Trying to choose between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smokies (Knoxville: hotel, homes)

[zwally44]

Hey JoshB. i came across this thread and was curious what you decided on. Im also considering the cumberland platuea and the smokies. I have spent some time in the smokies and love it but like the location of the platuea being closer to a major city of Nashville. Crossville/cookeville seem to be 1.5 hours from both Knox, Chatty and Nash and right in the middle of the cumberland plateau. I also like johnson city area which is 1.5 hours from knox and 1 hour from asheville.

Can anyone give me more info on the two areas?

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by zwally44

Hey JoshB. i came across this thread and was curious what you decided on. Im also considering the cumberland platuea and the smokies. I have spent some time in the smokies and love it but like the location of the platuea being closer to a major city of Nashville. Crossville/cookeville seem to be 1.5 hours from both Knox, Chatty and Nash and right in the middle of the cumberland plateau. I also like johnson city area which is 1.5 hours from knox and 1 hour from asheville.

Can anyone give me more info on the two areas?

Nashville is in a different time zone than Knoxville, just so you know. I'm not a city person and don't live in either city so I can't talk about living there.

I spent Halloween week this year in the Nashville area and I can tell you, shoot me now if I had to deal with an I-24 job commute 5 days a week. There were so many traffic jams on I-24 that the "GPS lady" wanted me to exit to downtown Nashville to avoid them. I kid you not. She wanted to send me through a major city to avoid interstate highway traffic jams. I was staying in Smyrna...which I also thought was undesirable traffic-wise but an I-24 exit was right near my hotel. On the other hand, every time I was on I-840, it was a breeze. I was never on either highway during rush hour on any of the days I was there. Can't even imagine what I-24 looks like during rush hours.

If you commute to work, you need to ask traffic questions about living in each place you mentioned.

Just for the record, the first day I saw decent Fall color was October 31 on the Tennessee northern end of the Natchez Trace Pkwy (Franklin-Nashville area). It was just starting to come near the Stones River Battlefield (Murfreesboro) that same day (Oct 31).

[setnick]

zwally44,
I have lived in both Nashville and Knoxville, while being from the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, Bristol, and Kingsport) and would be glad to answer any questions comparing the areas

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by zwally44

Hey JoshB. i came across this thread and was curious what you decided on. Im also considering the cumberland platuea and the smokies. I have spent some time in the smokies and love it but like the location of the platuea being closer to a major city of Nashville. Crossville/cookeville seem to be 1.5 hours from both Knox, Chatty and Nash and right in the middle of the cumberland plateau. I also like johnson city area which is 1.5 hours from knox and 1 hour from asheville.

Can anyone give me more info on the two areas?

JoshB doesn't live in the area. I am going to move your post to make it a thread on its' own.

[creeksitter]

I hope you will visit as they have a very different "vibe". The plateau is pretty flat at the top but there are a few mountains and also beautiful scenery and waterfalls at the edges. The smokies are considerably higher in elevation but there is not much private land at elevation in E TN. You might also consider the mountains of North Georgia.

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by zwally44

Hey JoshB. i came across this thread and was curious what you decided on. Im also considering the cumberland platuea and the smokies. I have spent some time in the smokies and love it but like the location of the platuea being closer to a major city of Nashville. Crossville/cookeville seem to be 1.5 hours from both Knox, Chatty and Nash and right in the middle of the cumberland plateau. I also like johnson city area which is 1.5 hours from knox and 1 hour from asheville.

Can anyone give me more info on the two areas?

I live on the Cumberland Plateau in a development called Cumberland Cove, near Monterey, TN. If you don't mind being further away from large shopping malls and large cities, the Cumberland Plateau might work for you. We drive to Cookeville or Crossville to do much of our shopping. About 4 times per year, we drive to either Nashville or Knoxville to visit stores we don't have in our area. Temperatures on the Cumberland Plateau are usually a few degrees cooler than they are in Cookeville because we are at a higher elevation. We are in a beautiful area with abundant wildlife, creeks, waterfalls, caves, and scenic overlooks. If you are retired, this might be the place for you. If you have not retired and need to find a job, you will find some jobs in this area, but you might have more luck in the Nashville or Knoxville areas. Good luck in finding that special place.

