I had my eye on The Great Smokey Mountains for our summer trip this past summer. However, the Smokeys don’t have a steady minyan or Kosher food. Therefore, I decided to visit the Smokey Mountains for the second week of our trip when I knew there would be a temporary minyan there.

I was deciding on whether to fly into Atlanta, GA for the first week or choose another location not too far from the Smokey Mountains.  When I found $75 return tickets from NYC to Nashville I decided to go there for the first week of our trip.

I found a decent rental through VRBO in Nashville in walking distance of the Sherith Israel Shul. Congregation Sherith Israel, led by Rabbi Saul Strosberg, is known to welcome everyone, regardless of background, level of observance or Jewish knowledge. There is also a Chabad Shul in a different area in Nashville. Rental prices in the area were not especially cheap in the area we stayed and were a lot more expensive near Chabad.

There are no Kosher restaurants in Nashville but kosher food can be purchased at one of the Kroger in the Belle Meade Plaza Shopping and at the Food Lion on Bell Road. Chalav Yisroel products are usually available at Kroger and meat at Food Lion. There are also many shelf products and frozen foods in those stores. Although there are limited kosher food options there definitely are options.

When looking into the options of what to do in Nashville, I soon realized that the city revolves around Country Music. I do not have any interest in that sort of thing so I decided to find some local attractions that would interest us and since Kentucky is not far from Nashville (only 1.5 hour drive) we decided to spend day trips visiting Cave City area. We also took a day trip down to Chattanooga (2 hour drive) and visit Lookout Mountain on the Georgian border.

All in all we enjoyed our Nashville stay especially the day trips we took to nearby beautiful places.

Posted: November 30, 2022

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