We recently moved from our large suburban home on a third of an acre in Pennsylvania to a small mountain cabin on 40 acres in the gorgeous mountains of Tennessee, along the North Carolina border.
People ask us “Why here?” One, we love the mountains. Two, Tennessee taxes are amazing. Seriously, I have never had anything good to say about taxes but we got a major break moving here. Third, we are closer to my mom in North Carolina and now it’s so much closer going to visit than when we were coming from PA. To give you some context, I graduated from Appalachian State University way long ago and moved to Pennsylvania to get a graduate degree at Eastern University. I went onto to achieve an MS (Masters of Science in Urban Economic Development), an MRS (married to Brian Peppel), and an MOM (mother of two beautiful girls!). It took me 29 years in the North before I moved back South and we are loving it!
People go on to ask “What are you going to do with all that land?” Well, we are considered forest property by 22.5 of our acres so those trees will stay as they are and remain home to the abundant wildlife from deer to possums to bears (which we hear are coming as the weather warms up). We also have over 10 apple trees on the property, a large fishing pond with bass and blue gill, trout-filled natural streams and we plan to have beehives (Go BEEKS!), fig trees, paw-paw trees and more. And, just have fun. Our side of Heaton Ridge has old but maintained trails up the top of the ridge and we are having fun with our new side-by-side taking people on tours up there. Not far is the very beautiful trail up to the top of Roan Mountain which is home to the part of the Appalachian trail which runs along the PA/TN border.
On a professional note, Brian continues working from home as an IT technical manager and I am still teaching some virtual classes at the University of Valley Forge, and working part-time as a marketing consultant for Free Reign Farm (more on this to come!)
More pictures to come (especially when our new bluetick puppy arrives in 2 weeks)! If you are ever in the area, look us up!
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