Visit Knoxville and see for yourself!
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1/18/2015
I have not lived in Knoxville but I have visited it several times. My husband was there for 3 weeks last year to open a new restaurant. I came and stayed with him while he was there. I found Knoxville to be very pleasant. We are from the north, well Ohio so not THAT much more north than Tennessee but I digress. I found the people to be extremely nice. We are HUGE Ohio State Buckeyes fans and one of us is usually wearing something with an OSU logo on it. In other cities we have lived in or visited, we've encountered rudeness and taunting simply because we wear our scarlet and gray proudly. This WAS NOT the case in Knoxville. We stopped at a Dick's sporting goods store to pick up a UT Volunteers shirt for our son. He likes to collect college shirts from all the places we've been. Of course, my husband was wearing an Ohio State t-shirt. A random guy shopping at the store stopped us and we had a lovely conversation about college football. He was a life long resident of Knoxville. Then, at the checkout, the cashier and my husband had a lengthy chat about the Volunteers and Buckeyes. All in all, we left the store with high opinions of the "locals". In fact, all of our interactions with the locals was pleasant. From restaurants, grocery stores to gas stations. I have read up on the air and water quality in Knoxville. I did not notice anything bad about the water when I was there and the air was clear and beautiful. I've seen it mentioned on several websites so I've been reading up on it. Yes, it seems like there are air quality issues in and around Knoxville. I attribute that to the mountains and years and years of coal mining. It seems the EPA is working quite hard to reverse these issues. Same goes with the water. The only thing I do agree with that I've read is that people seem to drive really fast there. I was doing 70 on one of the major highways but might as well been doing 35 for the way I was being passed. That aside, I look forward to moving to Knoxville. There seems to be plenty of jobs in my line of work (medical) and my husband's (restaurant management). There is no state tax, gas is cheaper there than where we currently live (North Carolina) and the housing market is booming. Rocky Top here we come soon I hope!
Jill | Cameron, NC