adviser to George while the rest of his coaching staff is assembled.

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