Gordonsville, Tn. area

[Cruiser1021]

Hello All,

Getting ready for retirement and looking at possibly moving to the Gordonsville, Tn. area. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts about living around there.

Other than being a good area to ride, I really don't know anything.

 

Thanks in advance for feedback.

 

Cruiser

[cowpuc]

Hey Cruiser,, thinking @B2MOM and Dad lived not to far from where your talking about down yonder.. Maybe she will notice this and give ya some thoughts.. Never did live down there but do know that are a LOTS of great folks down there!!

CONGRATS on your upcoming retirement Cruise!! THAT is AWESOME!!

[meach]

It's a nice area of TN, I went to graduate school at Tenn. Tech. (in Cookeville) back in around 1980. It's mostly farming country, slower pace of life but fairly easy access to larger cities (Nashville being the closest but Knoxville, Chattanooga also not bad). Cookeville a typical college town with art/culture/sports related due to Univ. being there (around 10K students give or take). Also not far to Murfreesboro, another college town (around 20K). Upper middle TN has grown over the years due to Big South Fork federal area along KY/TN border.

 

Tons and tons of nice roads to ride. I cut up thru there from time to time going to different places in TN. (My family was from just south of Nashville, I grew up in Knoxville)

 

FYI - B2MOM lived (I think I read they sold their house) lived other side of Nashville closer to Memphis between Martin & Paris in Dresden, TN. I went to a gathering at their place few years ago.

 

Tons of outdoor stuff, several state parks not far, large reservoir south (Center Hill Lake) nearby or go north to Dale Hollow Lake. I used to take off with my college advisor at lunch and run down to Center Hill and get some fishing in before evening classes. He kept his boat at a marina there.

 

Typical to most small towns, people tend to be clannish, if you don't have family, local connection, etc. locally can be a challenge at times but TN people pretty friendly.

[Cruiser1021]

It's a nice area of TN, I went to graduate school at Tenn. Tech. (in Cookeville) back in around 1980. It's mostly farming country, slower pace of life but fairly easy access to larger cities (Nashville being the closest but Knoxville, Chattanooga also not bad). Cookeville a typical college town with art/culture/sports related due to Univ. being there (around 10K students give or take). Also not far to Murfreesboro, another college town (around 20K). Upper middle TN has grown over the years due to Big South Fork federal area along KY/TN border.

 

Tons and tons of nice roads to ride. I cut up thru there from time to time going to different places in TN. (My family was from just south of Nashville, I grew up in Knoxville)

 

FYI - B2MOM lived (I think I read they sold their house) lived other side of Nashville closer to Memphis between Martin & Paris in Dresden, TN. I went to a gathering at their place few years ago.

 

Tons of outdoor stuff, several state parks not far, large reservoir south (Center Hill Lake) nearby or go north to Dale Hollow Lake. I used to take off with my college advisor at lunch and run down to Center Hill and get some fishing in before evening classes. He kept his boat at a marina there.

 

 

Thanks meach. that's the kind of information I am looking for. Going down in two weeks to look at a couple properties we found on line. Sound like my kind of place being a slower pace. The only excitement I'll be looking for is when I fire the RSV up for some therapy.

 

Hey puc. Thanks for the well wishes. I wasn't sure it would ever get here.

 

Cruiser

[b2dad]

Hey Cruiser, Congrats on the retirement!! I was fortunate enough to do that last year. We actually lived in the NW corner of TN, whereas you are looking at the east side of Nashville. I think Monty may live not far from there. We sold our house last year and unfortunately the bike too. Husband has some health problems. You will probably like that area, far enough out that it could be a slower pace of life but close enough to the big cities if you need to visit them. Awesome riding is not far away, especially in the Smoky Mtns area. Let me know if you need any other info. Still have lots of family and friends around there. We travel full time and are currently staying in southern Alabama. Not sure for how much longer.

Take care and good luck with the move and your retirement status. Happy riding too!!

Patti

[b2dad]

Hey Puc...thanks for the mention! Always glad to help a fellow VR member. Hope you are doing well!

Patti

[bongobobny]

Can't tell you anything about the area but I did consider retiring in KY/TN but never got around to it. If you have the opportunity then by all means do so!!

[Cruiser1021]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. We are heading to Tn. later this week to spend a few days checking out the area and a few homes we found on line.

I will let all of you know how it turns out.

[alwrmcusn]

My fathers family was/is from the area. Baxter/Buffalo Valley/Silver Point/Carthage etc etc. Some nice roads to ride. Cookeville is large enough to have shopping and dining and small enough to avoid the masses. However a bit further east is nice also around the Crossville area. LOTS of retired folks and the slightly more famous roads (the Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway etc) are a bit closer.

[Venturous Randy]

If you are thinking about TN, may I suggest the NE corner of TN. The Tri-City area of Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol has a lot to offer. I like Johnson City better and it has a large Veterans center, ETSU, which is a medical collage and I think it is listed that we have about 360 places to eat. We are also very close to some of the greatest riding you can ride anywhere.

