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Drinkthekoolaid, I would be in favor of much stricter gun laws in NC and I am a 7th generation North Carolinian. I think there are a lot of people here who feel the same way and I'm sure there are a lot who don't, too. That's what I am trying to say. It's very mixed in NC. We are trending Democratic here, though, and very likely to go more Democratic since the Republican's gerrymandered districts have been thrown out by the judge. We elected a Democratic governor and broke the Republican supermajority in 2018. It will be really interesting to see what the next election cycle brings. If you want more conservative gun laws look at Tennessee or South Carolina.
Jude24, I do like Boone a lot, but it does have some mild congestion during busy times like football games.
Keep in mind that, culturally, small towns and rural areas in WNC/ETN are going to be very different from what you are used to and even what you think you might be looking for. Maryville and Oak Ridge are fine.
You'll see the Confederate flag flying fairly often. Church is the center of social life, and many churches are conservative theologically and politically. Where I am, the Southern Baptist Convention dominates, though there are plenty of other denominations. If you're not religious (I'm a moderate, agnostic Republican), it is difficult to break into social circles.
Rural areas tend to be socially closed and populated with the same families for generations. Outsiders are often treated with suspicion and not particularly wanted.
I work for a very large employer that is not in the "religion business," but someone has a big Ten Commandments poster above her cube that eveyone can see. This kind of thing will be a shocker to a lot of folks from outside the area, even Republicans. I've worked in other "red" areas and this kind of thing wouldn't happen.
I've known a guy here on CD for years who was originally from up north and wanted to retire in WNC initially. That was off-budget for him. Oak Ridge has the government labs and associated defense contractors and is a nice white-collar community. He liked Johnson City, but there are issues here with our healthcare that gave him pause. He ended up liking Maryville a good bit, and it's very close to UT Medical Center, which brings me to my next point.
Mission Health recently sold themselves to Nashville based, for-profit CHS. My guess is that patient care will decline over time. A lot of the corporate and office jobs will likely be eliminated or sent to Nashville. That's likely going to be a huge loss for WNC economically.
The issue is no better over here on the other side of the mountains in the Tri-Cities. I can name off probably a dozen people I know personally who were referred out of area, often to UT Medical Center or other hospitals/specialists in Knoxville. A former colleague of mine has lupus and had a kidney transplant at UT Medical Center last year. A personal friend of mine was diagnosed with some sort of weird "behind the eye" cancer was sent to Emory in Atlanta. My ex-girlfriend also has lupus and had issues with her hip and had to have a hip replacement done at Vanderbilt. It goes on and on like that. I don't know anyone who has been sent to Asheville for treatment.
I can't rep you again but you've come up with some good points
Love this thread because I am looking for much of the same. I'm not interested with the politics except for what that does to taxes and such. Living in CA I am used to swimming in a pond of extreme left wing. The one difference I can see between what I want and the OP is that I want to be at a high enough elevation where summer highs are more like 80 than 90 or above, but not so high that winter is too intense. Loved parts of SW VA, but the places I liked best were too far removed from any metro area. Northern GA is similar in that sense. The whole area around Asheville is pretty idyllic as far as climate and such, but way too many people have discovered that and it has developed into an area that doesn't seem to fit my desires. I am hopeful that our next trip will include both Brevard NC and Jonesborough TN (and several places between them). I like the sound of both of those.
The more "urban" areas we have really liked:
Blacksburg VA
Chattanooga TN
Knoxville TN
Smaller areas we have really liked:
Boone NC
Gainesville GA
Henderson NC
Black Mountain NC
Lexington VA
Very small areas we really liked:
Floyd VA
Fancy Gap VA
Meadow of Dan VA
Damascus VA
All over N. GA (Helen, Dahlonega, Suches, etc.
If we had to choose right now, wife says it would be Boone, Blowing Rock area. I would not count out Blacksburg VA, But I have a feeling I am going to like Brevard a lot, and I really want to explore the areas
East of Johnson City at a little higher elevation. I really wish Meadows of Dan, VA were a little closer to some of the urban things that become necessities as we age.
