Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
 
Old 09-03-2010, 12:14 PM
 
Location: Rockford, MI
3 posts, read 18,349 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

My wife and I are hoping to relocate in the next 3 years to the NC / VA area. I've been searching online and talking to those I know in these areas. However, every day it seems like I stumble on something else that may discourage me from my short list or add another town to the list.

We're planning a road trip in November to start driving through these areas, but now I don't even know where to start. Please help!!!!!!

What we're looking for:
Love the mountains, but also enjoy the amenities of larger cities.
Great Schools - we have a 2yr old.
For a point of reference for cost of living: we're okay with downtown Chicago, but not Manhattan.
I work remotely and my wife is an RN.
We plan to build a home, and hope to find a lot with mountain views.
A vibrant town.
A Park City/Salt Lake of the East Coast.

What has stuck out the most is Asheville, NC.
My only concern is, I keep finding it's largely a "hippie" community. I'm use to mainstream amenities & shopping - so "m not too sure the atmosphere without visiting. Other then that, it seems that it's closest to what we're looking for. Not too far from Charlotte or Atlanta, mountains, and good schools.

Other cities I've stumbled on:
Charlottesville, VA
Highlands, NC
Mountain City / Banner Elk / Boone


Any suggestions would be appreciated
Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-03-2010, 12:55 PM
 
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
1,374 posts, read 3,239,758 times
Reputation: 872
Asheville is a logical and a lovely choice ... it's large enough to have many amenities and small enough to not be so overwhelming or expensive.

My parents are both natives of Boone. It's a fast growing town nestled in a beautiful valley ... BUT ALSO BECOMING INCREASINGLY GRIDLOCKED AND VERY EXPENSIVE!!!
The natives are extremely "put off" and are unhappy with the explosion of growth and horrible traffic... and I do mean "horrible" traffic!

Give more consideration to Asheville, I think you'll find it worth your while!
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-03-2010, 03:09 PM
 
Location: A Yankee in northeast TN
15,933 posts, read 20,899,784 times
Reputation: 43108
Just a hop, skip, and jump away is Johnson City/Tri-cities area of TN. Might be worth looking into. Not quite the same vibe as Asheville but sits right on the edge of the Cherokee Nat'l Forest. Decent schools, at least one HS with IB classes. Lower COL than NC. Several smaller and mid size towns dotted throughout the area have a combined population of about 150K, so it's possible find more of a rural feel while still being near many of the amenities of larger cities.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-03-2010, 03:49 PM
 
13,336 posts, read 39,695,150 times
Reputation: 10760
Check out Maryville, Tennessee. On the outskirts of Knoxville (the Knoxville airport is located adjacent to Maryville) and at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. Excellent schools, gorgeous scenery with lots of lakes and mountains, and much lower cost of living than in the Asheville area.
__________________


IMPORTANT READING:
Terms of Service

---
its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-03-2010, 05:47 PM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,372 posts, read 46,199,122 times
Reputation: 19454
How about Roanoke, VA? The whole area has great proximity to the mountains and woods.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-04-2010, 10:39 AM
 
Location: Rockford, MI
3 posts, read 18,349 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks for the replies. Based on some of the suggestions, for our November road trip I'm thinking we'll leave from Michigan, head towards Maryville, TN - then to Asheville, NC - then Boone, NC (Hit Banner Elk & Beach Mountain) - and then Johnson City, TN.

Any suggestions on suburbs or little towns we should stop through along this path?

Thanks again
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-04-2010, 10:59 AM
 
Location: 5 years in Southern Maryland, USA
834 posts, read 2,811,110 times
Reputation: 519
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMT View Post
Check out Maryville, Tennessee. On the outskirts of Knoxville (the Knoxville airport is located adjacent to Maryville) and at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. Excellent schools, gorgeous scenery with lots of lakes and mountains, and much lower cost of living than in the Asheville area.

The only bad factor about the Knoxville region is its air pollution. This is discussed at great length on a recent thread in the Tennessee forum here. TN I believe also has no income tax.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-04-2010, 11:45 AM
 
Location: A Yankee in northeast TN
15,933 posts, read 20,899,784 times
Reputation: 43108
If you're going back on I-81 you might as well take a quick look at Kingsport too, as it's only 10 or 15 minutes away from the interstate. It's a little different from Johnson City, has a different "feel" to it.
Beech Mountain and Banner Elk are in areas with higher elevations so it's going to be not quite as dramatic here.
A little preliminary view of the Tri-cities area, just to give you a rough idea of the terrain and some of the cities~http://www.city-data.com/forum/kings...ssee-pics.html
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-04-2010, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Thornrose
894 posts, read 2,302,335 times
Reputation: 1308
I highly reccomend Charlottesville, VA or Winchester, VA. Charlottesville is a small city with a big university, so quite open to many different beliefs and ways of thinking. It is only two hours to DC or an hour to Richmond. Winchester has experienced a lot of growth in recent years and is only an hour to DC depending on traffic.

Charlottesville is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge and Winchester is in them in the Shenandoah Valley. Other cities you might want to investigate: Roanoke, Lexington, Staunton, Harrisonburg. All on i81.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-04-2010, 11:41 PM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,372 posts, read 46,199,122 times
Reputation: 19454
Or you could try Frostburg, MD! Fantastic mountain area with a college.
Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


 
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:
Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top