Small towns near Chattanooga (Knoxville, Cookeville: house, schools, stores)

[britt09]

Hey everyone. Me & my daughter are planning to move down to East Tennessee about 30 minutes away from Chattanooga. Im looking for a small country town. With long fields, not to many mountains, friendly country folks, alot of green fields, horses & horse farms in area is a must because my daughter has an obsession lol, and we're particularly looking for a farm house to move into so we're not looking for a town with no country to it.

We are planning on taking a trip down there in May to take a look around so if anyone could give us some ideas of towns ASAP so we have a couple towns on a list to run through during our stay, it would be greatly appreciated. Thankss =)

[jkmewright]

Birchwood seems a good fit. Plenty of flat land and farm country out that way. Probably the flatest you are going to get. Soddy Daisy/Sale Creek is nice as well but there are more ridges so it does not have the quite the open feel that Birchwood has. Nice folks though.

[britt09]

Thanks Birchwood looks something like what we are looking for, so we will probably take a look around there. Soddy Daisy looks a little to woodsy for us but thanks for the idea =)

[jkmewright]

I reread your message and I should add that the thing about Birchwood is that there is no "town" really. You are pretty much going to get little mom and pop stores at 4-ways and some other supply stores if you forget bread or need some nails . But it's still beautiful country.

[britt09]

Oh =/ well that kinda ruins it. hmm cause we need some type of town. its hard to find things near Chattanooga that were looking for ive realized. is there anything near Knoxville that you know of that might help us out any ?

[Creekcat]

It will be hard to find anywhere in East Tennessee with "not too many mountains". The areas around Cookeville and Crossville might suit your needs.

[britt09]

Yeah as ive been looking ive sort of realized that. But thanks for the conformation on that. But i looked at Crossville just now after you said that & it looks decent, so we might take a visit over there. Thankss

[RyannTN]

Crossville is really growing...they have all sorts of things coming in. It's a nice area that would definitely be worth looking in to. There are little towns that even surround Crossville that might be well suited for what you are looking for. It is only about a 45 minute drive into Knoxville from that area too which is nice for bigger things. Good luck!

[dasmarian]

I think Dunlap would have what you are looking for . . . a wide, long valley with a country feel, but Dunlap has the stores and services you'd expect in a small town. It's also only about 30 mins from Chattanooga. It is a beautiful valley, reminds me a bit of Sonoma or Napa in some odd way. Here's a web page about it from some developer, nice description and pics though.

Community Information For Dunlap Tennessee

We drove through here on the way to Fall Creek Falls last summer, I was struck by how lovely it was.

[MountainAire]

Horseperson here.
I can totally help you out in that department and yes to Dunalp as well. Fantastic schools for the girl, great kids, most definately small town but alas, there is a small wannabe Walmart now there too.
You also have to stop with the "not too many mountains" already cuz hey, this is Tennessee! The mountains are good and where you will find a good bang for your buck.