Augie Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 The wife has always wanted a mountain place. She HATES hot weather, and a place to go for cooler summer months is very appealing to her. I LOVE the heat, so some sort of compromise seems in order. Our son got married a couple weeks ago in Sarasota, FL. It was warm, but it was AWESOME. (Home to us for almost 20 years.) The following week we went to visit Highlands, NC, Cashiers, Asheville, Blowing Rock and Boone. We love Asheville, but the elevation isn’t high enough to be super cool in the summers. Highlands gets 81” of rain annually (BOO!), so a rain forest compared to 55” in Blowing Rock. We want a cool little town with stuff to do, so it can’t be too remote. Maggie Valley seems tiny. Blowing Rock is super close to Boone with Appalachian State (enrollment about 20k) and college towns are always appealing. Blowing Rock is not as convenient to our home in Atlanta, but I’m trying to think long term - a modest summer place in the mountains and a winter place in Sarasota (for zero state income tax) might do it one day. Just kicking this around, and thoughts are appreciated.
Fires Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 We have a house in Franklin, we get summertime afternoon thunderstorms like Florida. But its not bad. Cashiers and Glenville areas are nice foo. 1
Wacka Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 I know that the Darlings and Ernest T. Bass live in one near Mayberry. 2
Marv's Neighbor Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 Check with the BILLS roster. Half of them came from there. 1
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 9 hours ago, Augie said: The wife has always wanted a mountain place. She HATES hot weather, and a place to go for cooler summer months is very appealing to her. I LOVE the heat, so some sort of compromise seems in order. Our son got married a couple weeks ago in Sarasota, FL. It was warm, but it was AWESOME. (Home to us for almost 20 years.) The following week we went to visit Highlands, NC, Cashiers, Asheville, Blowing Rock and Boone. We love Asheville, but the elevation isn’t high enough to be super cool in the summers. Highlands gets 81” of rain annually (BOO!), so a rain forest compared to 55” in Blowing Rock. We want a cool little town with stuff to do, so it can’t be too remote. Maggie Valley seems tiny. Blowing Rock is super close to Boone with Appalachian State (enrollment about 20k) and college towns are always appealing. Blowing Rock is not as convenient to our home in Atlanta, but I’m trying to think long term - a modest summer place in the mountains and a winter place in Sarasota (for zero state income tax) might do it one day. Just kicking this around, and thoughts are appreciated. Never lived there per se. I did live in the Raleigh area for 4 years Blowing Rock, Lizard Lick and Grandfather Mountain (Linville) are "remote" little towns. Visited the Highland Games at GFM in early July close to a dozen times. Summers can be very hot and HUMID and winters are cold, Not WNY cold, but cold. If you like doing Small Town activities.... you might like it. 1
Sig1Hunter Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 Murphy, NC is nice...what about across the border in TN? 1
LabattBlue Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 If you hear the dueling banjos song in the distance while looking at a place, turn around and get the heck out of there! 2
Augie Posted September 1, 2020 Author Posted September 1, 2020 11 hours ago, Fires said: We have a house in Franklin, we get summertime afternoon thunderstorms like Florida. But its not bad. Cashiers and Glenville areas are nice foo. It looks like Franklin is about the same elevation as Asheville at around 2,000 feet. I’m told you need to get to 3,500-4,000+ elevation to get to the cool summers. I don’t know this to be true, but it makes sense. We have a neighbor who has a place in Cashiers and they love it. The “town” itself looks tiny, but it’s only about 10 miles (20 minutes?) from the very nice (but wet) town of Highlands. We have spent 8 summer days in Highlands on various trips. It rained on 7 of those days, and threatened on the 8th. We will be all about the cool air and the view. I’ll need to restrain myself in terms of holding back on how much house. Just enough for us and a few guests with an open floor plan and outdoor living space. I’ll need to look into Glenville. So many quaint little town we have some homework to do! Blowing Rock is quaint at a good elevation and only about 15 minutes to the larger Boone with App State. That would be the leader in the clubhouse at this point, but I don’t want to leap without knowing all the possibilities.
