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We are an American Indian family with two young children: 3 and 1. I work from home so as long as I have high speed internet the local job market is not critical (though always a plus to have options in this economy ). We pretty much keep to ourselves and are live and let live kind of folks, but mostly because of our kids we are trying to get a feel for how our family will mesh with the other families in the area.
I've done much research and have narrowed down to a few potential matches: Roanoke area (within 1 hr), Asheville area (definitely not in Asheville, but within an hour); and Pike or Wayne Counties, northeast PA. I have eliminated Ithaca and Syracuse area mostly due to high cost of rent (we will rent a house 1-2 years before we buy @ $100-140K range). Also have eliminated Pittsburg, PA, Cleveland & Cincinnati, Fayettesville (ATL), and Tri-cities.
My husband looks Samoan (is in fact a Long Island (NY) Indian), lots of tattoos and long hair (but is a 100% sober stay at home dad), leans libertarian politically, loves to hunt and be outdoors, and is a meat and gun enthusiast who gets along well with most people. He's lived in Brooklyn, Long Island, Orlando, and now Kentucky (my family is in the Cincinnati, OH & Maysville, KY area and we've been here now a year). He has a lot in common with the "redneck" element (minus certain views on race and religion) and gets on well with them. Ideally he would like to be able to have some chickens in the backyard.
I grew up in Northern Cali and have lived in LA, Orange County, Manhattan (Harlem), Suffolk County, Long Island, and now Maysville, KY. I am mixed and look white; despite having lived in a range of socio-economic circumstances I am well educated and come from an upper-middle class background. I lean liberal on most social issues, though I'm more conservative fiscally. Although, I'm no fan of either major party and not trying to change anyone else's views. I love the outdoors and doing things with my kids. I grew up going to church but I'm not into the fundamentalist Christian thing (particularly not the judge-mentality that seems to accompany it) and if I were to go with my kids (hubby would not) it would probably be a non-denominational or similarly "accepting" family and community oriented type. Or I would just not go and teach my kids about religion at home.
Here's whats most important to us: forested land, mountains or hills, land (1 acre at minimum), low cost of living, privacy, outdoor recreation/parks, hispeed internet access, good to excellent public schools, and amenities of at least one "city" (can be smaller city) within 30-45 minutes, within 45 minutes of quality emergency medical care (specifically cardiology).
These would be pluses: Diversity of some degree (meaning international community more so than just the black/white binary), healthy community (less smoking, less obesity), acceptance of difference, a Native community of some sort within 4-5 hours, within an hour of at least one university, activities, museums, and destinations for kids within driving distance, range of "ethnic" dining options and good food in general within an hour (not into the fast food), and schools that are strong in the arts, math, science, technology, and extracurricular offerings as much as it is in sports. Or as much of any of those as we can get.
So, what do you think; is the Asheville area a match for us?
I think it's good you eliminated Pittsburg and Cleveland. Those areas are too cold for too much of the year. Northeastern PA may be expensive. I say that because I've hiked in that area and based on real estate books I don't remember anything reasonably priced. Prices have gone down in the past couple years so maybe I'm wrong. In general I'm biased against any where close to n.y.c. I don't think your husband would fit in with his shooting and hunting. This is coming from a jersey boy with southern heritage.
Roanoke or Lynchburg isn't exactly diverse but not as hillbilly as parts of western NC. I haven't lived there but traveling I get a good impression. I think that area and the Shenandoah valley is beautiful and clean. Prices are also reasonable as you can find so long as it's not to close to Washington dc. I was helping my friend find land there calling realtors lots of good deals, but ultimately she decided it was too country for her. I don't think you guys will have that problem living in Maysville. What moved you guys there?
To be on topic though, some areas outside of Asheville are downright expensive and not worth it in my opinion. Places like Black Mountain or Mars Hills. I ended up finding cheap rural zoned land in Cherokee county, NC which is nowhere near Asheville but the natural beauty and price was worth it for me. I think Asheville is over-rated. Winston Salem is a larger town with amenities, diversity, and redneck friendly. Maybe look around there, it's almost between Roanoke and Asheville. What do you like? Sounds like it may be a culture shock reading where you're from, but you been in Maysville for a year so maybe that's over.
I think it's good you eliminated Pittsburg and Cleveland. Those areas are too cold for too much of the year. Northeastern PA may be expensive. I say that because I've hiked in that area and based on real estate books I don't remember anything reasonably priced. Prices have gone down in the past couple years so maybe I'm wrong. In general I'm biased against any where close to n.y.c. I don't think your husband would fit in with his shooting and hunting. This is coming from a jersey boy with southern heritage.
