Tell me about the Bristol area.

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

The wife and I have been looking at some property around that area to build a house and retire to in a few years. One 20+ acre lot we are looking at is just east of Bristol. Pretty near South Holston Lake and the intersection of Henson and Ranch Rd.

Is this a nice low crime area? Any restrictions on having your own shooting range?

[leroy]

Paul.... Good start here.... Check the whole thread out; it pretty well tells the story of upper east tennessee...

 

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/77478-planning-to-re-locate-to-the-johnson-city-area/?hl=leroy#entry1131658

 

leroy

[Raoul]

Lots of meth lab activity in NE TN these days.

[GKar]

Henson and VI Ranch Rd?  Thats in the Holston Valley area.  Pretty area, that is.  Haven't heard much RE any significant crime in those parts - will ask around tho.  I have relatives in other parts of Holston Valley (still Sullivan County) who do some shooting on their property, and have no issues with LEOs, etc.

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

Henson and VI Ranch Rd?  Thats in the Holston Valley area.  Pretty area, that is.  Haven't heard much RE any significant crime in those parts - will ask around tho.  I have relatives in other parts of Holston Valley (still Sullivan County) who do some shooting on their property, and have no issues with LEOs, etc.

Thanks for the info. Anything you can tell me would be a big help. Any local newspapers online there?

[Guest sigequinox]

City-data has a ton of stats in many many categories. They also have a foum for all the states. TN specifically has a subforum for the Tri-cities (which includes bristol). You can get a lot of local info perusing those pages.

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/kingsport-johnson-city-bristol/

[Parrothead]

Sullivan county is a good area. Lots of meth heads but they typically take care of themselves. Pharmacies are the only areas i am on "high alert/paranoid" because of frequent robberies. I've been here for the last 25 years and i can count the number of close calls on one hand. None of which were very serious. Just avoid the "outskirts" of Hawkins county.

 

As for the LEO's and shooting, most of the Sullivan county and Kingsport officers i have encounter have been very  gun friendly. In the county, i don't think you should have any problem shooting on your land with a proper backstop. The sheriff of Sullivan county is very accessible, especially right now during election time. Fire off a email asking for his opinion. I bet you will get a very timely response and it would be nice to have on hand in the future. Good Luck and let me know if i can help in any way.

[GKar]

Bristol Herald Courier:  http://www.tricities.com

 

Kingsport Times-News:  http://www.timesnews.net/

 

I actually find the Kingsport paper to be as helpful, if not moreso, on matters dealing with Sullivan County.  The Bristol paper tends to lend a lot of coverage to Southwest Virginia matters at the expense of the Tennessee side.  Gotta remember: Bristol is a city split by the state line, so we've got two of everything...police departments, municipal governments, EMS services, et al.  The Virginia side has a state income tax, but a lower sales tax rate (approx 5%, IIRC).  Tennessee side has no state income tax, but a higher sales tax (9.5%).  So - live and work in TN, buy in VA...

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

Bristol Herald Courier:  http://www.tricities.com
 
Kingsport Times-News:  http://www.timesnews.net/
 
I actually find the Kingsport paper to be as helpful, if not moreso, on matters dealing with Sullivan County.  The Bristol paper tends to lend a lot of coverage to Southwest Virginia matters at the expense of the Tennessee side.  Gotta remember: Bristol is a city split by the state line, so we've got two of everything...police departments, municipal governments, EMS services, et al.  The Virginia side has a state income tax, but a lower sales tax rate (approx 5%, IIRC).  Tennessee side has no state income tax, but a higher sales tax (9.5%).  So - live and work in TN, buy in VA...

The land we are looking at is in TN. We would also do the run for the border for shopping.

[Parrothead]

If you have Facebook, "like" WCYB, WJHL and Times News. You will get the daily run down without paying for a subscription. If you don't have facebook, get one and add these three pages. A light coat of aluminum foil over the monitor should protect you from the NSA

Edited May 1, 2014 by Parrothead

[GKar]

I've lived in Bristol for all of my 50+years.  I've hiked and hunted the hills and mountains around S Holston Lake quite a bit in that time, and consider this area to be quite safe - have only had 3 instances I would characterize as "uncomfortable":

 

 - a buddy and I ran upon a recently-operated moonshine still while squirrel hunting on Holston Mountain (about 40 yrs ago)

 - I was approached by two "wild" dogs while hiking on the mountain last year. 

 - about three years ago, I was caught in traffic on an interstate off-ramp about 30 miles up the road one morning (near Chilhowie, VA), and a ragged fellar was waving a "Will work for food" sign around like a wild man, trying to get me to look at him and engage in conversation.  A motion to my extreme right caught my eye, and I turned and saw another "straggler" with his hand extended just about to grab the RR door handle.  Mr Springfield and I persuaded him that to do so might not be in his best interest, and that he should instead visit the nearest dry cleaner.

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

Mr Springfield and I persuaded him that to do so might not be in his best interest, and that he should instead visit the nearest dry cleaner.

A .45 will do that to people.

[peejman]

Sullivan county is a good area. Lots of meth heads but they typically take care of themselves. Pharmacies are the only areas i am on "high alert/paranoid" because of frequent robberies. I've been here for the last 25 years and i can count the number of close calls on one hand. None of which were very serious. Just avoid the "outskirts" of Hawkins county.

 

 

:lol:

 

 

I lived in Church Hill and worked in Rogersville for about 7 years.  Got friends that have lived in Bristol for at least 10 years.  Looking at the map, they're only a couple miles from where you're looking on Trammel Rd.  Its a beautiful area, we loved living there and would go back if we could.  We always laughed and said the Hawkins County motto was ... "Hey, at least we're not Hancock County."

 

I used to ride my motorcycle all over the place around there.  I will freely admit that you don't have to get far off the beaten path to encounter some strange things. 

 

As with most of the other threads regarding shooting on your own property... you'll have more issues with noise complaints from neighbors than anything else. 

[Troutburger]

The pollen is so bad this time of year in Bristol. The druggies are trying to turn their meth back into Sudafed....

 

You will be close to Cabelas, bass pro, trout fishing in the So Ho river, bass/walleye on the lake...all in all not a bad place to be.

[Tncobra]

I loved Bristol until I moved to the Knoxville area.

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

The pollen is so bad this time of year in Bristol. The druggies are trying to turn their meth back into Sudafed....
 
You will be close to Cabelas, bass pro, trout fishing in the So Ho river, bass/walleye on the lake...all in all not a bad place to be.

Same up here. In a day my black truck looks green/yellow.

[Guest sigequinox]

Make sure the county isn't "dry". That can get annoying if it's rural area

[Troutburger]

sullivan county is not dry. they tried it back in the 20's was a huge fail. see most of us hillbillies can make our own..,

[OH UNCLE PAUL]

sullivan county is not dry. they tried it back in the 20's was a huge fail. see most of us hillbillies can make our own..,

Teach me my master.