Jeff Syracuse

Join Friends of Two Rivers for Movies at the Mansion featuring "David"!

Our inaugural Movies at the Mansion event is here! Join us this Friday, June 5 for Movies at the Mansion featuring "David"! Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy an evening of food trucks, yard games, popcorn, and the new animated epic biblical musical adventure coming of age comedy drama film featuring the character of David! Coolers are allowed. The Mansion grounds will be open at 5:30pm. Movie will begin as it gets darker. Tickets are $10 (or $30 max per vehicle) or $5 for Friends Members (or $20 max per vehicle). Get tickets at www.friendsoftworivers.com

Thank you to Two Rivers Ford as our Presenting Sponsor! The first 100 guests will receive a complimentary popcorn!

Come see us for our enhanced and expanded 2026 tour season!

Our 2026 historic tour season is here and goes through the end of October! We have worked hard to bring you an enhanced experience with interpretive reader boards and panels in the mansion and 1802 House, as well as added a special Monday at noon two-part tour that also includes a visit to Mt Olivet where the McGavock’s and many others were laid to rest. Check our website for details and ticket links!

www.friendsoftworivers.com

I read this article this morning from Axios with both concern and hope. Concern about how our ultra polarized country can return to coming together towards simple, common goals, but also hope that the steps that I engaged in with my Donelson Hills neighbors almost 25 years ago that are still tried and true ways of creating community through the basic premise that we all love our neighborhoods and all care about our children’s future and want to make our neighborhoods better for them. We have many wonderful voluntary Neighborhood Associations across Nashville with great people giving much of their time building community where they live and they deserve to be celebrated and recognized. Here’s a good list of them: https://www.nashville.gov/departments/planning/long-range-planning/neighborhoods/neighborhood-links

I would love to see this study take a deeper dive. There is a big difference between an HOA and a Neighborhood Association. NA’s are voluntary organizations that are created by neighborhood leaders wanting to create initiatives like bringing people together towards common goals, beautifying their neighborhoods, documenting history and honoring long time neighbors (we called them “heritage neighbors”), and through those efforts protect and improve property values that attracts good neighbors to want to live there as both owners and renters as opportunities become available.

HOA’s are mandatory organizations by law that are managed by professional companies and handle the day to day functions, removing a lot of the basic organizational elements that bring people together. Especially for urbanized neighborhoods with more rental properties like apartments and condos, it’s a forgone conclusion that creating volunteer-led initiatives likely happens far less in these areas, especially when someone knows they’ll only be there for a couple/few years as a renter, but that shouldn’t negate the need for creating opportunities to offer service opportunities in various capacities as a board member or other capacity. I think it’s incumbent on organizations like CAI Tennessee (a Tennessee-wide chapter located locally here on Donelson Pike), an organization helping to support HOA management companies, to find creative ways at building up neighborhood leaders / board members to help empower them to lead community-based initiatives that don’t require big budgets like the article mentions.

As I learned from my experiences as a neighborhood leader that evolved into supporting and leading non-profits, I was one of the founders of Hip Donelson that continues to do great work at building community through initiatives like the Hip Donelson Community Farmers Market, recognizing neighbors who go above and beyond to serve their community, supporting small businesses, and more. Although there are “Hip” pages all across Middle Tennessee and beyond now, Hip Donelson was the first and it was a proactive focus of ours as we became a 501c3 non-profit that ensures social media is just one tool towards bringing people physically together for true community building and support.

In a time where we are so divided, polarized, and communicate more from a distance via social media that buffers real connections and only serves to make it easier for us to judge and attack each other, it’s more important than ever for organizations like Neighbor 2 Neighbor (years ago was called the Neighborhood Resource Center) where I served on the board, and the Mayor’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement, to continue finding creative ways to implement community-building that bridges divides and empowers people working towards simple, common goals again right where they live.

How Nashville residents build community with their neighbors Nashvillians offer a how-to guide for anyone looking to expand their social circle.

If you weren’t able to join Friends of Two Rivers for our 15th Annual free community open house and art exhibit “Phil the House with Art & Friends” featuring Robert MacDonald Gallery, here is an opportunity to own one of the original beautiful pieces from Robert he did especially for his exhibit. This one features the confluence of the Stones River into the Cumberland River, showcasing both of the “Two Rivers”. See link for bidding below. Bidding on “Two Rivers Sunset Serenity” goes directly to benefit our organization. See link below.

Two Rivers Sunset Serenity oil painting - Fine Art Auction to Benefit Friends of Two Rivers - Fine Art Auctions [auction_login_status] How to Bid The dropdown shows the next available bid amount. Bids increase in $20 increments, but you may scroll to a higher bid amount if desired. Select your bid and click Place Your Bid. You can review your active bids, winning bids, lost bids, and watchlist under My Accoun...

I led the process to build a new Nashville Public Library - Donelson Branch for the community. My next big goal is to help create a museum at Two Rivers with robust and engaging educational programming.

The Master Plan that Friends of Two Rivers facilitated in 2016 envisioned a new facility to move most events and programming to help grow revenues and reinvest those in the preservation of Two Rivers Mansion and the 1802 House into interpretive house museums.

With the expansion of our tour season this year from June to October, we are adding interpretive panels and reader boards to enhance the experience. We’ve also expanded our Holiday Tour Season that will start the week of Thanksgiving.

While we wait for funding for the Two Rivers Cultural & Education Center from Metro, we are not waiting to move in the direction of investing in critical elements to protect and preserve these two historic treasures and continue to enhance the experience at Two Rivers.

Come visit us! We have a wide variety of events coming up in addition to tour season. Check out our website for the full calendar - www.friendsoftworivers.com. Sign up for email updates at the bottom of the homepage.

Thanks to WKRN News 2’s Sophia Petrovich for the opportunity today to show a bit about what’s coming to Two Rivers.

Two Rivers Mansion expands tour season into fall Tour season at Two Rivers Mansion now extends into the fall.

Please join Friends of Two Rivers on Sunday May 3 for a free community open house and art exhibit!

Send a message to learn more

It was a good day in the community yesterday. Gina and I stopped by Nashville Public Library - Hermitage Branch to early vote (I’ve endorsed Dr. Berthena Nabaa-McKinney, Metro Nashville School Board, District 4 and Freda Player for County Clerk) before heading over to Picture This Creative Framing and Gallery for an event featuring new Spring-themed works by Phil Ponder Prints. Great to see Sarah Lingo with Sister Cities of Nashville and Russ Bradford Metro Councilman, District 13 and reflecting on the big success of their World of Friendship event the night prior, then off to Salento Nashville for dinner.

Voting turnout is very low, so please make a plan to vote! Visit the Davidson County Election Commission site for info - https://www.nashville.gov/departments/elections.

Friends of Two Rivers is honored that our Founder and President Emeritus, Phil Claiborne, is being honored with a special award at the 50th Annual Metro Nashville Historical Commission’s Preservation Awards. Two Rivers Mansion is also a nominee for a preservation award in recognition of the two-year, major restoration effort that has brought the 1859 mansion to its best shape in its almost 170 year history.

🏆Announcing the 50th Annual Preservation Awards, celebrating the best in Nashville’s historic preservation! Join us on May 12 as we honor Zada Law, Phil Claiborne, the Jefferson Street Historical Society, and this year’s Architectural Preservation award winners.

This event is free to attend, no registration required, and open to the public. We hope to see you there for this milestone event!