It’s our first anniversary of owning RV Land in Tennessee and we are amazed at the progress we’ve made in developing it.
We’re also pleasantly surprised by how much we’ve come to love the land and the Mid-Tennessee community of Linden. Our five acres are in a development called The Woodlands of Buffalo River just outside Linden and not far from the beautiful and wild Buffalo River.
So in Episode 424 of the RV Podcast, we thought it would be fun and informative to give you an overview on what our first year of owning RV land in Tennessee has been like and answer some of the more common questions we get.
You can watch the video version of the podcast on our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel below.
You can listen to an audio-only version on your favorite podcast app or by clicking the player below:
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Owning RV Land in Tennessee: How it started
It started as a story. In the late summer of 2021, we heard about a large parcel of Middle Tennessee that was being sold to RVers for camping or building or whatever they wanted to do with it. These were big parcels – starting at five acres and going up from there into hundred-acre-plus properties.
This was unusual. While individual lots have been sold in campgrounds and RV resorts for decades, finding virtually unrestricted large land parcels with no hard and fast land use rules about having to build a permanent structure or prohibiting people from long-term camping was extremely rare,
So we went down for a look. Here’s a link to the first story we did on owning RV land on that first visit.
They were selling, at the time, the first phase of the development, something like 1,500 acres. We borrowed an ATV and drove all over the land.
We were really impressed. The land was beautiful and wooded, with access to nearby rivers and lakes, and it is just 90 minutes west of Nashville in a recreationally rich area known as “Nashville’s Big Back Yard.”
We literally sold ourselves on it.
Our own story sold us!
Little did we expect that the result of that story would result in us owning RV land! But it did. We loved the area. It was wild and remote, yet very accessible. Back at our Michigan home, I published the first blog post and pretty much immediately called the developer, asking if we could come back down and look for land ourselves.
The truth was, like many RVers in these post-pandemic days, we had become fed up with not being able to get a campsite or, if we did, finding the campground so crowded that it was very hard to enjoy a wilderness camping experience anymore.
If we owned RV land, we reasoned, we’d always have a spot to go to any time we wanted.
Right after Thanksgiving, we were back down.
From our research on the story and studying maps back home, we narrowed our search down to four different parcels and inspected each of them. In all, we spent three days on-site, walking all over each parcel.
We liked all of the four properties we looked at. But it was a five-acre parcel marked as site 25 that stood out the most. We asked and got permission to spend the night on it in our RV.
That was the one we decided on. It fronted the road and is bordered on both sides by a series of small ravines called hollers by the locals. At the back, a series of ridges staircases to the west.
The parcel is heavily forested. Loblolly pines are the predominant tree, with a nice assortment of hardwoods on the sides and back. In fact, that’s the name we eventually chose for our property – “Lobllolly Ridge.”
Developing the property
The video and podcast above detail the development process, which took about nine months from start to finish. We carved out a U-shaped driveway and made three full hookup camping sites with water, electricity, and power.
In late summer, we installed gates at both entrances and put in a split wood fence out front.
It’s really been a wonderful experience. We found talented local contractors to do the development work for us and are now drawing up plans for a couple more projects.
We’ve camped there each month of the year for stays as long as two weeks and gotten to meet and socialize with many of our neighbors, who come from all across the country.
About the Woodlands
When we bought a year ago, it was the first phase, about 1,500 acres in size.
Since then, the Woodlands at Buffalo River has grown to almost 4,500 acres and they are now opening the final phase, with some amazing views, beautiful woods with riding trails, and fishing creek frontage.
One of the things we are asked about is how the properties are sold.
The company behind the Woodlands typically sets appointments up and holds one-day sales at various times during the year. You talk with a sales rep, decide just what you are looking for, and then they usually have two or three parcels available for you to come look at. They do these in one day.
The next sale is coming up on Dec. 10, 2022, a Saturday. To get an appointment, you can go to their website at MYRVLand.com
The smallest parcel of land they are selling in this final phase of development is five acres, which starts at $79,900. They go up from there all the way to 65 acres.
These properties are virtually unrestricted. There is no HOA. You can camp, hunt, or build.
We just received our tax bill for the year for our five acres. It was less than $500
So that’s it. It’s been a year of owning RV land, and we have found it to be one of the best moves we’ve ever made.
Some day, we may build a small cabin there.
But maybe not. Our fifth wheel is like a cabin on wheels.
We plan to head down again for a few days before Christmas to enjoy the peace and quiet and beauty of Mid-Tennessee.
Then, in 2023, we’re looking forward to the next phase of our development. We’ll share that in future posts.
In the meantime, let’s go RVing
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