The headline of this 2023 article is "10 Charming Tennessee Towns Everyone Should Visit This Year." Oh? I thought as I began to scroll. Bell Buckle was first on the list. Well done. Bristol. Collierville.* Columbia.
I screeched to a halt when I found that Franklin was fifth on the list. I don't like Franklin. I like Murfreesboro—my town—and heartily dislike Franklin. For one thing, it doesn't have a historic public square (it sort of has a public triangle), and it has a bunch of ultra-rich residents who moved to Tennessee from other states, many of them for the music industry. Franklin is not even close when you compare it with Murfreesboro. Murfreesboro is authentic. Franklin is faked.
Can you tell I dislike the place?
I've written about Murfreesboro. Many times. It's the sort of Southern town where the guy at the dry cleaner you patronize still calls you "Miss Jamie," long past the time that any but little children use that form of address. This is the sort of Southern town that has history.
Now, it's growing like crazy. It's almost unrecognizable from my 2016 article about it.
Seriously, I must have a word with Southern Living. I'm not suggesting Murfreesboro should have been in their article. Jonesborough. Paris. Sewanee. Monteagle. Granville … these are the towns that completed the ten. Bell Buckle, Monteagle, and Sewanee are literally fifteen, thirty, and forty-five minutes' drive from my front door, and I love them. I think there are other charming towns that could have completed this list, though. Like Cookeville. Smithville. Maryville. I could go on.
* This is Memphis. Just sayin'.
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