[zwally44]

Hello all- I am a relatively new poster here but have gotten a lot of great information on these message boards over the years. Thanks in advance for your help... Here are some more specifics on what I am looking for so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction.

I currently live in Florida but have family roots outside the Knoxville and Chattanooga area and have several friends that have moved to Nashville. My parents met at UT and I was raised a huge Vol fan Ive always just loved the East Tennessee area and I am tired of Florida. My wife is an Occupational therapist and will need to find a job in the medical community but I work from home.

We are looking for 10-20 acres somewhere either in the upper cumberlands or along the smokies / Tennessee Appalachians for a homesteading/off grid property. I'd like to be as remote as possible while still being 30 minutes away from a job market for my wife. Occupational Therapists are high demand in Florida with so many elderly so hopefully its the same in Tennessee

Id like the property to be on rolling hills with a view of the mountains. Based on my initial research, the cumberlands might be a better fit if I wanted 10-20 acres of usable land. I get the feeling that 10-20 acres in the smokies would be too steep to use... Maybe I'm wrong or maybe the foothills of the smokies might be the best of all scenarios.

Any towns in either region that you guys could point me towards would be great. Again I am looking for rolling hills near mountains for an off grid/homesteading property... light to no restrictions so I can hunt fish farm, and get my country boy on!

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by zwally44

Hello all- I am a relatively new poster here but have gotten a lot of great information on these message boards over the years. Thanks in advance for your help... Here are some more specifics on what I am looking for so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction.

I currently live in Florida but have family roots outside the Knoxville and Chattanooga area and have several friends that have moved to Nashville. My parents met at UT and I was raised a huge Vol fan Ive always just loved the East Tennessee area and I am tired of Florida. My wife is an Occupational therapist and will need to find a job in the medical community but I work from home.

We are looking for 10-20 acres somewhere either in the upper cumberlands or along the smokies / Tennessee Appalachians for a homesteading/off grid property. I'd like to be as remote as possible while still being 30 minutes away from a job market for my wife. Occupational Therapists are high demand in Florida with so many elderly so hopefully its the same in Tennessee

Id like the property to be on rolling hills with a view of the mountains. Based on my initial research, the cumberlands might be a better fit if I wanted 10-20 acres of usable land. I get the feeling that 10-20 acres in the smokies would be too steep to use... Maybe I'm wrong or maybe the foothills of the smokies might be the best of all scenarios.

Any towns in either region that you guys could point me towards would be great. Again I am looking for rolling hills near mountains for an off grid/homesteading property... light to no restrictions so I can hunt fish farm, and get my country boy on!

Hi zwally,

I sent you a private message.

[bucky2611]

Originally Posted by jguillot

I live on the Cumberland Plateau in a development called Cumberland Cove, near Monterey, TN. If you don't mind being further away from large shopping malls and large cities, the Cumberland Plateau might work for you. We drive to Cookeville or Crossville to do much of our shopping. About 4 times per year, we drive to either Nashville or Knoxville to visit stores we don't have in our area. Temperatures on the Cumberland Plateau are usually a few degrees cooler than they are in Cookeville because we are at a higher elevation. We are in a beautiful area with abundant wildlife, creeks, waterfalls, caves, and scenic overlooks. If you are retired, this might be the place for you. If you have not retired and need to find a job, you will find some jobs in this area, but you might have more luck in the Nashville or Knoxville areas. Good luck in finding that special place.

We have been trying to move to TN for a little while now. We had a contract on a farm in Lexington, TN but it ended up not working out. We are now considering near Cookeville. We are a family with 3 small kids. We homeschool, farm, hunt and fish. My fiancée is a licensed electrician who would be looking for work. We are looking for 80 plus acres. Is there a town around Cookeville you would recommend? Would this area suit our needs? We really need a safe family friendly place. We would love to be in a farm friendly place where their is places to see our goods. We looked in east TN because being from VT I really wanted the mountains but there is not really usable farm land that we can find. Any help would be great! Thank you!