Coming Down For A Visit Next Week. What To Do? (Knoxville: house, buy)

[Green Guy]

The wife and I are scouting out the Johnson City area as a place to relocate to. What are some good places to check out in the area?

We’re interested in:

Walking trails
Outdoor areas and public land for camping, hiking and hunting
Health food/organic grocery stores, farmers markets, and restaurants
Nice coffee places
Bodybuilding or powerlifting-oriented gyms
Lakes for swimming and boating
Really nice or upscale shopping areas
Natural areas with a waterfalls, scenic overlooks, etc.

If anyone knows good places for any of those things, I’d love to hear it.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Green Guy

The wife and I are scouting out the Johnson City area as a place to relocate to. What are some good places to check out in the area?

We’re interested in:

Walking trails The Tweetsie Trail, a "rails to trails" conversion, runs from JC to Elizabethton. There are also walking areas around ETSU, around The Wellness Center/Franklin Woods Hospital, and at Winged Deer Park that I've used before

Outdoor areas and public land for camping, hiking and hunting This is all around. I'd head into Unicoi and Carter County. Start at Limestone Cove, Rocky Fork State Park, and Roan Mountain State Park. I do not hunt so I have no idea where hunting is or isn't allowed.

Health food/organic grocery stores, farmers markets, and restaurants The Fresh Market markets itself as "healthy," but I find it more "upscale regular." Earthfare is going out of business. Otherwise, it's mostly Kroger/Aldi in the main grocery space. There is a good farmer's market in season, and Main St. Pizza downtown has their own CSA from which they source their own ingredients. More "local food" can be found in Asheville

After living in affluent areas in the Midwest, this area's grocers are lousy. Ingle's is fine. The rest, aside from the State of Franklin Kroger and that big Food City, are lousy. Prices are high and selection is low.

Nice coffee places Willow Tree downtown is a coffee house that also hosts music. Dos Gatos on Main St. is new, but is growing a good reputation. JC also has the usual chains with Dunkin and three Starbucks.

Bodybuilding or powerlifting-oriented gyms Relatively slim pickings. Bullpit Fitness Center is probably the top private option. Exalt Gym (religious base) also caters to a lifting crowd. The Wellness Center, run by Ballad Health, is the best fitness club in the area, but doesn't cater to serious free weightlifting.

Lakes for swimming and boating Watauga is the closest to JC. I boat on South Holston.

Really nice or upscale shopping areas Compared to mid-sized cities, none. The mall is in good health and middle class. So is the shopping on People's St. If you're looking for upper middle class stuff like Whole Foods or Costco, off to Knoxville you go. Asheville has more than JC, but less than Knoxville or Greenville, SC.

Natural areas with a waterfalls, scenic overlooks, etc. Start at Rocky Fork and fan out from there. It's all over.

If anyone knows good places for any of those things, I’d love to hear it.

Answers in-line in red above.

The outdoors is everywhere. This is a great outdoors area. You won't have any problem at all finding pretty much any activity to do, and the relatively mild weather means most things, other than water sports, can be most of the year.

The big question is employment. Secure jobs before you move unless you have a lot of money. While <$15/hr or so jobs are abundant in the area, real, living wage jobs are tough to come by, and the pay may be lower than you expect, even adjusting for COL compared to somewhere like Charlotte.

[rccrain]

Adding to SC's info...

Walking trails

Buffalo Mountain and Bays Mountain

Health food/organic grocery stores, farmers markets, and restaurants

Each town has a farmers market. JC is more commercial and less local. Jonesborough is completely local and more organic. They also have a little local market off Main St. Natural Food Market in JC is small but good quality. Several vegan restaurants have popped up recently.

Nice coffee places

One of my new favorites is Stillwaters in Gray.

Bodybuilding or powerlifting-oriented gyms Relatively slim pickings.

I Train Fitness and Bullpit are popular.

Really nice or upscale shopping areas

That's not really us. Belk at the Mall. Sam's. Talbots by Peerless.

[Green Guy]

When you guys say "the mall", do you mean "The Mall at Johnson City", right? If I'm not mistaken, I think there are some bigger shopping centers in other parts of the Tri-Cities, like the Pinnacle and the Pavilion. Do those have anything unique to offer that the JC area doesn't have?

Also, maybe a little off-topic, but if I want 5+ acres of land and to be within 20-30 minutes of the kinds of amenities I listed above (the closer the better, as long as we have enough land). Ideally, we'd like to have enough room on our land to grow some food, hunt, shoot guns, have bonfires, and generally just be free to do whatever we want. We can spend $500k. Any areas that jump out as great candidates?

