I have considered the area around Murfreesboro more than once.I like that town and the college vibe, and I like being between Nashville and Huntsville.
So, how’s the internet speeds out in rural TN? I’ve seen some counties there have fiber optic, gigabit Internet??? I’m literally 60 miles west of Chicago, with 4mbps down and less that 1mbps upload speeds on a good day, with no faster options. That right there is enough to get me packing my bags!
What G said.
I am also in Roane County, just south of the I40/I75 split near Lenoir City. We moved here from the Aiken/Augusta area. While the horse scene in E TN is nothing like that in Aiken, the weather is MUCH nicer, with less humidity, heat and bugs. There are four seasons and the mountains are beautiful. We live literally minutes from large shopping centers (not just WalMart or Dollar General), good restaurants, entertainment and other amenities but still feel like we are out in the country. My only complaint is there is not a lot of flat land in the Valley and Ridge area. We have a lot of water near Knoxville - rivers/lakes - and any real estate near or on the water is pricey. Besides the UT Vet School (which has a field service that will come to my place), there are other good vets in the area as well as a few equine chiropractors, an acupuncturist, massage therapist, lots of farriers and a few natural hoofcare trimmers. There aren’t many tack stores - AgriFeed in Farragut carries some English tack, TSC and the Co-ops have barn supplies and very basic tack. There are other tack repair/retail places but they are small, few and far-flung. I have found an excellent local hay source - beautiful, leafy orchard grass. This person grows hay mainly for their own horses and sells excess to a few people. There is also a FB group called Tennessee Hay Connection where you can find some good hay, but I would definitely say see the hay before buying. Some years the weather just doesn’t cooperate, and the first cutting may be overmature/stemmy because they couldn’t get the hay cut because of rain. Second cut can be limited or doesn’t happened because it may be too dry. Hay from farmers that don’t keep up their fields will have more weeds/foxtail, especially in later summer cuttings. Last year the farmer I buy from had 3 cuttings of nice hay, a great year. The year before, there was only one decent cutting because of the dry spell G talked about (remember hearing about the fires in Gatlinburg?). My pastures were dust and much of the cool season grass took a hit. If needed, you can send hay or soil samples off to the extension service lab to do analyses, and you can borrow a hay drill from them to get your hay samples. When we moved here, I had the Extension Field agent come out to walk the property with me. He identified different vegetation and weeds, made recommendations on controls, best pasture grasses for the area, etc. They are an excellent resource and are happy to help, at least in our county. If you want to seed your pastures, the Soil Conservation Service has seed drills you can rent for a nominal fee. The Co-ops can spread lime in your pastures with their 10-ton capacity trucks if there is access to the pastures and slopes aren’t too steep. They also provide bulk fertilizers per soil analyses recommendations.
The number of dressage riders in the area has grown, and there have been more clinics and shows. The local Crossroads Dressage and Combined Training Society (see FB group under that name) has expanded and is also inclusive of the small group of eventers in the area. Huntseat, Western disciplines and Endurance are also represented. There are tons of trails for riding.
There are lots of “rural” areas within spitting distance of Knoxville where land is still affordable like Roane and Blount Counties, Loudon, Sweetwater, Clinton, Corryton, Blaine to name a few. You will find old single/doublewides next to million dollar homes. Crossville is a nice, small town, and we know people who love it there also. In winter, it snows/ices more on the Plateau and getting down Walden Ridge from Cookeville and Crab Orchard to Knoxville can be tricky at times. Cookeville is definitely a college town (TN Tech) but a lot of the students head home on weekends and during the summer. It is almost equidistance from Nashville and Knoxville with not a lot in between. In the smaller towns people tend to be conservative and will know that “you are not from around here”, but most are welcoming.
ETA, I have high speed internet via ATT fiber optic, but I am on U.S. Hwy 70 where a main line runs. Other areas further off the highways on the small roads may not have as good service. My cell reception is also good as I am on a ridge with a cell tower nearby.
