Cookeville, TN - Small town living & a low cost of living (Jackson: house, schools)

[SuzieQFL]

Originally Posted by Lucky Eddy

Hi all,

I have been following the Cookeville threads for a while now and wanted to come aboard. LOML and I are thinking about coming to Cookeville later this month for a few days and need suggestions as to where to stay. We intend to be out and about most of the time. Does anyone know of a family run motel/hotel to stay at, not a B & B? Lastly, I need to contact a realtor that knows the area and can spend a day with us. Please DM me if you can help. Thanks in advance.

We spent the first two weeks of July in FFG, to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our 2 kids/family came to enjoy it with us. It was hard to get away by ourselves to explore very much. All of us spent a day at Cumberland Mountain State Park, including using the huge pool. Another day, Bonnie Clinton, from Cookeville, came to take our family pictures at the park. We enjoyed FFG, and we are older, but we need to be around younger people too. We lived all our lives in Ohio until 2002 when we moved to FL. (Another one of them! But my grandparents came from Virginia, hope that counts.)

JMT, your pictures are great.

More another time. Thanks for reading.

LuckyEddie, may I ask where you live currently? My DH and I live on the West Coast too (Port Charlotte) and we celebrate our 40th anniversary on November 11th. We're going to FFG for a few days on 11/14 to check out more of Cookeville. We traveled most of the state in August and decided we liked Cookeville the best. Maybe we'll go from almost Florida neighbors to almost Tennessee neighbors!

[SuzieQFL]

Originally Posted by JMT

Thanks, and I hope you'll enjoy Cookeville as much as I do! I sent you a PM with hotel and realtor info.

Here's a view from the hotel where I like to stay when I'm in Cookeville:

God that's beautiful! Thank you again - and yes CSMor, please post pictures!

[Lucky Eddy]

Originally Posted by SuzieQFL

LuckyEddie, may I ask where you live currently? My DH and I live on the West Coast too (Port Charlotte) and we celebrate our 40th anniversary on November 11th. We're going to FFG for a few days on 11/14 to check out more of Cookeville...... Maybe we'll go from almost Florida neighbors to almost Tennessee neighbors!

Congratulations on your upcoming 40th!! Tennessee will be a good place to enjoy it. We're about 200 miles north of you near Dunnellon, FL, a block from the Rainbow River, a beautiful clear spring fed river. (When I used WC FL as my location, I meant West Central, not West Coast). We are about 20 miles from the west coast, which keeps us away from most hurricane weather. However, the beaches aren't as nice as those closer to you. My Aunt lives in Venice, and the beaches in that area are great. Love Clearwater beach too. But I have had some bouts with skin cancer, so don't go to beaches too much. Back to TN, and FFG, we rented a home for two weeks that would sleep 9 easily, and was able to fix meals there (grandkids are so picky about their food), and was only a short drive to the marina/beach.
Be sure to tell us what areas you like the best. We could be neighbors someday. I liked FFG, except for the $58+ monthly POA fees homeowners pay. I figure I could live in Cookeville city and the additional property taxes would be less than that. We've lived in the country where I could hunt (more like target practice for me), fish and swim without leaving our property, and now in a subdivision where we have to go somewhere else to do anything. You can guess which I prefer. We will be considering all areas and may end up in town if I can find property with a large lot and room for a workshop for my power tools.

JMT and jguillot, thank you for the info you sent me. Watch for a PM back to you soon.

Later

[bigthirsty]

Originally Posted by AdrianR

Here is the apt. itself Cookeville, McMinnville Real Estate and Rentals - Stevens Realty is it in a 'good' part of town? close to grocery stores? Also, is there a Wal-Mart in cookeville?

Oh yeah.. there is a Wal-Mart in Cookeville.. and a Sam's Club south of Town.

[bigthirsty]

Originally Posted by JMT

Thanks, and I hope you'll enjoy Cookeville as much as I do! I sent you a PM with hotel and realtor info.

Here's a view from the hotel where I like to stay when I'm in Cookeville:

Is that picture of the Calf Killer vallye?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by bigthirsty

Is that picture of the Calf Killer vallye?

The area in that picture is called Poplar Grove. The old City Lake is down there somewhere, there's a nice park there with some nature trails and good fishing. It's a beautiful area, lots of nice subdivisions and farms. Hidden Hollow is a park with a small zoo and marriage chapel (what an interesting combination) and miniature golf that's down in there, too.

And yes, CSMor, post some pictures!

