Is East Tn For Me? (Knoxville, Johnson City: schools, organic, living in)

[teddiherb]

Hello everyone! I've been reading for months and have enjoyed all your comments. I just registered, so here goes:

I'm a southern girl living in a polluted California town. Like a lot of people, I'm looking for several acres not far from a large town/city. I visited East TN this past summer and could easily live there. At the moment, I'm interested in Elizabethton, Greeneville, or maybe closer to Knoxville. For anyone that's interested, here's some specifics. All comments are welcome!

1. I'm conservative, old-fashioned and want to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. I garden organically and grow medicinal herbs.
2. I'm a nature girl. I love to feed birds and I long to have squirrels in my yard again. I would enjoy living around black-capped chickadees (I never have and heard they're very friendly!).
3. I love bluegrass music. On my visit, I went to the Carter Family Fold and love the bluegrass scene in the tri-cities area. I also play the hammer dulcimer.
4. I have border collies and would love to be involved in agility training and/or rescue.
5. And I love my vintage Volkswagens! VWs are plentiful here in California; my mechanic works on VWs only.
6. Children/schools are not an issue.

Most of this probably isn't too important, but yall always seem to want specifics when people ask for town recommendations. Also, I love Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel! The only thing that concerns me is hunting - I don't want to live around it (if at all possible! - does a place exist anywhere??).

Thanks everybody for your time!

[LauraC]

I love bluegrass music. On my visit, I went to the Carter Family Fold and love the bluegrass scene in the tri-cities area. I also play the hammer dulcimer.

I think you might be interested in these East Tenn. annual events, too:

Tennessee Fall Homecoming (October) at the Museum of Appalachia (Norris). If you look at the 2006 brochure (link off the main page) you will see who performed and what went on during the multi-day event:

http://www.museumofappalachia.com/Homecoming.htm (broken link)

Bluegrass Festivals and East Tennessee:

Bluegrass In The Smokies (Sevierville) (August)

http://www.bluegrassinthesmokies.com/

Etowah has the:

Cousin Jake Tullock Bluegrass Convention (February)

and nearby

Delano Bluegrass Festival (September)

You might also want to check out Hillbilly's Music Barn in Del Rio every Saturday night for local artists. It's free and no drinking.

[GrannyLois]

I know they have 'sheep trials' around here - I went to one once - border collies herding sheep - similar to the movie 'Babe'. So much fun to watch.

All of the things you want are here - I'm not sure about a vintage VW mechanic - but I'd bet you could find one.

As far as hunting goes, I have doubts about finding an anti-hunting area here (or anywhere outside of California), but just remember there are limited hunting seasons.

As anywhere, you have to take the bad with the good.

Here in Blountville, there is a pickin' and grinnin' thing going on most Friday nights at one of the historic buildings. Anyone who wants to can bring their instrument and participate. I'll bet other small towns have that, too.

You have done a good job thinking through what you want. Good luck to you!

[teddiherb]

Thanks for the response ... Sounds like great fun! Another website I've found is blueridgemusic.org. Even though it only lists events through NC and VA, some aren't too far away.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by teddiherb

1. I'm conservative, old-fashioned and want to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. I garden organically and grow medicinal herbs.
2. I'm a nature girl. I love to feed birds and I long to have squirrels in my yard again. I would enjoy living around black-capped chickadees (I never have and heard they're very friendly!).
3. I love bluegrass music. On my visit, I went to the Carter Family Fold and love the bluegrass scene in the tri-cities area. I also play the hammer dulcimer.
4. I have border collies and would love to be involved in agility training and/or rescue.
5. And I love my vintage Volkswagens! VWs are plentiful here in California; my mechanic works on VWs only.
6. Children/schools are not an issue.

By that criteria I'd say that East Tn would be perfect for you and I know the perfect guy for you to meet when you get here.......me!

[teddiherb]

Wow Joe ... I'm flattered! You just made my day!

[hiknapster]

Aw, now that's too sweet!

First of all, you should love it here in East Tennessee.

As far as the VWs go, you'll be fine. My husband has worked on a lot of vintage VWs. He is a fantastic auto mechanic with years of experience. Now, that is not to get business for himself. He works for someone else and we do just fine. That is just to let you know that there will be people to work on your vintage bugs!

As far as hunting goes, that is a way of life here. I'm not a hunter and neither is my husband. However, we have people hunting behind our house. Know this, what they are shooting they are killing to feed their family.

Out our way, their is a place called Ciderville music. They pick on Saturday nights, I believe. The place is kinda falling down and has been visited by many famous people. I guess those places around here are a dime a dozen. You'll never be bored, it seems!

[teddiherb]

Thanks everybody for your responses ... if anyone knows of a dog agility group somewhere around Johnson City I'd love to know about it. In the town where I live there's a border collie club, a herding club, and an agility club. Anything like that would be great!