If you've walked the Richland Creek Greenway lately, you may have passed new mile-marker posts. The old ones were missing or falling apart. The posts were replaced as an Eagle Scout project, and Metro Parks routed and painted them. The holes were dug with a mini skid-steer and a post-hole digger, then each post was set in gravel and concrete.
The posts are a good preview of the season ahead. Most of what changes outdoors in Sylvan Park between now and December is being started, paid for, or done by neighbors, with Metro supplying tools, funding, and hauling. Nearly all of it also leads back to the same body of water.
The creek comes first because of what the samples showed
The Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association's Fall 2026 newsletter opens with an article by Kate Parrish, SPNA's beautification commissioner, about Richland Creek. It cites several years of sampling by the Harpeth Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on water quality in Tennessee waterways. According to that data, the stretch of the creek in Sylvan Park consistently exceeds the EPA's freshwater recreation advisory level for E. coli, which is 235 colony-forming units per 100 mL.
This summer the Conservancy sampled once a week for nine weeks. Three samples came in under the advisory level and six came in over it, including one in August above 2,400 CFU/100 mL, roughly ten times the threshold. The article's explanation is simple. Rain that runs off roofs, driveways, and streets carries what it picks up through the storm drains and straight into the creek, with no soil, plants, or treatment plant filtering it on the way. Its five suggestions for households:
- Keep storm drains clear of branches, leaves, grass clippings, and trash
- Pick up dog waste in the yard, on the street, in the alleys, and on the greenway
- Plant native trees and plants, which absorb and filter better than nonnative ones
- Cut back on lawn chemicals and fertilizers
- Watch vehicles and driveways for leaks
The same article says a neighborhood-wide initiative to improve the creek's health is "coming soon."
October 17: hands in the water
The first scheduled response is SPNA's Richland Creek cleanup on Saturday, October 17. Volunteers will pick up trash along the creek and greenway from the Lion's Head trailhead to Dutchman's Curve. The Harpeth Conservancy and Metro Parks will provide the tools and haul everything away. It starts at 10 a.m. SPNA's event listing shows it ending at 11 a.m., and the newsletter lists 10 a.m. to noon.
Dutchman's Curve carries more history than the cleanup map shows. On July 9, 1918, two trains collided head-on there. WPLN's account reports that 101 people were killed, most of them African American, and that the curve kept the crews from seeing each other in time. Metro lists the Dutchman's Curve Train Wreck marker as marker #128, erected in 2008 at White Bridge Road by the Richland Creek Greenway trailhead.
November 7: street trees that count as stormwater work
The November 7 tree planting is funded as stormwater work. Metro Water Services' Stormwater division is paying for the trees, mulch, and tree guards. It is also covering two years of professional watering by the Nashville Tree Foundation and a light corrective pruning once those two years are up. A street tree catches rain before it reaches the drain, and the newsletter recommends exactly that kind of planting for protecting the creek.
SPNA expects to plant 38 trees across 13 species, all on public right-of-way. This year's streets:
- 45th Avenue N
- 44th Avenue N
- Idaho Avenue
- Dakota Avenue
- 53rd Avenue N
For scale, SPNA says it has added 142 new public right-of-way trees over the past four years. That works out to about 35 a year, so this fall's 38 is in line with the pace the neighborhood has kept. The program is part of a multi-year plan SPNA is building with Metro horticulturists and the Nashville Tree Foundation to care for older trees, replace dead ones, and plant new ones. On planting day, Foundation staff and its Green Shirt volunteers will demonstrate how to plant a tree and then help neighbors put them in the ground. Volunteers can sign up through the Nashville Tree Foundation's registration page.
McCabe Park shows how long the neighbor model takes
The new playground at McCabe Park is the clearest example of a project neighbors started themselves. Friends of McCabe Park formed in 2023 when neighbors started talking about the park, and the group partnered with the Nashville Parks Foundation. A site evaluation with Hawkins Partners followed in 2024. The group then surveyed the community, worked with three playground vendors, and raised the money. WKRN covered the ribbon cutting when the playground opened on May 15, 2026.
