Tell me About the Cookeville/Putnam Area (Hendersonville, Gallatin: Home Depot, university)

[A Little Hoarse]

I moved from Miami to northern Florida a while back, and I love it. I hate Miami, like every sane person. I am conservative and religious, so it was not a good fit. Also, I don't speak Spanish, and I can't stand rude people.

Northern Florida is wonderful. The people are fantastic. Still, I miss Appalachia. I am originally from Kentucky, and while the landscape in northern Florida is less like a jungle than South Florida, it's not the same as Kentucky or Tennessee. Lots of mosquitoes. All the trees are live oaks. Not much game. Also, I like a lot of acreage, and the best I could do here was 34 acres.

I have been looking at land on the web, and I see nice stuff in the general region containing Cookeville. I wonder if people could tell me what it's like there.

I want to be out in the woods on 300 or more acres, but I want to be able to get to a Home Depot or a grocery in less than half an hour. I like the south, but I can't go back to eastern Kentucky because people there seem determined to fail, and the racism is so bad it's unpleasant even for a white person to deal with. I want to be around nice Christian people. I hate traffic. I like hills, but I don't want land that's straight up and down.

Is there any hope your area will work for me?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by A Little Hoarse

I moved from Miami to northern Florida a while back, and I love it. I hate Miami, like every sane person. I am conservative and religious, so it was not a good fit. Also, I don't speak Spanish, and I can't stand rude people.

Northern Florida is wonderful. The people are fantastic. Still, I miss Appalachia. I am originally from Kentucky, and while the landscape in northern Florida is less like a jungle than South Florida, it's not the same as Kentucky or Tennessee. Lots of mosquitoes. All the trees are live oaks. Not much game. Also, I like a lot of acreage, and the best I could do here was 34 acres.

I have been looking at land on the web, and I see nice stuff in the general region containing Cookeville. I wonder if people could tell me what it's like there.

I want to be out in the woods on 300 or more acres, but I want to be able to get to a Home Depot or a grocery in less than half an hour. I like the south, but I can't go back to eastern Kentucky because people there seem determined to fail, and the racism is so bad it's unpleasant even for a white person to deal with. I want to be around nice Christian people. I hate traffic. I like hills, but I don't want land that's straight up and down.

Is there any hope your area will work for me?

There are quite a few of us Florida refugees up here. I'm originally from Tampa, and while I still have a soft spot in my heart for Tampa, wild boars couldn't tear me away from my little corner of paradise up here in Tennessee.

The Cookeville area is beautiful. Cookeville is surrounded by gentle hills, lakes, waterfalls, woods. It's a sportsman's paradise with lots of fishing, kayaking, boating, hunting, mountain biking, etc. The university presence and a booming economy bring people from all over the world to Cookeville which means it's probably more welcoming of "outsiders" than other small Southern towns. It's also a religious, patriotic, and very friendly place. And Cookeville is getting a Publix!

Are you serious about wanting to live on 300 acres? That's about the only kink in your plan. There just aren't many 300-acre lots in the area, at least not for less than $1 million. I did find these, though, to give you an idea of what's available:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/I...?fullpage=true

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...?fullpage=true

Otherwise, Cookeville absolutely checks all your boxes. These are some short videos that, to me, illustrate what Cookeville is like:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkulGB1hYHg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAcN_OOd4RY&t=3s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvNz3SmH9jo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRXNUrHpd8I

[JMT]

And videos about the two farmers' markets in town and the area's love of agriculture:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf00cZRkmK8&t=16s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO1FADuiyfA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ4LpWlMm5g&t=10s

[A Little Hoarse]

Thanks for the comments and the helpful material. That was very generous.

As for the tract size, it doesn't have to be IN Cookeville. I found some pieces of land in that general area. I figured Cookeville would probably be the city I ended up visiting whenever I needed an oil change or groceries, sort of like Ocala is now.

[loonyrich]

We moved here from Washington state and we love it. But a word of caution, if you are hung up on Home Depot then you are out of luck. We currently only have Lowes but it fills the bill for us. You really need to come up and look around.

[iruvrice11]

Originally Posted by loonyrich

We moved here from Washington state and we love it. But a word of caution, if you are hung up on Home Depot then you are out of luck. We currently only have Lowes but it fills the bill for us. You really need to come up and look around.

Where in Washington State are you from? I lived in Spokane for years and met my husband there while he was stationed in FAFB before moving to Little Rock and now we live in Fayetteville TN. We are also planning to move after my husband graduates from college. We are thinking Hendersonville, Gallatin or Cookeville.

[loonyrich]

We moved here from Spokane. I retired from the Spokesman Review newspaper. Daughter and her husband both worked at Fairchild.

[A Little Hoarse]

It doesn't have to be Home Depot. I just want to be able to get necessities without getting on an airplane.