About Jamestown's Big South Fork

Surprising enough, the demographic in the equestrian communities near Big South Fork National Park are people in their 50's, 60's and 70's, for the most part. Fit, active people who spend a lot of hours in the saddle but…let's face it….that's a lot of arthritic hips, knees and ankles.

An old injury has rendered my left knee so weak it won't support my weight as I attempt to mount from the ground and I have to use a mounting block. I have a lightweight plastic mounting block with a wide, sturdy base, designed for just that purpose, one at home and in my trailer so mounting up and riding off is no problem. But what happens at the lunch break or when we dismount to tie up at hitching rails so we can walk out to one of the many scenic overlooks in Big South Fork?

I lived for a very brief time in Florida…flat, sandy Florida. I actually had to carry a little three-legged stool, designed for mounting. Once I was back on the horse, I would pull it up with the attached cord, fold it and put it back in its little carry bag, which snapped onto one of the dee rings on my trail saddle. I hated it but it sure was the right tool for the job and many, many people who saw it asked where they could get one.

Those days are gone. Here in the Big South Fork, there are "mounting blocks" everywhere you look. Logs! Tree stumps! Rocks! If worse comes to worst, the terrain is so rolling that you can always find somewhere stand your horse on the low side while you mount from the high ground.

For information about Big South Fork real estate or horse properties in Jamestown, Tennessee, go to www.trailridersrealestate.com

Realtors can sometimes get attached to (or farm) one or two favorite equestrian communities in Big South Fork country. After all, that way you know everything about the properties, who is selling what and what sold for how much.

But to serve our clients we want to offer buyers a broad range of possible properties that may suit their needs. Tennessee Recreational Properties (TRP) is taking the GLOBAL approach. When you come to Fentress County, The Trail Riding Capital of the East, looking for a potential retirement or vacation home, you want to know all there is to know about the area.

What you don't normally get from local realtors is that BROAD picture. How can buyers find their particular piece in the puzzle if they don't understand the whole puzzle? At TRP, we are painting the whole picture and letting the buyer define what piece of the puzzle he/she likes best.

If trail riding is important, then we show the trails, trailheads and the distances to the trailheads. If views and seclusion are important, we guide you to the best offerings for bluff views and private estates. We are in the process of building a multi-layered, interactive website to take a search from general area to specific criteria. Logon and watch the progression at www.bigsouthforktrp.com

This is just the beginning of the unique maps and information TRP will be bringing to the buying public.

Here in the Big South Fork area of Jamestown, Tennessee, most of the homes are, in fact, cabins. When Big South Fork National Park opened in the mid-1990s, it quickly became a destination for trail riders from Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and south central Kentucky. The Spruce Creek equestrian community was developed at about that time and many of those riders bought a piece of land and built a little cabin for their weekend getaways. Many of those are traditional, typical cabin design, with an open floor plan on the first floor and an open loft on the second.

The demographic is largely people in their 50s and 60s and 70s who are fit and active but his area has a great deal of appeal for those about to retire and, when they express interest in looking for a cabin, they are wanting, for the most part, one-floor living. They are not going to be weekenders so they want something more upscale; they want the solid countertops and tile floors and Jacuzzis that they are leaving behind in New Jersey and Ohio.

Several more equestrian communities have since been developed, among them White Oak, River Park, Nichol Creek, The Hitchin' Post, The Highlands At Big South Fork and Rockhouse Ranch, which opens up new possibilities. Tennessee Recreational Properties is the premier source for equestrian, retirement and country living properties on the Cumberland Plateau, with many varied parcels of land to choose from. But wait…it gets better!

It is daunting, often overwhelming, to contemplate construction when you are still out of state but TRP has a sister company, Fortune 7 Homes, that offers one-stop shopping for newcomers. Fortune 7 has existing floor plans for several cabins and cabarns (cabin/barn combination), in various price ranges, but can customize those or design to accommodate individual preferences.

With "turnkey" construction, Fortune 7 can have the land cleared and sitework accomplished to the specifications of a highly-qualified landscape architect, cabins and barns built, fencing installed, pasture sowed…all you have to do is to MOVE IN!

For information about Fortune 7 Homes, go to www.fortune7homes.com

For information about Big South Fork real estate or horse properties in Jamestown, Tennessee, go to www.trailridersrealestate.com

I've always worked hard and done well but, in spite of my record, listing and selling horse properties in the vicinity of Big South Fork National Park, I was not the #1 "Featured Realtor" in Fentress County and I wanted to know why. I discovered that realtors who posted to a blog on Active Rain accrued points and it was the realtor with the most points who was featured, in each county of each state.

Regional posts appear as "Localism" and reinforce the idea that you really know a lot about the area. Makes sense.

So…I blogged. And then I blogged some more. In short order, I deposed the #1 Featured Realtor but I kept posting to my blog because I was learning so much about my community and it was fun to create little posts and find interesting pictures to go with them. As I drive around Jamestown, Tennessee and Fentress County, I carry my camera and, as often as not, a picture will inspire a post.

When I changed agencies and moved to Tennessee Recreational Properties a few months ago, I introduced my new Broker to Active Rain. She and I are friends and have always been on the "same page" but working together, pulling together, has created a synergy where the sum is greater than the parts. She's an achiever too so she decided that, if blogging was what it would take to depose the #2 Featured Realtor in Fentress County (who used to be #1), she would blog. And blog she did!

Now Tennessee Recreational Properties has ascended the mountain and we've planted our flag on the pinnacle. When you find Fentress County, Jamestown, Tennessee or Big South Fork, you'll find Tennessee Recreational Properties as the #1 and #2 "Featured Realtors."

We're on top because we're competitive….in more ways than one (or two) and we know our stuff, making TRP the Big South Fork area's premier source for equestrian, retirement and country living properties.

For information about Big South Fork real estate or horse properties in Jamestown, Tennessee, go to www.trailridersrealestate.com

With this blog and tomorrow's sign-in I will reach my personal goal of getting to 2^nd place in Fentress County's AR. Not a huge goal, but one that I've worked hard on for about a month. Some things have suffered - house cleaning, prompt dinners, and yes, real estate paperwork, but after tomorrow, I can chill for awhile (no pun intended).

So this is my girl - a friend on the edge of the woods just 100 feet from the house. She visited us all last fall and I hope she is making it through the winter ok.