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By Olin Chism

'Golf capital of Tennessee' boasts scenic lakes, mountain valleys and small-town friendliness

umberland County is a microcosm of scenic Tennessee. Sit­

uated in the northeast quadrant of the state on the rolling

Cumberland Plateau, an outlying part of the Appalachian

range, the county varies in elevation by more than 2,000

feet , with gentle mountains backdropping broad valleys. The area is

dotted with lakes, and much of it is heavily timbered. In spring and summer, it's an ocean of green. In fall, it's a multicolored rival to the

Smoky Mountains about an hour to the east.

At the center of Cumberland County lies Crossville, which, with

several surrou nding communi­ became the ticket manager for ties, has become a favorite of the New York Yankees and met retirees. Drawn by the natural Alice, a native New Yorker. "I'm beauty, a low cost of living and a born and bred New Yorker, welcoming reside nts, out-of­ and I married my Southern state newcomers have moved gentleman," Alice says. to the area. Later in their New York years,

An exa mp le of the cosmo­ Jim and Alice moved to subur­politan nature of the influx, Jim ban Westches ter County. Jim Hodge, 60, and his wife, Alice , became the ticket manager of 61, have ranged far and wide in Giants Stadium and Alice their careers. They moved to worked in a management posi­Florida during their working tion at Citibank . Twenty years years and planned to retire after Jim's move to New York, there with a second home in Alice had the opportunity to Crossville, but weather and transfer to Florida and jumped fina nces made Ten ne ssee at it. increasingly attractive as a pri­ Jim had always wanted to mary residence. i move to Florida, and Alice had

Unlike many of the area' s inherited her mother's condo in retirees, Jim is a native Ten­ A distinctive rose-colored sandstone quarried Port Lauderdale. For the next 12

I ! nessean , although he was born from Crab Orchard Mountain in the Cumber- years, Alice traveled extensively in Selme r, far to the sou thwest land Plateau was used to construct several for Citibank in Latin America I

I of Crossville. In his rnid-20s, Jim buildings in the Crossville area, including the from her base in Florida, while I moved to Manhattan, where he 1905 Cumberland County Courthouse. Jim took on various projects as

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a ticketing consultant. Assignments in Florida included managing tickets for the Parker Playhouse in Fort Laud­erdale and several othe r Florida the­aters as well as a major-league soccer team and a King Tut tour of Florida.

Eventually Alice was recruited for an executive position with Home Depot in Flori da, and a couple of years later, she and Jim decided they wanted to take ea rly retirement. They had bought a house at Fairfield Glade, a master-planned development for all ages near Crossville, but they thought of it as the ir second home.

Clockwise from above: With a 270­acre body of water, Meadow Lake Park is a popular fishing spot. Alice and Jim Hodge live in the Fairfield Glade planned community, which has 90 holes of golf. A 73-foot-long

mural, painted by Brooklyn artist Katie Yamasaki, adds color to the Fifth Street area in Crossville.

"We thought, 'Let's find the house of our dreams and let's retire in Florida.' The weather's great. What cou ld be wrong with that?" Jim says.

"Well, six hurricanes later, with my ho meowner's insurance going up dramatically and then being can ­ce led, and taxes very high, we start­ed thinking - we actua lly put it down on pa per - 'We're not going to have a very comfortable retire ­ment if we stay in Florida ,'" he says.

10n W HFRF TO RETIRE.--_ .

So Jim and Alice's seco nd home became their only home. "I haven't regretted it for one minute," Jim says. "I don 't miss Florida at all. We've made great friends here. I play golf all the time. My wife is involved with the commu nity. She just learned to play

golf, and she's involved with the ladies' club. We go to the homeown­ers association meetings all the time. We love it here ."

Jim's mention of golf is highly perti­nent as Crossville calls itself the "golf capital of Tennessee." There are 12 18­

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hole courses within 15 miles of the cen ter of Crossville, and the Crossville­Cumberland County Chamber of Com- . merce claims that more tban half a mil­lion rounds of golf were played in the county in 2008. Several of the courses are awa rd winners, including Fairfield Glade's Stonehenge Go lf Cours e , w hich Golf Digest ranked as the No. 1

course in Tennessee in 1995. Fairfield Glade , in fact, has 90 holes of golf.

