Thank you for the documentary evidence that Dad knew what he was doing. His day job was as a veterinarian. The farming venture was a sideline, mostly to keep five boys busy.
If you want the NC mountains and isolated location, Graham Co. is the place to be. After than there’s portions of Swaim and Clay and Cherokee Counties to consider.
Graham is a dry county no beer, only a couple of Grocery stores, lots of national forest and scattered portions of tribal land.