Moving to Tennessee, locals please help out

tnAndy, you got that right. If those people up there find out how beautiful the land is and see clear water, that we have, they will start moving in. So, lets not tell anybody else about our state. Lets let people think that we are ignorant,inbreed hillbillies.We can keep our state a secret.

I do like gatlinburg,peigeon forge area. But, it is has too many tourist for me.
Of course, I have never been in the outskirts.
Wonder how the emient domain garbage is working around there? I am afraid that it is going to start being enforced around the lakes and park areas for starters.Then, it may grow into an everyday occurance.

paranoid, welcome to the state. You will love chattanooga/cleveland area. Lots of stuff to do and see.
tnborn

Wonder how the emient domain garbage is working around there?

See...you ain't up on your state history man....how do you think TVA got all the property for the lakes, AND ALL THE LAKEFRONT PROPERTY they have now ??? AND "Land between the Lakes" property ???

Some of our hillbilly forefathers did sell it.....but a whole bunch more were handed whatever TVA wanted to pay and told to "git".

The whole town of "old Butler" is at the bottom of Watauga lake.

We moved to S.E. Tn. 3 yrs. ago and have never had any problems and love it here. If it were daylight yet , I could look out the window in front of me and see the Cherokee National Forrest a few miles up the road . We are in the little town of Old Fort , east of Chattanooga/ Cleveland . It has a Post Office and 4 stop signs and 2 quick marts in the area . [ in the time it took me to type this last sentance , you would have drove from one end and out the other .] We go to town in Cleveland and consider it a pretty large community .

Folks tend to mind there own business and we do the same . That being said , everyone is friendly ,and will go out of there way if you need a hand .

As far as being approached about religion , I just received an "open house " postcard in the mail yesterday . That's the extent of it since we moved here .
I've always lived " treat people the way you would like to be treated "
and don't have any problems. Not from that anyway . lol

I've been here in TN for almost a year (I come from waay up north)
I love it!! People here are super nice and the State is beautiful. Ya can't beat the weather. Southern cookin'; Southern hospitality; Awesome!!! Albeit, I am kind of reluctant to try certain "Southern" foods.

Paranoid,
PUleaseee don't come to the Plateau.You won't like it here.

Backwoods

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Pro Libertate!

are there any specific places on the Plateau that I would absolutely hate?

Any realty companies you know that I would absolutely despise?

WHERE did you say you're from????
TNborn was obviously trying to help you, and gave you accurate information. And you were upset with this WHY????

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Pro Libertate!

oh I thought you were saying that jokingly.

Whatever, forget you snobs.

I was thinking more of areas around Big South Fork. Private ownership surrounding that national park. My husband mentioned that a friend of his has a farm(been in family for generations) the oil/natural gas companies are trying to emeint domain it without much compenstation. Yes, TVA was notorious and still are for emient domain.Private ownership of land is going to be more of a battle for americans perhaps more so than the past. The supreme court rulings was what I was referring to earlier. Sorry, I thought that you knew what I meant. Since you are located in east tn, is that right , you might have seen more results of the supreme court ruling Just wonderin. Gatlinburg,peigeon forge are touristy. Well, have a nice day.
tnborn

Backwoods is not a snob. Sounds like you have a huge chip on your shoulder. What exactly is your problem?? You start a thread asking locals for info. Info is given.Then, you post hateful responses.What info were you wanting??IF you have this type of negative attitude, you can go live in another state. Sounds like you want be happy in tn. The locals and you want get along but maybe you should live in the city. You would be more happy since people normally don't know each other. If you really want to get nasty, go to general chat. I will see you there.
tnborn

Please let us know where you land. We are planning on moving somewhere between Chattanooga and Knoxville in about 3 years. As far as religion goes, I can't wait as there is a lot of my denomination churches in these areas. Also since I'm from the deep south and have a southern accent I don't expect it will take 20-30 years to be accepted. In this part of MO, no one is accepted if not born here, hate this place and will be happy to leave.

All I got to say is everyone and their brother is moving to the plateau -- look around its a big state! County I moved to has pagans, wiccans, indians, and athiests -- Been asked to one church doing conversation and i might go to meet people. A lot of mennonites by me, not to many gigs, but enough jobs to go around! Everyone does know everyone, but thats expected in a small area -- heck my new atty drug me home in his truck the other day so I can get some hickory nuts -- cause hes got the biggest tree in the county! Now thats what I call friendly!

__________________
don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- George W. Bush

patarini is right, central TN seems very friendly.
I've never been to the East side of TN but just along I40 from Dickson west seems very friendly and welcoming. Prety country too!
Plenty of alternative folks of all beliefs as well as all styles of homesteading. And the fishing can't be beat!

sorry, guess i do have a chip on my shoulder

moving is stressful.

sorry to give offense with the snob remark, i guess that just rubbed me the wrong way yesterday.

KY Guest, thanks for all your help, one of the things I want is elevation tho, so I am checking all the mountains.