Augie Posted September 1, 2020 Author Posted September 1, 2020 2 hours ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said: Never lived there per se. I did live in the Raleigh area for 4 years Blowing Rock, Lizard Lick and Grandfather Mountain (Linville) are "remote" little towns. Visited the Highland Games at GFM in early July close to a dozen times. Summers can be very hot and HUMID and winters are cold, Not WNY cold, but cold. If you like doing Small Town activities.... you might like it. Was it hot in Raleigh, or around Blowing Rock/GFM? Raleigh is a much lower elevation and I can imagine that being sticky in the summer. We had fabulous weather in Blowing Rock/Boone, especially after having spent the previous week in Florida. I’m guessing we will buy a lot somewhere in the mountains and wait to build something modest down the road. I have a good idea of what we’d want, and I doubt we find that already built.
ICanSleepWhenI'mDead Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 There are a few ski resorts in the NC mountains. I haven't visited them, but if you're looking for towns at elevation for cooler summer weather you might want to check out the areas close to the ski resorts to see if any of them are big enough to satisfy you. Proximity to a ski resort might offer winter rental opportunities when you don't plan to be there anyway if that matters to you (sounds like it probably doesn't). Good luck with the search. 1
Lurker Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 33 minutes ago, Augie said: Blowing Rock is quaint at a good elevation and only about 15 minutes to the larger Boone with App State. That would be the leader in the clubhouse at this point https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/blowing-rock-watauga-nc/ "Blowing Rock is in Watauga County and is one of the best places to live in North Carolina. Living in Blowing Rock offers residents a sparse suburban feel and most residents own their homes. Many retirees live in Blowing Rock and residents tend to lean conservative." 2
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 58 minutes ago, Augie said: Was it hot in Raleigh, or around Blowing Rock/GFM? Raleigh is a much lower elevation and I can imagine that being sticky in the summer. We had fabulous weather in Blowing Rock/Boone, especially after having spent the previous week in Florida. I’m guessing we will buy a lot somewhere in the mountains and wait to build something modest down the road. I have a good idea of what we’d want, and I doubt we find that already built. Raleigh We did tent camp when we went to GFM for the Highland Games, I was hot but not obsessive at 4th of July. But that was before the real heat of summer kicks in.
sherpa Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 1 hour ago, Augie said: Was it hot in Raleigh, or around Blowing Rock/GFM? I lived in Raleigh for a few years and it was quite hot. I had a similar idea in the early 90's. When the first Gulf War broke out we went over to the Maggie Valley area thinking the war would dampen real estate prices. That didn't happen. Tons of retirees form the midwest. Blowing Rock and Cashiers are each 3500' MSL or so, so that would certainly be a lot more comfortable in the summer. Cahsiers is getting built up. I got some promotional add for a new development there last week. The homes were 1 mil a piece. 1
UConn James Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 3 hours ago, Sig1Hunter said: Murphy, NC is nice...what about across the border in TN? I would second this. I only visited for a short time, but the Smokies are beautiful and the people seemed really nice... even to someone wearing a UConn Huskies t-shirt. 1
LewPort71 Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 If you want mountains, please consider WV. The southern counties have exceptionally nice summer weather. Mercer, Raleigh, Greenbrier and Fayette counties are my recommendation. 1
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 2 hours ago, LewPort71 said: If you want mountains, please consider WV. The southern counties have exceptionally nice summer weather. Mercer, Raleigh, Greenbrier and Fayette counties are my recommendation. Plus some fresh bloodlines will be welcomed. 1 6
