Daydreaming? please help (Knoxville, Maryville, Shelbyville: house, rent, vacation)

[atpeace]

My family and I currently live in southern NH and are looking to move. Maybe I'm just daydreaming but it seems that TN has so much of what we are looking for. I would love to find a small rural town that I can call home as I have never really felt @ home. I would like to be part of a community rather than just live in one where people just help each other. A place where you can help your neighbor with nothing asked in return other than some good times, a few laughs and a genuine friendship. I want to sit on my front porch @ sunset with my wife holding hands without any sounds other than the crickets. The paint is peeling off the house? who cares? get to it when I can because the neighbors dont judge you on your possessions. I want to enjoy life rather than just live it. I want my children to grow up with the highest of morals and learn the value of hard work. Dont care much about the money just want to be emotionally bonded with my family and surroundings. Best put I guess I'm looking for a feeling of connection where you can go into town and people know your name and are happy to sit a minute and just have a conversation about family, what you are doing over the weekend and if you can offer a helping hand. Do places like this exist in the area or am I just a daydreamer? Any help or input would be genuinely appreciated.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by atpeace

Do places like this exist in the area or am I just a daydreamer? Any help or input would be genuinely appreciated.

There are dozens (if not hundreds) of places like that in Tennessee. There's so many places we could suggest looking at, that it would be helpful if you listed any specific things you're looking for. For example, do you like hiking, fishing, canoeing, crafts, job opportunities, schools for the kids, etc.?

[atpeace]

OMG, now this is exactly what I'm talking about. Less than 5 minutes with a new post and a reply. I sincerely thank you for making me feel welcome. My family and I enjoy as much quality time as we can get so we tend to lean towards alot of camping as this offers so much. so I guess anything outdoors would interest us. I (we) enjoy waking up and cooking on a campfire, going fishing even if not to catch anything because the peace of it just makes you feel incredible. Seeing the smile and excitement on your childs face if they do catch something. Sitting by the campfire after the kids have gone to sleep laying by my wife not saying anything but feeling everything within each other and our surroundings. Would like a combination of fields and woods possible within an hour or so travel to work as I have worked in retail mgmt for most of my adult life. I have looked into several locations from this site and felt right @ home when reading about a little place called Sneedville but travel to work that would fit my experince seems a little out of reach.
Again, thank you so much and may you have a great day. Any and all of your input is genuinely appreciated. Thank you for taking time from YOUR day to talk with us.

[bbkaren]

You seem like you're looking for something similar to what we're seeking. But we're coming from over-congested New Jersey.

Take a look at the thread I started several months ago in the Knoxville forum, entitled "Need Rural but w/in 30 Min. of Knoxville". It chronicles our mental journey from investigating areas near Tri-Cities (Erwin particularly caught our eye for its rural-ness), then near the Smoky Mountains (Townsend, Walland) to Maryville, up into Union County, and most recently, Roane County.

That thread received a lot of really helpful responses as we went along, and maybe it can be helpful to you as well.

We're flying into Nashville next week (Friday) for 9 days to visit the Knox area, to find the community we want to buy in, and will be taking tons of pictures. A link to the gallery will be put in that thread.

Good luck!

[SPLIT]

A.P. : Hello, we use to summer vacation in your neck of the woods when early 20's. We also have some nifty BACK PORCHES down here as you can see in pic. Meet very interesting farmer over the weekend in signal mtn who was trimming his weeds, when we stopped to look at his flowers. Up and down the whole Tenn river valley are towns to enjoy Elbow Room.
Keep us posted... .. ..[/IMG]

[atpeace]

TY bbkaern and best wishes on your trip. Hope to hear from you and see your pics when you return. I myself may consider changing my camping plans in july to plan a visit to the area. just hope a week will be enough time. Thanks again for your response

[atpeace]

Beautiful pic split. Any chance you got 1 from the inside lookin' out? It must be absolutely breathtaking. Any chance you have one of the sun setting over a beautiful field with sparsley scattered trees?

[atpeace]

anyone familiar with Wartrace?
Thank you in advance for any input

[atpeace]

Ok , so the family and I have decided to cancel the camping trip in the first week of July and make a trip on down. Anyone have a good starting point from the eastern side that may exhibit some of our interest that was stated earlier. We would appreciate as much input as is available so I can map out about a weeks worth of travel. Im sure this will be a fantastic week to travel through as it will also be the fourth of July celebration.
Thanks in advance.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by atpeace

anyone familiar with Wartrace?
Thank you in advance for any input

Wartrace is not far from Shelbyville (although I don't know whether it's in the same county or not). There's been a few posts about Shelbyville; you might look at those.