The Last Suburb on Earth: Why Old Hickory, Tennessee Is Nashville's Strangest Neighbor

If you've ever wondered what happens when a chemical company plays God with urban planning, may I present Old Hickory, Tennessee—a neighborhood of metropolitan Nashville, located in the Hadley Bend section of eastern Davidson County. This isn't your typical small American town with a quaint Main Street and a charming backstory. No, Old Hickory is what you get when DuPont corporation and the federal government agreed to build a massive factory and town along Hadley's Bend of the Cumberland River back in 1918, and somehow, a century later, 22,539 inhabitants, with a median age of 44 are still living with the consequences.

A Presidential Name for a Corporate Experiment

Let's start with the obvious: Old Hickory is named in honor of President Andrew Jackson, nicknamed "Old Hickory". Because nothing says "we have our own identity" quite like borrowing a dead president's nickname and slapping it on your DuPont company town. The irony is delicious—Andrew Jackson, the man who famously fought against concentrated power, inadvertently became the patron saint of what was essentially America's most successful corporate town experiment.

Originally, Old Hickory started out in 1786 as a 3,000-acre land grant to a man named Sam Jones, and for much of the 19th century, it was simply known as Jones' Bend. But when DuPont arrived with plans to build a factory with nine separate units, each with the ability to produce one hundred thousand pounds of gunpowder daily... the largest industrial facility in terms of employees and sheer scope in the state's history, someone decided "Jones' Bend" wasn't patriotic enough for a wartime munitions plant.

DuPont designed a permanent village, initially called Jacksonville to honor Andrew Jackson, which had over three hundred dwellings by November 1918. These were reserved for company foremen, supervisors, and officials. But apparently even "Jacksonville" wasn't quite right, so they switched to Old Hickory because... well, Andrew Jackson again. It's like they really, really wanted to make sure everyone knew this had something to do with that president guy.

The Ultimate Company Town Experience

Distinguished as Middle Tennessee's only planned "company town," Old Hickory represents an important architectural and historical resource. And by "historical resource," they mean a living museum of what happens when a chemical company decides to play SimCity with real people's lives.

The genius of DuPont's social engineering becomes clear when you look at the housing structure. The smaller bungalow houses were built by DuPont as residences for factory workers, with the larger homes being designated for management. Nothing subtle about the class hierarchy when your house size literally broadcasts your pay grade to the entire neighborhood. Not until 1946 did DuPont begin to sell its homes to employees, ending the tradition of company control over the townscape.

For nearly three decades, DuPont didn't just control where you worked—they controlled where you lived, what your house looked like, and presumably which neighbors got the privilege of living next to the boss. The community was initially built in 1918 as a company town for DuPont employees and supervisors. The plant is still here but less prominent, with a smaller workforce. Older homes are being renovated as people flock to Old Hickory for its waterside location—because nothing says "prime real estate" like a century-old industrial site by the water.

The Nate Bargatze Factor

Now, here's where Old Hickory gets its modern claim to fame: Nate Bargatze was born on March 25, 1979, in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in the city's Old Hickory neighborhood. He attended DuPont Elementary in Old Hickory, Tennessee until fourth grade, because of course the elementary school was also named after the chemical company.

Bargatze has turned his Old Hickory upbringing into comedy gold, particularly with his famous bit about growing up in a plant town where "we went and planted trees in front of the DuPont Plant, and there was just black smoke coming out of this thing. And we're just in front of it, like, 'This is for Earth.' And you can't even see us, it's so dark." Nothing says environmental awareness like planting saplings in front of a facility that's actively turning the sky black.

He was the highest-grossing comic in 2024 according to Pollstar. He topped Billboard's Boxscore ranking of the highest-grossing comedy tours, with $82.2 million gross income from 1.1 million tickets sold across his 148 shows—proving that sometimes the best way to escape a company town is to make jokes about it on a global scale.

Geography: Where Nashville's Water Goes to Die

Old Hickory is bordered by the Cumberland River on the north and west, Old Hickory Lake to the east... To the north of the area is also the location of Old Hickory Lock and Dam. So you're essentially living in the middle of Nashville's elaborate water management system. The main street through the area is Tennessee State Route 45 (Old Hickory Boulevard/Robinson Road)—because when your "main street" is literally just a state highway, you know you're living in a place that was designed by engineers, not community planners.

The lake that everyone loves to brag about? "In Tennessee, there are certain lakes you can't live on, and then you have Old Hickory Lake, where you can," says Realtor Kathy Cochran. "The prices are expensive compared to other areas on the lake, but it's so convenient to downtown Nashville"—which is real estate speak for "it's overpriced, but at least it's close to somewhere that actually matters."

Modern Old Hickory: Still Figuring It Out

Today, Old Hickory has a median household income of $87,450, and the median sale price for homes in Old Hickory Village over the last 12 months is $350,000. Many of the homes in Old Hickory Village are, in fact, old. "A lot of the original cottages are still there. Some from the early 1900s," says Realtor Kathy Comp, who specializes in the area. She says most are fixer-uppers, but buyers appreciate the vintage quality.

The village has developed some local character, with spots like Sam's at Blue Turtle Bay Marina and local favorites like Lawrence and Clark Cacti Co., Lakewood Community Theatre, and Sam's Sports Grill at Blue Turtle Bay. Because nothing says "we've moved beyond our industrial past" quite like a cacti company and a marina restaurant.

During the 2010 flood, "the village did not flood but some areas of old hickory did," according to Cochran—which is probably the most Tennessee way possible to describe your town's relationship with natural disasters: some parts flooded, some didn't, and we're all just making the best of it.

Old Hickory remains a fascinating case study in American industrial history—a place where you can live in a house built by a chemical company, send your kids to a school named after that same chemical company, and then drive down a state highway to get anywhere that actually has culture. It's quintessentially American in its weird corporate origins and its stubborn survival into the modern era. Plus, it produced a comedian who makes $82 million joking about planting trees in front of toxic smokestacks, which feels like the most perfect ending possible for a DuPont company town story.

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