Cookeville Visit-Wow! (Knoxville, Jamestown: schools, wages, live in)

[Barbiego]

JMT, which one is the Thai restaurant? Guess I don't know about it. Sounds good. We have often enjoyed the German restaurant. It was closed for a few months, but now back in operation. Good place to take out-of-state visitors.

We moved to Cookeville 19 months ago from Michigan. Love it here! Hate our neighborhood and don't like our house, but like the location of it. I agree that Target would be nice, but so far I haven't felt too deprived with shopping. If I get lonesome, I head to Mt. Juliet about an hour away.

Yeah, good bread/rolls would be nice...and a place to buy a good variety of cheese. Well, can't have everything! The people who own the local stores are always very friendly when you go in. All in all, Cookeville is great!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Barbiego

JMT, which one is the Thai restaurant? Guess I don't know about it. Sounds good. We have often enjoyed the German restaurant. It was closed for a few months, but now back in operation. Good place to take out-of-state visitors.

We moved to Cookeville 19 months ago from Michigan. Love it here! Hate our neighborhood and don't like our house, but like the location of it. I agree that Target would be nice, but so far I haven't felt too deprived with shopping. If I get lonesome, I head to Mt. Juliet about an hour away.

Yeah, good bread/rolls would be nice...and a place to buy a good variety of cheese. Well, can't have everything! The people who own the local stores are always very friendly when you go in. All in all, Cookeville is great!

I think it's called Royal Thai, or something like that. If you head north on Dixie towards Tech from downtown, it'll be on the right. I think it's on 8th. It's across from Vinnie T's which is a popular campus hangout.

Taiko downtown is also really good. It's not quite Thai, not quite Japanese, not quite Vietnamese, kind of a mish-mash of the the three. Sushi with pho, stuff like that. And it's in a great atmosphere.

And you're right about that German place, it's one of the best restaurants in all of Tennessee, not just Cookeville. It's definitely worth the drive for me, all the way from Knoxville!

[nitneylion]

Originally Posted by Barbiego

Love it here! Hate our neighborhood and don't like our house, but like the location of it.

Barbiego... Does that mean that there is not a good selection of houses or neighborhoods in Cookeville? What made you buy the house you did?

[Wordy]

Sam's Club carries *some* cheeses. We found good Parm-Regg there and have had good luck with some of the other cheeses. They also have pretty good fresh mozzarella (not the soaked-in-water kind, though) that is great for tomato-basil-mozz salads....

[firepower]

Yeah J,they changed the name of the Thai place.It's called "H.O.T.,House of Thai" now.And you're right it's at 8th & Dixie...

Barb,without going into great detail(or you can if you want...) what neighborhood did you buy in? If that's not too intrusive...



firepower

[Wordy]

Originally Posted by gemthornton

Wordy, I am so happy to hear that you are quite satisfied with your decision to move to Cookeville. It is so refreshing to read something so positive and hopeful.

Thanks, Gem! My children were initially not that thrilled with our decision to move. One was going into her junior year of high school and the other two were going into 8th grade at the time. We managed to get the HS junior moved in time to start the school year, but the middle schoolers stayed behind with me for a few months, so they missed the first nine weeks of 8th grade in TN.

Now, my children tell me how much they love it here. The kids are just generally nicer. There is a more wholesome atmosphere here. I think the fact that it is a university town helps to raise the bar a bit in terms of education quality.

There is also a general groundswell of "this is a thriving, not dying, town" here. Between the university and the dots of industry here and there, there seems to be a wide spectrum of opportunity. I'm sure Cookeville will be affected by the housing downturn, but it's not going to kill the town or the market here, not by any means. Here, you won't see tumbleweeds blowing through entire subdivisions that are littered with 'for sale/bank foreclosure' signs.

I also have enjoyed the little challenge of finding what I need locally. Well, I haven't always enjoyed it (no microplane grater existed in Cookeville proper in late December, I am convinced, and I needed one) but it's been interesting to try to acquire what I need just within the town, without going to Wal-Mart. I will do Sam's Club but try not to do Wal-Mart, just not my thing. I like going to the little paint stores and not to Lowe's, and to The Market for birthday gifts and not to Jackson Street.

