First Street. Second Street. Third Street. Fourth Street.
It’s a scene played out in many U.S. cities, a grid system of numbered streets that helps residents navigate their hometowns and gives urban planners a practical framework to build upon. It might not be inspired, but it’s undeniably efficient.
A slight step up in creativity comes in the form of American neighborhoods lined with parallel streets bearing familiar names: Oak Street, Pine Street, Chestnut Street and the like, often without a single corresponding tree in sight.
The names might not distinguish one subdivision from the next, but for developers facing the task of labeling streets at the close of a project, trees offer a ready-made solution.
Then there’s Engel Park in East Brainerd, launched by Pratt Home Builders in 2020. Here, several streets draw inspiration from baseball, a nod to the nearby historic stadium built in 1930 and later featured in the movie “42.”
With names like Slugger Way, Double Play Drive and Sliding Home Run, the neighborhood reflects a level of intention and local connection that stands apart from the standard urban and suburban grid.
Brittany Shaw, Pratt’s “new home matchmaker,” joined the builder in 2017, helped shape Engel Park and has since become a key voice in the company’s community design. For Shaw, a true community is not a homogenous suburban sprawl but a place where local memory is woven into the fabric of its streets, sidewalks, homes and shared spaces.
Walking the streets of Pratt’s newest developments, it becomes clear that Shaw has contributed a personal touch to each project, subtly weaving her own history and passions into the neighborhoods she helps bring to life as part of the Pratt team.
The roots of connection
To understand how Shaw’s influence shows up in Pratt’s newest developments, it helps to begin with her story.
Shaw was raised on a farm about 40 minutes from Chattanooga, where parents, siblings and a menagerie of animals created a lively, unpredictable environment she still recalls with a smile.
Music came early. While many of her classmates settled on a single instrument, Shaw moved from one to the next with enthusiasm and ease.
On the farm, those interests converged. The same open fields that served as her playground became her practice room.
“My mom would say, ‘That’s enough of the squeaky clarinet. It’s time to go outside and play for the horses,’” Shaw says. “I’d take my sheet music, stand and instrument outside and play on the farm. With the acoustics there, it was a soul-satisfying experience.”
That willingness to pick up something new – and stick with it – helped Shaw earn both academic and music scholarships to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she continued to expand her repertoire.
Over time, music evolved from something she once played for horses in a pasture into something more connective – a way of bringing people together. It’s a philosophy that still shapes her work today, expressed not through instruments but through the communities she helps bring to life, including one of Pratt’s newest neighborhoods, Ridgesong.
A name with meaning
Each community begins as a blank slate – a stretch of land where streets will eventually wind, homes will rise, amenities will take shape and, ideally, residents will form something more meaningful than a collection of neighbors who barely know one another.
For Pratt, a 27-year-old local builder with nearly 3,000 homes to its credit, achieving that sense of connection requires more than a formulaic approach.
“We love creating communities and building brands that feel special and memorable for the people who live in them,” Shaw says.
As more national builders enter the Chattanooga market, Shaw says Pratt also feels an increasing responsibility to protect and reflect the region’s character, pointing to Chattanooga’s natural beauty and Appalachian heritage.
The name “Ridgesong” emerged from a moment where music and landscape converged, sparking Shaw’s imagination.
It began with music by John Denver – a frequent presence on her playlist.
Shaw recalls driving along country roads – not toward West Virginia, but to her mother’s house – when the idea began to take shape.
“I was thinking about our next flagship community. I wanted it to have a really special name. It’s off Snow Hill Road in Ooltewah and it’s just stunning. The way the ridgeline comes together and the sun sets beautifully, and there’s that back-to-the-farm feel.”
As she drove, a pattern began to emerge in her thinking.
“I kept getting an intuitive feeling that it should have the word ‘song’ in it. And that’s when it hit me – ‘Ridgesong.’ Because of that beautiful ridgeline, and I know from experience that down in the low part of it, it’ll have incredible acoustics.”
Shaw’s personal interests also informed the concept. A longtime country music fan who’s recently developed an appreciation for bluegrass, she began thinking more deeply about the Appalachian influences that shape the Chattanooga area and how those sounds reflect the region’s identity.
That inspiration will carry through to the details in Ridgesong. Street names will reflect the musical theme, including Dulcimer Drive. For future residents, even something as simple as walking the dog through the neighborhood will reinforce the neighborhoods’ identity.
“The community is a celebration of bluegrass music,” Shaw continues. “It felt like a natural way to honor that Appalachian style of music.”
Shaw also hints at the amenities that will complement the name and theme, pointing to plans from Pratt’s land development team.
“It will be something unique for the greater Chattanooga area.”
Built for connection
If Ridgesong reflects a connection between the landscape and its musical inspiration, it also reflects a broader evolution in how Pratt approaches community building – one that extends beyond naming conventions.
Across its newer developments, the company has layered in features designed to encourage interaction and shared experience.
In many Pratt communities, small libraries now sit within walking distance of residents’ front doors, and pollinator gardens add both color and ecological value. Resort-style pools, multi-sport courts, playgrounds and open green spaces provide places to gather, while fire pits and cabana areas give neighbors an easy place to hang out.
Taken together, those elements reflect a shift toward what Shaw describes as a comprehensive community experience where design choices are made for connection.
That same philosophy carries into other Pratt developments currently taking shape.
At Heirloom, the emphasis turns toward legacy. The name itself operates on multiple levels, drawing from traditions like quilting and heirloom furniture while pointing to something less tangible but equally enduring: a sense of continuity.
“It’s about slowing things down a bit,” says Shaw. “Life moves fast, especially with commuting and everything else people have going on, but this is the kind of place where you can sit on the porch, take in your surroundings and actually get to know your neighbors beyond just a quick wave.”
That same mindset carries over into the way the homes are built, with an emphasis on quality and attention to detail. The idea is that the character of the neighborhood and the homes themselves feel consistent – both reflecting what Shaw sees as distinctly Southern values.
At The Aviary – a community situated across from Magnolia Farms and nearing completion of its final phase – Shaw’s personal interests take flight in a different direction.
Perched along the brow, the neighborhood offers sweeping views, but its thematic inspiration comes from something more intimate: a lifelong fascination with birds.
Shaw’s interest is not casual. Over the years, she’s raised chickens, pheasants, quail and a variety of companion birds, developing a deep appreciation for both domestic and native species. That enthusiasm found its way into The Aviary, where a Southern bird motif shapes the identity of the community.
Even in the field, that connection remains active, as Shaw often uses the Merlin Bird ID app while visiting job sites to identify the calls around her, reinforcing that the natural environment surrounding these neighborhoods is not just a backdrop, but an integral part of their character.
Like Ridgesong and Heirloom, The Aviary starts with something personal and carries that into the broader community. Each neighborhood has its own identity, but they all share the same idea at the core: creating places where people feel connected to where they live and to the people around them.
Community at home
For Shaw, the work has never really been about houses.
She often returns to a line she’s carried with her for years, drawn from a quote by Mother Teresa: if you want to change the world, start at home.
“Start with the people under your own roof, then move outward – into your neighborhood, then your into community and then into your city,” she says.
These days, that idea is no longer abstract. Shaw sees it play out in her own life in a Pratt neighborhood she now calls home – neighbors waving as she walks her dog, the exchange of books in a little library, the anticipation of gathering at the pool when the weather turns warm. The vision she helps create professionally is something she now lives inside of personally.
“It’s not lost on me that memories are being created in each house and in each of these communities,” Shaw says. “That’s what’s really special to me.”