Sustainable City Guide: 10 Places To Stay, Eat & Shop In Nashville, Tennessee
Welcome to Music City
Nashville, Tennessee is a hotspot for entertainment, entrepreneurship, and culture. Whether you’re visiting Nashville for a concert, a conference, or just to see the sights of this fast-growing city, there are plenty of options for exploring consciously. Music City is home to an evolving, eclectic culture that’s all about sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and conscious living. Here are some tips on how you can not only enjoy and experience the city, but also how you can participate in impacting it – and the world itself – for good.
// Where To Stay //
Hutton Hotel
Why We Love It | In the downtown hub of this fast-growing city, the luxurious Hutton Hotel operates with environmental sustainability in mind. Known as Nashville’s greenest hotel, the Hutton resides in a repurposed building from the 1970’s. The hotel uses biodegradable cleaning products, implements recycling initiatives, uses LED bulbs, and uses soap, shampoo, and conditioner dispensers to reduce plastic waste. They also offer entirely electric courtesy cars and have electric car charging stations.
Where To Find It | Downtown
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The Hermitage Hotel
Why We Love It | This grand, historic hotel is a stunning work of architecture that perfectly fuses European influences with Nashville’s southern charm. But don’t let this grandeur fool you – The Hermitage partners with The Land Trust for Tennessee, which educates, advocates, and fundraises for land conservation. A portion of profit from each hotel stay is contributed to TLTT. Over 75,000 acres have been protected and conserved as a result of this partnership.
The Hermitage also owns and cultivates Double H Farms and the Gardens at Glen Leven. Much of the food and ingredients served at The Hermitage’s Capitol Grille restaurant are fresh from the farm and gardens.
Where To Find It | Downtown
More about The Hermitage Hotel
// Where To Eat //
Burger Up
Farm-to-table restaurant
Why We Love It | Burger Up provides a cozy, communal dining experience that leaves your belly full, your palette diversified, and your conscience intact. With a commitment to “thoughtful consuming,” Burger Up exclusively sources locally-raised beef from humane-minded farms. Their fresh approach to the classic American burger tastes good, but feels even better.
Where To Find It | 12 South Neighborhood & East Nashville
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The Wild Cow
Vegan & vegetarian restaurant
Why We Love It | Located in East Nashville, The Wild Cow serves some of the city’s freshest fare – you’ll find neither freezer nor microwave in the kitchen! All ingredients are locally sourced and cruelty-free. You’ll love TWC’s vegan/vegetarian take on burgers, tacos, and sandwiches, not to mention their community involvement. TWC donates a portion of their sales to a different charity each month.
Where To Find It | East Nashville
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Urban Grub
Farm-to-table restaurant
Why We Love It | The food at Urban Grub looks and tastes so fresh, you’d swear it was grown or raised just outside the restaurant’s doors. Serving up southern dishes with healthy, unique flair, Urban Grub reinvents your favorite home-cooked meals like mac and cheese, shrimp and grits, and prime cuts of meat and fish.
Where To Find It | 12 South Neighborhood
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Avo
Vegan restaurant
Why We Love It | Avo sources all ingredients locally and sustainably to ensure their customers experience the freshest, most high-quality vegan cuisine. Their plant-based menu caters to the seasons with different soups and desserts, but favorites such as avocado toast, kale salads, and zucchini pasta remain available year-round. With gluten-free and organic options, the bar and cocktail menu can accommodate any dietary restrictions.
Where To Find It | West Nashville
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// Where To Shop //
Nisolo
Why We Love It | The Nisolo brand is making an impactful fashion statement with their handcrafted, sustainably produced leather goods. With factories in Peru, Mexico, and Kenya, Nisolo seeks to honor the art and culture of shoemaking by paying producers above fair trade wages and providing healthcare. Nisolo prices products fairly with a “direct-to-consumer approach” to guarantee that your purchase is of the highest craftsmanship, while also ensuring exceptional compensation, benefits, and working conditions for producers.
Where To Find It | Germantown
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Consider the Wldflwrs
Why We Love It | Consider the Wldflwrs’s delicate yet stunning jewelry is handmade and custom-designed in-house. This locally-owned company focuses on intentionality with each customer, cultivating community through workshops and classes, and creating a brand that elevates quality over quantity: “Quantity means ‘this is what I have’ but quality means ‘this is who I am.’”
Where To Find It | North Nashville
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Branded Collective
Why We Love It | While Branded Collective doesn’t have its own brick-and-mortar store, retailers across the city sell their brass, copper, and aluminum jewelry. Each piece of jewelry has a different number stamped into it – a number that stands for one of so many who are branded by human trafficking. Branded Collective employees are human-trafficking survivors from the non-profit End Slavery Tennessee (also based in Nashville). By purchasing and wearing BC’s jewelry, you’re taking part in the movement to end sex slavery.
Where To Find It | Online & various Nashville retail stores
More about Branded Collective
ABLE
Why We Love It | The ABLE brand is on a mission to help end poverty through creating sustainable jobs, specifically for women. ABLE’s products are produced in communities globally that face the challenges of poverty, in hopes of creating more jobs and modeling a sustainable economy. While you can shop at ABLE’s storefront on the west side of the city, you’ll also find their beautiful leather goods, scarves, and jewelry available at other retailers throughout Nashville.
Where To Find It | The Nations
