A niche in E. Tennessee? (Memphis, Knoxville: apartment complex, to rent, crime)

[Griffis]

Hello, All. I have a few questions about your beautiful state, if I may.

I will be wrapping up a masters degree in Library & Info. Studies this December. My family and I are currently located in Norman, Oklahoma and we can't stand it any longer (flat, dull scenery, summers with week after week of 105 degree temps, not enough rain, hardly any snow, etc.)

There are several areas of the country we are considering trying to relocate to, and the Eastern part of Tennesse (from Chattanooga east) looks wonderful. I have no doubt about the beauty or the friendliness of the people.

I'd like to mention a few things we are looking for, hopefully to get some tips or advice on certain towns, then a few more specific questions.

WHAT WE HOPE TO FIND:
1) Mountain town, or valley town in the midst of the mountains
2) COOL SUMMERS
3) At least some snow in the winter. Doesn't have to be 7 months of snow like Minnesota where I grew up, but I definitely like some snow.
4) Rain. We actually like rain, though we're not into floods or mudslides!
5) Small town-ish. 30,000 people or so, or less. Ideally, it would be a smallish town, hopefully with a small university or something, but near to a good sized city.

--I've been very intrigued by everything from Gatlinburg (where I imagine a library job wouldn't be easy to come by) to the area outside of Knoxville, to the Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City triangle. Chattanooga too. But we do hope for some elevation/mountain scenery and nearby lakes/freshwater sources.

QUESTION:
How conservative and religious are these areas? We are not anti-religious at all; we just approach it privately, though we may consider attending a church under the right circumstances. I just don't like people being too pushy or inquisitive about their faith or their place of worship or mine.

Also, the place we live is overwhelmingly right-wing and Baptist. Again, that is fine, but it is one of the things we hope to escape. We appreciate a little diversity and open-mindedness. We wouldn't want to encounter a lot of things like censorship in libraries, racism, creationism in schools, etc.

At the same time, we very much appreciate small-town values and the warmth that we've experienced in those settings. We aren't crackheads or devil worshippers; we just want to live quietly, experience a lot of nature and interact with friends and be a help to the community. This is not a situation where we want to impose any of our beliefs or "ways" on anyone else-- we just don't wish to be in a place that seems oppressive.

For instance, we are pretty apolitical, but you'd be safe in saying that we think Bush is the worst US president ever and his policies are abominable.

And we feel that people should be allowed to do pretty much whatever makes them happy without impinging on the rights of others. I don't want to offend anyone... for example: I smoke a pipe (tobacco) and have some tattoos. Would that put people off?

Another thing about Tennessee that really excites me is the music and festivals. I am a huge fan of 1920s and 30s country and rural blues music. Much of the best of this music was made in Tennessee. And of course Bristol is where Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family both first recorded. That means a lot to us. And of course over to the West of your state, some of the best music ever recorded-- of any variety-- has come from Memphis.

Anyway, I am sorry to ramble. We are so eager to relocate. There are several places around the USA we are considering (my wife and I have both lived in many parts of the country), but at heart we are more Southern in spirit in a down-to-earth, non-snobbish way, and that eastern third of Tennesse really looks inviting.

Thanks so much for any responses.

PS-- forgot to mention, we have a son who is out of school but two daughters who are soon to be 7 and 8 years old. How are the schools in East Tennessee?

[phinz]

Rule of thumb: The smaller the town, the more conservative, typically. This isn't to say that all towns here are the same, but it's more likely than not. The Baptist variation of Protestantism is the most common in East Tennessee, period. Tattoos aren't uncommon. Pipe smokers are. A large contingent of East Tennessee think Bush is on a holy crusade and justified, but there are many who think he's the antichrist. One of the first questions you will hear oftentimes when you move in is "What church do you go to?" followed by an invitation. It's usually pretty harmless. The more rural the community, the less adequate the schools as well. (again, that's a generalization, and not necessarily true about all communities)

Judging by what I'm seeing you would like, Maryville/Blount County is the best choice in my area. Relatively progressive, good schools, slightly cooler temps than Knoxville (but none of East Tennessee gets *that* much snow any more), close to the mountains... If I had my druthers, I'd probably have moved there as opposed to Knoxville, but that would have been too far from my job in N. Knoxville for me.