Good post. I also am looking at reducing heat and humidity in the summer and if I can find it, I would prefer to be above 2000ft it seems like that is about the point many people say you can start to feel it getting less oppressive.
In my perfect world there is a town that has 4 seasons with a mostly mild winter occasional snow and a more moderate non sweltering summer. More days in the low to sub 90s with less humidity. Black mountain seems to have a decent climate.
...The one difference I can see between what I want and the OP is that I want to be at a high enough elevation where summer highs are more like 80 than 90 or above, but not so high that winter is too intense. ...
If you are really looking for Summer highs of ~80 ish, most areas of western NC will require elevation, eg a solid 3,000 ft elevation or higher.
Less than 3,000 down to ~2500 locations will see many days in mid to high 80s, and below 2500 to ~1800, will see several days in 90s and many in high 80s, from recent warmer year summers, in my experience.
I get your lack of enthusiasm for higher elevations vis a vis 'winter', but about 3,000 to 3,500 is a real 'sweet spot' at least on/around our mountain. In a north facing house site situ it will be slightly cooler in Summer, and colder in winter with vice versa for East/South house site.
'Winter' these past several years at that 3-3.5 thou elevation are not what anyone who has lived north of the equator would call real winters.
I also agree with your comment on politics: no one we know really cares, and we have many good friends from 30s to 80s that range from far, far right to very far left; we all get along, just avoiding too much discussion about politics c rap or religion, those 3rd rails.
We live at 4,800+ ft and our summers are decent, if a bit humid as much of western NC is a temperate rain forest to some extent. Our winters, when we were full time at our Mtn home back in the '01 through '05 years were serious a zz cold/snowy at our elevation, but even our full time neighbors have less winter these current years than the early 2000s produced.
We have many friends at that sweet spot of 3-3,500 ft and they enjoy less windy/harsh not too killer hot summers and less than frigid winters, fwiw.
And, I am not pitching our town/area; we are 'full'.
If you are really looking for Summer highs of ~80 ish, most areas of western NC will require elevation, eg a solid 3,000 ft elevation or higher.
Less than 3,000 down to ~2500 locations will see many days in mid to high 80s, and below 2500 to ~1800, will see several days in 90s and many in high 80s, from recent warmer year summers, in my experience.
I get your lack of enthusiasm for higher elevations vis a vis 'winter', but about 3,000 to 3,500 is a real 'sweet spot' at least on/around our mountain. In a north facing house site situ it will be slightly cooler in Summer, and colder in winter with vice versa for East/South house site.
'Winter' these past several years at that 3-3.5 thou elevation are not what anyone who has lived north of the equator would call real winters.
I also agree with your comment on politics: no one we know really cares, and we have many good friends from 30s to 80s that range from far, far right to very far left; we all get along, just avoiding too much discussion about politics c rap or religion, those 3rd rails.
We live at 4,800+ ft and our summers are decent, if a bit humid as much of western NC is a temperate rain forest to some extent. Our winters, when we were full time at our Mtn home back in the '01 through '05 years were serious a zz cold/snowy at our elevation, but even our full time neighbors have less winter these current years than the early 2000s produced.
We have many friends at that sweet spot of 3-3,500 ft and they enjoy less windy/harsh not too killer hot summers and less than frigid winters, fwiw.
And, I am not pitching our town/area; we are 'full'.
GL, mD
Thanks that sounds great. Maybe I should be paying more attention to elevation than I have been. The way you described 3000+ sounds like the perfect sweet spot for me. How much difference does it make if your house faces N S E or W?
Again, I get along with everyone (unless they're jerks) I'm fine having Democrat friends and neighbors. I'm looking to flee the crazy progressive policies of NY. I'm really easy going live and let live type.
Thanks that sounds great. Maybe I should be paying more attention to elevation than I have been. The way you described 3000+ sounds like the perfect sweet spot for me. How much difference does it make if your house faces N S E or W?
