Where You Should Live in NE Tennessee Based on Your Lifestyle

Thinking about moving to Northeast Tennessee but not sure where you should live?

In this podcast, we're breaking down some of the most popular areas in Northeast Tennessee based on different lifestyles. Whether you're looking for city conveniences, small-town charm, acreage and privacy, mountain scenery, or lakefront living, we'll help you narrow down the areas that may be the best fit for you.

We'll cover:
🏙️ City Living – Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol & Gray
🏡 Small-Town Living – Jonesborough, Elizabethton, Greeneville, Erwin & Rogersville
🌳 Country Living & Privacy – Acreage, rural properties, and peaceful settings
🚤 Lakefront Living – Boone Lake, Watauga Lake, South Holston Lake & Patrick Henry Lake

One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is falling in love with a house before choosing the right location. The best place to live in Northeast Tennessee depends on your lifestyle, priorities, and goals.

If you're planning a move to Northeast Tennessee, we'd love to help.

📞 Stephanie Morr: 423-429-5214
📞 Shad Freck: 423-631-1716
☎️ The Freck Group at Greater Impact Realty: 423-973-8634

📧 Stephanie: stefamorr@gmail.com
📧 Shad: shad@shadfreck.com

🌐 Website: LivingInJohnsonCity.com

🎥 YouTube: Living in Johnson City Tennessee
🎙️ Podcast: Living in Johnson City Tennessee 

 We specialize in helping people relocate to Northeast Tennessee from all over the country and would be honored to help you with your move. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

So if you're thinking about moving to Johnson City or one of the beautiful surrounding towns in Northeast Tennessee, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Stephanie Moore, Along with Jack Fred. This is the Living in Johnson City, Tennessee podcast. Learn about the local towns, neighborhoods, things to do, what you may not like, and why so many people are falling in love with Johnson City. Hop on over to our YouTube channel, Living in Johnson City, Tennessee, to enjoy videos of this picturesque area nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Now let's get started. Moving to Northeast Tennessee and you're wondering where you should live? Well, there's no perfect answer. The best place is the area that fits your lifestyle. Well, today Chad and I are going to talk about the best places to live depending on your lifestyle. And we broke it down into four categories. We probably could have came up with about 24 categories.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

100%, 100%. But we'll try to keep it simple for this video, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah, definitely. So what's our first category?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Our first category is what we call city living. So we're really talking about the the three main cities, what we call the tri-cities of northeast Tennessee, right? Johnson City, King Sport, and Bristol. Johnson City, Johnson City is the largest of the three at about 75,000 people. King Sports next, some would call it the sister city here of about 55,000, 60,000. Then you have Bristol with about 30,000 people. So lots to do in those cities.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, so if you're the uh kind of person that you like to have the convenience, you sort of like to have everything at your fingertips. You know, you want to run out for Chinese food or run over to home goods, and you don't want to drive, hey, you're in the middle of a project, you know how you have to run over to Lowe's or Home Depot. These are great towns, and they're all gonna have medical care, at least one, if not two or more hospitals, the big box stores, uh, they're gonna have lots of entertainment, beautiful parks like Warriors Path State Park, um, what's some other parks?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Uh yeah, there's there's a lot of parks, but also just the the convenience as well, uh some walkability uh amongst those areas and stuff like that that to make it easy, make it great just to live in the city.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, so those are the areas we would suggest if you're planning on living in the city and you really want that convenience and maybe the big schools and things like that. And number two, small town living. Many of you want that charm, that small town feel, sense of community. And you're in luck here because we have not one but five historic towns: Jonesboro, Elizabethan, Irwin, Greenville, and Rogersville.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yes, and the first one we got to talk about on our list, like we always talk about, is Jonesboro, the oldest town in Tennessee. It's a suburb of Johnson City. We're really just uh a few minutes uh west of Johnson City. In fact, uh most of the hospitals and shopping and stuff that Johnson City offers is very convenient for people that live here.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, it's our little Hallmark town in the place we like to call home too. Beautiful historic buildings, you'll see historic homes around this area, and then branches out into other uh neighborhoods, and it's famous for the uh storytelling festival. People come from across the country in the world, thousands of people, and um gorgeous, gorgeous town.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Another great town to think about, just on the other side of Johnson City to the east is a town we call Elizabethan. Uh beautiful small town, about 15,000, 16,000 people there. So, again, large enough to have some hospitals and grocery stores and things like that that you can choose from. But also, it's got a beautiful Doe River that fl that runs through the town, uh, including our historic covered bridge as well. So it's a it's a great option for people. Also, outdoor uh activities, things of that nature. There's plenty to do outside of Elizabethan. And even if you're going to one of our uh lake towns here, like Watauga Lake, one of the uh one of the most popular lakes here in our area, uh they uh you'll end up going through Elizabethan and even up into Roan Mountain, the tallest peak on the one of the tallest peaks on the eastern seaboard. So great town to check out while you're here.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