I love all this great advice. There are so many differences. I think my mind has actually been blown by the idea of not feeding hay year around. Just can’t wrap my mind around such a utopia, lol.
Where I live it’s flat, flat, flat. The prevailing winds are out of the west, and there’s not much between us and Iowa than a sea of corn and beans. In TN with the hills and valleys, how do people orient their barns? And I’ve seen lots and lots of barbed wire cattle fencing. Is it generally too rocky for wood posts? How about termites? I don’t think I’ve ever even seen one around here, so no idea what to beware of in the pest category.
How about vegetable gardens? When do y’all get your first ripe tomatoes of the season?
Our summer winds typically come off the gulf, lending very well to a lot of humidity. Winter time can bring winds from SW or NW. My barn sits according to how the land let it sit, which means the back of the barn faces due south. That also means the SW corner of the barn is blistering hot by the end of a summer day.
We bought bare property. It was a 25 acre parcel of an old farm and was completely perimeter fenced with 4" woven wire. That suited me just fine as my cross-fencing cost 11K, including all those big tractor gates and four-foot gates I insisted on — never under gate yourself, that’s what they make big chains and locks for:)
There are some areas so rocky that one can’t put any posts in. The road up on the ridge, behind me has a couple farms that are so rocky, , the fence is haphazardly nailed to trees. We are very fortunate on this side of the ridge to have really good farm land.
termites -blech! Yes. We have a pest control service for just the house because my high blood pressure puts me at risk for Black Widow bites. They have also installed termite stations and check those quarterly. RE the Black Widows – I look for them at the barn and wear gloves but I don’t want them moving into my shoes in the house:). We also have Brown Recluse.
We had a hard frost last night and some trees are already leafing out:(. It is advised to not plant gardens until after April 15th and then start with underground things, like early onions.
^^^Keep in mind, I’m down in Bedford County, so the farm & garden playing rules may be a little different near or on the Plateau:)
Also, while I have 25 acres of lush rolling and perfect pasture, I buy 330 bales of hay yearly for two horses. One is seriously insulin resistance, the other a very easy keeper which means shortened grazing time on all that glorious green. Plus my area was in an exceptional drought between 2007-2009 and my pasture was so dry, the ground cracked, some weeds were even dying off and I did not think it would ever recover. It did but I don’t take chances. If I end up with too much hay at the end of a season, I happily donate it to my neighbor for his calves:)
:eek: What is it about high BP that puts you at risk for black widows? My hubby has high blood pressure. Do people get bit by them often? We have brown recluse too, but I guess they’re, um, reclusive, because I’ve never seen one.
I went to college in Cookeville and LOVED living there. I felt it was perfectly located for easy access to Nashville and Knoxville without the high cost of living that those cities and their suburbs have. I’ve lived/worked in all three locations, and Cookeville was BY FAR my favorite. I can’t stress enough how beautiful (and CHEAP!) it is there. You can even be in Lexington, KY in 4 hours or less from most parts of the Cookeville area!
I have a dear friend who owns a barn in the area and has lived there her whole life. If you PM me, I’d be happy to pass along her contact information; she will have more current information on farriers, etc. than I will.
I believe there are couple local vets who can handle shots, wound care, colic triage, etc. For anything more complicated or serious, you’ll need to be prepared to haul. UT Knoxville is the most affordable option. TN Equine is another, as is Dr. Mark Wooten (a true lameness guru!) at The Jaeckle Center. For the seriously complicated cases, as I mentioned above, you’re not so far from Lexington that a haul to Rood & Riddle or Hagyard’s is out of the question.
Really good hay can be tricky to find, but it’s not impossible. Make friends with a local farmer, and you may find that you can get a GREAT deal on reasonably good (but not “rocket fuel”) hay.
I also have a friend who owns a feed store in Cookeville, and I think he might be carrying Triple Crown now. I can check with him, if you’d like. Otherwise, I used to make the drive to Bonnie’s Barnyard when I lived there, and it really wasn’t bad; I only went about once a month.