Again, I get along with everyone (unless they're jerks) I'm fine having Democrat friends and neighbors. I'm looking to flee the crazy progressive policies of NY. I'm really easy going live and let live type.
That is what I am finding also. I am looking at elevations around 3000. The places I listed that we liked were not necessarily places we would want to live due to things like elevation and population, just places we liked to visit. I don't think you get away from the humidity anywhere in the area, but at that elevation you can clip a little off the high temp side. I am concerned about the rainfall. We definitely want more rain, rivers, streams, lakes etc. than where we are in SoCal, but when I see annual rainfall totals almost twice that of Seattle, it makes me wonder what that is really like.
We get big, hard rains Jude24. In the winter we have Seattle-like drizzle if it doesn't snow, but in the summer we have big thunderstorms some of which are severe and they pretty regularly drop half an inch to an inch of rain, but a big one can drop 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 inches or even more. The record for 24hr rainfall in WNC is 20-something inches. That is pretty darn rare, though, but 1 or 2 inches is not uncommon at all and I'm sure occurs multiple times each summer. The summer thunderstorms more typically occur in the afternoon or evening. Tropical storms can come up from the Gulf or Atlantic and dump a bunch of rain too. Parts of Transylvania County (where Brevard is) are considered a temperate rain forest though not as much rain as Olympic NP. All the rain feeds some great waterfalls, too.
Here's a video of a May thunderstorm in Boone with hail. I think we might've been at our mountain house then. Definitely have seen a few summer hailstorms there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEFs7Thxg6Y
And there's a fair amount of flooding in the mountains too. Boone Mall parking lot always always floods.
DTK, I think it makes a big difference if your house is on the north or east side of the mountain or the west or south side. If I had my druthers I'd pick the west or south side, but I like sun. That said, we have a family home in Boone that is down in a holler with a creek running right by it and it's pretty sweet too.
And yes, you wanna be up above 3000 feet for cooler temps in the summer and the winter. Compare Boone or Blowing Rock temps to Asheville temps. Boone and Blowing Rock are around 3333ft and Asheville is around 2100 feet. You can really tell a difference in the summer.
That is what I am finding also. I am looking at elevations around 3000. The places I listed that we liked were not necessarily places we would want to live due to things like elevation and population, just places we liked to visit. I don't think you get away from the humidity anywhere in the area, but at that elevation you can clip a little off the high temp side. I am concerned about the rainfall. We definitely want more rain, rivers, streams, lakes etc. than where we are in SoCal, but when I see annual rainfall totals almost twice that of Seattle, it makes me wonder what that is really like.
As far as the rainfall, it depends where you live in WNC. Areas like Brevard and parts of Hendersonville get much more rain than say Asheville. As mentioned, they are located in the temperate rain forest. It's not that it rains all day either. It maybe a few hours of heavy rain and then usually clears up. There is a decent amount of rain here though and it keeps everything very lush.
But even Asheville (the driest area in the state) gets about as much rain as Seattle. Seattle really doesn't get that much total rainfall compared to anywhere in the Southeast. It just rains frequently there so they have more rainy days, but less overall rain. Other parts of the PNW like Olympic National Park average well over 100 inches per year. There were places in NC in 2018 that had over 100 inches of rain, but it usually takes an event like like Hurricane Florence to bring that much rain. In 2018 tons of records were broken due to Hurricane Michael and especially Hurricane Florence, but it was a very wet year overall. https://wlos.com/news/local/rainfall...all-across-wnc
I'm becoming very intrigued with east TN and western NC.
Ideally I would like to move my family to somewhere in this great and beautiful region.
I know the 2 states each have pros/cons but I'm looking for more information to help make a decision on where to keep focusing and concentrating my efforts on.
I imagine many of you fine folks have a lot of knowledge and experience on the good and bad of WNC compared to ETN.
What are your thoughts? What are advantages to living in one location over the other?
Thanks for the help.
I am curious as to why you are intrigued with east TN and western NC. Is it the topography, climate, isolation etc. ? My strong preference as a visitor is Asheville.
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