Roanoke or Lynchburg isn't exactly diverse but not as hillbilly as parts of western NC *. I haven't lived there but traveling I get a good impression. I think that area and the Shenandoah valley is beautiful and clean. Prices are also reasonable as you can find so long as it's not to close to Washington dc. I was helping my friend find land there calling realtors lots of good deals, but ultimately she decided it was too country for her. I don't think you guys will have that problem living in Maysville. What moved you guys there?
To be on topic though, some areas outside of Asheville are downright expensive and not worth it in my opinion. Places like Black Mountain or Mars Hills. I ended up finding cheap rural zoned land in Cherokee county, NC which is nowhere near Asheville* but the natural beauty and price was worth it for me. I think Asheville is over-rated. Winston Salem is a larger town with amenities, diversity, and redneck friendly. Maybe look around there, it's almost between Roanoke and Asheville. What do you like? Sounds like it may be a culture shock reading where you're from, but you been in Maysville for a year so maybe that's over.
* An "expert" stereotyping uninformed opinion from a non resident.
Very timely is an article appearing in USA Today relative to Hendersonville, a lovely town just south of Asheville.
The OP can go to the "search this forum" feature up on the top right column and search for may a thousand posts relative to what life is like in and near Asheville from natives, locals, retirees, and long term residents. Excellent advice and anectodal experiences from those who live here and/or have decided to relocate here.
I made it clear I don't live there. I do have kin all around there though. You just referred her to using the search feature. How timely and unique to her situation.
Hi QuilterChick and dhanu86, thank you both for responding! (By the way, I have read many many posts in related threads prior to posting).
To answer your question dhanu86, we ended up in Maysville last year we moved closer to my mom after having our second child to be closer. We kind of had to leave in a rush from Eastern LI becuase the house we were renting was foreclosed on (with a 3 month old and an 18 y/o about to graduate high school....couldn't be worse timing!). LI was not for us for 50 reasons; we were just waiting for our oldest to graduate. Originally, we were going to be on the other side of the river in Ohio in the outskirts of Cincinnati, but unfortunately it worked out that we are in Maysville, and now that we have to move again, we are thinking we might find something we like even more than the Cincy area.
I think that parts of NEPA (Milford, Shohola, Hawley, Dingmans Ferry, maybe Honesdale and Damascus) we could afford. Lots on the market in our price range but there are pros/cons of which I am aware. I still think it would be possible to find something we like in our price range...unless prices jump terribly in the next year or two, which they may.
For Asheville area, I have no interest in living in Asheville proper, though it would be the major area for shopping/dining, etc. if we lived in the area. I'm thinking more Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton, Fletcher, Black Mountain, Old Fort, Burnsville. Those would at least be in the right geographic area and I think have some options in our price range. Also, limited by School Districts I'm thinking Yancey, Henderson, Haywood, depending on the assigned schools. In fact, the schools' mixed reviews/questionable standards (going by others' postings) is probably the main thing that makes me hesitate a bit on NC, as well some on the tolerance factor relative to race and religion. The clearest advantage VA has over NC in my book is the public schools seem better-ranked and regarded; it also seems that I might be able to get more acreage in a well-ranked school district in VA, versus in NC the larger plots of land are in average/below-average schools. I thought Murphy/Hayesville might be an exception but on further inspection I think it will be just too far out from medical care and city amenities.
Someone described Asheville as "crunchy" (vs. hick/hillbilly (?)) I can do crunchy, I grew up in Berkeley, but truthfully my family is somewhere between the two poles and I wonder if it means we'll have an easier or a worse time fitting in. Also, I'm wondering with the proximity to Cherokee how the race relations are specific to Natives. Are most of the people in Western NC more or less accepting of Natives? Any ideas? Where I am now they just consider my husband black and me white because socially they exist in a racial black/white binary and they don't know what to do with anyone who's not one or the other. Which is kind of fine, and kind of funny, but maybe not so much when my kids get confused about who they are.....
We are pretty country, I don't think country will culture shock us. I've spent plenty of time in the south and midwest (TN, KY, OH) despite mostly living on the coasts. I was more concerned about the hubby but he's from rural Long Island and I think fits in better here in KY than I do! The main things we want from a city is eating options and specifically a variety of ethnic cuisines and things to do with our kids. I can shop online. I can drive 30-40 minutes to a good grocery store once a week if I need to. We can drive 30-40 minutes to a hospital, as long as its a good one. Other than that we don't care about cities. It's all about our kids- land to do stuff with them at home, good schools for them, and decent enough people who we fit in well enough with to socialize with and not have our children rejected, even if we aren't exactly the same as they are. And we'd like what we do on our property (chickens, shooting a deer with a crossbow, etc.) to be our business and not have neighbors call the police on us because we don't mow the lawn twice a week.