I agree, and another great town is Greenville, and that's about 30-minute drive from Johnson City. And Greenville is a similar size to Elizabethan, I believe, and it has a beautiful historic uh downtown. They have lots of festivals, like they just had, I believe, the Iris Festival, and plenty of history. Um, there's even a church with a cannonball in the front of it, and it was the home of President Andrew Johnson, and his burial site is there, homestead. So there's just a lot to do. Again, uh, it has grocery stores, a hospital, a nice swan or performing art center, pioneer ballpark, which they have the minor league uh baseball players. So plenty to do um in that town.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Yeah, absolutely. Uh just south of Johnson City, about 20 minutes or so, is another town that's very similar in size to Jonesboro, is a town that we really like as well. It's called Irwin. Uh it was a railroad town back in the day, but uh really surrounded by the mountains. Uh, very convenient to get over into North Carolina, one of the last towns in Tennessee before you get over there. Uh, but a lot of again, a lot of uh outdoor activities that you can do there, uh, including the Appalachian Trail isn't too far away, and some hikers will come into town and refurnish their supplies, stuff like that. So it's a great town to check out for sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah, and it's kind of famous for its festival, the Unicoy Apple Festival, which we love going to that. It's everything apple.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

That's one of actually one of the largest festivals in northeast Tennessee. Uh, they get over 100,000 people there. It's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Now, another historic town, uh, last but not least, is Rogersville, and that's about an hour's drive from Johnson City, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, it's just a little disconnected because you know, we have mountain ridges and stuff to consider here when you're driving around. As the crow flies, it's not very far from Johnson City, but it's just, you know, there's a mountain ridge in between. It starts in Kingsport at Bayes Mountain, and that whole ridge line kind of disconnects it. So it takes a little while, uh, about an hour to get to Rogersville from Johnson City, about 30 minutes from Kingsport.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

So you can always hop on over to Kingsport for things that you need, but beautiful downtown, historic uh buildings, beautiful historic homes, and um you know you could live uh close into the city, some of the older homes are out in the uh countryside around there. And um, yeah, that town always reminds me of a little Norman Rockwell town. And if you want to learn more about any of these historic towns, I know we just kind of whip through them fast in this video, but we have videos about uh each of these towns on our Living in Johnson City, Tennessee YouTube channel. So the next style of living, um number three, country living and privacy.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, we talked a little bit about a little bit more elbow room in these smaller towns, but obviously even more elbow room going out into the countryside.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Definitely. And so if you're looking for country living, you're looking for some acreage, you might want to look at the tri-cities first: Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol. We've had several buyers buy homes in the countryside of those areas. So you could uh look there and you might want to consider like Elizabethan again, that might be a great um area.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

A lot of these towns right around uh the main cities are are very convenient for people when it comes to uh how far out from the main core of these cities do you would you be comfortable with? You know, we're talking when we talk Elizabethan or Jonesboro or what, you know, you're talking 10, 15, 20 minutes here and there. You can expand it out even farther than that if you if you have room. Uh you don't need to be that close uh to one of the larger cities. So uh that's definitely something to consider as you spread out.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, so again, if you are looking for acreage and space or a country uh neighborhood, if you want to be near uh Johnson City, you might consider Jonesboro, Gray, Elizabethan, or Irwin. Um, those would be all great um areas to live near Johnson City. If you were looking area further north by Kingsport, you might consider Mount Carmel, uh Churchill or Fall Branch. And if you wanted to live near Bristol, you might consider uh Bluntville or Bluff City. So you've got a lot of choices. Oh, and what area that's very popular? Again, is Greenville is awesome for countryside and mountain views, and the Cowboy Corridor, which is Telford, Limestone, Afton, and Chucky. So if you're thinking country, you might want to look at any of these areas that we mentioned, and again, we probably have videos about most of these, so check that out.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah, exactly. Uh, number four, lakefront living, or even just living near a lake. And we have a lot of beautiful lakes in this area.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, yeah. The probably the the highest density of people, the ones living around the lake the most would be Boon Lake, uh, because of the convenience of being on the edge of Johnson City. Uh on the west edge of the lake is Johnson City. On the right edge of the lake is uh Piney Flats. Uh, but we have a lot of people that consider that lake uh, especially if you're still uh working or need to be near the city uh on most day-to-day activities. Uh Boon Lake is one of the most convenient ones that we have.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah, and there's some great marinas there and some restaurants and stuff along the lake, and you do see some houseboats, and um some of the people have a second home over there, so that's a fun um place to enjoy the lake. Another lake is Wataga Lake. And if you wanted to be on Wataga Lake, you would need to live in Butler. Or if you you were wanting to live near Wataga Lake, you might consider Mountain City. Um, and that's a little more remote and peaceful town, or Hampton andor Elizabeth, and you had mentioned that earlier, those would all be closer to Wataga Lake. Wataga Lake is a beautiful lake.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Oh, 100%. Even if uh people are just coming to check out the area, we always advise that if you got time while you're here to check out Wataga. Um, you can even you know rent a boat for the day if you'd like at one of the marinas there, stuff like that. But it's one of the mountain towns here, a little more secondary home market for most people. Again, that Wataga is a little bit farther away for most people that need to be in the city on a day-to-day basis, but uh great for uh vacationing, uh a secondary home. Um, but uh it's just uh it's just one of the favorite places for people to go and do. Uh grab a lunch uh with your family, uh go up there for a picnic on a Saturday, uh stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

