Donelson's Fall Calendar Runs Through Two Rivers Mansion. A Tiny French Café Just Joined the Routine.

"I had the band up here. I was praying the whole time that the whole veranda wouldn't cave in." That's Jeff Syracuse, president of the Friends of Two Rivers, telling WKRN about the concerts he booked at Two Rivers Mansion before the restoration. Back then, he said, some of the porch columns were held together with two-by-fours and nails.

Metro put more than $4.5 million into a full exterior restoration that took about 18 months. The Tradesmen Group dismantled the porch, saved what it could and rebuilt the damaged details by hand. The mansion reopened in August 2025. So this October is the mansion's second fall with a sound porch, and it carries more of Donelson's calendar than any other single address.

The same name shows up at the mansion and the plaza

On October 2, WKRN ran a second Donelson story, this time about Donelson Plaza. Syracuse is at the center of that one too. WKRN identifies him as a former Metro Council member for District 15, and it credits him with the push to bring the 1961 strip center back. It had once been anchored by Castner Knott and had a Woolworth's. Holladay Properties bought the plaza in 2016, and Metro agreed to put a new Donelson library branch in the middle of it. Benton Smothers of Holladay called the library the site's "civic anchor."

Taken together, the two stories describe one pattern. Donelson's main gathering places are anchored by public or nonprofit institutions: a Metro-owned mansion run with the Friends of Two Rivers, a plaza built around a library, and a farmers market in the park-and-ride lot at a WeGo station. Shops and restaurants fill in around those anchors. That's why the last week of October matters so much. Both the mansion's regular tours and the market close their seasons within three days of each other.

October, in the order it happens

Today is Monday, October 5. Here's what's left of fall on the Donelson calendar:

1. Fridays through October 30: Hip Donelson Farmers Market. It runs every Friday at Donelson Station, 2705 Lebanon Pike, behind Donelson Jewelry and Edley's BBQ. Opening day was listed as 4 to 7 p.m.
2. Friday, October 16: POP Club for Kids at the market, 4 to 6:30 p.m.
3. Friday, October 16, through Sunday, October 18: "After Dark" ghost tours at Two Rivers Mansion. Each night has a 6 p.m. and a 7:45 p.m. tour, and ghost-hunting equipment is welcome. Tickets are $30, $20 for seniors and military, and $15 for Friends members.
4. Saturday, October 17: Tennessee Beer, Bourbon, Wine & Shine Festival, noon to 5 p.m. on the mansion grounds at 3130 McGavock Pike.
5. Wednesday, October 28: last regular historic tour. The Spirit of Two Rivers tours run Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on the hour from 9 a.m. to noon. Tickets are $20, $15 for seniors or military, $45 for a family, and free for members.
6. Friday, October 30: last farmers market of 2026.
7. Saturday, October 31: Halloween daytime tours at the mansion, noon to 1:30 p.m. and 2 to 3:30 p.m., at regular tour prices.

If you're planning around these dates, a couple of things have already passed. The Music at the Mansion series ended September 19, and the final Movies at the Mansion night, Hocus Pocus, was October 2.

The regular tour has changed in substance, not just in the woodwork. The house was built in 1859, and next to it stands the 1802 House, one of the few Federal-style brick homes from that period still standing in the area. Tours now acknowledge the Indigenous people connected to the land and the dozens of enslaved people who lived and worked on the former 1,100-acre farm. On Mondays at noon there's a separate two-part tour that continues to the McGavock graves at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. It costs $40 and takes five people at most.

A 16-seat bistro on Graylynn Drive

Maminette, at 104 Graylynn Drive, is the new name on the morning routine. It opened Monday, September 28, as a 16-seat French bistro from the team behind East Nashville's The Authentique. City Cast Nashville reported that some of the recipes come from co-owner Philippine Maillard's grandmother, and that the menu includes crepes, omelets and quiche, with plenty of gluten-free and vegan dishes. Maillard runs The Authentique with Alexandre Meunier.

The hours matter more than usual here. Per its own site, Maminette is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is closed Sundays and Mondays through October. That works well for a pastry before a 9 a.m. mansion tour on a Wednesday or Thursday. It won't work for Monday tours, and the "through October" note means the schedule is worth checking again in November.

Maminette also fits the pattern. Midnight Oil did the same thing earlier this year: a local operator from elsewhere in Nashville opening a second spot in Donelson. Midnight Oil is a pizza spot that first opened in the Nations in March 2020, and its Donelson location is at 2606 Lebanon Pike. Visit Nashville's new-restaurant list puts the Donelson opening in March 2026.

What fills in around the library

The plaza's business mix grew around the library branch. Homegrown Taproom & Kitchen describes its spot at 2720 Old Lebanon Road as right next to the Donelson Library, with scratch-made food and a taproom. On the lower level, at 2710 Old Lebanon Road, Suite 23, Movement Lounge by Yoga Muttz teaches yoga, aerial and strength classes. In the center of the plaza are Rick's Comic City, The Game Cave and Swaggie Records, and Bagelshop at 2708 Old Lebanon Pike serves breakfast and coffee.

The plaza has less retail space than it used to. Holladay's plan reduced retail and added 102 rental apartments and townhomes. More people now live within walking distance of the comic shop, the taproom and the library itself.

After October 30, the calendar moves back to the mansion

When the market closes for the year, the holiday events are held at Donelson's two historic homes. The Friends' holiday tours cover both the decorated mansion and the 1802 House. Tickets are $20 for adults, members get in free with registration, and sales open sometime this fall.

This is the sixth year of the Donelson-Hermitage Chamber's Holiday Market at the Mansion. It's free, and the Chamber is working with The Hermitage to bring in vendors and food trucks.

The projects that are still plans

Several projects will change these routines, and none of them has a firm date yet.

The farmers market's home is the biggest open question. WeGo's Donelson Transit Center plan includes six covered bus bays, real-time arrival signs, a new signal on Donelson Pike, bike and micromobility facilities, and railroad quiet-zone improvements. The goal is more frequent service on Route 6 Lebanon Pike. WeGo expects the park-and-ride and the Hip Donelson Farmers Market to stay usable during construction. It also says the longer-term redevelopment could require the market to move in a later season. The project page gives two different construction schedules, and both forecast completion by the end of 2027. H.G. Hill's mixed-use project beside the station is a separate, later phase.

Across from the library, the former Truist Bank parcel has been sold for a Starbucks and two more tenant spaces. In May, WKRN reported that Hattie B's was only under discussion as a possible tenant. The developer's February release projected completion this fall. That date is a forecast, and the May report said construction timing wasn't known yet.

Holladay has also bought the old Donelson Hospital site on Lebanon Pike and says it is slated for a separate mixed-use redevelopment. Metro Parks lists a planned one-mile Opry Mills Greenway that would connect the Cumberland River pedestrian bridge and the Cumberland River and Stones River greenways to Opry Mills. As of its May 1, 2026 update, procurement was expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. At the mansion, the Friends of Two Rivers have proposed a Cultural & Education Center behind the house for school groups and larger events. WKRN reported that the project will be funded through Metro's capital spending process and that no construction timeline has been announced.

If the transit center or the old hospital site ends up changing your part of Donelson, it helps to know which of these projects have dates and which are still on paper. Parker Brown keeps track of both kinds of projects. Let's connect, whether you're thinking about your next move or just want to know what's coming to Lebanon Pike.