I've been following the postings here for 2 years and have learned a lot. Thanks to everyone for all the great info.

After reading Annie of SE Ohio's posts, I'm interested in learning more about the area. We may want to buy retirement property there but don't know enough yet to make that decision. We plan to make a trip through that area this year to look it over. I've checked all the links that anyone has wrote about but didn't learn much.

It appears that this area is slightly "hilly" with trees. Are there any evergreen trees? What kind of fruit trees grow there? Do English walnuts, almonds, pecans, peach, apricot trees thrive and produce in this area? It looks like apples and pears should do well. What is the approximate frost-free days for a growing season? Will watermelon and cantaloupe produce well there? We're interested in having a garden and fruit trees to supply ourselves.

It also appears some of these areas may be more remote and off the beaten path than we want to be. What is going on in the general geographic area that is making the water and air quality to be so poor? Is the poor economy and low property prices due to a lack of jobs or something else?

I see that West Virginia has a problem with houses sinking into old mine shafts. Is this also a problem in the Ohio area? I got the impression that some of the places for sale in SE Ohio are reclaimed mining leases.

What are the winters like is this area? How are the road conditions into Columbus after a winter storm? Are the skys clouding and overcast most of the winter (like they are in Michigan) or do you get a lot of blue skys? What about the summer?

Sorry that there are so many questions. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure all of this out but need help from someone who is familiar with the area.

Thanks, Irene in SE Michigan

-- Irene (beahold@yahoo.com), March 10, 2001

Answers

We live in Washington County about 20 mi. in from the Ohio River. Most of this area is technically known as the Ohio Appalachians. But really it is a mixture. Of course, the flatter land is the most expensive and steep hillside the cheapest. The pollution problems in this area stem from the chemical plants along the Ohio and mining. Thank God, we are upwind of those things.

Due to the fact that there are few cities of any size in this area, unemployment has been chronically high. Morgan County to the north of us is one of the poorest counties in the state. But if you're looking for something a little more urban, Marietta is a nice small city, and there is Zanesville, which is a little closer to Columbus.

I love it here, but I grew up in southern Ohio and am used to it. The cost of living is pretty reasonable. It is beautiful and has 4 distinct seasons. I think all of the trees you mentioned grow here except maybe the pecan and almond.

I haven't heard of any houses around here sinking into mine shafts. Most of the mining was done over in Athens and Meigs Counties, and a lot of it was strip mining.

I grew up over in Warren County, Ohio, which has now become a bedroom community for Cincinnati and Dayton. Southeast Ohio reminds me of what Warren County was like 20 or 30 years ago. When last I checked, this county was still decreasing annually in population - probably due to old farmers passing on and young people leaving to find work.

When we were thinking of moving back, we contacted the Marietta Chamber of Commerce and they provided lots of good information about the area. Perhaps you could contact them for information and also ask for them to refer you to other SE Ohio Chambers. Their number is (740)373-5176.

-- Lori in SE Ohio (klnprice@yahoo.com), March 11, 2001.

Hi Irene,

We live in SE Ohio in Monroe county. ( actually Annie and I are neighbors, we live about 18 miles apart ) Yes the area is very hilly. Lots of winding roads! Yes there are evergreen trees but not everywhere. Wayne National forrest is right around the corner so there is not an overpopulation problem here. In fact last count the whole county had a population of 14, 000. There are no jobs here in the area. You have to go to the bigger cities if you want one and they are 30 to 45 minutes away. You might find a small one closer. The schools are not in the best shape. We home school so it is not a problem for us. We have the best vet around. And he has been known to make farm calls in the middle of the night just to check an animal out that "looks" funny. Yes we have nut trees. English walnut and the black walnut, hickory nuts are all on our place. We have the apples, pears and peach. Last year we had so many cantaloupe that we made ourselves sick with eating them!! The year before my Father took 200 watermellon back up north with him and sold them. That was after we had eaten our fill. Frosts and freezes differ as to where you are. We are on the top of a ridge and we frost and freeze later than my neighbors do down in the bottom. We plant cold crops in April and we are done with the garden usualy by the end of September. Our winters can vary. It is more mud than snow. Depending on where you live the roads can be a problem but a good 4 wheel drive will get you out. We live only 3 mile from town, but it looks like we are in the middle of no where. There are 2 state routes that go through town. SR 800 and SR 78. They keep those pretty clear. From there you can go anywhere. We have just about everything you need in town. But we do venture to Walmart and such which one is 30 miles away and the other is 45. ( where the mall is ) Actually you can get as remote or as close to town as you wish. I do not know of any houses that were lost to sink hole anywhere around here. Annie keeps a better eye on things like that and she would be better to answer that as well as the water and air concerns. If you want any other info please feel free to e-mail me. Also here is a web site for a realitor in our area. Annie and I both bought our property from them. www.swisslands.com Another in our area is www.unitedcountry.com Robin