I'm going up to TN to look around within the next few weeks. hopefully i can end this moving business soon.

Paranoid, tn is a pretty state. I am more familiar with middle tn. We have many lakes to fish in. You can't beat the fishing anywhere. Do you like to splunker? We have numerous caves. How about hunting? We have wild turkeys,deer of course etc.
BTW just out of curiousity(sp) what attracted you to tn? Was it the beauty?
Well, I hope your moving goes well and you have less stress.
If moving gets rough and stressful, just stop and take a look at all the beauty the mountains are, rock formations etc.Have a great day.
tnborn

Well, I live for hiking, fishing, and above all subsistence wilderness camping. (1 gun, a couple knives, snares, bare necessities, lose yourself for a couple weeks in the wilderness) that is living to me.

I have never gone caving but the idea of doing it sounds like it'd be just as good as my other activities, and very exciting. I'm sure my brother would think the same way too, although he doesn't go for my subsistance camping.

hunting is a love of mine. I like to be self sufficient, and I am a gun nut . I am of the school of thought, that if you kill it, you eat it and dont waste anything.

what attracted me to TN was going camping in NC in the smokies. I started looking for land a couple years ago and NC prices are astronomical, probably due to all the restricted communities. But I need unrestricted, full mineral rights etc. and as I researched it, I remembered when I drove over the blue ridge into TN and it was just as beautiful -- without the negative aspects of NC and in many parts property wasn't as inflated. I really love how the flora in the area was brought down from way up north. Seeing things that normally only grow north of michigan all the way down here really got me going. I was sipping sassafras tea and wondering if I should tap that maple tree for syrup the next morning.

So I expanded my search west and saw the same beautiful land to the west, except the cities there were too dense. I looked further west and saw the cumberland area. Now I will be going up soon to check it out.

i do as much farming as I can where I live now, but the soil is horrid. horrid. I remember when I went camping the soil up there was a rich loam, I was impressed. I grow many things from herbs to corn and melons. I try to be self sufficient and hopefully moving to TN will allow me to be moreso, and let me work fewer hours in the city (my current work shifts are killing me) and augment that lower pay with things my 2 hands can provide.

i work 13 hour days in a lab, unlikely i'll be having a good day, but you have one nonetheless

Water quality in E TN isn't very good. As others have said we are on limestone. Even after filtering the water tastes very flat. If you hit a spring in some areas it is OK but even the municipality water is full of lime scale even after filtering. Most communities, even very rural, have municipal water because of water quality and well problems. Contact an on demand water heater company and they will tell you not to buy one in E TN.
E TN is part of the Bible belt and some call it the buckle. There are more churches then anything else. Look at a local newspaper and they will always have a local church directory that takes up 2 pages.

I'm just trying to answer your direct questions and I hope this helps.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

Hi,

I have been looking for some land up in Tennessee, but do not want to be in eastern tennessee (too many people!!!), but liked the area up above Huntsville, Alabama across the border in Tennessee. I found one farm that I liked, it has about 200 acres and a house, and is 1/2 million. I don't know if that is high or not?

What I am looking for is between 100 and 250 acres and a house with a barn (doesn't have to be a new barn or a new house), but land must be fenced with good fencing, some sort of creek/spring/pond on property, well, septic, and have electric. I do not want to live in the mountains (I am too old to go up one side and down the other - ha!) but don't mind rolling hills. Want some land in pasture, some in hay fields or fields that could be used for hay.

Schools don't matter, my son won't be going to one there as I am waiting till he graduates to move, but want to look now and if I find something, put a contract on it. Oh and I don't mind not being heavily populated. I'm looking for something in the 1500 to 2000 an acre range - is that possible in Tennessee?

Ideas, comments, suggestions? I know, I know, stay home in GA...ha! Where in the state should I start looking - I have looked from the Gatlinburg area over to the Kingston area and back down to Georgia but think I should be looking further west?

Thanks - and sorry to hijack the thread but I've always loved Tennesse and Kentucky and one or the other will be where I move to - but far away from the cities. My place here will sell in no time, so am not worried about that, just don't want to end up where a highway will cut through my future farm.
I've made three trips in the last eight months so far, but haven't found "the place" yet.
Sidepasser

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

TnAndy you are right about the TVA buying out the land under the watauga lake, what is called Old Butler.My g-grandfathers farm lies under it.The old folks regreted that move,I can only imagine how sickening it was to move from a home that had been in the family for generations.

Sidepasser,

Ilive where you are talking about. 32 miles due north of huntsville.Lincoln county Tn.

My farm is hill farm. Not moutains , not rolling , just hill farm.

Farm south of mine is rolling. Was developed 4 years ago. 2 acre wooded lot = $35,000.00. 1 acre lot, no trees= 17,000.00.

Farm west of mine, 94 acres, old house , old barn, hill farm, asking $329,000.00 . Noone around here believes it will bring that much.

Land in Lincoln county varies from flat to hills a billy goat can't climb.
It's a big county. Land 20 miles out from town is more reasonable.



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