[gosaints]

As some other posters have mentioned, I think there many spots in Arkansas where you could achieve the goals you listed in your original post. Land is plentiful and almost any area is most likely going to be less expensive than Michigan or Colorado unless you've lived in an extremely rural spot in those states.

You can't go wrong targeting the Fayetteville area. It's my personal favorite. But, it will be cheaper/easier to find the type of land you are looking for if you target an area like Jonesboro, Conway, or Russellville. Depending upon what you are looking for Russellville may be a bit small (about 25K) but has some beautiful areas around it. Areas to the North of Conway towards Heber Springs are also desirable. Jonesboro might be an optimal spot. It's home to a University with about 10K students and its population is over 50K. Plus, you won't have to get far to find some really affordable property. It's also only about an hour from Memphis if you need to get to a mid-sized major metro area (airports, etc...).

Some other posters have mentioned Fort Smith & Hot Springs as well. Nothing wrong there either.

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by Old Hippie Lady

If I ever win the lottery......I will move to Calico Rock, Arkansas, buy up every building there that I could and turn it into a great Spa location, like the one in Calistoga, California or Napa Valley. I can just imagine the vineyard on the South end, across the bridge, and have my wonderful touristy spa and shops up on the cliff area in town, with lots of riding trails, hiking, biking, boat rafting, fishing, you name it. So much could be done there.

I'll be glad to head it up, if anyone has the funds!

Calico Rock is a quaint OLD little town between Mountain Home and Mountain View. The view is spectacular.

Has anyone heard about Disney purchasing hundreds of acres near that area? Wouldn't that be a great location for another Disney Park! I've heard the rumor, but don't know if it is a fact or not.

I mentioned the Disney rumor a while back. The town it affected is not far from me.

Some years back, some outsider came in and bought huge amounts of land in the area. His last name was Disney.

The rumor mill cranked up, and speculators came in to buy everything they could in the small town nearby, very sure that the next Disneyland was going into rural Arkansas.

One of the "operations" out here is that affluent people, no...let me use the word "rich", out of the big cities will buy tons of land, put cattle on it, and use it for a tax haven.

That's what happened there.

When nothing but cows showed up over the years, all the businesses had been bought up and closed for years anticipating the "boom", it was tumble weed time.

They ain't got no Disneyland, but they got an old guy that smokes BBQ all night, and hauls his pit into town and sells on street corner and that stuff will make you want to make the trip every day.

Not hard to find the town, ask anybody on 167 between Hwy 56 and Cave City where the "BBQ guy" is.

You're right about Calico. My Dr. has her main office at the clinic/hospital, and I actually look forward to my appts.

[Bufford]

What parts of AR are flat, no hills or mountains?

[HotSpringsLiving]

Northeast AR, "The Delta" is about as flat as you can get. The only hills I remember as a child were the levees near the Mississippi river. You can see for miles. The nearest hills were Crowley's Ridge. While it is so nice to see the tree and hill-plentiful parts of the state, I still love going back home to our flat lands.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Bufford

What parts of AR are flat, no hills or mountains?

The entire eastern 1/3 of Arkansas is extremely flat, except for that little string of hills called Crowley's Ridge, which is no wider than 10 miles or so at any given point, and is about 100 miles long, from the Missouri border down to south of Forest City somewhere. There's also another little string of hills south of that.
The south/southwestern part of the state has some smaller rolling hills and some flat land.
The so-called "mountainous" part is the north/nortwest/north-central, and west-central... the part most outsiders seem to know about. On a map, it's mostly west of U.S. 67, and north of I-30.. to a point, anyway.

Almost forgot the OP. If you want scenery and nature, I'd avoid Jonesboro. It's mostly very flat farmland, though there are a handful of things on Crowley's Ridge, but not nearly as much as you'd find in the Ozarks or Ouachita's. Save for farming, there's not much outdoor activity to be found in the east.

[magnolia09]

While south Arkansas doesn't get a lot of attention, it's definitely an area to consider for its relatively cheap housing prices, lots of land, and many opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. I see real estate ads for homes and land that are suitable for horses often and you won't pay nearly as much as you would in some of the 'growth' areas of Arkansas (NWA and Little Rock/Conway areas.) Currently in Magnolia, construction is ongoing on a new regional hospital and two large senior nursing facilities. Magnolia is a great small town (pop. approx. 12,000) with a lovely university, good schools, and a special community spirit. It's really an ideal community for young families and for seniors. The landscape is primarily piney woods, similar to east Texas. No large cities within 30 minutes, but is relatively well situated for day trips to Shreveport, LA (1 1/2 hour), Hot Springs (2 hr), Texarkana (1 hr), Little Rock (2 1/2 hr), and Dallas (4 hr).

[cmsf]

Given all the criteria you have expressed, including your interest in horses, and NOT wanting to put up with heavy ice/snow of winter, I would highly recommend the Mena area.

After living in North, Northwest, Western, and Southern areas of Arkansas my husband and we still love the Ouachita Mountain areas for generally "mild" winters - just enough winter/summer to know the seasons are distinctly there, but no lasting extremes. There is a distinct dividing line between North/South climate according to the I-40 corridor in tendencies toward heavier levels of ice/snow each year.