Two years of planning bought a playground twice the size of the old one. It has a taller structure for ages 5 to 12 with three slides and built-in shade canopies, plus a separate structure for ages 2 to 5. The shaded six-bay swing set includes an ADA swing and a double swing. There is also an in-ground merry-go-round, a sensory playwall, and a communication board that lets children talk with caregivers without words. A looped cement walkway with ramps circles the whole area, and a full fence with a child-safety gate runs along the 46th Avenue entrance.
"This playground was made possible by our community. Hundreds of neighbors donated, fundraised, and cheered us on."
That line comes from the Friends of McCabe Park project page, which names the group's next goals as two more park lights and ongoing beautification at McCabe. The page doesn't give a dollar target or a deadline.
The McCabe Regional Community Center at 101 46th Ave. N is also where SPNA meets. The next meetings are Monday, November 9, and Monday, December 14, at 7 p.m., and the newsletter notes that time and format can change.
Where the greenway is closed while all this happens
Some of this fall's work happens on a greenway that is partly shut. Metro Parks' closures page, last updated October 8, lists two current closures on the Richland Creek Greenway:
- Boardwalk, Colorado Avenue to the 51st Avenue area: closed starting October 11 so the boardwalk can be replaced. Metro estimates 11 to 14 weeks, which points to a reopening between late December and mid-January.
- Trailhead and parking lot at 22 White Bridge Road, by the NES substation: closed for construction through November 6.
That second closure is at the White Bridge Road trailhead, the same spot where Metro lists the Dutchman's Curve marker. Volunteers headed to the October 17 cleanup should plan their parking and walking routes with that in mind.
SPNA's smaller cleanups through December
The tree planting and the creek cleanup are the big dates, but SPNA has also scheduled two-hour neighborhood cleanups from 8 to 10 a.m. on November 14 and December 12. The newsletter lists litter pickup, weed pulling, and mural cleaning.
December 5: the neighbors open their studios
The West Nashville Art Crawl returns on Saturday, December 5, for its fifth year. It's free and self-guided, with 13 stops at artists' home studios in Sylvan Park and Richland/West End, plus two galleries. Some stops host guest artists or demonstrations, and the newsletter lists paintings, leather goods, woodworking, and pottery among the work on view. Details are on WestNashvilleArtCrawl.com.
Local businesses work the same way. The newsletter's neighbor profile features James and Louisa Green, who have lived in Sylvan Park for 18 years. James played on the first McCabe Astros Little League team in 1986. Their Charlotte Avenue coffee shop, Headquarters, has been open since 2012. It sells pastries from Dozen and sells and displays work by local artists. Their cocktail bar, Otto's, is in a converted historic garage at 4210 Charlotte.
The fall calendar, in order
- Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m.: Richland Creek cleanup, from the Lion's Head trailhead to Dutchman's Curve
- Friday, November 6: scheduled end of the 22 White Bridge Road trailhead closure
- Saturday, November 7: street-tree planting with the Nashville Tree Foundation
- Monday, November 9, 7 p.m.: SPNA meeting at McCabe Park Community Center
- Saturday, November 14, 8 to 10 a.m.: SPNA neighborhood cleanup
- Saturday, December 5: West Nashville Art Crawl
- Saturday, December 12, 8 to 10 a.m.: SPNA neighborhood cleanup
- Monday, December 14, 7 p.m.: SPNA meeting
- Late December to mid-January: expected reopening of the Colorado Avenue to 51st Avenue boardwalk
Stephanie Lowe has spent years working in Sylvan Park's cottage streets and infill lots, and she pays attention to the shared things that give a block its character, from the shade on 45th Avenue N to the condition of the greenway out back. To talk through a renovation, a build, or a sale in the neighborhood, schedule a consultation with Stephanie Lowe.
