Adventures In Kentucky: Franklin Drive-In [Field Trips]

Touring the world’s longest cave and hanging out with dinosaurs all day can be pretty exhausting. With more to explore but limited time, we waved goodbye to Kentucky and headed home. But who can pass up a trip to the Franklin Drive-In? It was right on our way back home, so convenient, so tempting… So we gave in. 

The Franklin Drive-In is right off I-65, just barely over the Kentucky border (around 45 miles away). We’re warning you now – if you map your trip online, you will get lost (we promise). Unless scenic trips through rural Kentucky are your thing, follow the directions until you get to the exit, and hang a right where it says to go left. We’re obviously experts on getting lost in the area, but that’s another story for another time. 

Now, we know that there are a handful of drive-ins surrounding Nashville, and someday we’ll review and compare them all. We like the Franklin Drive-In because they charge by the carload ($9) instead of per person, and they usually have fairly recent releases that pair well together. Don’t expect them to always have an option for kids, though. They only have one screen, and a double feature can only cover so much territory. The 8pm movie will sometimes be family friendly, allowing time for those with young children to leave before the second flick. 

As far as drive-ins go, the Franklin Drive-In isn’t fancy or modern. It’s more like a screen in a giant gravel parking lot in a field in Kentucky, and the audio (FM) is pretty terrible (especially when those people around you run their engines for the a/c). But it’s cheap, they have bathrooms, they have food, and it’s the kind of fun that’s almost been forgotten. 

Photo from tn52.com

Related posts:

  1. Adventures In Kentucky: Dinosaur World [Field Trips]
  2. Adventures in Kentucky: Let’s Go Back [Field Trips]
  3. Adventures In Kentucky: Mammoth Cave [Field Trips]
  4. Turtle Man: Friends Don’t Let Friends Go To Kentucky