Coming for a visit...Tri-City Area & Maryville Area

[MaNoWa]

Beretta - I apologize...I'm being overly sensitive. I do hope that you'll expand on why you say they may not be as welcoming and offer any other towns that you feel would be more accepting.

I'm feaking out a little bit for some of the reasons posted in my lengthy response.

No hard feelings on my part. Hope you'll see past it.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by MaNoWa

jabogitlu - In an older post I read that you would not recommend Erwin as a place to live. Obviously out of context here and I didn't get the idea that you were slamming it in any way. More that compared to the other options in this particular thread would win out. However, hoping that you would expand on this for me as Erwin is one of the places in the immediate JC area I'm focusing on...

Waiting on pins and needles to hear...

Erwin, as the rest of Appalachia, is changing, albeit a bit slower than, say, Jonesborough, Gray or Piney Flats. The opening of I-26 has done a lot to change Erwin and it is evolving into a sort of small-town suburb of Johnson City/outpost between JC and Asheville.

The good thing about Erwin is that it is very much its own town. Just like Greeneville, Rogersville, Mountain City, etc. I'd imagine that most of the residents would NOT claim to be Tri-Citians, even though Unicoi County is included in the Johnson City MSA. It's possible (and perhaps desirable, for some) to live in Erwin and never truly have to leave, which isn't really possible for other suburbs.

The downside is that selfsame isolation. Erwin's schools are very lackluster, and I imagine that upon experiencing them you will either work very hard at supplementing your children's education at home or drive your kids to private schools in Johnson City. Erwin schools just don't prepare their children to enter the 21st Century especially for advanced colleges and in turn advanced jobs in emerging markets. I don't know if you're conservative, liberal, libertarian, somewhere in between, or just don't give a damn, but Erwin is totally devoted to a conservative good-old-boy network. That can create a fun, Mayberry-esque network of familiarity, but it also holds the town back when it comes to economic development and putting the best people/ideas to work. Jobs in most industries are few and far between. Healthcare options are limited. Dining, retail and entertainment options are as well.

All in all it's just something that you'll have to find out for yourself. Other places in the Tri-Cities are growing faster (Gray, Piney Flats, Colonial Heights, Jonesborough) because the risk of dissatisfaction is less. On the other hand, with the exception of Jonesborough, Erwin has much more character than any of these places. I guess the first step comes down to how much you're willing to gamble. The second comes to how your family's personality meshes with Erwin's. Good luck to you.

[MaNoWa]

Much appreciated info. Gives us more to consider.

Thank you!