Going ON topic:
I grow teas, chinas and noisettes successfully in east Tennessee. I'm northeast of Knoxville, which is a couple of hundred feet higher, five degrees colder (or more), and drier. And our taxes are lower than Knox County's.
We retired twenty years ago and looked in a lot of different places.
This is where we landed with few, if any regrets.
The rose societies are oriented to showing roses and their membership is shrinking. They haven't managed to have a local show in two years, but got a few newbies to take roses to Nashville to the District show, so now have hopes of adding three or four exhibitors.
There is an informal community of people who love and grow roses.
We have Rose Rosette Disease, but so does South Carolina and many, many other eastern states.
Winter can get to true zone 6, but that happens only once or twice a decade.
You'll have to define "Backward for my taste" because we see Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as doing what they do fairly successfully. And that is provide a vacation spot that is centrally located, reasonably priced, and that has the crowds that so many people feel comfortable with.
And it has definitely improved the standard of living for the folks in Sevier County. Dolly Parton's program to get books to pre school children is so successful that the state is now doing it, but Dolly (aka local heroine) funded it herself for years for her county.
For the olde feel of the Smokies, vacation in Townsend. A whole 'nother world

Here is a link that might be useful: My comments on this thread about Knoxville

Ann! I knew you were in TN but didn't think you were that close to Knoxville. Thanks for your very thoughtful reply. Glad to know the teas, chinas and noisettes can thrive there. Whew. When I talk about the rose growing community, I do mean informal rose societies and not the show crowd. As far as the backward comment, I don't know how to describe it, really. G-burg and PF just seemed very depressing to me. Tacky might be a better word? Just a subjective feeling of not my style and not a place I felt comfortable. Nothing is meant to offend, this is all very subjective and I am just trying to describe some of my cons in getting a feel for the area. It is wonderful that Dolly doesn't forget where she came from and has a found a way to help. I'll look at Townsend. I suppose I want a somewhat liberal, laid-back, non-judgmental, somewhat cosmopolitan and educated vibe to a smaller city and am trying to understand better if Knoxville offers that. Thanks again for your reply!

Oak Ridge is liberal and so non-judgemental that their highly rated high school has no Valedictorians,etc. The older part of town was one of the places where Milky Spore was tested, and to this day, there are no Japanese Beetles there.
The west side of Knoxville is more liberal, lots of restaurants (sadly most are chains), and largely newcomers. Huge numbers of half backs (people who retired to Florida, couldn't stand the heat and moved half way back north).
Judgemental is not something that fits this part of the world. Mostly folks don't care to know your business. I met a couple, several years ago , who introduced themselves as the Lesbians who lived on the hill, and who were sure I must have heard about them. No, I hadn't heard anything about them and they were surprised that I didn't know who they were. I really don't think anybody cared.
But, I've met folks who know my house and my roses, and don't know me. Someone from an adjacent county whose niece had driven him to see our house and how we were remodeling and rebuilding it because he had mentioned seeing the house so many days on his way to the ferry at the bottom of our hill. Another person, when I was launching DH and friends to kayak down the river, stopped to make sure my car was ok, and when I told him where I lived, "Oh, yeah, the old white house that's now yellow and being fixed up right nice."
You will find educated, both with and without book learning. Common sense is harder to predict.
There are still neighborhoods where doors aren't locked at night. Neighborliness is expected in some neighborhoods, and not in others.

(Remember, I lived in New Orleans, and my T-shirt tackiness threshold is both higher and lower than most folks'.)(Lower in what I find irritating, higher in tolerance of some of the off color messages.)

My red chinas look especially good today and the noisettes aren't slowing down.

Take a look at the local rag, Metropulse, it's now on line and there was a real break out of voting patterns in one of the recent ones.

Ann, somehow I did not realize that you were close to Knoxville.
My DH is originally from Memphis, and still has family there, and
just below the state line in NW MS -- so we've travelled through the
Knoxville area, and overnighted there, too.
Next time we can afford the gas to get that far East, we'll have to
arrange to meet somewhere in the area.

Jeri

Dont forget that Knoxville is a University town-UT is huge!

I used to work just north at Cumberland Gap NHP. I loved that part of the world. It is a beautiful area and the people are a national treasure. I have lived a lot of places but that area is special. It wasn't until after I left that my mother bothered to mention my grandfather was born in Sweetwater.
And the woods are full of old ramblers from the old homesites

patricia

odyssey, what town are you in in SC? I would think they would be very similiar. pigeon forge would probably be similiar to other touristy places like silver dollar city or dog patch usa in the ozarks, or even branson, it's part of the schtick for the tourists. Most now have indoor plumbing and keep in touch with the world through the internet and satellite tv.lol. Personally i prefer backward, but right now there is plenty of traffic backups from the construction, and all the chain stores and then some that you may have grown accustomed. I don't live there but have been through and to many times. As a matter of fact most of the country is becoming so homogenized anymore that it's sometimes hard to tell where you are. Used to places had regional differences and their own unique charm, and they still do in nature and the non-manmade environments.

Ann, we vacationed one year in Pigeon Forge in a cabin high on a hill; I remember the tiny sliver of a road that wound round and round the mountain. Absolutely beautiful country. I adore the area and the folks are so friendly, but my kin are from Poplar Bluff and Doniphan on the Current River area in Missouri, so I felt right at home. I want to go back again someday.
-terry