Randy

[frankd]

My wife and I moved to Manchester TN. last summer and love it here. Manchester is half way between Nashville and Chattanooga, and it's a town of about 10,000. We moved here from the Joliet, IL area, and the differences in the weather, the friendliness of the people, the great roads and mountains, the cost of living, and just about everything else is amazing. Here we have 3 man made lakes that are all about 75-100 ft. deep and loaded with fish. There are a few adjustments we had to make after we moved from the big metropolis----you end up ordering more things online because a lot of the stores we got used to aren't in the area. I didn't store the Venture this winter, the longest it sat was about 3 weeks, but this was a mild winter. Barb and I used to dance to country music up in Joliet about 25 years ago, but this became much less poplular and now you almost can't find a place to go dance. Down here, a lot of the senior citizen centers have dances every week. Some even have a pot luck dinner with them. Down here we dance several times a week and it's great exercise. The state sales tax is a little more than IL, (I know IN. is a bit lower), but the property tax on our house is about 1/5 what it was in IL. Gas is cheaper, but now it's up to $1.75 or so---it was down to 1.42 2 weeks ago. Religion is much stronger down here, but it is the Bible Belt. We went to an auction when we first came down, and before the auctioneer started, he asked every one to bow their heads for a prayer. Our daughter lives in Murfreesboro and things are a little more hectic there---a lot of traffic and the houses are a bit more expensive. Tennessee is one of the favorite places for retirement. Come on down and look around. If you want to get together and talk while you're down here, send me a message .

 

Frank

[Freebird]

Here is an interesting read about States with no State income tax. There are positives and negatives.

 

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-with-no-income-tax-better-or-worse-1.aspx

[Cruiser1021]

My wife and I moved to Manchester TN. last summer and love it here. Manchester is half way between Nashville and Chattanooga, and it's a town of about 10,000. We moved here from the Joliet, IL area, and the differences in the weather, the friendliness of the people, the great roads and mountains, the cost of living, and just about everything else is amazing. Here we have 3 man made lakes that are all about 75-100 ft. deep and loaded with fish. There are a few adjustments we had to make after we moved from the big metropolis----you end up ordering more things online because a lot of the stores we got used to aren't in the area. I didn't store the Venture this winter, the longest it sat was about 3 weeks, but this was a mild winter. Barb and I used to dance to country music up in Joliet about 25 years ago, but this became much less poplular and now you almost can't find a place to go dance. Down here, a lot of the senior citizen centers have dances every week. Some even have a pot luck dinner with them. Down here we dance several times a week and it's great exercise. The state sales tax is a little more than IL, (I know IN. is a bit lower), but the property tax on our house is about 1/5 what it was in IL. Gas is cheaper, but now it's up to $1.75 or so---it was down to 1.42 2 weeks ago. Religion is much stronger down here, but it is the Bible Belt. We went to an auction when we first came down, and before the auctioneer started, he asked every one to bow their heads for a prayer. Our daughter lives in Murfreesboro and things are a little more hectic there---a lot of traffic and the houses are a bit more expensive. Tennessee is one of the favorite places for retirement. Come on down and look around. If you want to get together and talk while you're down here, send me a message .

 

Frank

 

 

Thanks Frank. This is our first trip down to look around, but we may take you up on your offer at a later time. One of the properties we are looking at this weekend is outside McMinnville. That's not to far from you.

 

John

[Cruiser1021]

Here is an interesting read about States with no State income tax. There are positives and negatives.

 

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-with-no-income-tax-better-or-worse-1.aspx

 

 

Thanks for the link Freebird. It's good information as everything needs to be taken into account.

 

We have both always liked Tn. and talked several times about making it home. Our thinking is to do it soon or put it out of our minds.

 

John

[alwrmcusn]

If you are in the Rockwood/Crossville/Cleveland area give me a call for more info also.

[meach]

Thanks Frank. This is our first trip down to look around, but we may take you up on your offer at a later time. One of the properties we are looking at this weekend is outside McMinnville. That's not to far from you.

 

John

In case you're not very familiar with the geology of TN you can google it but, Nashville and surrounding area is in whats called the Nashville basin (part of Central Basin) surrounded by Highland Rim which tends to rise in elevation as you leave the basin. You can look at a topo/terrain map and see how the terrain is around the area you have an interest in. As you go east (and actually south as well) from McMinnville you go up on the Cumberland Plateau which tends to be cooler in summer and more snow, etc. in winter. Where Plateau meets lower terrain you have a lot of steep grades, rugged terrain. Due south of McMinnville is Beersheba Springs which is a nice summer cabin type of area, also nearby is Savage Gulf State Natural Area which is great for hiking, etc.

 

The three sections of TN (west,middle,and east) tend to be distinctly different. Nashville Basin as I recall is much like central KY with limestone rock near the surface which allows for mineral rich grasses thus a lot of horse country in central TN.

Edited March 15, 2016 by meach

[Daveand Barbie]

I bought 20 acres in NE Tennessee near Kingsport a few years ago and plan to build a nice cabin on it and then sell our place in Ohio. We are on the Holston River, about 10 miles upriver from Cherokee Lake.

 

Our plan is to be there for about 6 months and in the Deep South the other 6 months.

 

my doc told me that shoveling snow causes old people to have heart attacks, so I am following docs orders.