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask about good places for cycling: primarily road/paved cycling, but also off-road. And are there nice things to do that aren't in the categories listed above?

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Green Guy

When you guys say "the mall", do you mean "The Mall at Johnson City", right? If I'm not mistaken, I think there are some bigger shopping centers in other parts of the Tri-Cities, like the Pinnacle and the Pavilion. Do those have anything unique to offer that the JC area doesn't have?

Also, maybe a little off-topic, but if I want 5+ acres of land and to be within 20-30 minutes of the kinds of amenities I listed above (the closer the better, as long as we have enough land). Ideally, we'd like to have enough room on our land to grow some food, hunt, shoot guns, have bonfires, and generally just be free to do whatever we want. We can spend $500k. Any areas that jump out as great candidates?

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask about good places for cycling: primarily road/paved cycling, but also off-road. And are there nice things to do that aren't in the categories listed above?

Yes, Johnson City's mall is called "The Mall at Johnson City."

The Pavilion is an outdoor lifestyle center in Kingsport anchored by Target and Kohl's. This center is struggling, as is retail in Kingsport overall. Best Buy recently closed at The Pavilion and moved to The Pinnacle. Some clothing stores have also closed down at The Pavilion, citing high rents, and even basic restaurants like Wendy's and Which Wich could not make in The Pavilion.

The Pinnacle is a newer lifestyle center in Bristol. The Pinnacle is much larger than The Pavilion, newer, with far more going on. The Pinnacle is anchored by Bass Pro Shops, Belk, and the area's best movie theater. The Pinnacle has several fast food and sit down restaurants. There is also a Carmax there - something Johnson City does not have.

With that said, The Pinnacle basically folded existing retail in Bristol at Exit 7 and what was then the Bristol Mall into a single site. It also pulled stores from the Kingsport market at The Pavilion and some other places. With the exception of Carmax and Bass Pro, there's not much at The Pinnacle that you can't find in Johnson City. The Pinnacle's movie theater is better than what Johnson City has.

People who live in Johnson City often don't go to Kingsport or Bristol unless it's for work. Johnson City is the largest and by far the nicest city north and east of Knoxville, with the best retail, medical, and dining/cultural options.

A $500k budget will get you a nice home on reasonable acreage. Keep in mind that it's going to be tough to do much hunting on just five acres - you run the risk of encroaching on adjoining properties. Personally, I would be looking into the Telford/Limestone/Chuckey areas if I wanted acreage and good farming land. You might also be able to find something in Jonesborough, though Jonesborough is more suburban and developed. You could also look into parts of Unicoi or Carter counties. That would still allow for reasonable access back to Johnson City. If I didn't work in Kingsport and wanted a smaller town/more rural lifestyle, that would be where I would go.

Something like this is fairly common.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...h/Limestone_TN

Unless you end up working in Kingsport or Bristol, I would rule out Sullivan County entirely. While prices are lower, it's not as nice of an area to live in.

Are schools an issue? If so, the city schools are much better regarded, though Washington County schools are still fine for most folks. Beyond that, county schools in other counties are often poorly funded and poorly performing.

[rccrain]

The Pavilion is terrible. Don't waste the trip.

Unicoi, Erwin, Hampton, area surrounding Elizabethton should have a lot of land like you are wanting, but you may have to build what you want. Maybe go on out to Flag Pond. You might score a lot more land than you're expecting. If you end up on river property, I would want to be upstream of NFS or far downstream.

[jchometeam]

It sounds to me like the perfect place for the OP is the Jonesborough, Limestone, Chuckey areas. Specifically somewhere around the HWY 81/107 areas that are close to the Cherokee National Forest and the Nolichuckey River. From there, you could get to Johnson City within the 20/30 minutes, along with hunting areas, outdoor trials to nice waterfalls both in Carter and Greene Counties, etc. I would say that the Piney Flats/Bluff City areas are another choice.

[WakeMed]

Banner Elk NC is not a far drive from JCTN. It's pretty hip.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-...b-017ea95a783b

The view from Grandfather Mountain near Banner Elk is awe inspiring.

[Green Guy]

So much for coming down soon. This forecast absolutely sucks: https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l...85c95a97985bb2

It's like 15 straight days of rain and cloudy skies.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Green Guy

So much for coming down soon. This forecast absolutely sucks: https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l...85c95a97985bb2

It's like 15 straight days of rain and cloudy skies.

While this year has been warmer than average and extremely wet, it's not like it rains all day, every day here usually. Today has been mostly listed as "showers," but the roads are drying out and some sun is peaking through. Still, it does rain a lot here.