[xtrafast]

Hi. New to the forums here, but here for the main reason of researching different information about places for me and my wife to move. So far, we've been strongly leaning towards a move to Knoxville, a big part due to the proximity to the Smokey Mountains and all of the outdoor activities that would be within an hours drive from K-ville.

I've been doing my preliminary job searches, and today was made aware of a job opening I may be offered in Madison. I have to say me and my wife were not at all leaning towards Alabama as a place to live, but as I research the Madison/Athens area, it seems like quiet a nice place. A few questions:

If we want a house to lease or buy with a large back yard for our dog and us to enjoy, is this something we can find in the Mad/Ath area? Or would we find ourselves moving outside of the city some to find this?

Traffic: We live in Plano, the north suburb of Dallas and traffic really stinks here and has progressively gotten 10 times worse in 3 years it seems. What is traffic like in the Madison area?

Weather: We are very tired of the long/hot/dry summers here. I know its a drought and we are drier than usual, but we are tired of it still being 90 at midnight in August. What are the seasons like in Madison? I grew up in south Mississippi and wondered if the humidity was slightly lower the further north you go in AL/MS and how are the summer nights? We can handle a little hot daytime weather, but when there is no real break from it for a solid month, night or day, it gets really old.

Outdoors: Another attraction of K-ville to us is the abundant outdoor activities that would be available. We have a dog who loves the outdoors and are sick of having her trapped in an apartment here. We mostly expect to be walking, hiking and canoeing with Nikki (our dog), and maybe some trail running and biking for me and my wife. Is this easy to find in the Madison area? Not just one or two solid places, but a wide variety is what we hope to find.

Elevation: Texas is fairly flat and boring to us with not many trees in our area, mainly because they seem to clear cut every single new area they develop, so it takes 10-20 years for big trees to grow up again. How is Madison in terms of trees, hills, or even mountain type terrain (smokey mountain type).

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know its long, lol. But any input would be greatly appreciated!

[marysally]

I have lived in Madison for about 8 years - moved here from Houston. People here complain about the traffic but it is nothing to compare with Houston. It has gotten slightly worse since I got here but still not that bad. As far as lot sizes, it sort of depends on what you are intending to spend and whether you are looking for a new home or one that is a little older. My lot is 180' deep so there is plenty of room for my two dogs to run around. If you are looking for acreage, you will have to get a little further out than Madison, but there is plenty of that in the county. Athens also has areas with larger lot sizes. The newer and less expensive homes will have smaller lots. As far as trees go, there are some areas that are being developed that have no trees (built on land that was cotton fields), but others where they have preserved the trees. You just have to look for what you want. Weather in the summer is hot and humid but again not nearly as bad as Houston. We have a real fall here when you can open the windows and get some natural cooling. I have not used the a/c for several weeks now and they are predicting a chance of the first frost next week. There are a few smaller mountains in the area and definite rolling landscape. Bigger mountains are just to the north in TN. I know that there are a number of hiking and biking trails also in the area but I will leave that to someone else to elaborate. Hope I hit the high spots and will be glad to answer other questions if I can.

[xtrafast]

I think my wife's 2 biggest concerns are:

We will be a long drive from weekend getaways in the mountains. Are there plenty of close by places to do this, like cabin rentals, state parks, etc, with big hills and lots of trees/lakes/streams, etc?

Also, some heat we can take, but are the summers long and dreadful? 2 months of pretty hot isn't too bad, but 3-4 months of baking is not okay, lol. Also, snow? I wouldn't expect there to be a lot in that area, but does it at least happen 2-3 times a year enough to get a good dusting or a 2-3 inches? Thanks for you reply so far!

[marysally]

There is a good website from the C of C (Huntsville.org) that has alot of information as well as pictures that give a feel for the area. There is a lovely historic district with pre-Civil War houses and guided walking tours in spring and summer. I read somewhere that the reason the homes were not burned when the Union troops occupied the area was that there were alot of Union sympathizers in Huntsville.
Anyway, to your questions - Huntsville is about 1/2 way between Nashville and Birmingham, approximately 1.5 hours via I65 from either. There is an area between Hsv and Ga called Mentone that has lovely B&B's and artificial snow ski area. Not sure about cabin rentals in Huntsville area but am sure that there are some within an hour or so in Tn. We are also within 3 hours of the N Ga mountains where there are loads of cabins for rent. I owned one up until last month so I know about that. We are also within 3 hours of the Ocoee River for whitewater rafting. That was the area for the 1996 Olympics rafting venue.
As far as weather I found a weather site that said 3 days/year as normal for snow. That obviously varies and also doesn't mean that it will stick. Last year we had several days of flurries but only one morning where we had a dusting. Generally the first freeze will be in October and the last in early April. The worst months for heat and humidity are July and August and then it is nowhere near as bad as Houston.
I don't usually have to run a/c until mid to late May and turn off around mid Sept. Usually there are several months combined (spring and fall) where I don't have to use either a/c or heat.
A little demographic information for Madison city - 2005 population 35,893
2000-2005 increase 22.4% Average Household income $72,432 Median age 34.5
Total population for Madison County which includes Huntsville and Madison plus unincorporated county - 298,192
Also local real estate listing can be found at valleymls.com.

