Small-ish town with vibrant farming & music community? (Asheville, Boone: homes, college)

[Watchman57]

Originally Posted by GraceElizabeth

Hello there,

My partner and I (late 40's/early 50's no kids) currently live in Vermont where property taxes are absurdly high and the winters far too long. We both work from home so finding a job is not part of the agenda. We have visited many places in the US (used to live in Santa Cruz & Santa Barbara, CA) and have narrowed it down to your beautiful neck of the woods.

Here's a pretty detailed list of what we're looking/hoping for. We have been to Asheville, West Asheville, and Black Mountain. West Asheville was fun but a bit too much traffic noise. Black Mountain is cute but a bit too crafty/quilting/cutesie for our tastes (absolutely no judgement, just trying to be real about what we resonate with). Hendersonville also seemed like more of a retirement place and we're not quite there yet! Love Asheville to visit, but we're not city people so wouldn't want to live right there.

Thank you for helping us narrow down the field. We'll be visiting (if Covid allows) a few times before finding a place to rent, and eventually buy.

- House price around $250-$350k with 3-5 acres, hopefully some water, a view that doesn't include other houses, and plenty of gardening space (we are serious growers of fruits, veggies, and flowers on quite a bit scale).

- Near to a small town that attracts an eclectic and diverse mix of folks of all ages, leans less touristy, and has a vibrant local community of (organic) farmers, musicians, artists, and just down to earth folk who feel more inclusive than divisive, a few good restaurants (not chains), coffee shop, fun bar or two, farmer's market, and a great grocery store that has lots of organic options. Alternative health options would be great too (acupuncture, naturopaths, etc.)

- No Walmarts, MacDonalds, or big box stores is a big plus!

- Prefer somewhere that doesn't get too terribly hot in the summer, but it's 95 here today as I write this.

- Good air quality (allergies fine, but def. avoiding pollution).

If something jumps to mind or if I can answer any questions to help narrow it down, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Tried to send u info via direct message but appears not to have sent??? Here are a couple things to look at:http://www.secondhandnewsonline.com put these in google search wtoe swap shop or wecr swap shop here is Avery County newspaper http://www.averyjournal.com

[pitroad]

You mentioned you and partner both work from home. I would assume that means you need somewhat decent internet service. My son recently purchased a cabin outside Marion and getting decent internet service has been an issue.

[poppydog]

I'd take a good look at the Boone/High Country area. It's pretty vibrant with App State there. Good music scene, pretty good farm to table scene (see F.A.R.M. cafe, Wild Craft Eatery among others). It's not like the restaurant scene in Asheville, but it's a fun smaller town with other fun smaller towns around it. You could live somewhere like Todd if you want real small.

[GraceElizabeth]

Such fabulous info - thank you everyone!

Pitroad - good point - we definitely need good internet so that will help narrow things down a bit further.

Farm-to-table, local live music, farmer's markets, organic mindset (we're a bit fanatical about avoiding Glysophate) are what we have here and would love to find there. Pre-covid, every Thursday there would be a Farmer's Market in a big field, with live music, sculpture, local beer and cider, and a bonfire to finish it off. In the winter, we'd go to the local brewery each Thursday to hear local indoor live music and socialize. Things like that just make my heart sing. As does the idea of extending the growing season, just a little!

I literally just got my property tax bill and almost fainted.

Your feedback (everyone) has made me realize that I should narrow it down to 3 small towns that fit the bill and then search for properties within 10 mins of each to get a realistic idea. Then come visit.

So I have:
- Brevard
- Boone
- TBD

@Watchman57 - would love to hear more about why you moved and how it's going for you. We have very good friends in B-town whom we'll miss a lot.

Thanks again!

[poppydog]

Do check out Floyd VA. I think you might really like it.

I doubt if you will find anywhere in the mountains that there won't be someone somewhere using RoundUp except maybe Celo. I'm not a fan either, but it is pretty common. Asheville will have more organics in the surrounding areas, but outside of the city of Asheville proper, progressives mix with conservatives and organic farmers mix with conventional farmers.

[GraceElizabeth]

Poppydog,

Thank you for mentioning that. I looked before online and somehow forgot. Tell me why you recommend Floyd - would love to hear more. The pictures look stunning and the prices are cheaper, and it's not too far from Blacksburg, Roanake and Christianburg. Definitely going to look more deeply. So much going on for a small community: http://visitfloydva.com/explore/


Thank you!

[poppydog]

Floyd is a very crunchy granola musical place. Maybe like a mini Asheville, just 90% smaller. There's a groovy little free-range school there, a good organic scene, and the legendary Floyd Country Store jamborees.

[roadpony]

When looking at Boone, high speed internet is widely available from Spectrum (cable) and SkyBest (originated as the area telephone cooperative) throughout the region.

I live 10+ miles from Boone and 6 miles from downtown Banner Elk (albeit just off one of the major arteries) and have very reliable Spectrum high speed internet. Used to work from home and rarely have had even brief outages.

[Opt-Out]

Another vote for Burnsville. We've been here for 14+ years and share many of your interests. I don't know a lot about the live music / bar scene, but do know that the local brewery has a lot of that and are getting some pretty well-known acts (Steep Canyon Rangers coming in August). Kind of mind-blowing considering that this town was dry until about 8-10 year ago. Lot's of change is afoot.

I heard (or read) somewhere that Yancey County has the highest per-capita of artists in the nation. That would not surprise me - it seems that everyone we know does something artsy (including us).

Weather-wise we rarely get above 80 on the hottest days out in the woods on the mountain. You can fine-tune it a good bit based on your elevation. It gets hotter in town, but I don't think I've ever seen anything near 95. This South GA boy thought he'd gone to Heaven until that first winter. But our winters would be a cakewalk for Vermonters - LOL!

Our local cable provider (Country CableVision) has fiber service in most areas. I work from home sharing the same connection with 3 teenagers and a dozen+ devices without issue.

Real estate is comparatively affordable to the area. You would have a lot of choices with your price range and land-size needs, too.

Happy hunting,
Opt-Out

[GraceElizabeth]

Thanks Opt-Out (love that name!) and Road Pony. Great to know that internet shouldn't be a problem. And I like that Burnsville is a bit closer to Asheville for the sake of catching a flight somewhere (my partner has family in San Diego).

I have been completely sucked in to this forum, realtor.com, weatherspark and everything in-between and it's very helpful to read posts and opinions. It amused me no end to look at the weather comparison of where I live in VT vs. Burnsville and Floyd with January in VT described as FRIGID. It really is ridiculously cold for far too long here. The chance of feeling muggy seems high in Floyd and Brevard compared to Burnsville & Boone which is notable to me.

Boone, Brevard, Burnsville and Floyd now top my list.

Does anyone have any insight about which of the NC B's above would be more apt to have a little more open space for very small scale farming/large gardening, and also has more farmers (with views towards organic/soil health/diversity)?

Thank you so much!