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Southwest VA/Tri-Cities info requested

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Doctor Of Cerumen
Joined
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Dear friends of the pit I seek your guidance.

I am within a year of finishing up my residency and am considering taking a job in Southwestern VA (Abingdon). We visited and really liked the Martha Washington Inn, Barter Theater, etc. But we are just not familiar with the area. I grew up in central NC (wife is from Burlington, VT) and my parents have a place in Maggie Valley but I've never been to the tri-cities of TN/VA before now.

As you can imagine joining a medical practice can be a big process. It's not as easy to pull up and leave as some jobs might be. I.e. I sign a contract with an income guarantee but if I leave early I have to pay back a lot of that money.

The only downsides I can tell are that it's rather small and somewhat isolated. I am getting married soon and family to follow so we think it will be a good place to raise a family and not be too far from Asheville, Charlotte, Winston, etc. Anyone know this area or able to provide some insight. I realize that younger crowd wouldn't be into it, but I'm 33 and through the drinking and partying years mainly. :) Thanks in advance
 
It is a great area or a not-so-great area, depending on your interests. Do you like fly fishing and biking? If so, it is heaven. The S. Holston is one of the best trout rivers in the world (literally). Other excellent rivers and creeks in that area, too. (I have a friend that bought a vacation home in Abingdon for these general reasons.) Virginia Creeper trail is excellent for biking. If outdoor sports and recreation are not your thing, I would spend some time there before you commit.
 
Kingsport is about 3.5 hours from W-S or Charlotte. That's like saying you like living in Charlotte because it's close to Atlanta or the beaches near Charleston. If you move somewhere, that's where you're going to be, not someplace a few hours away. Besides, the main place people from that area go on the weekends is Knoxville to cheer for UT.

I don't know whay you mean by Central NC, but unless you're used to having not a lot to do, you'll get bored in the Tri-Cities. I have a cousin who was an oral surgeon in Bristol and have no idea how he survived up there. He eventually moved his practice to Florida.

The median household income for JC and Kingsport is around $30,000 and only 24% hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Make your own judgement from that.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/4739560.html

I lived in Roanoke for about a year when I was 30 and absolutely hated it, despite spending a lot of time on the AT. I would think that the Tri-Cities would be similar, but not as exciting.
 
Thanks for the input so far. I do appreciate it. Please keep it coming

We thought the creeper trail was cool. I can't say I'm a fly fisherman. I like to golf and there seems to be some nice places in that area to play. I grew up in a pretty rural place (Buies creek) so I'm used to driving to get to a mall or whatever.

I should also point out that one of the reasons I mentioned the areas somewhat nearby is the job is 4 days a week. So I would anticipate having more time than usual to drive places and check it out/shop, etc. I am hoping that it's a relatively easy drive to my parent's place in Maggie Valley. The money is comparable to other 5 day a week jobs I have looked it, which is part of the appeal too.
 
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SWV

I'd move back to Rke/salem in a heart beat.

I know not the exact area you're saying. But then again, I'd move back to Wilkesboro too. So split the difference and there you are. (In the interests of disclosure, my wife would kill me before we moved back to Wilkes, but she would go back to Rke)..
 
Moving to Roanoke in less than two weeks. I have some family in Abingdon and Bristol. It's not a huge area but enough around if you enjoy living in the country and not too far away from some larger areas. Good options for the outdoors with hiking, biking, fishing, and golf.
 
I don't know Abingdon, but I know Johnson City pretty well, as my mom is from there and until recently my grandparents were there. I think there are a couple of people on the boards from that area -- Iamthunderbolt, maybe?

To put it in perspective, Johnson City is about the same size as Rocky Mount, NC. It's bigger than Burlington. So it's not a big city at all, but it is decently-sized. There's a mall, multiple movie theaters, plenty of restaurants, a minor league baseball team, etc. It's also the home of East Tennessee State University, which is about the same size as UNC-Wilmington. If you've been a Wake fan for a while, you probably remember ETSU. Last time I was there, a couple of summers ago, they actually had a pretty cool arts/film festival going on in downtown.

I guess the main thing I always liked about Johnson City when we would go visit my grandparents was the scenery. It's very pretty up there in the mountains, fall is obviously beautiful and the winters get a bit more snow than we get in the Piedmont.

Johnson City is also only about 10-15 minutes from historic Jonesborough, TN, which is actually pretty nice, has a couple of really good restaurants and a decent arts scene.

All that said, as HeavyPetter pointed out, the economy is not great up there and despite the presence of ETSU, most people in the area do not have a college degree. The Wal-Mart up there can be a pretty amazing scene. Lots of mullets and fat people walking around in hideous Tennessee Volunteer orange clothing.

Asheville is an hour away. Knoxville is 2 hours. Boone 1.5. Winston-Salem and Charlotte are both 3.
 
