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I have been reading though your posts and sounds like everyone is adjusting well. Thought I would drop you a line about our experience so far.
We moved here from California about 9 months ago. We were so unsure of where to live at first, and did not want to end up in the "wrong" spot.
Well....after nine months, I would say there is not really a wrong spot in the Asheville/Hendersonville area. There are many beautiful and wonderful areas to live that appeal to different people for different reasons.
We personally feel it is a great idea to rent for awhile if you have the option. We know several people who bought imediately and have had regrets, usually because of location, or the community was simply not the right fit for them.
So I hope this will be helpful to anyone searching.
I will be a little general in my discription, but this is our take so far.
Biltmore Lake- as earlier suggested is very beautiful, the only complaint seems to be the distance from everything.
Weaverville-pretty little town with lots of housing options. My husband works with two people who live there and love it.
North Asheville-wonderful kind of hip spot, close to town, definately a little more urban feel, but wonderful if that is for you. Can be spotty, so make sure you have a knowledgeable realtor or friend(in our case).
Candler- Nice, but also a little far removed from the "action"
Hendersonville- Charming! We love Hendersonville and thought of moving there ourselves. Just did not work for us. My husband works in Asheville and the traffic on 26 can be pretty bad.
Swannanoa- Very country and rual, but very beautiful. Only about 10 minutes from Asheville. Not much there now but think things are in the work (with Tiger coming to town), might be a good time to buy.
East Asheville/Haw Creek- Neat little area, very "neighbor-hoddie". We also have several friends who live there and love it. Also close into everything.
South Asheville(Arden)-Close to everything, lots to offer, nice new developments, good schools,a bit of "hussel-bussel".
Fairview-Very beautiful, good location,good schools, lots of housing options. The only thing we felt was a bit scarry was the number of developement going in this area (and Arden), for us coming from CA it was just a little too close to home.
All in all lots of great choices, and it just depends on what you are looking for.
So where did we end up......Black Mountain. We went around and around, but just kept coming back to Black Mountain. It was the small town we were looking for, and the people could not be more friendly or welcoming. Housing I would say would be the only draw back. It is very tough to find a house in Black Mountain. It can be expensive (new housing) and some of the older places need TLC, but we decided it was worth it and are diving ahead.
I hope this was a little helpful to you, and I will probably post it as a general thread to help others. Hopefully they will have a few less miles on their cars than we do on ours.
Love to All,
Duke101
Hi, everyone! Just a note about squirrels. We had no idea when we moved here that they'd be "part of the everyday family" and such FUN!
We have learned from the Web that squirrels actually do fall out of trees... that their tails become their parachutes...that they still do get hurt, break bones... but that they mend very quickly. We have learned that most of them don't make it past the first year of life... and that those that do must have strong survival instincts.
One of you wonderful people on this forum surprised and delighted us with a squirrel feeder--how thoughtful was that!!! The feeder is a wooden platform with a metal screw in it to anchor a cob of fresh corn. (The platform itself screws into a limb or trunk or log.) It is a KICK. We put a fresh cob on it yesterday afternoon. By evening it was more than half gone. It was such fun to watch a squirrel perch on the platform behind the cob, sniff-sniff-sniff, and then hold the cob with its two front feet to brace it while it munched. It reminded us of a child licking an ice cream cone. Very sweet! So funny!
Surprise surprise--this morning almost the whole bare COB was lying on the ground, and later it disappeared entirely! Raccoons may be coming for din-din, too--I'm not sure a squirrel could break the cob off its post like that.
Anyway, today Bill and I happened to have corn-on-the-cob with our Sunday brunch. We got to wondering what would happen if we put a "used" cob on the feeder. Human beings leave lots of tidbits on their cobs, so we're curious whether critters will share with humans! Of course, we'll still give them their own fresh cobs--LOL--and the usual unshelled peanuts and mixed critter food. But we can tell you--they definitely like fresh raw corn!!!
P.S. The white squirrels are dominant, I'm happy to say. Until they've satisfied their own appetite, they keep the grays away from the booty!
And that's my squirrelly update!
Keep well, stay joyful, send a note to brighten someone's day!
We’ve been here 69 days now, and it’s time to close out this diary. We have only just begun learning about this region—learning will go on forever—but we are no longer “transplants.†We feel “rooted.†We live here now. It has been an exciting transition from San Diego, full of surprises!
We have rebuilt our lives here in the image of what they were—not a mirror image—we wouldn’t want that—but we now have here the best of what we had in CA—and much more!
We have been thrilled with the awesome beauty of the mountains and the treasure of wildlife. We’ve always had to pitch a tent in a place like Yosemite to live among critters. Today there were four squirrels (one white), a chipmunk, and numerous birds sharing a 20'x25’ space outside our office and dining room. Raccoons come at night and bare the corn cob; squirrels munch on it by day.