Another we ll-traveled couple who found a retiremen t home in Fairfield Glade is Jim and Rosemary Campi, 68 and 65, respectively . Jim, a dentist who practiced for many years in Indi­

anapolis, actua lly has retired twice. "My husband boug ht some proper­

ty in Montana, and we built a nice big log home there. We retired and moved out there (in 1996), and he loved being Jeremiah Johnson - and I didn't like being Jeremiah's Wife," Rosemary says, referring to a 1970s movie starring Robert Redford as a mountain man. "There wasn' t anybody there and we we re on the top of a mou ntain in the middle of nowhere."

Jim sees it a little differently. "I had a dream to retire there. I had a bea utiful spread out there, 140 acres on a mo un­taintop , an architecturally designed

and built log home, horses and four­wheelers. I was in seventh heaven . We spent three yea rs there," he says. "111en my wife explained to me that it was a sabbatical, and I had to invoke the only two words that co unt in a marriage: 'Yes, dear.' So we sold out."

111e Campis retu rned to Ind iana po­lis, w here Jim pra cticed for a year in part ne rsh ip with his son, who is also a de ntist. 111en Jim decided to retire again, and on the recommendation of a cousin, the Campis moved to a pleasant resort community, St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore of Maryland . But retirement still wasn't qui te right. After a few yea rs, the cou­

108 WHERE TO RETIRE

ple decided that their property was "too big and too much to take care of," in the wo rds of Rosemary, who has multiple sclerosis .

Jim and Rosemary had friends who lived in Fairfield Glade and loved it, so the Campis checked it out and moved in 2009. They share a lovely home on a lake with a friendly lab, Belle. At Fairfield Glade , a resort-style commu­nity of attached townhomes and sin­gle-family homes, the Campis found a place they both could enjoy equally.

Like the Hodges, the Campis are impressed with Tennessee's costs of living. "It's a lot less expensive than anywhere we 've been," Rosemary

says. "In Indianapolis, our house had about as much acreage as we have here but it wasn't on water or any­thing, and property taxes were almost $9,000. Then in St. Michaels it was $3,700, and .here it is $1,700. That's nice - and, of course, the state has no income tax. That might be another reason people are coming."

The Campis are also impressed with the friendliness and laid-back attitude of Crossville area citizens . They cite an example: They had some major repairs done while they were out of town. When they return ed , Rosemary says, they called the workman and

asked if he wan ted to pick up his check . "And he said , 'Well, I'm busy now. HoW about if I come next week?" says Rosemary. Jim adds, "I had to call him three times to co me get a check for $4,500."

"They are just really, really nice peo ­ple," Rosemary says.

Another recently relocated retired couple, Richard and Sandra Gadwe ll, agree. "Taxes are cheap and the people are nice," says Richard, 66. "And the scenery is beautiful," adds Sandra, 70.

Richard and Sandra, who are retired from the General Motors Corp., moved from Monroe, MI, in 2007. They

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JANUARy/FEBRUARY 2010 109

C R 0 S S V I LL E, T EN N E SSE E Population: 11 ,599 in town, 53,590 in the county. Location: Crossville is the seat of Cumberland County in northeast Ten­nessee. It is about 115 miles east of Nashville, 70 miles we st of Knoxville and 80 miles north of Chattanooga. Climate: High Low January 44 26 july 84 65 Average relative humidity: 79% Rain: 57 inches annually Snow: 12 inches annually Cost of living: Below average Housing cost:The median sales price was $135,000 for homes in Cumber­land County and $187,500 for homes in Fairfield Glade for the third quarter of 2009, according to the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. Salestax: 9.75% (5.5% on groceries) Sales tax exemption: Prescription drugs State income tax: Tennessee has no state income tax on earned income but does levy a 6% tax on interest and dividend income from stocks, bonds and notes receivable. Income received from IRAs and 401(k)s is not taxable. Interest from CDs, savings accounts, obligations of the federal government and state of Tennessee or Tennessee local government bonds is exempt. Income tax exemptions: For the tax on interest and dividends, noted above, the first $2,500 in such income for joint filers and $1,250 for single filers is exempt. Those 65 and older are exempt if total annual income is $27,000 or less for joint fil­ers or $16,200 for single filers. Estate tax: Tennessee has an inheri­tance tax that is similar to an estate tax. Inh eritance tax: A state inheritance tax applies to all assets of estates above $1 million . The rates range from 5.5% to 9.5%. A spouse is exempt. Property tax: Residents in the city pay a total rate of $1.88 per $100 of assessed value. Those living outside the city limits pay only the county tax of $1.33 per $100 of assessed value. Homes are assessed at 25% of market value. The yearly tax on a $150,000 home would be about $705 within the city limits and about $499 in the

