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Old 01-21-2010, 06:58 AM
 
Location: Macao
16,284 posts, read 42,954,513 times
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Kind of a catch all thread. But, it seems that everyone and their brother, sister and the neighbor's dog wants to move to Asheville, NC.

While looking at housing prices, they certainly reflect that...basically everything housing related IS way too overpriced...and would realistically only appeal to those who already have housing equity elsewhere and bringing it with them, or people who have access to income that isn't connected to the immediate Asheville area. (Am I wrong about that?)

Meanwhile, the Appalachian mountain towns encompass quite a bit more than just western North Carolina. But, I never hear anyone talk about western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky or West Virginia. Why is that?

If you DO like western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky or West Virginia. What areas is it that you like and why?

Personally I think the entire region has a lot to offer, but Asheville really seems to be the only one I ever hear about, and seems to be drawing more everyday.
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Old 01-21-2010, 11:16 PM
 
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I am loudly and proudly from Eastern Ky., but realistically, if I were moving into area from somewhere else and did not know thee areaand wanted to be near or somewhat near urban amenities and still be in beautiful rural area, it would either be in East Tenn. (preferably either around Tri-Cities area which itself ain't too far from Asheville and N.C. or Gatlinburg skiing, Knoxville, Gatlinburg area AWAY from Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville bottlenecks, Cherokee or Norris Lake areas, or Chattanooga area) or Abingdon area of Southwest Virginia (also close to Tri-Cities and Abingdon a small cultural hub in itself), possibly Wytheville. In East Ky, would be either in London area, Red River Gorge area, near Pikeville/Prestonsburg/Paintsville area, also possibly Hazard area (if being near a larger city is a priority to you, my home area of E. Ky., although I love it personally, you might not want to go there, Lexington, Knoxville, and Tri-Cities areas are at least 2 or more hours away from most of E.Ky.). I don't know quite as much about W.Va., but area around Beckley and New River Gorge area appeals to me.
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Old 01-22-2010, 03:10 AM
 
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In 100 years it wont even be close to where Asheville is now. Aside from having its own vibe, Asheville is also situated nicely between many urban areas (Knoxville & Greenville. Charlotte & the NC "research triangle" of cities are close by. Atlanta is a short drive, etc). Good access to transportation (road system, air travel, Amtrak, etc).

It's the exact opposite for E KY. It's just so rural & there's not enough population or industry to spark anything even remotely similar. It's pretty much deadsville in every way & I don't see it "coming alive" for many many years. There's just nothing around that entire area for hundreds of miles as far as those things go. So if you're living there, you better like nature & rural surroundings cause that's what you're going to get.

Plus the infrastructure just isn't there. There's nowhere to catch a decent flight, no bus lines, hell, Amtrak doesnt even run through KY at all. And the only interstate road in E KY runs through the Ashland/Huntington area. Ashland is OK, but its really small. Huntington is bigger, but its a pretty cruddy town. WV as a whole is not a very livable place in general IMO, but thats a whole nother topic.

Last edited by KerryB; 01-22-2010 at 03:21 AM..
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Old 01-22-2010, 04:35 AM
 
Location: Near L.A.
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Eastern KY locales have p*ss poor short-term planning vision. How do you expect them to have long-term vision? Central and Northern KY have already long moved on and are the state's economic engines while E. KY is still clamoring for state money for transportation projects and social services that they have a "by-gawd right" to.
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Old 01-22-2010, 08:44 AM
 
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Years ago, I went whitewater rafting on the New River in Southern West Virginia. Fayetteville was a cool little outdoorsy town. It was very small though. Snowshoe Mtn has probably the best skiing in the region (ok, that doesn't mean alot) but it is far enough north and high enough that they can make snow a lot of the winter. It is kind of neat that it sits on top of the mountain at 4848ft, so you leave your room and are skiing right away. Pretty cool.

