Want to move to a very small town in TN, outside of a bigger city (Memphis: to rent, chapel)

[missy242008]

Hi all,

My boyfriend and I want to move out of California. I'm 24 and he is 28 and we don't have any children. I grew up in a small suburb town outside of Sacramento, Ca and he grew up in an even smaller town in SE Texas. We would like to find an older more historic town with a small population preferrably around 5,000 or less. We like the green country setting, more of the country lifestyle he was used to in Texas. We are not concerned about schools since we don't have any children, however we would like to live in an older community, with older homes(no cookie cutter homes like here in CA). Please if anyone can please give us any advice, it would be greatly appreciated! we have never been to TN but have a few friends that just moved there...oh and preferrably no where really cold, if that is possible. The town has to be semi close to a larger city for college and work, thanks so much..ur really helping out so much!! Any pics would be sooooo helpful since we have no idea what it looks like there!

[jsherman9901]

One possibility is Fayetteville, in S. Central TN. It is only about 20 minutes north of Huntsville, AL, which has a metro area over 200,000 people, and where there is a decent college and tons of jobs, particularly high-tech jobs.

Fayetteville is a nice little town and there is plenty of country land available.

[missy242008]

Thanks, appreciate it very much, I will check it out right now. Is the cost of living there reasonable? We would like to rent a little home nothing over $1000/month.

[JMT]

I don't know, but if you live in Tennessee and go to school in Alabama the out-of-state tuition might be prohibitive. Then again, Alabama-Huntsville might offer in-state tuition to people who live in the adjacent Tennessee counties.

At any rate, since you said you don't want cold weather, that's really going to limit where you live in TN because it can get pretty cold here. It was down in the teens and 20s yesterday in pretty much all of Tennessee, although that was highly unusual.

If you absolutely do not want any cold weather at all, you'll most likely have to look further south of here in, say, Alabama, Georgia, or South Carolina. Or--heaven forbid--Florida.

But if the occasional cold snap doesn't bother you, check out:

• Woodbury TN--close to Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee State University
  
• Sparta TN--close to Cookeville and Tennessee Technological University
  
• Gainesboro TN--also close to Cookeville
  
• Dover TN--close to Clarksville and Austin Peay State University

It's also beautiful around Johnson City, home of East Tennessee State University, but that's generally the coldest part of Tennessee.

Here are some pics:

Gainesboro







Sparta







Dover





Woodbury

[missy242008]

WOW!! Talk about the beauty this state has to offer. When I mean cold, I guess I mean snow..lol it can get pretty cold here too, but I just can't stand the idea of shovling snow. I currently attend University of Phoenix so there are alot throughout the US, however I prefer the campus setting as opposed to online, but if I find a town I like an online is my only option then I can do that no problem. The pics you sent were great and now I have more options which is good but also more confusing. If you wanted a small town with alot of friendly people and country farm land, which one would you choose?

[kbg]

Check out Henderson in Chester Co. Tn. in the western part of our great state, It has Freed-Hardeman Univ. in a lovely down home atmosphere with no crime, lots of truly friendly people and close to Jackson or if you need more options you have Memphis and have much more history and economic stability than other such locations. Everywhere is different but we have lots of types of land terrain not just one and the average age of residents is 27yrs. with the housing market at a stand still there is plenty of housing choices avaliable or rent well under your budget.

[missy242008]

Henderson, awesome thanks..we are trying to stay in the Western portion of the state as much as we can, I will google it right now, thanks much

[jabogitlu]

I was going to recommend some nice small towns in NETN, but I see you want western. No idea there. If you expand your search, you should post in the Tri-Cities forum as there are some great locations up here. We rarely get over 5-10 inches per year of snow.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Well, since you're moving from Ca, a bit farther south would be another consideration. How about the Hillsborough, Efland, Mebane area of N.Carolina, rural to the point of rustic at times. But, Is located within a half hour drive of Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and somewhat surrounded by Educational Facilities, little places really, Duke University, N.C. State University, U. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, U. of N.C. at Greensboro, N.C. A&T State University, Wake Forest University, N.C. Central University, that the Research Triangle Park is located in this area is not an accident. Equi-distant between Mountains and Coast, snow ski-ing and Deep Sea Fishing are within a two and a half hours drive, and a variety of culinary avenues to explore. If you are a basketball fan, this is just about as good as it gets.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Dusty Rhodes

Well, since you're moving from Ca, a bit farther south would be another consideration. How about the Hillsborough, Efland, Mebane area of N.Carolina, rural to the point of rustic at times. But, Is located within a half hour drive of Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and somewhat surrounded by Educational Facilities, little places really, Duke University, N.C. State University, U. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, U. of N.C. at Greensboro, N.C. A&T State University, Wake Forest University, N.C. Central University, that the Research Triangle Park is located in this area is not an accident. Equi-distant between Mountains and Coast, snow ski-ing and Deep Sea Fishing are within a two and a half hours drive, and a variety of culinary avenues to explore. If you are a basketball fan, this is just about as good as it gets.

Hillsborough, Efland, Mebane, Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham, Wake Forest, the RTP--none of that is south of Tennessee.