Hey Firepower and anyone, Cookeville? (Memphis, Knoxville: for sale, appliances, house)

[SuzieQFL]

[quote=firepower;23443]Try Cookeville!

Tell me everything there is to love about Cookeville, and also tell me the things you don't love. We toured around almost all of Tennessee, from Nashville to Kingsport, and hubby and I both liked Cookeville best. However,
I know there was sooooo much more to see than the few hours we were able to spend there. Mostly we walked around town, by the train station. We
did put one address in our navigation system and looked at a house for sale, and drove around some subdivisions. We really liked what we saw!

[jguillot]

[quote=SuzieQFL;1469129]

Originally Posted by firepower

Try Cookeville!

Tell me everything there is to love about Cookeville, and also tell me the things you don't love. We toured around almost all of Tennessee, from Nashville to Kingsport, and hubby and I both liked Cookeville best. However,
I know there was sooooo much more to see than the few hours we were able to spend there. Mostly we walked around town, by the train station. We
did put one address in our navigation system and looked at a house for sale, and drove around some subdivisions. We really liked what we saw!

Hi SuzieQFL,

My wife and I visited Cookeville a month ago and loved the area. We found that Cookeville offers all of the goods and services we could ever want or need, including a hospital. We like the fact that Cookeville is still fairly small, but also has a University that offers cultrual and educational opportunities. Cookeville provides easy access to Interstate 40, making trips to Nashville or Knoxville easy. There are many state parks and lakes within an hour's drive from Cookeville. We liked the area so much that we bought a 4 acre lot in Cumberland Cove, near Monterey, between Cookeville and Crossville. There is an article about Cookeville that you might like to read at the link below.

Cookeville, Tennessee

[JMT]

[quote=SuzieQFL;1469129]

Originally Posted by firepower

Try Cookeville!

Tell me everything there is to love about Cookeville, and also tell me the things you don't love. We toured around almost all of Tennessee, from Nashville to Kingsport, and hubby and I both liked Cookeville best. However,
I know there was sooooo much more to see than the few hours we were able to spend there. Mostly we walked around town, by the train station. We
did put one address in our navigation system and looked at a house for sale, and drove around some subdivisions. We really liked what we saw!

Hey there SuzieQFL, jguillot gave some great reasons why he and his wife are going to retire to the Cookeville area.

As for things we don't love, well, some of the things I've heard are:
-Cookeville doesn't have a Target
-Cookeville is dry, meaning there are no liquor stores although you can still get liquor by the drink at restaurants such as Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Chili's, Outback, etc. (The nearest liquor store is about 10 miles away in Jackson County.)
-Big name touring concerts don't regularly make it to Cookeville, you have to go to Nashville for that
-There's no big mall in Cookeville
-Foreign and arthouse movies rarely play in Cookeville
-Other than professionals, wages in Cookeville tend to be low (largely because of the ready supply of college students in town)
-There's no curbside recycling

Otherwise, I think it's a fantastic town.
-It has a delightful downtown that is quickly becoming hip with some great independent restaurants and neat galleries and cafes.
-It's got a national top 100 hospital with one of the top 5 heart centers in the state. And the hospital is undergoing an $80 million expansion that will double its size.
-The university provides dozens of concerts, plays, recitals, lectures, exhibitions, etc., every year, most of which are free.
-The university is not a "party school."
-Within the next few months or so, the entire city will be under a Wi-Fi web.
-While there's not a Target (yet), there are two Wal-Mart SuperCenters, Sam's Club, Kohl's, JCPenney, Belk, Sears, Peebles, TJMaxx, Old Navy, Office Max, Staples, Lowe's, Home Depot (coming soon) and others.
-The public schools are outstanding. Cookeville High School is one of only 5 schools in the state with the International Baccalaureate Programme.
-There's no traffic!
-It's only an hour from the Nashville airport.
-The Appalachian Center for Craft, which is run by the university, is on the shores of nearby Center Hill Lake. It's a great place to go and take fun classes on pottery, glass blowing, jewelry making, and other traditional Appalachian stuff.

Because of the university, the large and growing hospital, and Cookeville's place as a retirement destination, there are people from all over the world living there. While it's still very much a Tennessee town, it's got quite a cosmopolitan flair that most towns its size don't have.

[SuzieQFL]

Thanks so much for your replies!

Okay, a mall I can do without. I love Target, but if I have to have something from there, there's always target.com.

Don't know what a Peebles is, but I'm sure I'll like it. If those are the big downfalls of Cookeville, heck that's nothing! As long as there's a golf course and a bowling alley hubby and I will do just fine. There are both...I already checked

Is the air quality ok there - at least better than the tri-cities?

So since there's no recycling, do people just throw their cans and bottles in with the regular trash? How sad, although I've heard that all the plastic water bottles we recycle end up in the same dump. I hope that's not true. I'm trying to wean myself off bottled water and go with the tap, which brings me to another question. How is the tap water in Cookeville?

Can you buy beer at the grocery stores?

And JMT, what is it that you love about Knoxville that differs from any other town/city? Or was that decision made for you due to employment?