The outdoors here has all the qualities you express, without the crowds of people to contend with, and Mena is a growing/expanding community despite the economic downturn. Perhaps recreation/health enterprises would be to both your likings for income opportunity? - plenty in this area.

Balancing healthy lifetstyle with income interests is what "relocation" often offers a person.

We wish you the best in your search, wherever you choose!

[o4tuna]

I'm wondering what you mean by "town". Little Rock is the big city. Conway is/was a college town in a dry county, that has 3 big schools. Conway has been growing a lot in the last few years, but it really doesn't have a major shopping mall with a big name up scale department store. If Walmart satisfies, then there is one in just about every town that has a stop light. I'm sorry, but I don't like Hot Springs. I think it is a dump. I live southwest of Little Rock in Benton. I really can't say enough about it. I didn't really choose to live here. If I had to choose a place in Arkansas to live, it would probably be north of Conway, around Clinton, maybe even further north towards the Ark Mo border around Eureka Springs. If you like the rivers out in Colorado, then the Buffalo, Little Red and White rivers are familiar. Fayettville/Springdale/Rogers is the fastest growing area. Fayetteville is a dump too, IMHO. And, I f you live up that way, you can always run up to Branson and Springfield.

Just because you might be moving to Arkansas doesn't mean to are going to escape winter. In central Ark., We don't hardly get much snow, but we do get Ice and freezing rain a lot more than snow. NWA will have more snow. And it will still be cold. I lived in Cheyenne and Rapid City as a kid, And I'l take 24 degrees in colorado over 34 down here any day of the week. It's a wet cold, as they say. On the other hand, you will probably still be wearing tee shirts and shorts into October during the day. Our spring as been wetter and cooler this year.

Why Arkansas? If you have never lived here, what makes it a better choice over, say, Tennesse? (Memphis is a place to visit, but it's a dump too)

Oh yeah, bout them horses? You like trail riding, rodeo/barrel, horse racing? Horse racing=Hot Springs, Rodeo/barrel=probably everywhere, maybe less so along the mo border. Trail=You will ned to look into that. Not a lot of public land as out west, or access to private land.

[HANNU]

Originally Posted by o4tuna

..... Fayetteville is a dump too, IMHO.

Just curious. Why do you think Fayetteville is a dump?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by o4tuna

I'm wondering what you mean by "town". Little Rock is the big city. Conway is/was a college town in a dry county, that has 3 big schools. Conway has been growing a lot in the last few years, but it really doesn't have a major shopping mall with a big name up scale department store. If Walmart satisfies, then there is one in just about every town that has a stop light. I'm sorry, but I don't like Hot Springs. I think it is a dump. I live southwest of Little Rock in Benton. I really can't say enough about it. I didn't really choose to live here. If I had to choose a place in Arkansas to live, it would probably be north of Conway, around Clinton, maybe even further north towards the Ark Mo border around Eureka Springs. If you like the rivers out in Colorado, then the Buffalo, Little Red and White rivers are familiar. Fayettville/Springdale/Rogers is the fastest growing area. Fayetteville is a dump too, IMHO. And, I f you live up that way, you can always run up to Branson and Springfield.

Just because you might be moving to Arkansas doesn't mean to are going to escape winter. In central Ark., We don't hardly get much snow, but we do get Ice and freezing rain a lot more than snow. NWA will have more snow. And it will still be cold. I lived in Cheyenne and Rapid City as a kid, And I'l take 24 degrees in colorado over 34 down here any day of the week. It's a wet cold, as they say. On the other hand, you will probably still be wearing tee shirts and shorts into October during the day. Our spring as been wetter and cooler this year.

Why Arkansas? If you have never lived here, what makes it a better choice over, say, Tennesse? (Memphis is a place to visit, but it's a dump too)

Oh yeah, bout them horses? You like trail riding, rodeo/barrel, horse racing? Horse racing=Hot Springs, Rodeo/barrel=probably everywhere, maybe less so along the mo border. Trail=You will ned to look into that. Not a lot of public land as out west, or access to private land.

Golly you seem to think everyplace in AR and even parts of TN are dumps except for Benton or it appears that way..

You lived in Rapid City as a kid, you might remember it wasn't so cold cause as kids we were pretty ablivious to cold or heat..I know I was, what I could handle many years ago and what I can handle today are 2 different things.

I am curious to why you think Fayetteville is a dump? I find the town charming. As for no major dept stores, I have a theory about that, take it for what it is worth. For most of us our means of shopping are changing daily. The days of malls and major dept stores are fast coming to an end. It has some to do with the economy but mostly changing times. This holds true for huge chain grocery stores as well. Today many of us enjoy specialty grocery stores, small, locally owned stores and farmers markets during the season as well as warehouse shopping. Go to Sams on a weekend or almost anyday, look how buy they are. For other shopping so many depend on the inter-net or strip shopping centers.Again, this is just my thoughts on the subject.

Nita