St. Bernard Park

St. Bernard School is a private Catholic school that has existed since 1866, and has been in this location in Hillsboro Village since 1905. St. Bernard Park was established as a city park in 1996. Now, whether or not it was purchased or donated, I’ve been unable to find definitely.

In 1996, there were talks of turning Elmington Park into a “Cancer Survivors Park,” with monuments and art and plaques, but neighbors felt it too bleak and it was overthrown. The idea then went from Elmington Park to St. Bernard Park, where it again was overthrown by the neighborhood. The park sat, overgrown and undeveloped for a few years. The street facing view was renovated with a paved sidewalk, benches, and newly planted trees, celebrating a grand reopening in 2011.

At least once every four or five years since it’s acquisition, there have been talked about what to do with this park. Metro Council has meetings, neighborhood associations have meetings call mom and it’s not hard to see why. The location is perfect; it’s a cute little pocket park, with ample parking. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be a bigger attraction. Right now it just kind of exists. The most recent plan is to create a sculpture garden with art installations. There’s a grand plan for it on Metro Nashville Parks’ website. It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out. But for now, this is a nice respite near the trendy Hillsboro Village for a quiet walk in the park.

Name: St. Bernard Park

Address: 211 Bernard Street, 37212

History: 1 out of 5

Walkability: 3 out of 5

Kid Like-ability- 1 out of 5

Date Night-ability- 2 out of 5

Charm: 2 out of 5