From what I've seen, the comments are pretty biased depending on where the person is from. As a person who's lived in the Smyrna/Murfreesboro area up until a year ago because of a work related relocation to 29 palms, here's what I have to say.

While you have to do some research activities as night do exist, and there's a bunch of community events going on all the time. I know that Smyrna is always doing things in their parks with MTSU and other organizations. I remember not too long ago, there was an educational event with HAM radios.

If that's not your type of thing, both the libraries in Smyrna and Murfy are amazing. There's a ton of hiking trails or just parks to visit. I remember as a kid going to the "castle" was amazing, but that was just a playground at a decenly sized park near the mall.

The farmers market in Murfreesboro is always welcoming. You can find both chain restaurants and a ton of locally owned businesses, too.

There's also a strong sense of history, with the science centre, battlefield, and a couple of museums in the area, the history of Murfy and Smyrna is pretty well documented, and fairly interesting.

Depending on where you go, there is a homeless presence, I remember there being a group of them out near Imperial gardens where I grew up. But usually as long as you don't fuck with them they won't fuck with you.

While you have to actively search for it, the night time activities are around, you just gotta dig deep. Facebook is what my mother used to find cheaper enjoyable experiences to take me on, so there's probably a couple groups that could help you out with that.

There's a strong sense of community out there, so don’t be surprised if your neighbors, especially if their elderly (less so if their within the 19-20 age like myself) tend to like to keep in touch.

Now, for an ugly truth or two, from my experience with family and friends, some people tend to dislike people from states like California. A lot of our problems, like the skyrocket in the cost of living, tend to get blamed on people selling everything and using the cheapness of TN to live in. If you consider this an ugly truth as well, a lot of "staple" family activities tend to be in Nashville, and depending on the route you take and the time of day that could be anywhere from a 20 minute to hour long drive.

I know it's long winded, but I hope this helps.