Canyou retire to a nice Mountain Town in Eastern, KY. ?? (Ashland: sales, crime)

[DADDYO49]

...............Despite the stereotypes..........Are there any nice retirement towns in the Hills/Mountains of Eastern Kentucky ??

[kymunis]

Try Berea, Ky in Southern Madison County on I75 or if you want to be further south east, Paintsville or Pikeville would be two good choices. Due east, Ashland or Cattlesburg are on the West Virginia border and located along I64.

[Kentuckywoman]

lovely community, many activites, good hospital, decent malle. 1 1/2 drive to Pigeon Forge (shoppin heaven)

[highliner]

Remove Pikeville and Paintsville from your list of possibilities- you'll thank me for this warning. Berea( about 10k pop) is very nice, and the Ashland-Boyd county area(approx 50k pop) offers some good choices , too. Just don't make the horrible error of going to far southeastern Ky, as it is rapidly becoming one big nest of junkies and idiots. The ' Best and Brightest' are leaving in droves. How truly I wish, that it were not so! If Berea and Ashland are too far north for you, perhaps Middlesboro (approx pop 15k), with its convenient access to Knoxville, will be a better fit for you. I hope you find that ideal setting!

[Miss Blue]

Originally Posted by MRDOOWOP

...............Despite the stereotypes..........Are there any nice retirement towns in the Hills/Mountains of Eastern Kentucky ??

We would welcome you to any town in Eastern Ky. As you can see from some of the posts, we are hated by a lot of people. Sadly i t seems to be our own folks who have moved away and are ashamed to admit they came from here. I want you to know that we do take pride in who we are and most of us wouldn't think of deliberatlly downgrading our neighbors in Central or Western Ky. We are all citizens of this great state. Out towns are small and friendly. As far as Pikeville, I assure you that there are no slums and definitely no seven floor jail. We are retired and will stay here. We are within 2-three hours of bigger cities (which we never go, unless we have to)
We usually head South for our vacations or to getaway foer a few days.

[highliner]

As far as Pikeville goes, it has a huge population living well below the poverty line, and a jail that is simply enormous for a town of this size. No slums? hahahahahahahahahahaha! Buddy, open your eyes! The majority of Pikeville's citizens live below the poverty line, and those slums are only a stone's throw away from the millionaires' row.

[deeders65]

I'm from Eastern Ky a transplant from Chicago...We moved here, to Pike County 33 years ago and I'm so glad we did! While we lived in Chicago, we was robbed,both home and car,my Mother was almost raped until the man noticed she was pregnant. My Father was beaten while defending our home from a break in. All cities have problems with crime and drugs.........Here, I don't lock my doors , we all know each other, friendly, helpful and we live a simple way of life. I live in God's country, breathtaking and beautiful. My view from my front porch, could never be duplicated or portrayed in any postcard. The mountains both shield and comfort me, and I get homesick when I'm away from them.
The trees are starting to turn and they are so colorful and majestic, it makes my heart swell.
My children have been blessed to have been raised here, they have excelled in college, GPA's of 3.5 and 3.7. My sisters and I ave done well here also, I'm a nurse, my sister is a Doctor and my other sibling works for the IRS. Education,as it is anywhere is the key! My husband (also a transplant) teaches drug awareness in the local schools, he and I and my children are aware of the rampant drug problem in our area and yes, poverty is prevalant. Big citys are everywhere and there all basically the same. But nothing can compare to my ol Kentucky home, nestle between the mountains.

[Floridahater]

Honestly, I just cannot figure out why some people are so down on eastern KY. I have been speaking with some people in that area that are attempting to assist me in acquiring employment. These individuals have gone out of their way to help me. They are intelligent and are appreciative of my efforts, and I value their help. Suffice it to say, I have not experienced an "attitude" because I am desirous of moving to the region from another state.

Personally, I don't care about the socio-economic status of an individual. I care much more about character. I am well educated, but I definitely do not look down upon people. I have stated over and over again on this thread board that I have lived in CA,MD,CO,RI,FL and there are pervasive drug problems everywhere in this nation (big cities as well as small cities). Sorry, but there is no utopia devoid of problems. The best that one is able to do is to attempt to "carve out" a place where one is able to feel comfortable and have some sense of security.

Soon, very soon, those of your living in these rural areas will thank God that you are there. You will feel fortunate to live far from the main metropolitan areas. Enough said!!!

[Miss Blue]

Thank you once again for your kind thoughts about East Ky. So many people talk about us as if because we choose to live here that we are illiterate..With my husbands education, yes we could have made more money in a big metropolitan area. Money, however is not what defines us What defines us is having a safe place to raise our children, knowing the neighbors for miles around and being treated as poart of the family, the serene beauty of the solitude that the mountains. Knowing our Doctors and lawyers by their first name..On the lesser side, because I always get negative remarks about my love for East Ky. There is also crime due to drugs and some not so nice people here, but the thing is...we know who they are and where they live and we can easily avoid. We also have poverty here, but along with Government programs, we have our own Pike County people created programs for the unfortunate people who for one reason or another are poverty stricken .

[900 TALKRADIO]

Originally Posted by highliner

As far as Pikeville goes, it has a huge population living well below the poverty line, and a jail that is simply enormous for a town of this size. No slums? hahahahahahahahahahaha! Buddy, open your eyes! The majority of Pikeville's citizens live below the poverty line, and those slums are only a stone's throw away from the millionaires' row.

Pikeville is also home to a HUGE hospital for a town it's size, with helicopter sevice.
Pikeville is also home to multi-millionaires.
Pikeville is home to several realtors with sales in the multi-millions.
Pikeville has elementary and high schools in the Top 5 in the state according to test scores.
Pikeville is also home to a four year college and School of Osteopathic medicine...also a 2 year community college.

Are there run down areas??? Sure, every town has them..I guess with the exception of whereever highliner lives.
Is the Jail large? Yes, the facility also serves as a Hall of Justice and holds federal prisoners as a regional halfway house for the region in addition to it's regular run of county and state offenders.

Attitude goes a long way in eastern Kentucky and you'll find good and bad wherever you go.