Local knowledge - Knoxville TDOT
My daughter recently graduated from Clemson and just landed a job at the Knoxville TDOT (I40 Exit 398). Headed up there soon to scope out living options and was looking for someone with detailed know...
Forum Discussion
Knoxville is an atypical Southern city. The major influences are the University of Tennessee, Tennessee Valley Authority offices, Oak Ridge National Laboratory to the Northwest, Alcoa to the South, and local boat manufacturing of the East and South. The population in the Knoxville area does swell during the tourist season and on Tennessee game day. The Smoky Mountains are one of the most visited National Parks. Notice the y. :)
It does not have a significant downtown like you would typically find in other larger cities in the South. There is some activity with younger people around the University of Tennessee since it is a rather large student body of around 25,000 - 30,000. There is some residual impact of the Worlds Fair of '82. Even the history of the area is someone unique in that it was not clearly South or North during the Civil War or the period thereafter. If you read more about the history, it will become more clear. Sure, there are probably "tiny" pockets to avoid, but relative to other areas of the South, it is relatively crime free.
Where to live has more to do with what she intends to do in the time off. The problem with being in the sticks is that you have to go farther for any downtown activities. Obviously, buying acreage means that you are looking toward the outskirts of Knoxville. All of the lakes in the area have ample parking for boondocking. It is not a high population area so campgrounds are more limited.
Finally, keep in mind that you can easily travel 1 mile/minute on the interstates in the area except maybe on game day or during the most heavy rush hour days. The West area is generally more expensive to live and has the most traffic. The North and East areas are pretty rural. The area South of downtown toward Maryville is perhaps the very worst traffic since there are no interstates with prices being a little higher than North and East due to the compression due to no interstate travel. Unfortunately, the major airport is South of Knoxville.
There are a lot of lakes in the area but most draw down quite a bit during the Winter with the exception of the relatively shallow lakes of Melton Hill in the North West and Fort Loudon and Tellico in the South.
It does not have a significant downtown like you would typically find in other larger cities in the South. There is some activity with younger people around the University of Tennessee since it is a rather large student body of around 25,000 - 30,000. There is some residual impact of the Worlds Fair of '82. Even the history of the area is someone unique in that it was not clearly South or North during the Civil War or the period thereafter. If you read more about the history, it will become more clear. Sure, there are probably "tiny" pockets to avoid, but relative to other areas of the South, it is relatively crime free.
Where to live has more to do with what she intends to do in the time off. The problem with being in the sticks is that you have to go farther for any downtown activities. Obviously, buying acreage means that you are looking toward the outskirts of Knoxville. All of the lakes in the area have ample parking for boondocking. It is not a high population area so campgrounds are more limited.
Finally, keep in mind that you can easily travel 1 mile/minute on the interstates in the area except maybe on game day or during the most heavy rush hour days. The West area is generally more expensive to live and has the most traffic. The North and East areas are pretty rural. The area South of downtown toward Maryville is perhaps the very worst traffic since there are no interstates with prices being a little higher than North and East due to the compression due to no interstate travel. Unfortunately, the major airport is South of Knoxville.
There are a lot of lakes in the area but most draw down quite a bit during the Winter with the exception of the relatively shallow lakes of Melton Hill in the North West and Fort Loudon and Tellico in the South.