112 WHERE TO RETIRE .­

county, including Fairfield Glade. Housing: Jim Firley, a broker for Homestead exemption: None, but Hughes Real Estate Services. sa s that there is a property tax relief program Fairfield q'@9~;:: D)_383"7600, .I.~

for those 65 and older who meet !be·-,rY6StPopular retiree destinatio n" low-income guidelines, disabled pelj/ /in. Cumberland County. Lake Tansi sons and disabled veterans. ( V illage, (800) 600-9913, also Religion: Baptists are the predo.rhi- attracts retirees. ~oth are unincorpo­nant religious group, but vari~d, rated communities outside the Protestant denominations and~~G1 e Catholic and Jewish groups are repre­sented. Education: Roane State Community Colleges Crossville branch offers non­credit continuing-education courses for personal enrichment and general cultural benefits as well as technologi­cal training and courses to comply with business and industrial require­ments. Transportation: Interstate 40 is the principal east-west artery, connecting Crossville with Knoxville to the east and Nashville and Memphis to the west. U.S. Highway 127 is the main route to northern and southern desti­nations; 1-75 is about 50 miles east. Interstate bus service is provided by Greyhound, and the closest Amtrak train stop is in Atlanta, about three and a half hours to the south. Crossvilles municipal airport provides charter and rental service. The closest scheduled airline service isat McGhee Tyson Airport at Knoxville, but many prefer to use Nashville International Airport, slightly farther but a major hub with a greater range of destina­tions and fares. Health care: Cumberland Medical Center is a nonprofit regional facility with 149 private patient rooms and 20 skilled-nursing beds. There are 7 I physicians on staff, with specialists in numerous fields, including cardiolo­gy, emergency medicine, endocrinol­ogy. geriatrics, gynecology. internal medicine, neurology. ophthalmology. oncology, oral surgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, radiology, radiation oncology. urology and vascular sur­gery. The center has a 24-hour physi­cian-staffed emergency department. A Lifeline personal emergency response program is available. A CMC facility at Fairfield Glade has mam­mography and physical therapy serv­ices as well as a w ellness complex offering nutritional and exercise pro­grams including senior aerobics.

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has its own security serviceand a vol­unteer fire department. take Tansi Vil­lage also has its own security service but depends on the county for fire protection . Firley says housing in each community starts at about $) 10,000, with larger houses on acreage costing up to $1 million. Fairfield Glade, which has 90 holes of golf. 11 lakes and a large community center among its amenities, has been in Where to Retires selection of Amer­icas 100 Best Master-Planned Com­munities . In Crossville proper, Home­stead Place, (931) 707-0393, is an upscale gated community. Nongated areas include Park Trace, Mountain Vista and Laurelwood . Housing prices in Crossville range from about $80,000 to $1 million, according to Firley. Visitor lodging: Options include Comfort Suites, $99-$164, (9311707­8638 ; Days Inn, $74, (931) 484­9691 ; Holiday Inn Express, $94-$1 19, (931) 707-1035; LaOuinta, $74-$79, (931) 456-9338; and Super 8, $76­$145, (931) 707-7660. Inform ation: Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce (Whereto Retire magazine). 34 S. Main sr. Crossville. TN 38555, (877) 465­3861 or www.crossville-chamber.com.

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looked at Fairfield Glade but decided they wanted to live closer to Crossville. They chose a rural area just east of the Crossville city limits. It's a sign of how neighborly the area is that they can name all the people who live near them. It's definitely not a place where the residents keep to themselves.

Sandra loves the low mountains to the north of their property, as well as the wooded country nearby and the wildlife. "Especially early in the morn­ing - it's just gorgeous," she says. "We have a lot of deer around here and wild turkeys coming through the yard. And it's quiet."