It is my understanding the poison from a Black Widow bite can elevate heart rate and elevate blood pressure. Mine stays at a "high/normal most of the time and it took three tries before finding a medicine that does this good.
I rarely see them in the barn but their very favorites place to lay their egg pods is underneath the 50# salt block holders that are beside the water stations outside. Each of my horses has two water stations, if I notice them drinking but not eating salt from the block near that tub, I flip the salt holder over and sure enough I find one or two big fat pods full of black widow kids; sometimes the mom is there sometimes she isn’t, either way everything gets destroyed. I keep a can of brake cleaner in the barn as it immobilizes them faster than any insect spray. Hair spray works too:)
Lmost forgot – never kill the Blue wasps— they are allegedly the only thing that can kill a black widow. Last year I had a nest of Blue wasps in the barn and I only saw a couple black widows, the least I have ever seen. Blue wasps (Mud Daubers) are not aggressive toward humans, at least the ones in my barn weren’t. I hope they come back:)
GULP, off to Google black widow pods. 
And maybe buy some brake cleaner. :eek:
you get used to looking for them. I lived in SoCal for five years, where Black Widows have a heavy presence. I will never un-see the big fat belly of one staring up at my face that was about ten inches away, when I pulled the cap off the pool filter to clean leaves out, I screamed and must have heaved that lid 30 feet behind me, lollollol.
That was in 1998. I left SoCal five years later to retire in Middle Tennessee and had grown very used to just keeping an eye out for them and paying attention to where I put my hands — gloves or no gloves, lollol
dont tell this to DH but I worry about him more than you because men don’t listen to anything we say, until it bites them in the awrse — even if “it” is a wrench, lollol
Black widows live under the salt block feeder and I leave them alone. Why kill them? They aren’t aggressive at all.
High speed internet is feast or famine in rural TN.
If you are within the city limits of a sizable town or directly along a major thoroughfare, you will likely be able to get reliable high speed internet.
In the rural areas off the highways, you will probably be limited to satellite.
At my farm I left last year, we were in the middle of nowhere, but along a major country highway. We had 105mbps Xfinity (Comcast). My neighbor whose farm bordered ours, but whose driveway was off a side road, had no options but satellite.
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You folks have been so helpful! Thank you all. We are ready to start looking at properties, so if you have recommendations for a realtor familiar with farms or horse property, send them my way. :yes:
OP, glad you are finding good help. I am yet another E TN rural resident. I think the people who are happiest retiring from another part of the country to TN are people who have a tight budget for their interests. Of course, because life is cheap here, you will also not have the same access to services that you might find in another part of the country.
Re: hay. Orchard grass is common, although quality can be variable. It is also possible to acquire coastal (bermuda), which some prefer for lower NSC. If you have good pasture, you may need to plan on having dry lots or a pasture paradise set up to prevent problems.
When we moved here from NC 10 years ago, I recall a Knox area real estate agent asking whether I thought horse properties could have barbed wire on them. She noted that she had two kinds of horsey-buyers: Those who were fine with barbed wire and those who were not, and that there were very few of the latter properties for sale.
If you decide to buy raw property and build your own farm, I suggest careful research around: flooding, neighbors, mineral/mining rights, RR rights, internet/cell service, deeds affecting road access.
I’m hoping to open this discussion up again.
I’m going to retire in the next two years and would like to buy property or a farm now. I live on a farm in Northern Illinois (inherited but didn’t grow up here) and I absolutely hate the cold wind. Another poster mentioned no wind break between them and Iowa, that’s me. I’m not a big fan of snow, but I think the drifting makes it miserable. I don’t remember snow being so impossible when I lived in CT. At my farm now it’s not unusual to have a snow drift up to the top of my 4 board fence! I’ve planted literally a hundred trees and it’s still windy.
