Retirement cities in Eastern TN (Knoxville, Chattanooga: home, tornadoes, living)

[Ray Paesano]

My wife and I are currently in our early sixties and looking to retire soon. We are looking for a relatively small town in eastern TN like Oak Ridge or Maryville, with adequate medical facilities, low to moderate cost of living, laid back life style and relatively free from severe weather i.e. mostly tornadoes and flooding.
We would also need opportunities to work part time with benefits, until we are eligible for Medicare @ 65. She has 17 years banking experience and I am still employed as a computer technician.
We currently live in Ft. Myers FL, desperately needing to escape 17 years of 7 to 9 months of unrelenting heat and humidity (still Feb. and already 81 degrees loaded with humidity and only getting worse), and seeking changes of seasons and scenary.
What can you recommend that may come close to filling these qualities?
Thank you!

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Ray Paesano

My wife and I are currently in our early sixties and looking to retire soon. We are looking for a relatively small town in eastern TN like Oak Ridge or Maryville, with adequate medical facilities, low to moderate cost of living, laid back life style and relatively free from severe weather i.e. mostly tornadoes and flooding.
We would also need opportunities to work part time with benefits, until we are eligible for Medicare @ 65. She has 17 years banking experience and I am still employed as a computer technician.
We currently live in Ft. Myers FL, desperately needing to escape 17 years of 7 to 9 months of unrelenting heat and humidity (still Feb. and already 81 degrees loaded with humidity and only getting worse), and seeking changes of seasons and scenary.
What can you recommend that may come close to filling these qualities?
Thank you!

I'm from the northeast and lived in Fort Myers for almost 10 years. I've lived in Knoxville for the past 7 and love it. I suspect that Oak Ridge and Maryville may fit the bill for you. Sounds like a recon mission is in order!

[Stone1]

My wife and I are from WI and have lived in Florida so we can relate to the humidity. We had a family member move to the Chattanooga area about 15 years ago so we have been to the area a few times. Our last visit we started exploring from Chattanooga to Knoxville for a retirement place to live, for some reason the wife and I really liked Maryville. To us there seemed to be good home options, it was close to tourist attractions and Knoxville was just minutes away for bigger city things to do.

From our summer visits to Chattanooga I can say you will still see some humid weather but not for the number of months you do in Florida. Our visits to the Knoxville area have been in the spring (April & May) so I can't say for sure if it is less humid then Chattanooga during the summer months but it just seems like it would be.

Hopefully you can take the time to head to TN and check the area out.

[DaveinMtAiry]

Johnson City has a big medial facility and may be worth a look. The surrounding area is nothing short of spectacular

[Ray Paesano]

I appreciate the feedback folks. Thanks!