Taylor Swift, The Oak Ridge Boys, Johnny Cash and more: Hendersonville’s celebrity ties

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hendersonville is known as the City by the Lake, and its scenic views and quiet charm have long attracted some of country music’s biggest names.

“We’ve had everyone from Trisha Yearwood, Kelly Clarkston, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Barbara Mandrell — Vince Gill, and he still plays at the Opry all the time,” Kendall Sarapas, Director of Business Development with Sumner County Tourism, said.

Those are just a few of the stars that have called Hendersonville, Tennessee, home.

“If you see someone famous out and about, it’s not unusual at all,” Sarapas said.

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It’s one of the reasons some tourists make a stop to Hendersonville when they visit Music City.

“We see about 500,000 thousand tourists at Johnny Cash’s gravesite a year,” Sarapas said.

Sarapas leads Johnny Cash tours with Sumner County Tourism, and she knows quite a few interesting facts about the Man in Black.

“We go to Johnny Cash’s house, and I explain about all of his exotic pets — which a couple are still there,” Sarapas said. “…The fun ostrich story about how Johnny Cash almost got killed by an ostrich.”

It’s just one story she often tells during her tours about the star.

“What’s crazy is — how many albums do you think a normal artist can do in their lifetime?” Sarapas said. “Because he did 97 albums, which is insane.”

It’s also well known that Taylor Swift lived in Hendersonville for some time when she was growing up.

“She went to high school here and she graduated high school here,” Sarapas said. “She filmed [the] ‘You Belong With Me’ music video here in Hendersonville and her dad still live here, and you can see him around town.”

News 2 sat down with Sarapas at Kid Kingdom — a park Swift donated to help rebuild Memorial Park after the devastating floods in 2010. Across the street is The Oak Ridge Boys bridge. Members of quartet still live in Hendersonville today.

“It all started in about the ’60s, so during the ’60s, a lot of people living in Nashville thought it was dangerous or they wanted a little bit of land to have a farm like Johnny Cash,” Sarapas said.

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Sarapas said what really draws big name stars into Hendersonville are its scenic views and quiet charm.

“Really, it’s a sense of community, people are very private here, and it’s easy to stay under radars here,” Sarapas said.

News 2 sat down with two of The Oak Ridge Boys to learn more about their connection to this Sumner County community. You can watch the full interview on WKRN+.

Kendall Ashman sat down with two of the oak ridge boys. Kendall Ashman sat down with the Oak Ridge Boys. You can watch that interview in full any time on WKRN News 2’s free connected TV app: WKRN+.

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