This section is reserved for future reports from our oral history project. If you have some stories or bits of history to share, please contact the Secretary of Rolling Acres Neighbors through the contacts page of this website.
Rolling Acres (RAN) is a neighborhood association representing about 250 homes in the area of East Nashville on either side of Eastland Ave. from about Porter Road or No 20th St on the west, east to the railroad tracks. RAN has elected officers, established its by-laws, and received a nonprofit charter from the State of Tennessee. RAN has been registered with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods. It has also been approved as a stakeholder organization with representatives on the Rediscover East Council and been recognized as an official Neighborhood Watch area by the Police Department
At present the neighborhood is holding regular meetings every other month at the Eastwood Christian Church at 16th St and Eastland Avenue on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 PM.
Rolling Acres was chosen as the name for the neighborhood association because it was the subdivision name for many of the homes built just before and after WWII. Some residents have lived in the area since the 1940s.
RAN is a new neighborhood association but not a new neighborhood. A few residents have been here since the subdivision was built starting in the early 1940's. Some area residents remember the area when it was covered with orchards. You can tell the pre-war from the post war homes by the foundations. Before the war they were limestone and after they were concrete block [which was supposedly invented here in Nashville]. We want to record our history from the 40's, 50's, 60's and on while there are still those of you that remember the neighborhood from those days. Toward that end, RAN plans to conduct a systematic oral history project to interview those knowledgeable. While preserving our history, it will also help establish our identity. Since "Rolling Acres" fell into disuse, our neighborhood really did not seem to have a name or identity for many years. RAN was always on the edge or in between it seemed, between urban and suburban, straddling WWII, east of Lockeland Springs and west of Rosebank. The old spring house from the Tillman property [the big house on McCarn] is in disrepair and located in our neighborhood at the north end of Shelby Park golf course. If any of you remember this or information form other eras of the land we now call Rolling Acres and would agree to be interviewed, please contact the Secretary through the "Rolling Acres Contacts" on this website. If you have documents such as the original leaflets advertising homes for the area, we would appreciate the opportunity to photograph or copy them.
Residents or property owners are welcome to join the associaition. Dues are $10 per household. Rates are reduced for those joining after November. Each household resident 18 or older is eligible to be a member, but in order to avoid quorum problems, only those interested in attending meetings or participating in other activities are encouraged to sign on to a household membership.
Elections are held at the annual meeting each May. You must be a member in good standing to run for office. The officers include a President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and two Board members with staggered terms.
See the "become a member" section if you are interested in a membership application or want to register with us to get neighborhood information without actually becoming a member of the association.