I could not have guessed: I’ll start teaching hammered dulcimer in a few weeks; students have already signed up, and a Black Mountain music store has generously opened its arms to them and me. I’ll also be participating in Asheville’s January “Wedding Festival†(a bridal show) and have already found excellent and highly enthusiastic musicians to perform with me for weddings and parties. Today I joined an Early Music ensemble composed of 11 other people from which sub-groups volunteer to perform for schools and seniors and other places where the need is great and the budget small. This ensemble, which rehearses in Brevard (home of the White Squirrel Festival), performed for the first time in public last week; it can only grow busier and better. Bill thoroughly enjoys all of this musical activity with me; we are blessed to be so compatible.
To our surprise, we have already made many more friends and acquaintances here than we (reluctantly!) left in CA. We have renewed and deepened wonderful family ties in PA. We have participated in more church activities than ever before in our lives—including (so far) Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist—LOL!! We have admired and embraced the ecumenical spirit of the Hendersonville community.
While we continue to tend our house in San Diego (new carpet went down today), it is no longer the priority it was; it will sell when someone buys it. It no longer drives us or spoils our peace of mind.
Our experiences here—the helpful, friendly people!!—have actually helped us to define our retirement lifestyle: (1) embracing ourselves (self-growth including the life of the spirit, self-care including medical care, self-entertainment including drama, concerts, movies, galleries)… (2) embracing others (developing and nurturing relationships, volunteering where needed, helping the church in its outreach programs)… and (3) embracing a part-time business enterprise (live music for special events). If we can balance those three compartments of our lives, we believe that our lives in retirement will always be full, productive, meaningful, and happy. We thank God for these opportunities!!
As I said when I opened this thread, “One’s vision of a new place to live will almost certainly not match the reality, no matter the amount of prior research or number of prior visits (in our case tons of both). The reality may be better; it may be worse; it may be some of both; but it probably will be different from the long-held vision.†This prediction certainly continues to hold true for us!
We believe that “transplants,†present and future, will thrive in this soil if they will only open the petals and let the sunshine in! If we only reach out, someone—around here, lots of people—will reach back!
After 16 years, our new home was well worth waiting for!! We wish you all the same peace and joy that we have found!!!
This concludes this “Diary of a Transplant.†THANK YOU for listening and for offering all of your wonderful comments. Many of you have become part of our new circle of friends, and we hope to have coffee with you very soon!!!
God Bless you, Jan! Please start a new thread "Life of the new North Carolinians" and keep telling us about your great adventures! You are an inspiration to us all and we are so very grateful!
So where did we end up......Black Mountain. DUKE101
So how are you liking it so far??? I asked my Realtor about it because we are so "drawn"to it & she says it is at least 40 min from the Asheville Racquet Club. I thought it was closer. We don't think we are "gated community" types- there's nothing like that here- but places like The Settings look so pretty at least their website does. Do you know anything about them?
God Bless you, Jan! Please start a new thread "Life of the new North Carolinians" and keep telling us about your great adventures! You are an inspiration to us all and we are so very grateful!
LOL!!--Are you serious??? You want another novelette???
So where did we end up......Black Mountain. DUKE101
So how are you liking it so far??? I asked my Realtor about it because we are so "drawn"to it & she says it is at least 40 min from the Asheville Racquet Club. I thought it was closer. We don't think we are "gated community" types- there's nothing like that here- but places like The Settings look so pretty at least their website does. Do you know anything about them?
2kate, it took me a little while to figure out that you're quoting DUKE101 and asking him how he likes Black Mountain so far. Anyway, I wanted you to know that Mapquest.com places the Asheville Racquet Club just 24 minutes (21 miles) from the center of downtown Black Mountain. (Traffic, of course, may be another thing.) The Racquet Club is on Brevard Road, not in central Asheville. Downtown Asheville is only about 15 minutes from downtown Brevard.
The Settings--yes, gated--is located a short drive south of State St. (the main street, I believe, in Black Mountain). The Settings is huge (by our standards) and is built into the mountainside (hence the dramatic views!), so the roads go up... up... up... and it can take, we figured, up to five or ten minutes just to drive from a mountaintop lot to the main street that runs by The Settings. It is a homesite development (you have to build or have your house built)--unless you buy a resale, which at this point will be a very limited opportunity. I would want to know, before I bought a lot there, how many have been sold (over what timeframe) and how many remain unsold--the same question I would ask of any new development today--i.e., How solvent is the developer? Having said all of that, The Settings is a stunning development with spectacular views and clubhouse and other social amenities. It has much to recommend itself! (We have decided against both HOAs and gated communities.) Good luck!
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Nuts about squirrels!