[SuzieQFL]

[quote=jguillot;1470007]

Originally Posted by SuzieQFL

Hi SuzieQFL,

My wife and I visited Cookeville a month ago and loved the area. We found that Cookeville offers all of the goods and services we could ever want or need, including a hospital. We like the fact that Cookeville is still fairly small, but also has a University that offers cultrual and educational opportunities. Cookeville provides easy access to Interstate 40, making trips to Nashville or Knoxville easy. There are many state parks and lakes within an hour's drive from Cookeville. We liked the area so much that we bought a 4 acre lot in Cumberland Cove, near Monterey, between Cookeville and Crossville. There is an article about Cookeville that you might like to read at the link below.

Cookeville,
Tennessee

Thank you for that link. I hadn't seen that one before and it had a lot of good information. I worry about buying property and having something built. I've heard that it almost always costs way more than you plan on because of the excavators hitting so much rock. Do you think that will be a problem on the acreage you bought?

Are you retired, or retiring? How soon are you planning to relocate?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by SuzieQFL

Thanks so much for your replies!

Okay, a mall I can do without. I love Target, but if I have to have something from there, there's always target.com.

Don't know what a Peebles is, but I'm sure I'll like it. If those are the big downfalls of Cookeville, heck that's nothing! As long as there's a golf course and a bowling alley hubby and I will do just fine. There are both...I already checked

Is the air quality ok there - at least better than the tri-cities?

So since there's no recycling, do people just throw their cans and bottles in with the regular trash? How sad, although I've heard that all the plastic water bottles we recycle end up in the same dump. I hope that's not true. I'm trying to wean myself off bottled water and go with the tap, which brings me to another question. How is the tap water in Cookeville?

Can you buy beer at the grocery stores?

And JMT, what is it that you love about Knoxville that differs from any other town/city? Or was that decision made for you due to employment?

According to Sperling's, Cookeville's air quality is 62/100, Johnson City's is 51/100, and Kingsport's is 24/100. Knoxville's is also 24/100. This is based on ozone alert days and number of pollutants in the air, as reported by the EPA. (The higher the number, the better the air quality.)

There is a lot of recycling in Cookeville, it's just not curbside. Knoxville is the same. There are recycling drop-off centers throughout the city and county where you can take your recyclables. I haven't seen the stats in a while, but at one time Putnam County (Cookeville) had the 5th largest recycling program in the state. Not bad for a county that's the 18th largest in population.

The tap water in Cookeville comes from Center Hill Lake. It's not bad. To be honest, I don't like tap water in general (except for Memphis which has the best tasting tap water in the world). I just attach a Brita thing to the kitchen faucet and go from there. Knoxville's tap water is wretched. Sometimes it tastes like it was taken from a fish tank.

According to Sperling's, Cookeville's tap water scores 90/100. Knoxville's tap water scores 61/100.

Peebles is kind of like Sears but without the appliances and hardware. I think it's based in Virginia. They're building a brand new store in Cookeville. The old one in the little Cookeville Mall is most likely going to be torn down with the rest of the mall (except for JCPenney) and a new lifestyle center built in its place.

I like Knoxville ok. I moved here mainly because of the football, the mountains, and the low cost of living. I also have a great job at the university. But I would rather live in Cookeville and work at Tennessee Tech and just come back to Knoxville for the occasional football game.

I love to travel, and that's one big drawback to living in Knoxville. The airport here is dinky and has high air fares. It's even worse in the Tri Cities. But Cookeville is only an hour from the Nashville airport. I'm flying out to Utah in October, my ticket out of Nashville is less than $200, but out of Knoxville it would've been more than $400, and out of the Tri Cities more than $500. Just a few trips like that a year makes a huge dent in my travel budget.

Oh, and yes you can buy beer in grocery stores.

[SuzieQFL]

Yes, I've seen your posts from all over the place! I wasn't sure if you were travelling for your job, or just because you like to see places. That's wonderful if you can do it, money-wise. I couldn't, but I'd love to see some pictures of places you've been.

Well, since Cookeville has the university you could work at, and the air and water quality are better and it's closer to Nashville and the larger airport, I think that settles it. You need to move to Cookeville!!

[jguillot]

[quote=SuzieQFL;1474071]

Originally Posted by jguillot

Thank you for that link. I hadn't seen that one before and it had a lot of good information. I worry about buying property and having something built. I've heard that it almost always costs way more than you plan on because of the excavators hitting so much rock. Do you think that will be a problem on the acreage you bought?

Are you retired, or retiring? How soon are you planning to relocate?

Hi SuzieQFL,

The property I bought does not seem to have any rocks, at least none that are visible. Based upon this, I don't expect to have any problems with rocks, but I guess I won't know for sure until it is excavated.

I am still working and will not be able to retire for at least 7 more years. I will not move to Tennessee until I retire.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by SuzieQFL

Yes, I've seen your posts from all over the place! I wasn't sure if you were travelling for your job, or just because you like to see places. That's wonderful if you can do it, money-wise. I couldn't, but I'd love to see some pictures of places you've been.

Well, since Cookeville has the university you could work at, and the air and water quality are better and it's closer to Nashville and the larger airport, I think that settles it. You need to move to Cookeville!!

You are right! Now if Tennessee Tech would just have an opening in my field (which is pretty specialized--a blessing and a curse, let me tell you). sigh

[Mid-Tenn]

Curbside recycling is now available in Cookeville! Visit www.midtennrecycling.com for more information.