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The answer is West Virginia

My wife will inherit a portion of her family's land (multiple acres) in northern WV. An option will be to use that as home base and get a condo somewhere south to spend winter months.

My main issue with WV is the lack of sun, especially in the winter. Not only is it one of the more cloudy states, but my in-laws place sits between the hills and in the winter season, when there are clear skies, it still feels like you are always in the shadows.

It is also extremely remote. It is a 45 minute drive to get to the big-box stores, or hospitals and just about any activity dependent on others to provide, such as golf or live entertainment. It is a wonderful place to get away from the crowd, but a difficult place if you enjoy activities that are economically dependent on their being an existing customer base!

This is one of the decisions I need to make. If I live within 30 - 60 minutes of a large metro area real-estate will be expensive, or I will have to go small. I can go to the boonies but then remoteness has its own downside. I'd like to find a happy compromise.

Just looking at Tennessee, for example, every real estate option exists along I-81 / I-40 between the Virginia line, Knoxville and heading west towards Nashville. The question becomes, how remote is too remote and how expensive is too expensive.