[IDVague]

Originally Posted by xtrafast

I think my wife's 2 biggest concerns are:

We will be a long drive from weekend getaways in the mountains. Are there plenty of close by places to do this, like cabin rentals, state parks, etc, with big hills and lots of trees/lakes/streams, etc?

Also, some heat we can take, but are the summers long and dreadful? 2 months of pretty hot isn't too bad, but 3-4 months of baking is not okay, lol. Also, snow? I wouldn't expect there to be a lot in that area, but does it at least happen 2-3 times a year enough to get a good dusting or a 2-3 inches? Thanks for you reply so far!

My choice would be Huntsville, for a lot of reasons. The cost of living is low, the opportunities are many, and the area is beautiful. If you are looking for acreage, you can do very well for little money if you are happy living a few minutes to an hour away from the city. If you just want a large lot, you can get that much closer in.

As for recreation, I can't imagine a better area. The Gatlinburg area is still not that far away, but there are parks, lakes, and mountains all around Huntsville/North Alabama. Check into the Guntersville area and Decatur for some enjoyable watersports, and Joe Wheeler State Park is just to the west of H'ville.

Don't expect much snow, but it won't take much to put most of the city in gridlock, since the natives are not used to it. Still, when it comes, you don't have to worry about being sick of it before it is gone again.

[FL_TN_Nana]

Originally Posted by xtrafast

I think my wife's 2 biggest concerns are:

We will be a long drive from weekend getaways in the mountains. Are there plenty of close by places to do this, like cabin rentals, state parks, etc, with big hills and lots of trees/lakes/streams, etc?

Excuse me for butting in here since I'm just being a voyeur around some of these sites at the moment....but I wanted to let you know that Cloudland Canyon SP in the very NW corner of Georgia is wonderful. It's not an excessively long drive from any of the cities you've mentioned. They have a great campground, rental cabins, hiking trails, waterfalls, and it's just wonderful. We go there at least every 2-3 years and love it. We also found a cavern that was a nice one day road trip (while we were in Cloudland) and not far from Huntsville -- Cathedral Caverns.

Addendum: We've also camped in DeSoto SP near Ft. Payne, Alabama -- off I-59. Very nice! Lots of very scenic drives in the area. Not sure if they have cabins, but I'm sure Alabama has a State Parks website.

[IDVague]

Originally Posted by FL_TN_Nana

Excuse me for butting in here since I'm just being a voyeur around some of these sites at the moment....but I wanted to let you know that Cloudland Canyon SP in the very NW corner of Georgia is wonderful. It's not an excessively long drive from any of the cities you've mentioned. They have a great campground, rental cabins, hiking trails, waterfalls, and it's just wonderful. We go there at least every 2-3 years and love it. We also found a cavern that was a nice one day road trip (while we were in Cloudland) and not far from Huntsville -- Cathedral Caverns.

Addendum: We've also camped in DeSoto SP near Ft. Payne, Alabama -- off I-59. Very nice! Lots of very scenic drives in the area. Not sure if they have cabins, but I'm sure Alabama has a State Parks website.

You are 100% correct! That area of NW GA is beautiful and very convenient to N. AL. The Alabama State Parks do have a website. I'm not sure the moderators will allow it to stay here, but it is www.alapark.com fo what it is worth. The site has a lot of good info re: park ammenities, etc.

[Trevorelucas]

Personally I would move to Chattanooga. All of my family ives in a small town 45 minutes North of Huntsville, and an hour west of Chattanooga, and so far Chatt is my favorite city. It is close to Huntsville and knoxville, both about 1.5 hrs. away. There is a lot to do in Chattanooga, and Knoxville. Huntsville is nothing but houses and strip malls. Hope thats helpful

[Trevorelucas]

45 minutes North of Huntsville is my town of Winchester, TN, and Tims Ford State park is one of the most visited parks in the state. The lake there has about 250 Miles of Shoreline so its HUGE

[dbkeel1]

Funny you should ask. We still own a home in Denton and live in Huntsville. We love it here. Huntsville rush hour is like 3 AM traffic on LBJ. Yes, Madison needs help with roads but so did Plano in its glory years. And, as is typical, voters in Madison turned down road widening funding.

What lies lie ahead for the Huntsville/Madison area? We'll be receiving 5000 jobs by 2011 from northern VA due to the latest base realignment, other opportunities abound at Marshall Space Flight Center (or with their contractors) with the future generation shuttle program and there's a new biotech facility being built, too. Great opportunities for engineers and other degreed folks here. The ripple effect will come later with the growth of service-related jobs like retail, etc.

Visit removed for links to local schools, newcomer info and much more.