I was born in Bristol and still have family there, so my testimony is not the most reliable. I like it a lot; the area is great for a family, the scenery is pretty excellent, and to me is slightly smaller than ideal size.

You avoid most of the traffic problems and urban sprawl that plague larger metro areas, but it's not like you'll have to drive an hour to find a mall or restaurant.
 
Until Say Hey's post, it never occurred to me that Rocky Mount is larger than Burlington. I grew up near Rocky Mount and have driven through Burlington at least a hundred times.
 
BTW, Skip Brown went to Dobyns-Bennett HS in Kingsport, which is architecturally interesting (strange). Josh Shoemaker is from nearby Gate City.

Also, Kodak was once a major employer to the area, but I'm not sure how much of their plant remains open today.
 
i drive thru Bristol and JC a lot and I find it a bit depressing. If you're into NASCAR they have the race track, the first time I drove thru Bristol I couldnt figure out how this tiny ass town had a HUGE stadium, then I figured it out.
 
Kingsport is a shithole, very industrial and lot of the industry is dead or dying these days.
I've spent some time in JC as well, it's not nearly as bad as Kingsport, but it's nothing impressive. The downtown is probably about 5-7 blocks square and the buildings are old and drab/brick buildings. If it wasn't for ETSU it'd be a terrible place, but ETSU keeps a younger crowd and also pumps money into the economy. I've never spent anytime in Bristol, but I can't imagine it being a great place.
I've driven the 81 corridor a few times and broke down in Abingdon, VA once, but don't really have anything to say about it.

If you want to have some fairly cheap acreage near or close to mountains then Eastern, TN is where you should be....that's the only thing that's really good about it. We have several large customers and large suppliers in Eastern, TN and just about anyone with the means to do so does live out in the countryn because with the exception of Knoxville and Chattanooga, the cities and towns of Eastern, TN don't really have much to offer so you might as well have your own little compound.
 
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Yeah, if you're pulling down $175K++ as a doctor in that area, you can live like a king, but the only problem is you're buying your steaks at some shitty Ingles or Food City and there's no place else worthwhile to eat.
 
HeavyPetter said:
Yeah, if you're pulling down $175K++ as a doctor in that area, you can live like a king, but the only problem is you're buying your steaks at some shitty Ingles or Food City and there's no place else worthwhile to eat.
Click to expand...

I know of a few people in that area who buy a cow every year (or every so often) and raise it then slaughter and age the meat because they just can't buy good meat at their local store and don't want to drive to knoxville to get good food.
 
HeavyPetter said:
Yeah, if you're pulling down $175K++ as a doctor in that area, you can live like a king, but the only problem is you're buying your steaks at some shitty Ingles or Food City and there's no place else worthwhile to eat.
Click to expand...

It's interesting in that Abingdon seems to be a little different than the tri-cities proper. I imagined the same until I went there. Abingdon is a rather historic type place and we had dinner there three nights at three different places that were all very good.

http://houseonmain.com/
http://www.abingdontavern.com/
http://www.thepeppermill.com/pmillhome.asp

I realize the surrounding towns aren't exactly the place to be. My hope was that Abingdon was a bit of a pseudo-sophisticated town nestled into the mountains (my mrs is from VT and likes the idea of living in the mtns) with a great cost of living. Other interesting thing when we were there is there are two very high end golf courses. I'm not exactly sure where the money comes from to support them. One is super exclusive (http://www.theoldefarm.com/golf/proto/theoldefarm/) and you have to be invited to join and the other has a $45K initiation fee http://www.thevirginian.com/home/index.html

Anyway I do appreciate all the feedback. Much as I suspected the surrounding areas aren't exactly ideal. Hard to figure out this whole job thing, but I'll get there.. :)
 
Bacon:

what are your impressions of SW Virginia relative to western NC? We really liked the idea of asheville or hendersonville, but there aren't any jobs there.
 
HeltonCreek said:
Moving to Roanoke in less than two weeks. I have some family in Abingdon and Bristol. It's not a huge area but enough around if you enjoy living in the country and not too far away from some larger areas. Good options for the outdoors with hiking, biking, fishing, and golf.
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Welcome to Roanoke - where men are men and sheep are nervous.
 
I know the martinsville, bassett area really well. Decimated by all the furniture factory closings, but a beautiful area.

He's ah headed west at the Cumberland Gap ah Johnson City ah Teenahsee!
 
RubbinsRacin said:
I know the martinsville, bassett area really well. Decimated by all the furniture factory closings, but a beautiful area.

He's ah headed west at the Cumberland Gap ah Johnson City ah Teenahsee!
Click to expand...

Interestingly there are jobs in Martinsville and Danville, but I got the impression those areas are really falling apart since the fall of the furniture industry.
 
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