Knit to This
The Life and Death of an Old House in Boomtown
Nashville is in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Real estate boom. A-hundred-people-moving-here-a-day boom. Traffic-make-you-weep boom.
The neighborhood where MDK World Headquarters is located is called Germantown. It’s one of several neighborhoods around town undergoing a radical transformation, where houses are regularly scraped off lots, sometimes so fast that you’ll pass a house one day, only to find the next day an empty lot already staked out for the two new houses to replace it.
Nashville Public Radio has a great podcast, “Curious Nashville,” where readers pose questions, and the station’s intrepid reporters go find the answers. I really like their most current episode, “The Life and Death of an Old House in Boomtown,” which answers the question “Where is construction waste from new construction in Nashville going?” It’s a simple question that leads to a lovely little exploration of a house and its residents.
It’s no S Town—but then, I’m not sure I could handle another S Town for a while.
Many thanks for the recommendation – I do need a serious palate-cleanser after S-Toen.
Agree! S Town is so compelling but ultimately was distressing and disturbing and just flat-out sad to me. Such a well-told story, but What A Story.
I discuss keeping tear-down debris out of landfills at work, so this should be interesting but not as much as a Red Grooms Carousel! The wandering eye…
The Red Grooms carousel is a wonder. My fella David got to ride on the first day, back when it was at Riverfront Park. I hope it finds a new home soon.
Tear-down debris is a big topic here in Portland, OR, which is also booming and where (ALAS!) perfectly good houses are being torn down to put in four-plexes or condos. I’ll be interested to listen to this. What I know is that there’s a way of dismantling houses so that the carbon output of the actual process is minimized and everything salvageable is kept intact to be re-used.