I have been told that east Tennesee is a good place to live. Is it better than west Tennessee, and if so why? What is the difference? I am wanting to relocate next spring and while I have not settled on a location, Tennessee and Arkansas are at the top of my list. Since I have never been in that part of the world, I need all the info I can get.
East Tennesse is mountainous. I like E. TN a lot. Had property in Fentress County years ago, but we may sell out and go back into TN somewhere.
Quote:I grew up in W. TN, it's hot, muggy, crime ridden (Memphis) and it's why we left. I now live in W. NC close to the east TN border. Much milder climate, beautiful mountains and we are in a small town which I like much better.
Like any place there are challenges and beauty in the surroundings. East TN has some fantastic scenery, care should be taken to make certain you don't buy on solid rock. That water is readily available. In SE TN land is quite a bit more expensive. Middle TN is about like was described for W. TN hot and humid but land is very inexpensive. We looked all over TN before we settled where we are now. What we paid for this place was joke compared to what land ran in other areas of TN. You get more land for the same amount as you spend in other areas.
i spent my first 6 years of life in W TN and have gone back pretty regularly since. i've spent a good portion of the other 21 years of my life in E TN (just south of Knoxville). i have to say, i really prefer E TN. the mountains are wonderful. they provide so much in the way of things to do. Knoxville is becoming a really vibrant, interesting city without being huge like Nashville or Memphis. i also really like that i can be at the beach in 6 hrs from here, for when i really need a break from farm life. there are some really wonderful schools around here if you have kids. there is also a really wonderful burgeoning local ag community. we've got 5 farmer's markets within 30 mins of us and there are lots of small farms doing interesting things. we've got a pretty active group of BYCers: we've gotten together for lunch and met up at several poultry shows/sales. W TN is just too rural for me. i like to live within an hour of a decent sized city but still be remote. i can have that here, where i didn't in W TN. the schools in the area i grew up in were pretty much hickville (my kindergarten had 16 students... for the whole school district) and that was one of the main reasons my parents moved us back here. i'm sure they are better now, and it depends on where you end up, but it wasn't right for us. of course, there is something to be said for fields as far as the eye can see...