Jim,
For those of us stuck in the Northeast due to family and or business reasons, I suggest the the area in New Hampshire north of the White Mountains and east of the Connecticut river. Generally from Woodsville, NH to Lancaster, NH. Including the area around Lisbon, Littleton and Whitefield in the Ammonoosuc River valley. Distance to Boston is approximately 150 miles, and Montreal 170 miles. – Art
Dear Jim,
For retreat sites east of the Mississippi, one of the most uninhabited areas is in West Virginia south of the WV Turnpike down through the eastern corner of Kentucky and the south west corner of Virginia. It’s a hard land and the people living there are probably some of the best survivalists living today because they have to be.
If anyone decides on this area, they must establish themselves before hand because after a national collapse people from “off” will not be welcome and it may well be a fatal error to try to settle there.
Always treat the local people there with the utmost respect. They never forget a kindness or forgive an insult. The feud is still a time honored tradition. – v/r John
Jim;
I live in western North Carolina. However I am close to Asheville but west and northwest of me is places that are suitable for retreats. Plenty of water, game, fishing, firewood, and lots of prime area for gardens. We are in the mountains and in case I have to bug out I can be in the wilderness within one mile of where I live. Either by vehicle or walking. My plan is to bug in but in the event I have to leave I have several places and routes to take. So they are places in western NC, northeast Georgia, and eastern Tennessee one could live with not many people around. I live about 60 miles from Murphy and extreme wilderness areas. That is the same area that Eric Rudolph evaded the FBI for so long. In my area they are plenty of hiking trails that a person if they wanted to could “get lost” easily. But if someone bugged out in this area you must have excellent survival skills i.e. trapping, use of snares, camping, hunting, fishing, etc or you would not last very long.
Thanks for your web site and for all that you do to help people prepare. – R.H. in Asheville, NC
Jim,
I would recommend the Southern Central area of Alabama. This area is called the “Black Belt” region. This phrase does not reference martial arts nor does it reference any racial class of people. It references the soil. The soil is a dark rich soil that is from fresh water deposits from many many years past. The soil is great for gardens and wildlife. This is deer country. The deer love the vegetation that grows due to the soil. There are still large tracts of farm land for sale. However, the poverty in this area can be high, depending on which part you choose to live . I was driving through Tuscaloosa last week and saw a sign that stated if someone would build in the Black Belt region, south of Tuscaloosa, either the State, county or city would give you land. This is of course a way to end the poverty in this region.
In north Alabama, the City of Huntsville has Redstone Arsenal, an Army installation. I do not think I would want to live there. In Anniston, Alabama, they have an Army weapons incinerator. The [state] Emergency Management Agency has been giving out [chemical warfare] “survival kits” [to local residents] and they have a warning system in place to tell you when to take cover and shelter. I do not think I would live too close to either of these facilities. However, south of Birmingham in the “Black Belt” region may be good. Respectfully, – Happy Howie
Jim,
I wish I could tell you that I had extensively researched this particular problem and had a nice tidy answer for you. I have looked into it but the current loose plans of my wife and I have us staying a few more years in one of the worst places outside of a major city on the East Coast. That being Long Island, New York. Close to the South unfortunately as well. As our ‘escape’ gets closer to becoming a reality I’ll be doing further and more extensive research. I have done some preliminary work though and for us personally it’s looking like either the mountains of Western North Carolina or somewhere in central to Northern Vermont. Based on population central Maine, West Virginia may be worth looking into and I believe the Shenandoah River Valley area of Virginia holds some promise as well but it’s far too close and accessible to the D.C. area for my tastes.
A lot of the issues involved are centered around family, friends and work in regards to staying on the East Coast. I would think some may like upper NY in the Adirondacks but the gun laws here in NY have crossed the entire state off our list.
I like to think the key to pulling off long term survival in the Eastern portion of the country will being able to lay low and completely disappear when needed. The channelized areas are extremely annoying as far as selecting retreat locations. The network of highways is simply too extensive and I would expect something along the lines of a ‘Christopher’s Response’ as in [Niven and Pournelle’s novel] Lucifer’s Hammer to take care of some of that. Granted I also suspect plenty of traffic will be tied up in car accidents and disabled vehicles. We recently had the displeasure of driving from Long Island (LI), up across the Throgs Neck bridge and across the lower section of the Bronx, through upper Manhattan across the George Washington bridge and finally to I80 in New Jersey. It was roughly 15 or 16 miles from leaving the LI Expressway to getting clear on I80, took us around 3 hours. That was between 2:00 and 5:00, about a half hour for the first four miles to actually get off LI, the rest was sitting in the Bronx because of a minor accident that we never actually saw any sign of. Normal traffic, if the Schumer hits the fan it’ll be much, much worse and many people if not most will not escape where ever they’re starting from.