-- Robin (frontzfarm@1st.net), March 12, 2001.

Ohio and michgan are pretty close when come to look and feel of rural area. Maybe a few more tree's in MI, but pretty much the same.

Ohio breaks down into 3 climate zones, Nothern areas, basicly from mansfield north is the snow belt. Lots of snow, much of it lake affect. T Pretty much the same a Southern michigan. Central mansfield down to circleville. This is a mixed bag for winters and summers. Winters are somtimes very cold, sometimes mild. Summers are hot and humid and hazy. South of circleville down to the river is a bit warmer summer and winter. Minimal snow.

If your living in Sothern ohio, Columbus most likley would not be the nearby city. Into PA or WVA would be better city drives.

-- Ohio (gws@redbird.net), March 12, 2001.

Thanks for the information everyone. This gives us an idea of what the area looks like. We plan to make a trip down there to look things over for ourselves.

We have already been into the swisslands.com site. I found photos of the area in their Llama site.

School is not an issue for us since we're looking for an area to retire to. We don't want to be too rural, i.e., reasonably close to hospitals, etc. After reading Annie's comment about 256 inches of snow several winters ago, I was concerned about what the winters were really like during a bad winter and not just relying on the average conditions reported in the weather sites. We don't mind snow but we don't want to be buried in it as we get older. We would like to live in an area where there is more summer than winter but we don't want to live in the deep south where it is so hot and humid. Blue skies don't happen very often in Michigan (even in the summer). Too much haze and overcast. We miss having the blue skies that we had when we lived in the rocky mountains. We also like the evergreen trees in the winter because they add some additional color that we enjoy.

We might need to drive into Columbus once and awhile so we're interested in how long it takes. That's why we wondered about the road conditions.

Almond trees will grow anywhere peaches will grow. They just winter kill a little more easy. They also like more water and you need to have a cross pollinator.

I need to stay in an area that is reasonably pollution free and will stay pollution free for a few years because I have asthma. We don't want to have to move again.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Irene

-- Irene (beahold@yahoo.com), March 14, 2001.

Irene - I'm in SW Ohio ( near Cincy ) and hubby and I are also looking to move to a more rural area. Highland, Scioto, Pike, Brown and Adams Cos. are great places. We need to stay a little closer to Cincy due to my older parents. Hillsboro (Highland Co.) is a great farming town - good hospital, about an hr. from both Columbus, cincy and Dayton, good roads, 2 state parks very close. Land there ranges from perfectly flat to rolling. Pike and Scioto and Adams are poorer counties, but really pretty - lots of trees, both decidiuos and evergreens - reminds me a lot of West Virginia. http://www.cincymls.com/search.html is a realestate site of the area. Just search by counties. Chris

-- Chris Cheatham (CCheatham@cinci.rr.com), March 16, 2001.

Irene, when you are ready to take a look around our area, keep us in mind. We have a little farm house that we rent out on the weekends and to vacationers. Fully furnished, bedding, towells, dishes, cookware - everything.

It could give you a place to land while you give our beautiful Monroe County a look.

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.com), March 16, 2001.

I grew up in Lowell, Ohio about 10 miles from Marietta which is the county seat of Washington County. I now live in Cincinnati, but would love to live back in the hills again. Most of the people I went to school with moved out: lack of jobs. I believe Morgan County (next county over) had an unemployment rate of 14% at the peak of the economic boom. This is why there aren't many people in the area.

Medical: Marietta has a hospital, Marietta Memorial which is adaquate for most things. My father had his hip replacement surgery there. For major things, heart surgery, cancer etc. most people went to Columbus. Columbus is 100 miles from Lowell and the drive is good about 2 1/2 hours.