And it's more wooded because it's got the Cherokee National, uh it's surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

There's just not as many houses to choose from if you even wanted to live on that lake because of the surrounding national forests. And again, the Appalachian Trail uh comes really close to that lake as well. So there are again more activities to do outside of just being on the water.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Another great lake is South Holston Lake.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

So um that's that's very similar to Wataka. Yeah, yeah. You know, they're both very beautiful. We we call them mountain lakes here. Uh, but that one's a little bit closer and convenient for people that live in in Bristol. Um, but again, and then it even extends into Virginia a little bit, that lake does. Um, but it's definitely one that I would consider uh checking out if that's something you desire to live on a lake around here. Again, not as many choices, but when they come up, uh you definitely should consider them.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, and I guess um below the um on the South Holston River, below the dam, is really good for uh trout fishing.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yes, uh fly fishermen uh come from around the world apparently to uh fly fish there. And uh we even have our own species of brown trout, I believe, uh in in our mountains here. That's nowhere else.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

And lots of good fly fishing too in a lot of areas. Well, I guess that's more on the on the rivers, but well, no, right there.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, right there. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Well, yeah, that right on that river. Um, okay, another lake. We don't want to forget this one, Patrick Henry Lake over in Kingsport. Uh beautiful, smaller lake.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

It is smaller. Um they uh they uh have an advantage, advantageous uh side of things that their their water level stays more consistent year-round versus some of the others that get the winter pool, summer pool effect, uh drawdown and and raise back up in the summer. Anyways, more convenient there, less uh less overall congestion, but people I know a ton of people that kayak on that lake for sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Well, yeah, Warriors Path State Park is right along there.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Yeah, it's definitely one of my favorite parks. In fact, even if I'm showing a house over by that area, I might uh I might just drive through the park on my way through just uh because I just really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

It's yeah, it has camping and and and hiking and uh beautiful picnic areas and awesome children's uh playground. So very, very um beautiful. And the great thing about living on Patrick Henry is you're just so close to like Colonial Heights and all the downtown Kingsport. It's just again right there at your fingertips.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Patrick Henry and and Boone Lakes are gonna be your convenient lakes for sure. And then Watauga and South Holston are more up into the mountains, but uh share that beauty of that area as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

And then, of course, we have a lot of rivers. We have the Nolachucky, we have the Holston River, Wataga River, and the Dough River. So um, maybe we have to do a video about the rivers.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

But yeah, you can even do whitewater rafting on the Nolachucky. Yeah, yeah. So there's more activities to do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, like I mentioned a few minutes ago, the fly fishing, you know, great fly fishing here. That's something that's very attractive to people. So, you know, those are some areas that you might look at at uh based on your different lifestyles. And the best place for you is definitely, you know, based on your lifestyle, because the worst thing to happen is you buy a house and it's really not in the area that you want to live in. So if you have questions about living in northeast Tennessee and you're wondering which area might be right for you, um, I'm Stephanie and this is Shad with the Fret Group at Greater Impact Realty. Our team specializes in helping people like you that are moving to northeast Tennessee. So if you have questions, uh send us an email, give us a call, or text us. Our team would be happy to help you. And remember, it is never too soon to start planning your move. We hope to see you here or very soon in Northeast Tennessee.