[mbmouse]

Hi Griffis, welcome to the forums here.
Very specific things you are looking for, that is good. I don't know of somewhere you will find ALL of the things on your list, but here is my unbiased opinion as someone who moved here 10 years ago and have learned a lot about East TN and in a business that teaches me more about East TN everyday.
You said you are looking from Chattanooga East to the Tri-Cities. My two choices, according to your wants listed, would be Kingsport (Sulivan County) or Maryville ( Blount Co.).

Kingsport is mostly in a valley between Bay's Mountain and Clinch Mountains, many mountain views either side of 11W (the main Rd through that part of Sulivan County) So you would have the choice of on a mountain or in a valley. Kingsport has a bit higher population than you are looking for: 44k but it has stayed steady last few years. Kingsport is close to Bristol, but more amenities, less spread out, has really good schools, Sulivan South having the highest graduation rate and report card over all. It is close enough to Johnson City where the colleges are: ETSU, Milligan College, North East State. Kingsport has lots of the little music festivals through out the spring, summer and fall. Lots of things for kids to do. More snow fall than Knoxville area, but not much, maybe 10 days worth of snow a year. I can't give you exact data as I have yet to find a site that shows annual snowfall amounts by city, if anyone knows of one, please forward me the link. Kingsport has a less chance of drought than west of Tri-Cities (email me and I will forward you the article about Kingsports water reserves etc.). There has not been a tornado in Sulivan County since 1977 which injured 12 people. According to what others have said on this board, Knoxville area is about 5 degrees hotter than Tri-Cities in Summer. Sulivan county has churches of just about every religion and seems to be pretty politically diverse, although, almost 68% voted for Bush, you might not like that. There is lots of water around, including Holston River, runs right through Kingsport, there are Cherokee, Boone and Watuga lakes close by plus several smaller bodies of water.

See next post for other option.....I rambled to much and it got to long, had to cut it up hehehehehehhe

[mbmouse]

Maryville is South of Knoxville and might be a place for you to look at also, I know there are a lot of people moving to that area, in fact, as of 2005 the population rose to over 25k which was an 11% increase in one year and probably more of a growth rate in 2006, not sure if the schools are able to keep up with that there, could be wrong, but people on this site have said Maryville schools are good, I know there are some other Blount County schools that are having some problems, but can't recall which ones, you can check the state site to compare those. There is UT in Knoxville, which is a great university, there are also some technical colleges too I believe. Maryville is in Blunt County and backs up to the Smokie Mountains, great views there. You would more than likely have to travel to Knoxville for work, but they have done a lot of road work to make the trip easier. Again, lots of different religions there and politically diverse, just over 68% voted for Bush there, again, you might not like that. Maryville has a music festival every year and I believe they have other little ones through out the year as well. As far as weather, they get a bit less snow than Tri-Cities they have had several tornadoes in the area and between 1950 and 2004 60 people were injured and in 93, one killed due to a tornado.
As far as the cost of living, house costs are about 20k less per house in Sullivan County than Blount County. Other costs are about the same, ie: electricity, gas, food, etc.
Those are why I would say Kingsport (or any of the Tri-Cities) or Maryville would seem to be the places for you to look hard. The other reasons are: Between Knoxville and and the Tri-Cities there is Sevierville and Gatlinburg which are huge tourist towns, don't think you would find a job in anything but the service industry, could be wrong there. Any of the other counties and towns between Chattanooga and Knoxville and the same for between Knoxville and Tri-Cities, there are much smaller towns that are more religious orientated where you will be asked what religion you are and people there will give you their opinion about your choice of religion. It is not just Baptist, some towns are more Methodist, and some more Presbyterian. I am not saying there is anything wrong with any of those or any religion, just being honest about what you will find in that respect in the smaller towns, at least that is what I have experienced while living or visiting these towns. There is also less diversity and amenities in these smaller towns. I don't think you will have any issues at all about the pipe and tattoos as 1. This IS tobacco growing country and 2. tattoos are normal around here, you can find a place to get a new one just about anywhere in East TN. As far as politics, TN as a whole is more of a Conservative state.
All in all, most of the larger cities in East TN are live and let live kinda places, of course there are exceptions to that everywhere you go, there is always a group of nay sayers and those who will get on there soap box over the issue they believe in. But the majority of the population, The ones I have come across anyway, are very nice, polite, down to earth kinda people that you spoke of.
Hope that answered some of your questions. Any links or anything you may need to help you make your decision, just let me know, I will try to get you the info you need if I can.