One of the reasons I like Vermont is that the hordes fleeing Boston would likely take route 93 to get to Vermont and I suspect some enterprising Free Staters in New Hampshire will use the Christopher Response. Although that is not something that can be counted on. I think Adirondack park would also be a big attraction for vast numbers of the Golden Horde or MZBs, including those from Boston and many will head into the ‘wilds’ of Maine in the Summer and those that can will do everything in their power to head South in the Winter. I suspect there are plenty of good locations in Vermont that would be bypassed by many trying to get to places they perceive to be better. I also like that areas of Vermont enjoy good prospects for wind and hydro power generation. I feel in many situations hydro power is a superior choice since it is far easier to conceal. Although Vermont gets a big down check for solar. In fact the prospects of colder winters is a plus in my book since being able to lay low for a years time will harshly thin things out. I’m sure things will be difficult but I’m reasonably certain once we start setting up a ‘retreat’ or rather our home if we choose Vermont we’ll be able to make it seem that we are most certainly ‘not home’ for that first critical year.
North Carolina is on the list more for family reasons than any other. There’s a lot about NC I don’t care for. One of the biggest being the potential for racial conflict. No matter what your race may be for all practical purposes you simply can’t hide your race from people of other races. So even if you have zero desire to be involved in something along those lines and I most certainly do not, simply being there adds one more and in my opinion unneeded additional survival challenge. Oddly enough (or maybe not) another big down check is some of my family already living there.
Another thing to look at when scouting a potential retreat area is how welcoming it is to new people. I’m getting the feeling that time is short on many fronts so being able to become part of a community quickly is likely going to be a necessity. From my visits and talks to friends in Maine it seems that there are vast areas of Maine that would be otherwise promising if it weren’t for the vibe that families living in an area for three generations are looked at as ‘the new people’. I suspect the areas I’ve looked at in NC may have something similar but I haven’t spent any time in those areas yet. From my limited travels in Vermont, mostly in the Burlington area and talking to friends who moved there from LI, I haven’t quite gotten that same vibe that the areas of Maine I’ve been to (Kennebunkport and Hollis) seem to have. For this reason alone I think it is extremely important for someone to visit their potential retreats before committing to putting money down and moving. This definitely one of those ‘the more the merrier’ type of things.
We also have a potential bug out location in PA that may work out for us but overall is too close to NYC and a major highway but it’s a gathering point for many friends and better yet we would be welcome there.
Anyway, sorry to ramble on and I feel that all of this even though it’s sums up my own assessments so far, merely scratches the surface. Thanks for the work you put into the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, it has been some enlightening reading. – T.J.
Hi Jim,
Here’s an Eastern US area that you might not be aware of …it is Floyd County, about a one hour drive west of Roanoke, Virginia. It fits the categories of lightly populated, agricultural, and away from “lines of drift. – G.S.
Jim:
We picked SW Tennessee. Halfway between Memphis and Nashville and 25 miles north of the Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee border
Rationale:
Two tremendous water sources The Tennessee and Mississippi rivers.
Water tables are close to the surface with many springs and artesian wells. Supplies all of Memphis with water.
Enough rolling hills to dig in.
Plenty of forest to hide in.
Land cost $ 1,000 – $2,500 per acre in outlying areas.
Memphis and Nashville are large, both 120 miles from our home and, Jackson, TN is 50 miles north. Much smaller population 600,000.
Nothing to the South until Birmingham Alabama.
Country folk who very seldom go to Nashville or Memphis except for medical appointment at Vanderbilt or U of Tennessee.
Everything grows here.
Usually only two snow days a year.
Coldest average temp is 10 degrees.
Three planting seasons, Feb – (Spring), May- June (Summer), and August (Fall). Tomato and beans grow up until the time change in Oct. Cabbage and potatoes until November. Zone 7 Tremendous hunting turkey, deer, squirrel and rabbit. Good fishing TN and MS rivers. Perry County boast of NOT having any four lane highways in the whole county. Property taxes on 42 acres is $175 per year. No building or code inspectors. No codes! You can build anything you want. Except, to have electric hookup you have to have a septic tank. Reception is good and poor on cell phone, (good and bad) depending on where you are standing. To work, you go into Jackson, TN, a one hour drive. Takes the same amt of time driving 18 miles in rush hour on the expressway. Yes we are down wind but outside of the yellowstone supervolcano fallout Well this is our motivation. Have a good day. And peace be with you and your family. – Rus