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Donelson, Nashville — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Donelson is a neighbourhood of Nashville, Tennessee, named after the city's co-founder John Donelson and home to the Grand Ole Opry.
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Where to stay in Donelson
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Donelson has over 40 hotels and motels for tourists and business travellers using the airport. The WeGo Star commuter line has stopped here since September 2006. Most homes are red-brick ranch houses.
HarperCollins Christian Publishers keeps its national headquarters in the neighbourhood, and Donelson shares a Chamber of Commerce with Hermitage.
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About Donelson
What are the main landmarks in Donelson?
The Grand Ole Opry and the Opry Mills mall stand on the ground of the Opryland USA theme park, which closed in 1997. Of Buchanan's Station, only the Buchanan cemetery remains, on the north-west corner of Elm Hill Pike and Massman Drive. The Bluefields Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places on 22 March 2016.
Percy Priest Lake brings summer recreation.
What is the history of Donelson?
Donelson takes in the site of Buchanan's Station, where outnumbered settlers drove off a Lower Cherokee and Creek force that hoped to destroy Nashville. The area was first called Spring Place, after its mineral springs. In the 1880s it was a station on the Tennessee and Pacific Railroad.
Modern growth came after the Second World War, helped by the airport, and Donelson Plaza was an early strip mall. Bluefields, its oldest neighbourhood, was laid out from 1929.
Where is Donelson?
Donelson lies about 10 kilometres east of downtown Nashville along U.S. Route 70, next to Nashville International Airport. Its borders are usually taken to be those of its postal ZIP code.
Hermitage lies across the Stones River.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Donelson?
Donelson: Airport stays and Grand Ole Opry nights.
More areas in Nashville
Updated October 2026