[LauraC]

Advice-

1. Start with the cities you mentioned: Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Bristol, Chattanooga, Johnson City, Kingsport.

2. Go to this page of this City-Data forum's website:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Tennessee.html

and take them one at a time. I clicked on Johnson City. When Johnson City comes up, if you go down past where it says "Ads by Google" there is a section that says "Nearest Cities" and you can click on each individual one if you want to know something about those towns that are near Johnson City (it says how many miles away, too).

3. When you are looking at the towns that are on the outskirts, I suggest that in addition to making note of the population, you also look at how many square miles each town has. 20,000 People on 5 square miles is a lot different than 20,000 people on 60 square miles. That information is right under the Elevation info on the City-Data website for each town.

4. If you narrowed down a few places you want to check out, go to the Sperling's Best Places website and click on the Compare link. You don't have to know any zip codes. I suggest the first location that you enter be the state and city where you live now so you can compare the new possible location to see if it is bigger/smaller, better/worse than what you are used to now on an assortment of factors like cost of living. Factors that can be compared and that you have mentioned are Religion (percent of people that are affiliated with a church as well as percents of people and various types of religion, Voting (percents registered democrat, Republican, independent conservative, independent liberal), and education (students per teacher, how much school spends on each kid). Under the Climate link you can compare snowfall, rainfall, average number of sunny days per year, July high temp, Jan. low temp, comfort index. On the Health link you can compare air and water quality.

5. Presumably, you have narrowed it down even further. You now want to go to Google or Yahoo and do a search on those towns to see some images and find out something about them like mountains, rivers, lakes, parks, etc. They probably aren't going to tell you anything bad so you need to do a couple of more things.

6. Find out the local newspaper for the town and read the local news online on a regular basis. Make note of the addresses in the crime stories over time then go to Mapquest or Google Maps and find out where the bad spots of town are located on street maps. You'll start to see them clustered and know what you need to avoid when you house hunt. Look at the classifieds and the ads. Read the letters to the editor. Find out about the local events.

7. Now go to the Yellow Pages online and find out what kind of stores, restaurants and services they have in your possible new relocation spot.

8. As far as your school aged kids go, go to this Tennessee government website for the most recent AYP Results (schools that need improvement under No Child Left Behind):

http://www.state.tn.us/education/nclb/ayp/index.shtml

Click on 2006 - 2007 High Priority Schools list. The schools are listed alphabetically by district, if I remember correctly.

9. Lastly, if you have an address (comes in especially handy for people who plan to rent because you know the address of the apartment complex), go to Google Maps and enter the address like 123 Main St, Someplace TN. It will bring up a street map of that location. Now click on satellite. You will be able to see what's physically around that address, like pools, lakes, rivers, trees, parking lots, golf courses, 4 lane roads, housing developments, etc., from the air. Then click on hybrid. It will label the streets on the satellite view.