Looking to Move to Western NC or SW VA - Need Advice

[Finn16]

My wife and I are retired and looking to relocate closer to our son and his family who moved to Winston-Salem, NC two years ago. They bounced around a bit but like WS and plan to stay there.

I've been scouring over maps, Youtube and bestplaces.net looking at NC, VA and TN trying to find a town that fits our needs. At the moment, I'm leaning toward west or northwest NC and SW VA. Really want to have access to some decent public land for deer and turkey hunting. I'd like to hear opinions on the advantages/disadvantages of VA vs NC. Some other requirements are to be within an hour of good shopping, restaurants, and quality healthcare.

Any advice on good areas to look at, or avoid, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[bigbassin]

Sounds like Asheville area may be what you are looking for.

Insane amounts of public land around, fantastic backpacking opportunities. Good fishing, you’ll have access to trout and bass all through the national forest (Pisgah or Nantahalas).

No shortage of land to hunt but it is necessarily high odds. Deer hunting from what I understand is tough, just low densities in the mountains. Can’t speak to turkeys.

Great restaurant scene and tons of little shops.

Haven’t spent much time at all in SW VA, but driving through it seems to be mostly small towns that aren’t going to have much in terms of restaurants and shops if that’s high on the list.

Area does seem to have way more deer just from what I could see driving the roads.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

If you wanted to live in VA and be somewhat close to winston I would look around the wyethville, hillsville, fancy gap areas. Close enough to all the things you want such as shopping etc. but you still have plenty of national forest to hunt, trout streams, the new river for smallmouth and catfish etc.

I have an uncle who lives in Bland NC, and they go to winston to shop etc. but they are out in the country, not alot of public hunting there though.

Mt Airy area is nice to. I used to live between Elkin and North Wilkseboro when i lived in NC for a bit, that isnt a bad area to live either. Gotta drive a bit to get to some public land to hunt.

Like the guy above mentioned Asheville or Boone NC are nice places as well.

You have alot of options where your looking, mostly its gonna depend on how close you ultimately want to be to Winston etc.

 

[MOVA]

What he said!^^

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I would stay away from Ashville...liberal politics have ruined that town...There are still some nices places around Asheville but downtown is your typical homeless, defund the police cess pool...Its a shame used to be a cool place. Also the cost of living is higher than the national average...much better places in the area you have described.

 

[jimh406]

The research triangle is pretty decent although NC is not a state I'd like to live in. Other than Biltmore House and Gardens, there isn't a lot in Asheville. If you want to be really close, move close to where your kid is. Otherwise, think about SC, GA, or TN as well. You can be within a few hours and be in a different state.

Politically, NC and VA are very similar. I'd look at the taxes for the communities you are interested in including property taxes, income tax on retirement, and sales tax.

As far as healthcare is concerned, there is a difference between elder care and care for people who already have health issues. There are ratings for each for most areas. The consideration is quite a bit different to me if you already have existing conditions compared to potentially having cancer in the future. I'd travel to the best cancer treatment although I'd want fairly close emergency care. If you or spouse are veterans, I'd also consider where the VA hospitals are.

 

[ethan]

There is a very good amount of public land in the areas you are looking into. Deer numbers are extremely low in the majority of it though. That being said, it's just a different kind of hunting and it has a lot more challenges, it's great but it's just not for everyone. The fishing and hiking is outstanding and it's a great area. I personally prefer Western NC to SW Virginia, but the advice given above is pretty spot on.

 

[Yoder]

VA blue state, NC red state. Problem solved.

 

[Rokbar]

Plenty of deer in WNC, just mainly on private. Not enough timber harvest on public anymore to create the habitat needed. Tree huggers are ruling the roost and are not fond of hunters. East Tenn. is a bit more affordable and well as SW Virginia.

 

[Lowg08]

Don’t do Asheville unless your gender confused and love democratic politics and meth. I’m 40 minutes west of Asheville and 25 miles from
The Tennessee line. Lots of public but you got to want it. Tough terrain but some nice fishing around. If you’re trying to stay close to Winston Salem then you may consider some of the more northwesterly counties such as Avery or that general area. South West Virginia has some nice public land. Some nice deer. Look up Nathan Killen. His instagram page can highlight the areas of public around Lebanon Virginia.

 

[timekiller13]

Might want to check out Wilkesboro area. That puts you within an hour of Winston Salem and a pretty easy drive at that. Also puts you within an hour of plenty of public land in both Va and NC. Wilkesboro is still a pretty small town but plenty of amenities. Decent restaurants, a hospital, a nice lake, the big chain stores are there but also lots of local mom and pop stuff. If you like racing they got the Speedway back up and going as well.

 

[tony]

Asheville is a cool town, yet it’s the Berkeley of the east coast. The city paid slavery reparations a few years back. Very liberal city.
Good friend lives in Sylva NC, we go down every few years.
I like the Johnson City TN area.

