Neighborhood 48H guide
Franklin: Where to Stay & What to Do in 48 Hours
Main Street’s storefronts, Civil War history at Carnton and Puckett’s.
Franklin is a historic small city about 20 miles south of Nashville. Its Main Street of 19th-century brick storefronts leads to the Franklin Theatre, and the Carter House and Carnton preserve the 1864 Battle of Franklin.
Photo gallery
Photo: FranklinCityWatcher · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Euthman · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Why stay here
A walkable historic downtown with Nashville a 30-minute drive away.
Who it's for: History buffs, couples and families who want a calmer base.
Pros
- Walkable historic Main Street
- Civil War sites
- Quieter than Nashville
Cons
- Car needed for Nashville
- Traffic on I-65
- Small-town nightlife
48H in Franklin
Battlefield houses, Main Street, a show.
09:00 – Puckett’s
Southern breakfast on Fourth Avenue.
10:30 – Carter House
Guided tour of the farmhouse at the center of the 1864 battle.
13:00 – Carnton
The house that served as a field hospital, and its Confederate cemetery.
19:30 – Franklin Theatre
Concerts and films in the restored 1937 theater on Main Street.
Named recommendations
Real places with links to their official site or a Maps place page. We do not invent hours, prices, or ratings.
Eat
Shop
Shop
The Factory at Franklin
230 Franklin Rd
Shops, restaurants and studios in a converted stove factory.
Official site / map →
See / do
See / do
Carnton
1345 Eastern Flank Cir
1826 plantation house used as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin.
Photo: Euthman · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Official site / map →See / do
Carter House
1140 Columbia Ave
Bullet-scarred farmhouse at the center of the 1864 battle.
Official site / map →See / do
Franklin Theatre
419 Main St, Franklin
Restored 1937 Main Street theater for concerts and films.
Photo: FranklinCityWatcher · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Official site / map →
Where to stay
Specific named properties—not vague city-wide searches. Expedia stays use tracked Creator links; others open the hotel's official site.
Roam48 may earn a commission when you book a stay through Expedia or Vrbo links on this page, at no extra cost to you. All commercial stay links use rel="sponsored nofollow".
Hotel · Expedia
The Harpeth Franklin Downtown, Curio Collection by Hilton
130 2nd Ave N, Franklin
Boutique hotel a block off Main Street.
Check rates on Expedia →
Vacation rentals
Prefer an apartment or whole home in this neighborhood? Browse Vrbo listings for Franklin.
Franklin regulates short-term rentals separately from Nashville. Look for a permit on the listing before you book.
Browse vacation rentals in Franklin on Vrbo →Other ways to spend 48 hours in Nashville
- Downtown & Lower Broadway — The Ryman, Broadway’s honky-tonks and the Johnny Cash Museum.
- SoBro — The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Symphony and whole-hog barbecue.
- The Gulch — Bluegrass at the Station Inn, Biscuit Love and the wings mural.
- Midtown & Vanderbilt — The Parthenon in Centennial Park, Hattie B’s hot chicken and Vanderbilt’s campus.
- Music Row & Hillsboro Village — Elvis’s RCA Studio B, songwriters at Analog and pancakes in Hillsboro Village.
- Germantown — The Farmers’ Market, Bicentennial Mall and Rolf and Daughters.
- East Nashville — Five Points, the Pharmacy’s beer garden and Shelby Bottoms along the river.
- Music Valley & the Opry — The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland’s indoor gardens and a riverboat cruise.