My partner and I are currently in CA, but will be moving to NE TN in June, we're thinking around the Johnson City, Bristol area, perhaps in Unicoi or Erwin? Is anyone here familiar with that area, know of any homesteads for sale, or any other helpful info? We would be willing to buy now if the right place came available. I am also interested in finding out if there is a food buying co-op within 75 miles or so. Also, want to find out if pecan and peach trees can be grown there. Its a pretty high elevation in those Appalachian Mtns! Thanks for any help! Sam

-- Sam McFarland (sammc0@yahoo.com), December 02, 2001

Answers

Sam- I have been interested in the east tn area as well. A couple of real estate sites for the area are http://www.nbizz.com/h- m_realestate/ and http://www.easttnrealestate.com/ The second one also gives info on the various counties in the area. Good luck with your search. Jack

-- jack (atl.jack@excite.com), December 03, 2001.

I live in north Alabama and the main thing here is that they are trying to put so many zoning rules and regulations on so many places...so make sure you watch out for that. we'll welcome you to the deep south!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), December 03, 2001.

Sammy I just privately e-mailed you with a person in East Tennessee that has an organic orchard farm for sale in a small town just below Kingsport area.

Good luck, I'd do it if I didn't have to stay put a few more years. The countryside is fantastic and the people are nice.

AngieM2 (in North Alabama)

-- AngieM21 (ameininger@hotmail.com), December 03, 2001.

Sam, watch out for those East TN hillbillies. I married one so I know what I'm talking about;) JUst kidding!! We lived in his hometown for about a year before moving to middle TN. We lived about 10 miles south of the Cumberland Gap. It was really nice! As with any place some of the people treated me like an outsider and others welcomed me with open arms. Movin from CA are you sure you can handle the weather (cold and wet) of the Appalachian Mountains?? We are in KY now but hope to get back to middle TN soon. Good luck with your move!!

-- Lou Ann in KY (homes_cool@msn.com), December 03, 2001.

Sam, I live about a half hour west of Knoxville in Kingston, and looked at properties in Johnson City, White Pine (where I have friends) and Dandridge, but it wasn't meant to be as we ended up here in my wife's grandparents place.

Personally, I like the White Pine / Dandridge area better than Johnson City, but that's just me.

www.knoxnews.com is the Knoxville News Sentinel, may be of some help.

-- Eric in TN (eric_m_stone@yahoo.com), December 03, 2001.

Thanks Jack and Eric for the websites. I have bookmarked both of them. Angie, I did NOT get the email you referred to, with the owners name, and I have tried emailing you privately, but they keep coming back to me undelivered. Can you please send it to me, when you get time? That area is exactly where we've been looking, and I would be very interested in an organic orchard. I grew up in AL, and have lived 15 years in OH, so I am used to the cold and wet, heat and drought, all of it. I've done a lot of camping and hiking in TN, and just love it there. We want to live in a moutainous area, with a definite 4 seasons, and we want to live in an area that will be 'kind' to the bluegrass and old time music we play. TN definitely fits the bill on that score, and is exactly halfway between my family in AL and OH. So, yes, we're ready. Thanks, Sam

-- Sam McFarland (sammc0@yahoo.com), December 03, 2001.

Sam - there is a glitch going on with the hotmail account, and I prefer not to post my company's e-mail account. But Don don schwartz [donschwartz2002@yahoo.com] is the person with the orchard. I think he has it for $79,000. House, ponds, acreage. I think about 30 acres is I am remembering correctly. If you search the archives, he listed it here in a two or three line posting a few weeks ago.

AngieM2

Good Luck, - I'd love to know how it comes out.

-- AngieM2 (ameininger@hotmail.com), December 03, 2001.

Hey there Sam, I live about a half hour EAST of Knoxville (Hi Eric!), and yep you can grow peach trees here. Pretty sure on pecan trees too, although I just have peach. I have a cousin who lives here now, but she used to live around Kingsport and really liked it up there. There are also some beautiful places around Knoxville. You don't have to go out of the City too awfully far to be in the country. Knoxville has a great Symphony, lots of local stuff going on, the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!, I had to get that in, sorry Floridians :)), and the Smoky Mtn Park is not too far if you live on the East side. There are hundreds of hiking trails in the Park and in the Spring they have some great classes there also. Besides, the mountains are absolutely beautiful. If you're local and know the back roads and the less visited areas of the park, you can sidestep the tourists. As Eric said, Dandridge is really neat also. We're about a half hour from there. It's not too far off of interstate 40, so you'd have easy access west to Knoxville and if you go south east, Asheville is only about an hour or so away from there and the drive is beautiful. We live on top of a hill in the country and there is no zoning and the taxes are real low. Also as far as elevation, around here the highest mountains are in the park, so no one lives there. Most people live in the foot hills, with the park south of us bordering North Carolina. I can see the mountains of the park from atop my hill, but the farther north you go from where I live, the harder it will be to see them. The land gets a little more rolling, so where you buy would also depend on just how close you want to be to the mountains. There are some counties around here that are right at the foot of them, some are farther away and you can view them at a distance. We get all 4 seasons here, but the winters are really pretty mild. We get some snow, but it doesn't stay around long. The springs are gorgeous here, with the azaleas and dogwood blooming. Our gardening season is also long. It gets pretty hot, especially in August and into September, but we adjust. If you would like some phone numbers of real estate companies or any other info. please feel free to e-mail me. I think I've finally got my e-mail straight!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), December 03, 2001.

Hey, I lived in California for 2 years while my husband was in the Navy. I hated it. We lived in San Diego, the people were rude and I became a shut in. I couldn't wait to move. I am from West Tenn. I have lived in Virginia, CA and Florida. Weather wise, FL was the best, it was so hot in CA during the fires that we couldn't breath. Tenn. does get cold sometimes, this year it is mild. One big difference in Tenn is the price of housing. A house that cost $200,000 in CA cost about $50-65, K here. You could get a really nice house for $100-150 thousand here. I've been told by a cousin still living and raising kids in CA, that the schools here are better(more advanced) but he says here in TN all the companies want to know what degree you have, not actual work experience. We do see a lot of Tornado weather in the spring usually. Don't think that growing things would be a problem. I've been to Johnson city area and it seemed pretty nice.

-- Vanessa (tvhayes@aeneas.net), December 03, 2001.

Sam, I have lived in Johnson City my entire life so I am full of useful info as well as useless info. As far as peach trees and pecan trees go, peach trees will grow here but not very well. Every couple of years we will get a cold spell down to zero that will kill out almost all peach trees. As far as pecan trees go, I do not know of any around here. The tri-city area including Unicoi has become much more urbanized in the last ten years. We sit in a so to speak valley in the mountains. Much of the mountain land is owned by the federal government. The city "fathers" of Johnson City havepushed for so to speak progress in the last decade creating increased traffic and land pressure because we can't just spread out like other areas. I am sure our land prices look like bargains to Californians, but prices here are at least 2 to3 times prices in mid TN.

-- Don (bigjetta@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.