Best place to live in TN?

[Guest superslacker]

My wife and I are planning on moving away from the Memphis area when we both graduate from school in a couple of years, and we would like to stay in TN. She wants to be within an hour or so from someplace to shop, such as a good size mall, and I would like it to be within an hour or two of a large body of water (lake, not pond). I'm not particularly fond of large cities or their suburbs. Nice scenery is important. Where would you go if you could live anywhere in Tennessee that you wanted?

[Guest gcrookston]

We moved up here last year and are doing the big search as well. We've narrowed it down to Middle Tennessee. Beyond that, my wife's office is in Franklin and I work out of the house (well, actually, I work the states of TN and KY). We are looking to be within 30 minutes of her office.... lots of rolling pastures and hills. We presently live in Murfreesboro, but Rutherford county is growing. We want to find a cross roads that a strip mall won't find for at least 80 years... Bell Buckle, War Trace, south of 96 and 840...

[Guest Len]

Nashville is by far the best big city in the state, so for me it has to be middle TN. However, your preferences would seem to rule that out, although Nash has the best shopping in the state. Sounds to me like you'd like the East TN area the best. Lots of open country, pretty scenery (mountains and such), some water, and enough population in the tri-cities area to ensure decent shopping. Lots of East TN folks on here to give you more details.

[nightrunner]

i like it just where i am, manchester. 1 hr from nashville, about 30-45min. from murfreesboro.

great scenery, love the view of the mountains.

there is woods reservior(15min. from me), timsford lake(30min. max) very close, and tn river/nickajack lake about 1.5hrs.

[Guest jth_3s]

Smithville is great. We're right on Center Hill lake with lots of scenery and we're and we're only hour from nashville

[PackinMama]

Cocke County in East TN! The taxes are very low, and land and homes are still reasonably priced. It's an hour east of Knoxville (two big malls there) and an hour west of tri-cities. I'm 15 minutes from either Douglas or Cherokee Lakes and 45 minutes away from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Just stay out of Newport....you don't want to live there! I'm actually about halfway between Newport and Morristown.....I can be in either town in 15 minutes. Morristown is a very nice town....two hospitals, a nice community college, and even a small mall. I do most of my shopping and business in Morristown. I've lived here 14 years and love it!

[Smith]

You will find anything away from the Memphis area will be quite a few notches up (I lived there for 16 yrs.)! I really like Nashville. You have everything you want and can get rural real quick.

[clipslinger]

ridgetop, or greenbriar. 25 minutes from down town nashville, 20 minutes from springfield. Low property taxes davidson county sucks dude for taxes. Crime is almost nil excellent schools and still considered country.

[Guest nraforlife]

Around Knoxville is nice, Lenior City/Farragut area. Your going to find vermin everywhere nowadays so you just have to look closely at the area and its surroundings.

[enfield]

McMinn County (where I happen to be). Shopping in Knoxville/Cleveland/Chattanooga - all within an hour. Watts Bar is 20 minutes west, Tellico, Ft. Loudon Lakes are 30 min. NE. Less than an hour to the Smokies. Monroe County is also a good choice. Where I live most of my neighbors are cows.

[Mike.357]

you don't want to live anywhere near east Tennessee. Way too crowded, the air is polluted, vacationers all year long, nope East TN would be a bad choice.

.

[molonlabetn]

If I had my pick, I'd stake out a plot somewhere in the hills of E. Tn...

[Ricochet]

McMinn County (where I happen to be). Shopping in Knoxville/Cleveland/Chattanooga - all within an hour. Watts Bar is 20 minutes west, Tellico, Ft. Loudon Lakes are 30 min. NE. Less than an hour to the Smokies. Monroe County is also a good choice. Where I live most of my neighbors are cows.

What enfield said! I live in McMinn Co and as far as size it is great, there are small towns close by, Cleveland, Athens, Niota (blink and you miss it) Decatur (another blink) but I can be in Knoxville or Chattanooga in about the same amount of time, 45 minutes to an hour according to traffic. I prefer Knoxville, don't like Chattanooga at all but that is my preference.

Lots on the East TN side.

[Guest nraforlife]

Changed my mind, the best place to live in East TN is anywhere you can go without running into a bunch of frickin illegal aliens. And when you find it let me know so I can move there.

[Guest GLOCKGUY]

Dayton is a nice places to live

[Mike.357]

running into a bunch of frickin illegal aliens.

That rules out greater Knoxville and the Morristown area.

[Guest grimel]

From Knoxville the top 5 rockfish lakes are less than 2hrs. Dale Hollow is less than 3, 2 of the top 100 trout rivers/streams are less than 45min. Then we have have more public hunting land than anyone else. Great roads for riding a motorcycle, good shopping, and most importantly, it ain't Memphis or Nashville!

[Guest eyebedam]

I really like Mt.Juliet. Its just East of Nashville in Wilson County. Its the city between the lakes.

[NuTcAsE]

you don't want to live anywhere near east Tennessee. Way too crowded, the air is polluted, vacationers all year long, nope East TN would be a bad choice.

.

That rules out greater Knoxville and the Morristown area.

Tri-Cities too, Eastman chugs out all kinds of pollution, mexicans everywhere. They're starting to integrate into the culture up here, inbreeding, distilling illegal Tequilla, watchin' nascar. It's VERY bad on this end.

[Shug]

I also live in McMinn Co.{the outher side} We also have white water rafting, Pretty fair trout fishing nearby. Its about 35 miles to NC and 32 to Ga. Got mountains and National forrest nearby. Like enfield said an hour south Chattanooga, an hour north Knoxville. About two and a half to Atalana, and three to Nashville. Lots of open country

[Guest clownsdd]

I'm going to surprise people.

I like Memphis. I call it the biggest little town in TN. Have owned a home in Parkway Village for close to 40yrs, before that was in Whitehaven. Had land in MS, other parts of TN suitable to build on and quite capable of affording it, but just did not want to move. Wife and I walk, bicycle ride the neighborhood with no problems. Sure, Memphis has it's problems, just like any other city, but mostly it's the politicians pitting the people against each other. I know my neighbors, they know me. We watch out for each other. You have got to get involved and just not complain about the problems.

JMHO

[Daniel]

I live in Franklin but home will always be East Tennessee.

[Mike.357]

Nutcase has it figured out too.

I say that if I did not live here already I would never come here again.

Nope, no sir-ee. Don't want no part of it

Take my advice and stay away from east TN. No reason for one more person to come here.

[Guest AeroEngrSoftDevMBA]

I'm going to surprise people.

I like Memphis.

I'm with you man. I like Memphis too. I live in midtown and it's great. I spend next to nothing on gas / car maintenance and I spend very little of my life in the car. Of course, if I had more money I'd go back to living in downtown Seattle, but since I'm back here in the south, midtown it is.

[Marswolf]

I've always liked everywhere I've lived. Hell, I've liked everywhere I visited, including some hell-holes. I just get into local cultures and enjoy them. Plus I'm not smart enough to be afraid. Sounds like we have some more people on this board like that.

But I've always ended up moving back to East-Tennessee. But as others have mentioned...I don't recommend anyone else to move here.