Charleston seems like a city that has a lot of potential to be a very cool city situated on the Kanawha River, nestled in the mountains. But it seems to have a lot of economic problems, industry and mills closed, problems with crime... It has a very pretty setting though.
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Old 01-22-2010, 08:57 AM
 
688 posts, read 1,482,171 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EclecticEars View Post
Eastern KY locales have p*ss poor short-term planning vision. How do you expect them to have long-term vision? Central and Northern KY have already long moved on and are the state's economic engines while E. KY is still clamoring for state money for transportation projects and social services that they have a "by-gawd right" to.
Another one of these petty little snivelling condescending boorish comments from someone that likes to put down the poor "hillbilly redneck briarjumpers". Ya' got anything positive to contribute, sunshine?
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Old 01-22-2010, 09:10 AM
 
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Not mentioned in your areas, but North GA is another area in the Southern Appalachians with a lot of cool little towns. You never really hear about them, it seems like only people that live in ATL really visit that area. Helen and Hiawassee, GA are neat little mountain towns. Pretty much all of N.GA is national forest land so there are a lot of rugged, wild places. And there are some very pretty lakes in the mountains.
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Old 01-22-2010, 09:34 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc76 View Post
Not mentioned in your areas, but North GA is another area in the Southern Appalachians with a lot of cool little towns. You never really hear about them, it seems like only people that live in ATL really visit that area. Helen and Hiawassee, GA are neat little mountain towns. Pretty much all of N.GA is national forest land so there are a lot of rugged, wild places. And there are some very pretty lakes in the mountains.
I love Helen, Georgia. I like to make a side trip there whenever I'm in Cherokee, N.C. The area between Cherokee and Helen (Sylva, Franklin, Standing Indian Mountain (I love that name, being part Cherokee myself), Shotgun Creek, Hiawassee, and the very winding, but beautiful road into Helen from Shotgun Creek (I like than name too!) is exquisite - would like to take a Harley there and ride that mountain, probably as good a ride a the Tail of the Dragon near Deals gap).
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Old 01-22-2010, 09:48 AM
 
688 posts, read 1,482,171 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KerryB View Post
In 100 years it wont even be close to where Asheville is now. Aside from having its own vibe, Asheville is also situated nicely between many urban areas (Knoxville & Greenville. Charlotte & the NC "research triangle" of cities are close by. Atlanta is a short drive, etc). Good access to transportation (road system, air travel, Amtrak, etc).

It's the exact opposite for E KY. It's just so rural & there's not enough population or industry to spark anything even remotely similar. It's pretty much deadsville in every way & I don't see it "coming alive" for many many years. There's just nothing around that entire area for hundreds of miles as far as those things go. So if you're living there, you better like nature & rural surroundings cause that's what you're going to get.

Plus the infrastructure just isn't there. There's nowhere to catch a decent flight, no bus lines, hell, Amtrak doesnt even run through KY at all. And the only interstate road in E KY runs through the Ashland/Huntington area. Ashland is OK, but its really small. Huntington is bigger, but its a pretty cruddy town. WV as a whole is not a very livable place in general IMO, but thats a whole nother topic.
In some ways I agree with you, but being from area, I see both the great things and the problems (prescription drug addiction, poverty, the levelling of the mtns for strip mining, though being from here I see the other side, too, etc.) that is associated with it, so I am realistic about the area, but I see the charm of having grown up here and the good things about the lifestyle here (general manners and friendlinees and a unique rich culture being major among them). I may be wrong about this, but I though Amtrack ran through Ashland area, possibly along Ohio River toward Louisville. Anyway, peace and have a great day. The closest thing we have to "urban" areas here in E. Ky. are the Pikeville areas and closeby Prestonsburg and Paintsville areas (Pikeville has medical school at Pikeville College, good shopping and clubs, E.Ky. Expo Center, which has rock/country/etc. concerts, sometimes from big names (Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Jr., etc.) and Disney on Ice, etc., and minor league pro basketball), Hazard, which is more or less central to area, pretty good shopping and active communtiy arts series at local community college, and CBS affilitate WYMT, and London-Somerset area (although those 2 cities are on fringe of area, but close to 1-75 not too far from Lexington and Knoxville and Bowling Green and close to Laurel River Lake and the huge Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow lakes). However, no real true urban area, and if urban living or ammenities are your thing, probably wouldn't like too good.
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Old 01-22-2010, 10:07 AM
 
Location: Kentucky
666 posts, read 2,524,679 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc76 View Post
Not mentioned in your areas, but North GA is another area in the Southern Appalachians with a lot of cool little towns. You never really hear about them, it seems like only people that live in ATL really visit that area. Helen and Hiawassee, GA are neat little mountain towns. Pretty much all of N.GA is national forest land so there are a lot of rugged, wild places. And there are some very pretty lakes in the mountains.
Helen is such a neat place. You don't really expect to find a town that looks like it came straight of Germany in the Appalachians. I really want to go back during Oktoberfest. Does anyone know the name of the restaurant that is right next to the Chattahoochee River and beside the bridge? We got some really good food there one of the times we visited Helen.
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