Looking for mid size town close to knoxville

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Doogie

What's wrong with Alcoa Hwy?

Alcoa Highway can be a nightmare to drive because of the heavy traffic (by East TN standards), particularly during the tourist season. The area around the Knoxville airport is notorious, and heaven help you if you're in a business on the east side of the highway and need to turn left on Alcoa Hwy to go south. With the amount of traffic and the speed of the traffic, you'll be there a while.

[J&Em]

JMT we got to experience that "nightmare" a few weeks ago when we visited and stayed in a hotel along there! We got there during rush hour and had an appointment with our Realtor the next morning, also at rush hour. Both trips and going out to find dinner felt like we were taking our life in our hands trying to get across to make a U-turn. We survived but it was not fun. I wouldn't live anywhere near that stretch if I could help it.

We still haven't figured where things are relative to each other and managed to get turned around a few times (especially when we were done using Alcoa Highway a few times). We certainly have Maryville at the top of the short list of places we liked after a second visit, but feel we probably did not see all we should have. We also never did seem to figure out where Maryville started and Alcoa ended.

So here go our questions:

Q1. If you all were to be looking to buy a home with mountain views, and maybe a bit on the rural side, and didn't need to be 'in town' where would you go to be in a more peaceful setting? We got the distinct feeling the Realtor was favoring one area more than others and couldn't tell if she was doing us a favor or was biased by an area she liked or lived in. (BTW we did see quite a few of those "McMansions") I don't think we ever really saw areas like Walland and Townsend. We did on a previous visit get close to the mountains and the "dragon" (rte 129) which we recognized due to its popularity among fellow motorcyclists. We drove around a bit as we left (rte 411??) and ended up passing through Sevierville before heading back up to I-40, It must have been a nice area before it was so commercialized. It was definitely not on the list of potential homes for us.

Q2. We have heard so many "construction" rumors as well including the Corridor K and extension of the I-140 around Maryville. Any truth to any of it?? Nothing is more scary than plunking down a chunk of retirement savings to find out a 4 lane will be built right next door to your retirement home starting next year!!

Q3. It looks like we will have to move down to temporary digs before we can find a permanent home. Any recommendations for locations of small condos or apartments? We can't keep making 1400 mile trips in 3 days to look at homes and hope to really find something.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by D&P

Hi, we're also contemplating move to Tennessee around Knoxville area and have been researching towns. No grandbabies, no jobs. Active fixed income retirees. Maryville seems the most apealing of the towns from the city-data info. Low crime, fairly affordable. We're actually heading to the area next week to look around. We'd appreciate info on things in our range. Looking for a town between aprox. 10,000 to 30,000. older House around $130,000. Easy place to get acquainted and get around in, like to hike & boat. Would also like to network with storytelling group.

We live in Maryville, although I grew up in the Tri-Cities area and still have a lakehouse there. Our next door neighbors are retirees and are very active in the storytelling community. Jonesborough, the oldest city in Tennessee, has the annual storytelling each year; however, Maryville is in a great location to travel to festivals all over the south.

Best of luck to you.

[Beretta]

Re: Alcoa Hwy and Alcoa/Maryville

I live in Maryville, drive daily through and down Alcoa Hwy to get to work in Knoxville. Alcoa Hwy can be a challenge, however, if you know what you are doing it is not that bad. There are also several great backroads that one can use instead of Alcoa Hwy to get around that are very scenic and an absolute pleasure to drive.

I used to live in West Knoxville (Farragut) and my Mother still lives there, and if you think Alcoa Hwy is bad, try Kingston Pike in West Knoxville. That can be a challenge as well.

Every place has pluses and minuses, depending on the person and the area. One man's bologna is another's steak.

With regards.

[gemkeeper]

We just returned from a 3 day visit to Maryville. It was a walk in the park to get around Alcoa and Maryville compared to the Atlanta traffic we deal with now. Maryville and area is at the top of our list as well. Just lovely.

[gemkeeper]

I want to thank all of the "posters" for their comments about Maryville and the surrounding area. It was so helpful to us when we visited the area last week. It is evident that folks from the area are friendly, helpful and very welcoming. Just what we are looking for. Maryville's downtown is very nice with lovely park areas, homey neighborhoods and impressive public buildings. We were very impressed with Maryville and will be going back to do some serious real estate shopping (not a McMansion!).