Mill Ridge Park Grand Opening

We celebrated the opening of Mill Ridge Park with Nashville Parks and Mayor John Cooper. Located 20 miles southeast of Downtown Nashville off Old Hickory Boulevard, Mill Ridge Park is one of the city’s newest regional parks. It supports Metro Parks Nashville’s 2017 masterplan, Play to Play and expands accessibility to parks and greenways for Davidson County. HASTINGS, in collaboration with landscape architects Nelson Byrd Woltz and HDLA, completed the master plan and implementation of the first phase of the park’s development in 2023.

Mill Ridge Park is made up of an assemblage of numerous parcels totaling 600 acres. It is surrounded with diverse land uses including light industrial, residential, and two schools. A rail corridor, roads, and powerline right-of-way divide the site.

The design of the park engages these physical divisions, linking a series of smaller ‘parklets’ via greenways, sport corridors, access roads, and primitive trails. Each area has a unique identity drawn from its distinctive landscape setting, site history, and program. Every parklet highlights and celebrates the heritage of the landscape, the ecology of Middle Tennessee, and the occupants who have lived and worked the land over generations.

Central to the design is the diversity of ways people can come together and spend a day outdoors – whether sport, garden, food, or festival. The dining pavilions are placed facing a single focal point – a communal hearth – providing a welcoming, inclusive space for Nashvillians.