We can banter back and forth with all the anecdotal advice and rhetoric about the area which will for the most part, be repeating what everyone else has said on the various Asheville threads. What it all boils down to is this:
Have you visited the areas mentioned?
Do you have a home to sell before relocating?
Do you need secure jobs before relocating, or do you have a minimum of one year's salary in savings? It is not prudent to come to the mountains without jobs.
This is not a thriving area for jobs, regardless of what your occupation(s) are. Low cost of living is a huge attraction, but low cost of living as you know is only relative to income and expenses.
Since you are zeroing in on having a small farm type situation (one acre would not be enough), my suggestion would be that you do some research on areas in Madison County where you can get more land with a home on it and zoning won't be much of an issue. Wilkes up near Winston Salem may interest you as well. W/S is a thriving larger city than Asheville with high quality healthcare and more jobs, but you don't have to be IN W/S, many nice outlying areas.
It is important that you take at least one week at a time if you can, more would be better, to take a comprehensive tour of the various counties within approx. 40 mile radius of the City of Asheville. I say 40 miles because you say you need to be within 40 mins. or so of medical facilities. The you can determine high access via interstate or secondary roads.
I don't live in Asheville, but I was born in NC and have lived here most of my life and my mom's side of the family is from SW Va going back eons, so mountains are in my blood. I think the Asheville area would suit you fine. If you want to be closer to Cherokee, Maggie Valley might be a good fit.
You could also look in the Boone area. The Watauga county schools have a fairly good reputation.
I think Asheville has a little more ethnic diversity, but definitely has a hippie vibe with more redneck/rural living on the outskirts. I'm sure you could find plenty of people doing bow-hunting in the area. That's no problem at all.
I have never gotten a negative vibe from folks in the mountains on most Natives, but they may think your husband is "Mexican" if that might fit his looks and sometimes "Mexicans" are the victims of prejudice. North Carolina, like much of the country, has seen a huge increase in the Hispanic population in the last 20 yrs. Particularly in the "high country" area where they grow a lot of Christmas trees, some Hispanics have moved to the area to work on farms. I think the closer you get to Cherokee the more people might stop to consider that he might be Native, but I wouldn't be surprised if folks didn't guess that right off. I think folks generally have a positive view of Natives peoples, like the Cherokee, in the area, though. I think most people in Asheville would think it was cool that your family is Native American (which may be another kind of annoying).
North Carolina also has a large population of Lumbee Indians particularly in SE NC, but also in Charlotte, and there are some racist folks who are prejudiced against them (as well as blacks and Mexicans, etc). The Lumbee are actually the largest tribe in NC, so when folks think "Indian" in NC many folks think Lumbee. There are also some other scattered smaller tribes that are viewed more from a historical viewpoint — the Occoneechee near Hillsborough in the middle of the state have a site where school kids go for field trips, etc.
QuilterChick's point about jobs can't be emphasized strongly enough, though. The mountains can be a hard place to find work, depending on your field.
I don't think home prices will jump in rural areas. Despite the so called housing recover which is mostly growing cities not enough people are able to borrow or pay lots of cash for a house. I would expect to get a very good deal if you keep an eye on listings. Biggest challenge first is deciding on a grographal area which can be hard when your scope is so big. I honestly had a scope that included the similar states you have. Then I decided it was important to atleast settle near mother and where I've never got tired of visiting. For upto 140 and this market and your reasonable requirements I can easily see u guys getting a 4 bedroom and basement brick house or something in good condition sitting on a large lot partially wooded and not far from town in Winston Salem area based on realtor sites. I've heard Old Fort is bad with drugs. May want to avoid tiny towns off the interstate. West Marion is an unincorporated area with liberal zoning enforcement. mod cut. If I had to settle near Asheville I'd look at Arden.
Last edited by SunnyKayak; 06-05-2013 at 06:22 PM..
Reason: racist
Thanks again to all. I have a job that goes where I go.
poppydog I appreciate your post very specific to my situation and exactly what I was looking for.
Lots of good info from all; I love (!) the Winston-Salem (area) tip, I'd not looked there and it's yielded some great possibilities.
Also appreciate the tips on Madison Valley, Watauga schools, Maggie Valley, and avoiding Old Fort! Very useful and just what I was hoping to get.
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). We pretty much keep to ourselves and are live and let live kind of folks, but mostly because of our kids we are trying to get a feel for how our family will mesh with the other families in the area. 
