Low taxes, good schools, and a town that still has a tent show.
Decatur County is about 11,800 people spread across 334 square miles — around thirty-four to the square mile. Tennessee charges no state income tax, the median home runs under $140,000, and the schools beat the state average.
Small, and better than the average.
Decatur County Schools is a single county-wide district of about 1,500 students — two elementary schools, one middle school and Riverside High. Every child in the county goes to the same high school, which in a place this size means the school and the community are more or less the same thing.
On the state’s own measures the district runs ahead of the Tennessee average in maths, English and science, with chronic absenteeism well below the state figure, and it ranks around 24th of 147 districts. Riverside High has been recognised with a College Success Award.
UT Martin’s Parsons Center is eleven miles away — a purpose-built 29,000 square foot regional campus with nursing and science labs, a library and distance-learning rooms, supporting bachelor’s degrees in thirteen fields. A four-year degree, fifteen minutes from the gate. There is a TCAT extension in Parsons too.
Parsons is the town. Camden is the big shop.
Everything ordinary is within twenty minutes, and the things you only need occasionally are within thirty.
| What you need | Where | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel, propane, RV dump, showers | Love’s and three others, I‑40 Exit 126 | ~5 |
| Post office | Sugar Tree | 2.8 |
| Groceries | Parsons — three full groceries in town | 10.6 |
| Farm & ranch | Tractor Supply, Parsons | 10.8 |
| Pharmacy & urgent care | Vise’s and Fast Pace Health, Parsons | 11.0 |
| Hardware | Ace Hardware, Parsons | 11.5 |
| Building supply | Buck Building Supply, Parsons | 11.7 |
| Library | Parsons Public Library | 11.7 |
| Vet | Decatur County Animal Clinic | 13.5 |
| Farm co-op | First Farmers Co-op, Decaturville | 16.6 |
| Walmart Supercenter & hospital | Camden | 21–22 |
Urgent care is fifteen minutes away in Parsons, the nearest emergency room is at West Tennessee Healthcare’s Camden hospital about half an hour out, and an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter base sits in Parsons, eleven miles from the property.
A rural county that is 94% gigabit.
This surprises people. Decatur County is 94.4 per cent covered by gigabit fibre — far better than most of rural Tennessee — thanks to LexNet, the fibre arm of the local electric utility. Their published residential plans are symmetrical, uncapped and contract-free: 300/300, 600/600 and 1200/1200 megabits.
Fibre is reported at a serviceable location a quarter of a mile from the parcel, so a connection is very likely a line extension rather than a wait. Satellite is available as a fallback, and mobile signal out here is what you would expect of deep country — most people run a booster or use Wi‑Fi calling.
The weather
Hot summers, mild winters and very little snow — an inch and a half a year on average. Zone 7b. Rain is generous and evenly spread, which is why everything here grows the way it does.
Walk it, and you will know.
An hour on the ground tells you more than any photograph. The gate is gravel and the drive takes a truck, so come in whatever you drive.