Central Tennessee Rural Properties? (Franklin, Lynchburg: house, buy, university)

[zenjenn]

We live in Huntsville, Alabama, and are thinking of investing in a piece of rural property in Tennessee as both an investment and a vacation property for regular getaways.

We like the mountains but the Smokeys are a bit too far for our liking for frequent weekend getaways, and just looking at the map and property listings it looks like Grundy county (or thereabouts) might have a little mountain living that's closer to the 2 hour driving distance we'd prefer.

We've yet to take a trip up there to really look around, but I'm homing some folks here can narrow it down to something we're looking for. I want something relatively remote, but still on the grid and in a nice little community, within sight of neighbors that could keep an eye on our property and whose mere presence would deter looters since we will not be living there full time. The ideal region would have some mountain qualities but still have fertile soil since we enjoy gardening - a small house ideally, but enough land and trees to be a fun place to do some family camping as well, $100k would be the absolute maximum we're looking to spend, but we'd want a minimum of 3-4 acres. From what I am seeing, this looks doable. If there's a synagogue in driving distance, that's a plus, but I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that there probably won't be.

Any insights would be welcome. I'd like to narrow it down to some nice communities to look near so we don't waste a bunch of time when we start looking up there. I know there are some places here in N. Alabama that fit the description as well, but since this is an investment as well and we already own a home in Alabama, we think a second property would be better diversified into a different state, and that Tennessee likely has more of what we are looking for anyways ( a tad cooler climate in all seasons would be awesome).

[skinem]

Hello, fellow Huntsville CD'er...

You might check realtracs.com for some mid-state properties--it may help. It covers Grundy.

[zenjenn]

Thanks, I do appreciate it, and that is a new site to me even though I have already searched property listings.

What I'm hoping for with this post is to get some "real folk" input in terms of the names of nice towns/communities to live near in terms of the culture, beauty, soil quality, etc. We're open to a very large region and we're talking about looking at properties 2-3 hours away, so it would be nice to hone in on some areas before we start looking as the reality is we cannot look at an infinite number of properties from this far away without it consuming our lives.

[skinem]

Zennjenn, I think you can find what you want in Tennessee without having to go quite so far. For some mountain qualities, soil good to grow gardens...check Elora, TN, (Lincoln County), Lynchburg, TN (Moore County) Huntland, Decherd, Sewanee, TN (all in Franklin County). The western, SW portion of Franklin County is more mountainous with Sewanee being on top. Sewanee is home to The University of the South and property up top there can be considerably more expensive.
Another community that would meet your criteria would be Mont Eagle area...also a growing art community there.

Elora would be close enough that your home synagogue in Huntsville would be do-able.

[jamison247]

Hi zenjenn, I recently moved from Hampton Cove to Huntland in Franklin Co. I agree that Sewanee would be a good place to look. It is absolutely beautiful up there.

[mrs1885]

The Cumberland Plateau area in general would be a good place to look if you like the mountains. This site has a map of the Plateau and some properties available:

The Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee

What you're looking for is definitely very doable here.

ETA: I wouldn't buy from there. Their prices look pretty high compared to what's out there.