Looking to relocate to the Country and Mountains

18 years ago

Hello everyone;

Please forgive me if I start to ramble on,I am new to this site.I am a 33 yr old midwestern lady who is on the brink of a divorce.I am trying to save up some cash to get out of a verbal and emotional relaionship of 15 yrs.We have no kids living with us I just have 2 dogs.

I spent most of my life in IL but was born in Northern Wis.I love going to Las Vegas and the outskirts but think I'd miss the woods too much and the four seasons.

So I am looking to maybe move to either Tennessee or North Carolna near the Smoky Mountains or close by..

Here's alittle about me and what I'd like- a place in the country where I can have some chickens and horses..or a view of a lake.

I would like to have a vegetable and flower gardens.And a place to feed the birds.I love to enjoy nature and go camping.Love to cook and would like to learn dutch oven cooking.I love traveling and hitting garage sales,flea markets and antique shops and used bookstores and the amish areas.Summer time I like going to farmer's markets and buying fresh from the farmers.

Well I hope I haven't bored you all. And hope to make lots of new friends and get some great tips from you

CountryBound

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Comments (6)

tennesseekathy
18 years ago
Etowah Tennessee or in the vicinity could be your place. I live in Etowah which is a lovely small town. We are in between Chattanooga and Knoxville. It only takes about a hour to get to either. They both have everything you could possibly want. Athens is about 15 minutes away and has most of your basic major stores, such as Walmart, Kmart, Staples, Big Lots, etc. Etowah has 2 grocery stores, 2 drug stores, lots of surplus and antique shops. Everyone is friendly here. It is a very laid back town. This part of the country is very beautiful. We have many rivers, lakes, mountains, forest backroads, tourist sites, etc. all within minutes to just a few hours. You can be to the North Carolina line in 1 hour, Georgia line in 1 hour, Alabama line in 1 hour, etc. Lots of places here to camp and always garage sales. Several yearly Highway yard sales that go for miles. The Amish moved in a few years ago just 5 minutes down the road and have a market there. Let me know if I can tell you anything else about this area. I can send you lots of info from the Chamber here.
jenica
18 years ago
If you're thinking of TN, definitely go for Eastern TN. I moved to Memphis 2 years ago and can't wait to move to the Knoxville area. I've done a lot of research and it seems really nice. Plenty of lakes and rivers and the state park nearby. I lived in FL for a while and if you're used to four seasons you'll definitely miss them if you move to Vegas (Christmas just isn't Christmas when you're wearing shorts). I love that the seasons here are equally spaced the only problem with Memphis is that it is so hot and humid in the summer that in July and August being outside is miserable. It's usual about 95 with 90% humidity, not fun. From what I heard and read, Knoxville is still hot but about 10 degrees cooler in the summer especially in the mountains.

There's a town called Maryville which is just south of Knoxville and it seems really nice. One thing you'll have to do to garden here is amend the soil (raise beds are best)since TN has clay soil. I've heard that Maryville makes it easy because they collect the leaves and mulch them and if you ask nicely they'll give you a bunch of the mulched leaves which are perfect for creating lasanga beds. Maryville also seems to have all the major stores either in the town or nearby. The schools there are really good and I know you said you don't have kids but good schools ussually produce good kids and it's much nicer having well behaved neighborhood kids than otherwise.
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Brian, thanks for your very informative response. I have been to the Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Cary area a few times while visiting my son who is stationed in Goldsboro and found it very lovely. My DH was raised in a town in Connecticut that had a population of 2200 and now we live in a town with a population of 480. He actually LIKES this. I am all for living in a small town for I like the sense of community pride and commorodity that goes with that but I prefer a small town with at least 15,000 - 20,000 people LOL. My DH also wants acreage. Not a particular desire of mine as long as I am not living on top of someone else. He could never live on a property less than a few acres and that is where we are running into some issues. Due to the type of work he does we need to be within reasonable driving distance to a metropolitan area. I understand that Raleigh and Charlotte are the two places he is most likely to find employment so I have been scouting bedroom communities for both cities. I have found some lovely homes in the Lake Norman district outside of Charlotte as well as some in the Cary as well as Clayton area outside Raleigh. Thanks for the headsup about northern Raleigh and Cary. One thing I know is sure to send my hubby off the deep end is the hummer crowd. We see a lot of that where we live in the Berkshires. My hubby is a sweetheart and hates confrontation but he is also a man comfortable with who he is. Whenever he is amid the keep-up-with-the-Jones type of people something comes over him and he turns into a neanderthal which if it weren't so in-your-face- on his part it would be rather comical. We have the "New York" aka "The Wallstreet Crowd" that own summer homes around the lakes in our area. They are excruciatingly politically correct, pretentious and obnoxious. To protest their invasion every year DH goes out of his way to make things unpleasant for them. He has an old truck that he named Mable. The thing should have been buried about 25 years ago yet he insists on keeping it professing its value for hauling things around the property. At the peak of summer when he is sure to find the snobs, I mean New Yorkers at the one and only general store in the area he insists on driving my little daughter (who does not know any better) to the store for an ice cream cone. I have had the "pleasure" of being on a few of those trips myself and it is rather humorous to see the expressions on these peoples faces as he pulls "Mable" next to their Lexus' or Hummers. LOL...I overheard one man tell his wife "it really is time to sell our place here" after seeing my husband pull in and get out of his truck. She responded "oh dear but we love the lake so". It was the one and only time that I really wanted to go up to someone and tell them how rude they were and how much we looked forward to fall every year to be rid of them. At the time my DH was running his own company and financially was probably doing as well as anyone of these pompous jerks but they judged the book by the cover and thought we were the "poor relations". I managed to hold my tongue and I am glad I did. What do I care what these trogs think anyway and it is a good lesson for my daughter to learn about humbleness as well as seeing for herself how plastic some people truly are. I am all for intellectual dialect but attitudes are best checked at the door.
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slate_stone
18 years ago
AMEN jENICA. i LIVE THERE
sLATE
wanda_grow
17 years ago
Have small farm for sale. Presently a working chicken farm. Older farm house, barn, several outbuildings. pastures, woods, water well, several springs. Bordered by 3 paved roads. Directly on school bus route. Can be worked as a farm with income or used for development purposes. Great neighbors,very scenic where the price is just right for you and your family.
Please contact via email for more info.
Sincerly,
Wanda
erinlisa
17 years ago
Woman! Get your butt down south pronto! You are going to be a born again Southerner/Hillbilly! We look forward to having you here. I live in Harrison, TN (a rural area)
I have small crops, chickens (fresh eggs-YUM-MY!) coon hounds, a bonfire pit (my favorite) and a nearby lake to swim in! Who needs an expensive pool? Not my young-uns!
My kids wont eat veggies at dinner, but for some reason when I walk them around the garden, they are more than happy to eat a fresh tomato, bean, strawberrry, etc, right off the stem!!! Life is simply better in the Country!
big_orange_vol_
17 years ago
If you want to go the NC route then Swain and Graham Counties near Lake Fontana are it!
Bryson City and Fontana Village are little awesome towns.
Fontana County has a poplation around 8,000 and Swain has 13,000.

Looking to relocate to the Country and Mountains

Comments (6)

tennesseekathy

jenica

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