Growing up in Brentwood, leaving for college and then returning with her husband in 1998 to raise their two girls, Ashley Hicks knows personally the draw of Williamson County’s small town charm and convenient access to Nashville’s big city amenities.

With both girls off to college, she now has the time to pursue her passions, one of which began with Sunday afternoon drives with her father, a local Realtor at the time, looking at Williamson Count...