Things to Do in Belle Meade Nashville This Season

For a neighborhood that rarely changes, Belle Meade is having an unusual year. The eastern gateway most residents have used for groceries, coffee, and a quick lunch since 1961 is a fenced construction site. The western end, the stretch that runs from Harding Pike past the Historic Site and up into Percy Warner Park, is running the fullest events calendar it has posted in a while. If it feels like the center of gravity has shifted a few miles west this summer, that is because it has.

That is the thesis of this post. Belle Meade has not lost anything permanent. It has temporarily traded its most convenient corner for a busier version of its most beautiful one, and the season is worth planning around that trade.

The Eastern Gateway Is Offline Until 2028

The old Belle Meade Plaza at 4500 Harding Pike, the two-level modernist center that opened in 1961 and housed Kroger, Agave, Belle Meade Premium Cigars, and the surface-lot Starbucks generations of residents grew up with, is being replaced. Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners is calling the future development Belle Meade Village, and the company paid $87 million for the property in July 2023.

A few facts worth holding in your head as you drive past the fencing:

1. The project is set for completion in 2028 and will transform an underutilized 15.5-acre site into a shopping and residential village at the entrance to the neighborhood.
2. Project mobilization and construction commenced in October 2025, site blasting activities have been substantially completed, and excavation, deep foundation work, and vertical construction are currently underway.
3. The plan includes four buildings of between 100 and 150 feet tall, with one proposed building holding 78 hotel rooms and 388 residential units.
4. Green space, public walkways, and parks will comprise approximately 60 percent of the project site, including the activation of Richland Creek and connection to its namesake greenway.
5. Kroger is planned to relocate to the former Belle Meade Theater building.

That is a long runway. For at least two more seasons, the corner of Harding Pike and White Bridge Road is a construction viewshed rather than an errand stop, and the daily habits of most residents have been quietly redistributed. Some of that traffic has gone to the Green Hills Kroger and to the Publix at One Bellevue Place. A lot of it has gone west, closer to the Historic Site.

The Western End Is Where The Calendar Lives Now

Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery at 5025 Harding Pike has always been there. What is different this year is how much it is programming for locals rather than for the tour-bus crowd. Today the site offers Guided Tours, Food and Wine Pairings, Bourbon Tastings, outstanding Gift Shops, Nashville's first Winery, two on-site restaurants, an Outdoor Game Court, and some of the most beautiful grounds in Nashville.

For residents, the two restaurants are the underused piece. The Belle Meade Meat & Three sits inside the property with a straightforward weekday lunch service, and Bonnie's Bourbon & Wine Bar handles the evening cocktail crowd. Both are inside the gates but do not require a full ticketed experience to enjoy.

The events calendar for the next few weeks is the real news. Rather than a generic seasonal preview, here is what is actually on the books:

On August 1st, the site transforms into a full day of programming highlighting the Revolutionary War for America's 250th anniversary. The August 6th evening is built around painting a canvas market tote while sipping tomato-inspired cocktails and celebrating the flavors of peak harvest season. The Back to School Bash on August 8th runs from 10:00 to 2:00 with hands-on activities, creative crafts, and family-friendly fun for kids of all ages. The teacup-and-candle workshop on August 16th runs from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.

A note on the tomato night that will make sense to anyone who has lived in Nashville long enough. The Paint & Sip is inspired by Nashville's long-standing celebration of tomato-inspired art every August, late-summer farmers markets, and the beauty of harvest season. If you have ever wandered East Nashville's Tomato Art Fest and wondered why nothing on the west side of town nodded to it, this is the west-side answer.

For adults booking ahead, a practical detail worth planning around: guests under the age of 21, including infants, are not allowed on the wine and bourbon experiences. That rules the winery pairings out as a family stop but makes them a good option for a date night or a small group of friends who want to stay in the neighborhood.

Percy Warner After Dark

If you live in Belle Meade and have not been to a Full Moon Pickin' Party in a few years, this is the season to go back. The evenings pull together cold beers, local food trucks, traditional pickin' circles, and Tennessee's finest bluegrass in Percy Warner Park. The parties are held at the Percy Warner Park Equestrian Center during late spring, summer, and early fall, local bands headline the event but everyone is encouraged to bring an instrument to play, and beverages are included with the admission price with food from local vendors available for sale. All sales benefit Friends of Warner Parks.

The Warner Parks themselves are the largest working amenity most Belle Meade homeowners own without paying for it. Together the parks span more than 3,100 acres of forest and field nine miles from downtown, and close to a million people visit annually to use the Nature Center, picnic shelters, dog park, scenic roadways and overlooks, hiking trails, mountain bike trails, equestrian center and horse trails, cross country running courses, golf courses, and athletic fields. The land dates back to 1926, when Luke Lea donated 868 acres to the City of Nashville, and today the parks include tree-lined and paved trails, bridle paths, sports fields, golf courses, and the famed grounds of the Iroquois Steeplechase.

The Hummingbird Happy Hour fundraiser also takes place during peak migration on the Nature Center porches, with ticket sales benefiting the Bird Information, Research and Data program. If you have never watched a ruby-throated hummingbird get banded from six feet away, put it on the calendar for next month.

What Is Still Steady on Harding Pike

The construction fence has not touched the western half of Harding Pike, and the everyday places are all still operating.

• Sperry's Restaurant at 5109 Harding Pike, open Monday through Saturday from 4:00 to 10:00 PM and Sunday from 4:00 to 9:00 PM.
• The Belle Meade Meat & Three at 5025 Harding Pike, open daily for lunch.
• The Belle Meade Shoppes at 5133 Harding Pike, open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Bonnie's Bourbon & Wine Bar inside the Historic Site for an evening cocktail.

None of these are new. That is the point. When a familiar corner of the neighborhood is under construction, the places that have been there for years are what carry the season.

A Weekend That Uses The Shift

If a friend from out of town is coming into Belle Meade this month and asking what to do, here is a Saturday that leans into what is actually happening rather than what used to be:

1. Morning walk on the Mossy Ridge Trail out of Percy Warner Park.
2. Lunch at The Belle Meade Meat & Three.
3. Afternoon at the Historic Site, either the Mansion tour or a food and wine pairing if the group is over 21.
4. Early dinner at Sperry's on Harding Pike.
5. Full Moon Pickin' Party at the Equestrian Center if the date lines up.

That itinerary would have looked different two summers ago because the Plaza was still the default hub. It looks like this now because the neighborhood's working center has moved a mile and a half west while the eastern corner rebuilds itself.

For anyone thinking about what the return of that corner will mean for Belle Meade in 2028, or how the neighborhood's real estate market is absorbing the temporary gap in daily conveniences, Jeanie Barrier is glad to talk it through over coffee. Let's Connect.