I’ll have a rather small pension and some income from the farm here but I don’t have a dear husband so I need to be careful with money. I’ll be bringing 2 horses, 2 donkeys (the fates willing) and some poultry.
I’m terrified of tornadoes. We’ve had terrible tornadoes withing a few miles of my farm. A few years ago the entire community (they used school buses) went out and picked up the debris from demolished barns and houses so the farmers could plant in the Spring.
I love trees and mountains. Access to a decent large animal vet, and a farrier are of course important but my horses have no special needs. I drive over an hour to get to a large animal clinic now so that distance is not a problem.
I’ve done dressage and eventing at a relatively high level (third level and prelim) but right now I trail ride (broke my neck) and that’s fine. My dream is to ride out of my barn for an hour of trails and or dirt roads.
So I’ve been looking online and am totally confused! I’ve found many properties on Realtor . com but I just don’t know what I’m looking at. I’d like to go down this summer and maybe talk to a realtor, or just drive around and get a lay of the land.
I’ve read all these posts and have looked online in those areas mentioned and plan on visiting them.
How do you figure things out just “visiting”? Do you find a realtor before going down?
Are there areas to avoid? To those that have relocated how did you find your perfect spot? Should I move down and board before buying?
I feel so lost in this process. I’m very self reliant and hate not being able to figure this out!
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If you are looking for great trail riding, Big South Fork in Jamestown, Fentress County, TN is awesome for it. The park itself has over 200 miles of trails, plus there are also some private areas to ride in that are available by purchasing in certain developments or by paying for a pass. Oneida is just across the Gorge in Scott County, and real estate there is a little less expensive than Fentress County. Scott County has the horse developments, so your neighbors there would be horse oriented and able to help you in case of an emergency, etc. I don’t recommend crossing the Gorge with a horse trailer, although there are people who do it. There is a round about way to go to get to trails, but it would be longer than if you lived in Fentress County.
The Big South Fork area has a few Facebook pages with local information on them and some of the realtors advertise there as well. Extensive veterinary care is available about an hour and a half away at UT Knoxville. There are vet clinics with both small and large animal care available locally, but for bigger needs you would have to haul out.
As far as weather, TN has tornadoes. They are just a fact of life certain times of year. Because of this, we chose to buy a house with a basement. You can also find homes with storm shelters. We have a weather radio that will wake the dead when it goes off, that can give you a little forewarning, but there are no guarantees. We also use the NOAA weather app, which is always loud. We had a tornado hit a mile from us this Spring and destroy at least 7 houses and barns, and knock out power and cell service. But, because the tornado took out power lines and cell towers, after the initial warning we knew nothing.
Winter weather in Jamestown can have some snow, but usually not more than a few inches and it is gone in a couple of days. Many people ride all winter. I live off the Plateau, and have experienced winters that have some nights that drop below freezing and will freeze the water trough. Most days are above freezing.
We did contact a real estate agent before we came down to look, but were not super successful with him. I was very specific in what we wanted, and he did not seem to hear or understand what we wanted. We ended up searching Realtor.com, and coming up with a list of properties that we drove by. Out of those properties we found one that we thought was it. We then found a realtor to take us to see it. Because she was local, we had her show us similar properties in the same area, and then made our choice.
My recommendation would be to come down for a week, drive around and see the area. Find an area that suits your needs, then find a realtor.
No matter what else you have going on, the idea of boarding and renting for a while before you buy to settle for the long haul would make the most sense.
Living there and boarding would give you connections to people, the region, the real plusses and minuses, the lay of the land and friends and horse opportunities.
What if for some reason you don’t like it after all, or find a more suitable place later?
Taking your time up front, before committing, seems a great idea.
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Thanks Bluey,
You make a lot of sense. Maybe I can spend a summer in the area with one of my horses and work remotely.
It was your idea, a very good one given what you posted.
Will see what others come up with, some advice from those that have been there or live there would sure help.
I posted a long reply, but it is still showing as unapproved for lord knows what reason!