Crossville, the county seat, had a population slightly under 9,000 in the 2000 census and passed 11,500 in the estimated 2008 census data. It is sur­rounded close-in by the commurlities of Crab Orchard and Pleasant Hill as well as two unincorporated areas, Lake Tansi Village and Fairfield Glade, which have attracted retirees.

Crossville is the commercial center of the area, providing banking and other professional services, shopping, restaurants, recreational opportunities

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and health-care facilities. The latter includes Cumberland Medical Center, a 182-bed facility offering a number of specialized services not usually found in rural health-care systems, including a 24-hour physician-staffed emergency department, There also is helicopter ambulance service to hospitals in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, which range from roughly an hour to an hour and a half away by car.

Recreational opportunities include the Cumberland County Playhouse, a well-regarded regional theater, as well as the multitude of golfing options and outdoor-centered activities in the area's parks, lakes and hilly wood­lands. Anyone checking out Crossville should have a look at Cumberland Mountain State Park, on the edge of town. This lovely park has not only well-appointed camping and picnick­ing areas but also recreational facilities that include swimming and, of course, golf, as well as a restaurant popular with residents.

The fast-growing Fairfield Glade development, the area's most popular retiree destination, has additional com­mercial , professional and recreational oppOitunities. Cumberland Medical Center operates a wellness center at the community, as well as in Cross­ville, offering exercise equipment and classes , personal training, massages and dietitian services.

Cumberland County seems a model of peaceful liVing now, but it wasn't

always that way. Carbon-dated weapons prove that American Indians were in the area thousands of years ago, and Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Cherokees were present in historic times. In what became a famil­iar type of episode in American histo­lY,the first known white man to clear land in Cumberland County, Thomas "Big Foot" Spencer, was killed by a group of American Indians led by Cherokee Chief Doublehead in 1794. The chief was later killed by some of his own people.

Much greater violence erupted seven decades later. Cumberland County, which was officially estab­lished in 1855, was evenly divided between Union and Confederate parti­sans during the Civil War - a point made by Crossville's Civil War monu­ment, which is unusual in listing a vir­tually equal number of names of ser­vicemen on each side. It's not hard to imagine the tensions that arose when relatives were pitted against relatives and neighbors against neighbors dur­ing the nation's greatest time of stress. A major source of havoc was the rene­gade bands that roamed the area dur­ing the war.

Today's Cumberland County may be popular with retirees, but it lacks the aura of age assoc iated with some retiree destinations. As Alice Hodge puts it, her area is not "an adult, old­fogy community." There are children about and, "You have a lot of people

=-­114 WHERE TO RETIRE

Water lovers reside near Mariner's Pointe on Lake Holiday

on the west side of town.

who have retired younger. A lot of folks are not waiting until they are 65 or 70 to retire. There are a lot of younger people who are helping the Glade become revitalized," she says.

Many of those wh o have passed traditional ret irement age remain active. For example, Jim Campi is involved in a program he inaugurat­

ed to bring de ntal care to poor chil­dren in Honduras . While he and Rosemary were living in Maryland, Jim went on a working mission trip to Honduras and saw "that the dental situation was dire for these kids. There were a hundred kids in this elementary-school system, and I quit counting cavities at 500. These kids

were getting no de ntal treatment." The situation is more critical than

many people migh t imagine , an d it prevents Jim from co nsidering a rocking- chair retirement. Jim says that the No .2 natural cause of de ath for chi ldren in Honduras is denta l abscesses . With the help of his church, Jim was able to raise $55,000 nationally and set up a three- chair dental clinic in an orphanage . Now he goes down twice a year and has recruited other dental teams and expanded the program.

Jim exe mplifies the town speople of Crossville. "Any time you have a prob­

~ lem, they are right there," Sandra Gad­~ we ll says of local residents . "In town,

if you walk into a bank or wha tever, it's 'Hi, Mrs. Gadwell.' It's really nice ."

And for many new reside nts, life in Crossville seems to harken back to another era. "It's the way it used to be back in the '40s and '50s," says Richard Gadwell. Wfl1R'

OLin Chism isa writer in Irving, IT, and recently visited Crossville.

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