The State's Newest Park

Good afternoon, everyone. Katie Lewis explores Tennessee’s newest state park... Mayor O'Connell isn't quite revved up about the proposed referendum to sideline auto racing in Nashville... Audit of TN's Department of Children's Services reveals shocking and despicable shortcomings... And much more!

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Field Guide: The Quest for the Painted Tigersnail

From Katie Lewis

The gift that fall gives us is its own disrobing. The trappings drift to the ground so all that’s left are the spindly underpinnings and what they’ve been hiding: a spectacular view of Franklin County that, in one specific spot, gives hikers a gander of Alabama.

This is Tennessee’s newest state park, Head of the Crow, which opened in October. It’s 4,258 acres of leaf-littered hills, limestone caves, and, they say, the rare painted tigersnail. This gastropod lives only in a 10-mile radius, and I’m here to find one. Just one; that’s all I ask.

During a several-day monitoring survey for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in April, Chattanooga-based naturalist Robert Lamb encountered over 30 land snail species, the tigersnail among them. Their Instagram photo is the one I used as a reference during my own expedition.

“Seeing the tigersnails in person for the first time was incredibly exciting, and still is on repeat visits. They are such a beautifully unique species that adds so much character to this little pocket of the state,” said Lamb. “Volunteering on these surveys and seeing so many things I never would have otherwise, in such an incredibly beautiful place, was easily one of the most impactful experiences in my life.”

Past a fragrant weekend meat-smoking, down Old CCC Road and beyond Lois Lane (yes, really) is the 2.9-mile loop I’ve chosen, the same as Lamb, from the park’s four trails. Staff at the temporary visitors center — which, one should note, is 20 minutes past this trail; my first blunder — assure me the Sherwood Day Loop isn’t strenuous. But if your eyes are trained on the ground, rooting around in partridgeberry first mistaken for purslane while snail-chasing, then trip, you shall. Repeatedly.

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HEADLINES

🏎 Mayor Freddie O'Connell appears skeptical of a proposed referendum that seeks to ban auto racing at the Nashville fairgrounds. (Axios)
🚨 A recent performance audit of Tennessee Department of Children's Services listed eight findings that have put vulnerable children at risk, including "insufficient and untimely investigations of child abuse and neglect." (NewsChannel5)
❌ Metro’s Board of Ethical Conduct unanimously dismissed an ethics complaint against Councilmember Rollin Horton yesterday. Though the complaints were tossed, several board members commented that the behaviors Horton was accused of weren't a good look. (Tennessean)
🚦 To the dismay of Sponsor Delishia Porterfield and others, the vote on a resolution opposing and condemning the Boring Company’s Music City Loop project was delayed until January. The Rules Committee recommended deferring the legislation for one meeting, which automatically placed it on next month's docket.
🎄 You can recycle your live Christmas tree at any of Nashville's 14 drop-off locations from December 26th until February 13th. (NDOT)

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DEVELOPMENT

Via City Now Next: International luxury hotel, EDITION, is coming to the Gulch. Construction on the $400 million project is underway, and the tower will include 261 hotel rooms and 84 private condominium residences fully serviced by the hotel. (More info)

Nashville Business Journal’s eight projects to look out for in 2026. (NBJ)
The nonprofit, Elevate North Nashville, launches $41 million North Nashville project which includes retail, housing, and grocery stores on five TSU campus-area sites. (Post)
Downtown’s 21-story Parkway Towers building has changed hands once again, this time for about $9.73 million. (Post