When you think about the center of chess in the United States you think of New York City. Many of the country's top players live in and around New York and the histories of the Marshall Chess Club and the currently defunct Manhattan Chess Club have no equal.
On the other hand, the tiny town of Crossville, Tennessee has much to offer as well. It must, because it looks like it will become the new home of the United States Chess Federation. (Currently located in New Windsor, NY, an hour north of NYC.) Recently Crossville (population 7,000, but that doubles when you include the hound dogs and their fleas) was also selected as the fourth-best location in the US for retirement...
Apparently there aren't any buildings ready so they have some land on which to build. This even more bizarre when you hear that Erik Anderson and the AF4C floated the possibility of the USCF coming closer to them with two years of rent-free offices in Spokane, Washington, plus cash for relocation.
If Tennessee works out it could be dirt cheap in the long run, one reason why many US businesses have relocated to the South in the past decade. But this also means moving far from the chess culture of the Northeast. Anyone can tell you that Tennessee is checkers (draughts) country.