 

[Lowg08]

Asheville is a cool town, yet it’s the Berkeley of the east coast. The city paid slavery reparations a few years back. Very liberal city.
Good friend lives in Sylva NC, we go down every few years.
I like the Johnson City TN area.

I work in the Sylva area. Not a bad place. There are deerbut you’re going to earn it. Still very low deer density. Lots of trout fishing.

 

[Gen273]

Tennessee sounds good to me. That's where I would look.

 

[Swamp Fox]

The research triangle is pretty decent although NC is not a state I'd like to live in. Other than Biltmore House and Gardens, there isn't a lot in Asheville. [....]

Oh, c'mon.

The Research Triangle area is a containment area for relocated Yankees and has zero local charm. It's basically a huge strip mall with condominium complexes, office parks, cracker--box houses and big-time congested highways running though it...

But it used to be pretty much all big woods and tobacco fields, so it has that going for it, which is nice....

There is a TON of good stuff in Asheville. The three major attractions are hipster breweries, local college radio stations playing music you'll never hear again, hippie chicks, busking and panhandling on the streets in good weather, and the chance of snow (if you like that sort of thing) ... and expensive real estate ...

Wait ... I'll come in again ...

 

[Swamp Fox]

VA blue state, NC red state. Problem solved.

If this is the deciding factor:

SW Va. is decidedly red but you have blue pockets all over NC.


Virginia would be a red state if not for the huge population imbalance between northern Virginia vs. south of Charlottesville/Richmond.

It's almost as if Southside and her sister counties should secede ...

 

[Carpet Capital Shyster]

My wife and I are retired and looking to relocate closer to our son and his family who moved to Winston-Salem, NC two years ago. They bounced around a bit but like WS and plan to stay there.

I've been scouring over maps, Youtube and bestplaces.net looking at NC, VA and TN trying to find a town that fits our needs. At the moment, I'm leaning toward west or northwest NC and SW VA. Really want to have access to some decent public land for deer and turkey hunting. I'd like to hear opinions on the advantages/disadvantages of VA vs NC. Some other requirements are to be within an hour of good shopping, restaurants, and quality healthcare.

Any advice on good areas to look at, or avoid, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Asheville is great to visit, but it’s thoroughly infested with commies. Really great food, brewery and music scene for a town its size. Also, if you’re into hiking and trout fishing it’s a hard location to beat. I can’t opine as to the hunting in the area. My wife and I go up there every year for a couple of weekend trips. That said, I would personally love to live near Asheville, but not right in it. There are some really fantastic towns just outside of Asheville like Brevard, Hendersonville and Waynesville and that’s where I’d look at moving. Hell, I’d love to move there right now! I think Boone is a bit further away and I haven’t spent a lot of time there, but my uncle used to have a house nearby in Blowing Rock and I always thought that area was really beautiful too.

If you can stretch the distance just a little bit more I’d urge you to also consider Knoxville or Chattanooga, both really great small cities with a ton of public land nearby (albeit it’s in the mountains so the deer populations aren’t what they are in say, south Georgia. As an outsider looking in, Tennessee seems to compare favorably to a lot of neighboring states and as a Georgian, I’m pretty envious of folks that get to live up there.

Other than Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, I’ve probably spent more time in Virginia than any other state. Southwest Virginia is absolutely beautiful and the people there are awesome but the state in general is ruled by Northern Virginia and the whole commonwealth seems to be slowly going down the tubes.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Oh, c'mon.

The Research Triangle area is a containment area for relocated Yankees and has zero local charm. It's basically a huge strip mall with condominium complexes, office parks, cracker--box houses and big-time congested highways running though it...

 

[Rokwiia]

Here is some information about the amount of public land available to hunt in both VA and NC. I assume the data is correct but I take no responsibility for its accuracy:

https://www.backcountrychronicles.com/public-hunting-land/

Any advice on good areas to look at, or avoid, would be greatly appreciated.

I'd look very carefully at crime statistics especially if you are considering living in or near a city in either of those two states.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/index.html - this breaks down crime statistics into violent vs property crimes

https://crimegrade.org/crime-by-zip-code/ - this one you enter the zip code, drill down, and really see crime information based on different areas within a community


One last thing...be mindful that NC has the highest per capita rate of venomous snake bites in the country and plan accordingly.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

If this is the deciding factor:

SW Va. is decidedly red but you have blue pockets all over NC.


Virginia would be a red state if not for the huge population imbalance between northern Virginia vs. south of Charlottesville/Richmond.

It's almost as if Southside and her sister counties should secede ...

Swamp Fox is spot on, pretty much all of Virginia is red except there are so many people in the NOVA areas and bigger cities that turn the whole state unfotunalty.