Anyway, I see us hopefully staying here for the foreseeable future. It's a nice place to land when you have children who will be looking at college soon, a nice place for retirees, and just a nice place in general!

[hiknapster]

Yeah know, I think JMT knows what I am looking for by reading my posts and he swears that I would love Cookeville. It sounds like I would.

Does anyone know if the pay and school system is better there than in Knoxville. Are rents higher or lower?

Not sure if anyone can answer these questions but I'm throwing them out there.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Yeah know, I think JMT knows what I am looking for by reading my posts and he swears that I would love Cookeville. It sounds like I would.

Does anyone know if the pay and school system is better there than in Knoxville. Are rents higher or lower?

Not sure if anyone can answer these questions but I'm throwing them out there.

I think the schools are definitely better, over all, than Knoxville's. Knox County has some very good schools but I think the average Knox County school is just ok. Not bad, but ok. Putnam County has "soft zoning" meaning as long as there's room, you can send your child to any school in the county. I believe I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that just about all of the elementary schools have something like 50% of their students living outside of that school's zone. That and other things have led to a school system with a surprising number of very satisfied students, parents and teachers.

The Putnam County school system is also terrified of portable classrooms. Almost as soon as they start to appear, they undergo multi-million dollar building projects so that no child has to attend class in a trailer. They're getting ready to start one right now, building a new elementary school in Algood, a new one in Cookeville, and a new K-8 school in south Cookeville.

That means you can live way out in the boonies but still take your child to Capshaw, the downtown elementary school that has one of the state's largest programs for gifted students. Or you can live in downtown Cookeville and take your child to a more rural elementary school if that's what you'd prefer. The same goes for high school kids.

Depending on the job, wages in Cookeville are probably lower than in Knoxville. Housing is probably a bit cheaper, too. And unlike Knoxville, there are really no "bad" parts of town in Cookeville. Aside from the area just north of the university (Cookeville's version of Fort Sanders although MUCH safer) there's really nowhere I would not want to live.

I really do think you would love it there, hik. But whether you and your hubby can find good-paying jobs in Cookeville like you have here is the $64,000 question.

[Wordy]

Knap, I think rents here are lower than in Knox, generally. Schools here are pretty cool. Wages are generally lower, I'd say. What kind of work are you/your spouse looking for? There are factory jobs, and Oreck is often hiring. The hospital pays pretty well for the area but there are not too many openings right now because of a major financial crisis. Lots of retail jobs. There are probably also some positions at Tech but I haven't looked anytime recently. If you are willing to drive a bit, that would open your options up, too.

It is fairly easy to live relatively cheaply here. My utility bill is about the only thing I find out of proportion, but I have a 3400 sf house and two separate heating/cooling systems, so maybe I'm just being unrealistic (but I just got a bill for $501--sure that includes $100 in water/sewer charges but still--eek!). I know that the cost of electicity/gas has gone up everywhere, so I try to keep that in mind. Still, we keep our thermostat at 65 during the day and 58 at night, geesh! My mother, though, keeps hers at probably 72 round the clock....

[Travelingal2]

Originally Posted by Wordy

Knap, I think rents here are lower than in Knox, generally. Schools here are pretty cool. Wages are generally lower, I'd say. What kind of work are you/your spouse looking for? There are factory jobs, and Oreck is often hiring. The hospital pays pretty well for the area but there are not too many openings right now because of a major financial crisis. Lots of retail jobs. There are probably also some positions at Tech but I haven't looked anytime recently. If you are willing to drive a bit, that would open your options up, too.

It is fairly easy to live relatively cheaply here. My utility bill is about the only thing I find out of proportion, but I have a 3400 sf house and two separate heating/cooling systems, so maybe I'm just being unrealistic (but I just got a bill for $501--sure that includes $100 in water/sewer charges but still--eek!). I know that the cost of electicity/gas has gone up everywhere, so I try to keep that in mind. Still, we keep our thermostat at 65 during the day and 58 at night, geesh! My mother, though, keeps hers at probably 72 round the clock....

How did that compare with your bill in Central Florida? Was your house of similar size? Was your water bill the same, higher or lower?