For shopping Marietta has a Walmart, and various other stores. Parkersburg WV. 15 miles away has a mall.

Marietta is at the junction of the Muskingum & Ohio rivers. There is plenty of boating and fishing to do. There is a private college, Marietta college as well as a 2 year college, Washington State which offers various continuing education courses. The weather in the summer can be muggy and hot, but not more than 20 to 30 days of this per year. we never had air conditioning growing up and my parents still do not. Winters vary, but I would say they are certainly milder than Michigan with less snow.

The land seems to have gotten more expensive as of late. Across the river in WV. it is less, but more hilly with less flat land. Never heard of anyone sinking into the ground. Most of the mining in this area was strip mining. The largest drag ever built(Big Muskie) is around here somewhere. They showed a picture of it once with a 100 member high school band standing in the bucket.

You might try taking the paper for a while: Marietta Times, or Parkersburg Sentinal. Both will mail the paper. Lots of Luck.

-- chris engle (engle_c@yahoo.com), March 17, 2001.

An e-mail friend in WA state just told me about this NG. I live outside Zanesville, Ohio in the suburbs...five miles from town. "We are the Y Bridge City." We have a Mall, two hospitals which just merged into one, and an open heart surgery unit was recently opened here. I-70 passes through our town to Columbus, Ohio. It is about fifty miles from us. The interstate is always kept cleared, except in extreme weather, but is a top priority and cleared ASAP. Never a problem, really...

We have plenty of grocery stores, restaurants, and two fitness centers with Senior programs. My husband and I are in our seventies and have NO desire to become snowbirds in the South. :-)

I admit we do get a little winter weary before Spring comes, but we love the changing seasons. We are far enough from Columbus, to consider ourselves "small town", but close enough to partake of all that Columbus has to offer, if we so desire. Also, Port Columbus Airport gives one access to anyplace in the world you wish to go ...

Real estate is decently priced and fair, IMHO. and we have nice areas of town and farm land, depending on what you are looking for. Dillon Dam is about five miles from us... Camping, fishing, boating and hunting ... We have a lot of deer and wildlife !

Check us out... You just might like us... :-) Write the Zanesville Chamber of Commerce for literature....

Gloria

-- Gloria (zipper90@webtv.net), March 18, 2001.

Thank you for your replies. Thanks homestead2 for the offer of a house to rent. We have a house on wheels that works for us when we travel. We just need to find a spot to park it when we make our trip.

We are not interested in a farm but would like to have enough property to have a large garden and fruit trees pole barn, pond. Also, six chickens for eggs plus all that we need for the freezer. Also, we don't want to have a goat or cow to take care of. We probably need at least one acre but not more than 10 (if part of it is wooded). We don't want to take care of more than about 3 acres so if the property is larger than that the excess area would need to take care of itself (grow wild in its natural state). We also don't want property close to commercial livestock operations, landfills, hazard waste dumps, high-tension power lines, gravel pits, commercial manufacturing, or tourist areas, etc.

We want to be in an area where we don't have to drive a long ways to pick up mail and UPS delivers to our door and it isn't too far a drive for a hardware store, doctor, grocery store, etc. We know people who live in a very remote area who drive 46 miles to pick up mail, grocery, UPS, gas, 3-4 hours for a hospital etc. They have no fire protection or ambulances. We're not interested in that.

We also want to live in an area where there is a community standard of old fashioned values, people are friendly and helpful (and are willing to accept new people in the area)

Irene

-- Irene (beahold@yahoo.com), March 18, 2001.

Hi Irene, oh sorry to misinform you, that post about all the snow was from where I grew up in western Maryland, Accident MD and Oakland, MD, they are the ones that got the snow!!! We got about 3 or 4 feet that year is all!!! We love it here, and would love to have more folks like you in the area, sorry for the snow misunderstanding, if you have any more questions, e-mail me anytime, I don't always have the time to get online everyday, but usually check at least once a week or more often.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), March 19, 2001.

Hi Annie:

Thanks for clarifying the snow. I was rather concerned about that much snow. It reminded me of the wolf creek pass in Colorado.

Can someone tell me what the typical weather is like for the four seasons, e.g., first frost, typical snow storm, tornados, floods, summer temp with humidity, rain, etc.

Irene in SE Michigan`

-- Irene (beahold@yahoo.com), March 20, 2001.