Want to move to AR - recommendations?

**Lady_V** · 03-01-2009, 08:08 PM

Hiya Everyone,

For 5 years now, the Old Man and I have been talking about moving "south". His family pretty much moved from Memphis to Arkansas... which is good because I had NO desire to live in Memphis.

His uncle gave us a list of counties we may be interested in, but from way up here in Boston, we don't know what the towns IN these counties are like.

Here's a list of recommended counties... if you know of any good places located there, we'd really appreciate it.

White County
Cleburne County/Greers Ferry
Independence County
Stone County
Faulkner County
Van Buren County

What we are looking for is a type of area that is not heavily populated, the complete opposite of Little Rock, but I don't want to have to hitch up the horses to get to a grocery store 3 hours away

Not an "up & coming" area either because the last thing we want is to buy someplace that goes from 'country quaint' to 'gangsta hood'.

I guess "Mayberry with a Mall" is what we are looking for. Close enough to hospitals and food, but no so close we can hear the sirens.

We'd LOVE to get some land, even if I have to go out swinging a chainsaw to clear it myself. At least an acre so we can have our small house and a garden/greenhouse. We'd love to be as off-grid as we can.

I am just so tired of living in a box!

Thanks for reading the post, and thanks in advance for any suggestions!

**tbs727** · 03-01-2009, 08:43 PM

I live in Northwest Arkansas. I love it here more than anyplace I have ever been in the states, but there is no way I would consider moving elsewhere within the state. I would be happy to give more specifics, but won't publish them on the internet.

Feel free to PM me!

**MyMelody** · 03-01-2009, 10:21 PM

I live in SW Arkansas (current resident of Union County), and while it's always been home to me, if I were on the outside looking in, I might choose the NW corner instead, too -- especially for the wish list of reasons you listed. The Ozarks might be perfect for you and your "old man!" I used to go to summer camp in that region of the state, and not only are the hills, caves, trees, and rivers beautiful, but it sounds uniquely suited to your desire to live "off the grid."

**Spirit Deer** · 03-02-2009, 08:05 AM

We visited Arkansas and really liked it. I don't think we could deal with the severe weather in both winter and summer though. But we do hope to get back for an extended visit sometime though. The people we met were wonderful and the state is beautiful.

We had an odd experience driving through Little Rock. We had Mapquested our route before leaving home, and as we drove the freeways through the area, we realized we were completely alone, no traffic at all. This was daytime in a busy city, so we had expected to hit traffic. I'm not talking about encountering light traffic, there was NO traffic, not a car to be seen. As co-pilot, I kept looking at the map to make sure we weren't off course somehow, and we kept asking each other if we had somehow missed a 'road closed' sign somewhere. We drove for miles alone. And then all of a sudden BOOM! we were surrounded by traffic. It was like hundreds of cars had just dropped from the sky. It was one of the weirdest driving experiences we've ever had, although interesting.

**TexasPeanut** · 03-02-2009, 09:15 AM

Years ago I used to frequent SW Arkansas and it was a pretty nice area, it was similar to where I grew up in NE Texas.....hills, lots of trees, small towns, etc. But if you want more of a "remote with quick access" lifestyle and lots of beautiful scenery and TONS of things to do outside, shoot for the NW area of Arkansas. Growing up we spent a lot of time up there in the Ozarks (near Eureka Springs) and it was gorgeous! .... Eureka Springs is a tourist-y town but the surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful as well without having all of the tourists around. Lots of mountains of course, lakes, caves, and rivers in that area, plus you are near the Missouri line which gives you even more options of fun things to see and do in nature....more lakes, rivers, mountains, etc. There are some remote places in that area but also quite a lot of Mayberry style of towns with a mall and large town type of living without feeling like city living The counties that you listed are all mostly in the central northern part of Arkansas just north of Little Rock, that is a nice area as well with some small towns....you should definitely stay out of Little Rock if you are looking for peaceful small town living.