[Lucky Eddy]

We recently returned from a week of travel to and around Cookeville. I had made a list of restaurants, routes to travel in the area, places of interest, etc., all from this site. We thank all of you that have shared your knowledge and made suggestions to the rest of us. Since I posted mostly in this thread I decided to just add to it instead of creating a new one.

From Chattanooga we traveled north on Rt127 and Rt111 through Sparta onward to Cookeville. The colors and rock formations were beautiful. The Signal Mountain area was great. While at Cookeville, we stayed at a motel with a great view, but we were up and gone in the mornings and didn't return until after dark, so didn't enjoy it too much. I hope I don't violate any rules about advertising here but it may be hard to do. We were able to visit some of the neighborhoods in town, like Capshaw Woods, the Lowelands, and Village Green. We traveled to Algood and Monterey and roamed in between. One time we went to Monterey via Buck Mountain Road and whatever it changed into. The last time was via 70N as we were leaving to return home. We contacted a realtor, who spent time with us on three different days and showed us homes in several areas. We ate at Bobby Q's, East Side Cafe, Dipsy Doodle (twice), Ralph's Donuts, Spankies (my favorite), even the DQ. Wanted to go to Salads & More, but couldn't work it into the schedule. But we did shop at the Spring Street Supermarket and got some pimento cheese and crackers for a later snack. One of the days we went over to Crossville and down to the Cumberland State Park, where we ate dinner at the restaurant in the park. That was probably our best meal of the trip. We also saw the Cumberland Cove area, and we looked at a home in the Deerfield Creek SD, but not our thing.

We walked through the Cream City Historical District, saw the restored depot and checked out the shops. I bought a used book at a bookstore there. Cookeville has a lot of interesting areas that most of those native to there may just take for granted, as we usually did in our hometowns. I must say that you have a jewel of a city. Everyone was friendly and helpful. I got to talk with the manager or owner at Bobby Q's for a while, customers at Ralph's and Spankies, even people at a flea market north of Algood on Rt111. We went to church services at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Cookeville. We were disappointed to hear that they were having a meal served there the next weekend, after we would be gone, catered by Bobby Q's. When we got home there was a letter from FUMC, thanking us for the visit and inviting us back. Did I mention everyone was friendly and helpful? We toured several homes for sale but didn't find the "one". We will know it when we see it. The problem is that a realtor can't have the feel of what we want and we can't keep on top of whats out there from far away. But we are planning to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving and hope to visit Cookeville either on the way up, or the way back, or both.

We enjoyed the hospitality of Cookeville immensely. If we had found what we wanted it would be a done deal. We'll be back.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Lucky Eddy

We enjoyed the hospitality of Cookeville immensely. If we had found what we wanted it would be a done deal. We'll be back.

Thanks so much for telling us about your trip! It sounds like you were able to see quite a bit--and eat some mighty good food! I was particularly glad to see that you ate at Dipsy Doodle twice! Were you there for breakfast? I'm craving some of their biscuits and chocolate gravy right now...

I'm also glad that you liked Spankie's so much. It's always been one of my favorite restaurants anywhere.

I hope you'll find your perfect home so that you can make the move soon. Between Capshaw Woods, Lowelands, and Village Green you definitely saw some beautiful neighborhoods. When I go visit friends who live in Capshaw Woods, we always take a nice walk around their neighborhood and wave to all the people sitting on their front porches or working in the yard.

Best of luck with your move, and I hope you'll keep us posted. Cookeville really is a special place, and I can't wait to be able to live there myself one of these days.

[Starwalker Fallen Angel]

I would also think about Jackson County. Yes, we have more retiree's than ever and you can still find land at very reasonable prices. Nice homes to with fantastic views. I know in the next few years property prices are going to soar. Especially with the HWY 56 road expansion starting Spring of next year. The time to buy is soon. IMHO, this county is going to boom and it's going to do it fast. We have had Taco Bell and Rite Aide contact the county officials.

[Lucky Eddy]

JMT, didn't get to Dipsy Doodle for breakfast. Had their lunch special one day and catfish on Saturday evening. I wanted the catfish grilled but they only serve it fried. Still good with a corn meal batter. BTW, we would have ate twice at the East Side Cafe but they were closed on Friday for some reason. Oh yea, almost forgot, we were going to eat at a place called Duke's, I think, by Rt111 at Algood, but when we went by there were no cars there and a sign up saying For Sale. We stopped at an antique store next door and they said the sign was just put up that day.

Starwalker Fallen Angel, how far away is Gainesboro from Cookeville? We did look at a property north just off 290, which looks like it runs into 56. We didn't go too far north in that area but maybe will next time. We also went as far north as Rickman on 111.