Augie Posted September 1, 2020 Author Posted September 1, 2020 3 hours ago, sherpa said: I lived in Raleigh for a few years and it was quite hot. I had a similar idea in the early 90's. When the first Gulf War broke out we went over to the Maggie Valley area thinking the war would dampen real estate prices. That didn't happen. Tons of retirees form the midwest. Blowing Rock and Cashiers are each 3500' MSL or so, so that would certainly be a lot more comfortable in the summer. Cahsiers is getting built up. I got some promotional add for a new development there last week. The homes were 1 mil a piece. We are guessing much of the social life in Cashiers must revolve around the country clubs because there’s not much of a “downtown”, but tons of golf everywhere you look. We’re already done the country club thing, and I doubt we do that again. We paid them a lot of money for the right to buy food from them. I could also pay tennis at a beautiful facility, but I was injured the last 18 months and couldn’t even do that. Golf was crazy expensive. I’d lean towards Highlands, but again that rain is crazy! The wife’s former boss has a place there and goes every weekend. He called it a rainforest, but I had no idea! What good is cool if it rains every day? They get 81” of rain annually, while Blowing Rock is farther from our current home but only gets about 55” of rain. We have to keep in mind the ultimate goal is a place back in Sarasota and a cool place to run to in the summer. All plans go out the window if our newly married son stays in Atlanta and starts raising a family. We just think the bride will want to get back to her family eventually and he’ll have to find away top make good money down there. We are looking down the road here, and will probably just buy the land now then build what we want eventually. This is the education stage.
RochesterRob Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 11 hours ago, Wacka said: I know that the Darlings and Ernest T. Bass live in one near Mayberry. Distance to a filling station is important. Former US Marines make the best attendants.
RochesterRob Posted September 1, 2020 Posted September 1, 2020 18 hours ago, Augie said: The wife has always wanted a mountain place. She HATES hot weather, and a place to go for cooler summer months is very appealing to her. I LOVE the heat, so some sort of compromise seems in order. Our son got married a couple weeks ago in Sarasota, FL. It was warm, but it was AWESOME. (Home to us for almost 20 years.) The following week we went to visit Highlands, NC, Cashiers, Asheville, Blowing Rock and Boone. We love Asheville, but the elevation isn’t high enough to be super cool in the summers. Highlands gets 81” of rain annually (BOO!), so a rain forest compared to 55” in Blowing Rock. We want a cool little town with stuff to do, so it can’t be too remote. Maggie Valley seems tiny. Blowing Rock is super close to Boone with Appalachian State (enrollment about 20k) and college towns are always appealing. Blowing Rock is not as convenient to our home in Atlanta, but I’m trying to think long term - a modest summer place in the mountains and a winter place in Sarasota (for zero state income tax) might do it one day. Just kicking this around, and thoughts are appreciated. From what I understand once you get into the mountains there you can get a little too close to the wild life unintentionally. Bears, rattlesnakes, etc.. Some people are not bothered by such things but can you get used to using a stick several feet long to poke ahead to see what is waiting in the tall grass while walking?
Augie Posted September 1, 2020 Author Posted September 1, 2020 (edited) 29 minutes ago, RochesterRob said: From what I understand once you get into the mountains there you can get a little too close to the wild life unintentionally. Bears, rattlesnakes, etc.. Some people are not bothered by such things but can you get used to using a stick several feet long to poke ahead to see what is waiting in the tall grass while walking? Good point. I saw a video once about walking thru fields in Florida and how many snakes you pass without knowing it. I realize MOST are harmless and more afraid of you than you are of them, but that video still sticks with me decades later. They are not ALL harmless. I’ve had to worry about alligators and my dogs, but bears would be something new! We stayed with friends in Blowing Rock c couple weeks ago and he took us to trails and lakes along the Blue Ridge Parkway and elsewhere that they bike, kayak and walk. He’s a “nature guy” who back packs and camps. I’m more of a paved path kinda guy, but you never know what you will run into. My sister travels all over and would camp in state and national parks, while we are more of a mind that a nice Hyatt or Marriott is a good way to go. . Edited September 1, 2020 by Augie
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