My wife and I have decided to move away from topsail Island. We are currently looking at the greaterAsheville  area, we went to Lake lure a year ago and loved it there. The lake itself is too expensive for us so we have expanded our search to much bigger geographical area. Do not want to live in Asheville itself would like to be at least 10 or 15 miles outside of town.

Do any of you live in this general area? I’m hoping to find out more about that area, especially if there are any public gun ranges where we can do some shooting.

Are there any big negatives living in that area? Does it get a lot of snow? What would keep you from living in that area?

Thanks for your help!

So title says Asheville but message says Nashville, lol

We have a cabin that is north of Morganton. It's about 45-1hr from Asheville , 30 min to Blowing Rock. It's foothills but just a quick ride to the national forest. Price of land is still not too crazy. Morganton is kind of Asheville-light, more blue collar, less hippy. But still a few breweries, fancy pizza, artiest... but also Walmart, Bojangles, mom&pop hamburger place...

If you go to Marion, it's closer to Asheville, prices go up, there lake property, but still a working town- they grow rocks,lol.

Snow is hit or miss unless you get to higher elevation- day after Christmas we had a light dusting at our cabin but 45 min away in Boone they had about 3-4 inches. Kind of surprised the folks that were from out of town, saw a lot of out of state tagged cars in ditches!

There are some ranges but might just be better to buy enough land to shoot on. We ended up with 20 ac.

Check in to carolinafirearmsforum.com .

Thanks for the info. I changed the post to Asheville.

From a recently transplanted lifelong Floridian, I had the same idea 10 years ago. We were up here in the mountains every year or every other year for vacations and I liked a lot of the places around Asheville.
Asheville itself is entertaining to visit on occasion; but the tourists and local wildlife can be overbearing at times. I've always tended to like the southern mountains for the quiet and the northern mountains for the scenery from Boone down to Linville Gorge and Mount Mitchell. I didn't want to live in the mountains year round and deal with the tougher winters and lack of larger city restaurants and shopping (that makes Asheville appealing).

Long story short, we ended up buying acreage west of Winston in the Lewisville, Clemmons area and we moved here last fall. We absolutely love it here. I have had nothing but the best in dealing with local businesses and professionals. There's a much higher percentage of native North Carolinians in the area; and they're just pleasant to talk to and do business. We're far enough out that I can't see any neighbors when the leaves are on the trees and only two when they fell off. I can be in downtown Winston and to just about any kind of shopping in 15 minutes or less. But the best part, is I can be in Boone in an hour and 15 minutes or pretty much anywhere between there and Asheville in under 2-2 1/2 hours. We've made a half dozen day trips up into the mountains to see snow so far this winter and it's been a blast.

We think we found the perfect spot to stay for the duration; and it only took us a decade to figure it out. It might not fit your bill, but give it a look. We didn't consider it until last June, and ended up buying a home within a month. Your mileage may vary.

I'm an Avl native, and I have see this area change quite a bit.  I remember when downtown went from a boarded up ghost town to being packed with people.  All in all it's a nice place to live, even if I don't agree with the city's politics.  Housing is very expensive in Buncombe County, and there aren't a lot of properties that don't get scooped up very fast. If you want to move a little ways out of town, the surrounding counties are also nice, a little cheaper, and have all the regular amenities.

Originally from WNC. Still have mine and the wife's family up there.  I wouldn't move back, but there's multiple reasons for that.  Lotta change when you only go up there once or twice a year.

Were I to be gunpoint forced to move back up there, I'd probably go west of Brevard.  Highlands, Cashiers, Lake Toxaway.  Nice scenery, little outta the way.

I’m in Fairview. I’m about 30 minutes from down town. This area is growing fast. The plus is my property value is going up fast. The down side is it was all woods here, it’s all turning into more houses. The taxes on Buncombe county is very high. I’d check Gurton, Batcave, Rutherfordton. There are lots of nice places that don’t have the taxes and politics of Asheville.
Also if laws change, I can guarantee Buncombe county will not be a 2A sanctuary. Many other local countries will be.