Leipers Fork

An unincorporated village of about 650, a 15-minute drive west of Franklin, with a music hall for a town square. Nashville's stars use it as a retreat: Justin Timberlake, Chris Stapleton, and Faith Hill.

Settled on Revolutionary War land grants in the late 1700s, the village was Bentontown, then Hillsboro. The post office chose Leiper's Fork, the creek's name, in 1818, since Tennessee had a Hillsboro already.

The village music hall started in 1947 as Jack Fox and Martin Locke's general store, moving into its current building in 1955. The Puckett family bought it in 1960 and renamed it Puckett's Grocery.

Preservationist Aubrey Preston bought the old Puckett's and in 2022 restored its founding name, Fox & Locke. His 224 acres along the Natchez Trace became the Land Trust for Tennessee's first-ever easement in 1999.

Morgane Stapleton, Chris's wife, opened Tennessee Turquoise Company in July 2019 in a log cabin that had housed White's Mercantile. Squash blossom jewelry hangs beside photographs by Becky Fluke, who shot the Traveler album cover.

Regulars know the Fox & Locke stage gets unannounced guests. In August 2022 Carrie Underwood joined Tom Petty tribute band the Heartshakers onstage to sing “Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.”

The village has been a National Register district since 1998. Galleries fill whatever was standing: Leiper's Creek Gallery in a filling station, the Copper Fox in an 1860s house, and David Arms in a barn.