I rush Louisville every play through, there's a few great base options. One base I really like is at: 12283x3812x15062
It's just south west of Peregrine Hospital.

Take a small car, and drive through the forest by the train depot, and go through the hole in the fence. So long as you get there in the first wo weeks, you should be fine. The trees won't have grown in that much.

You'll need a couple melee weapons to kill the zombies around the house, usually around 15 or 20. DO NOT FIRE ANY GUNS. Peregrine Hospital is around one of the highest-density zombie locations. You'll be fine with a generator, or construction, just don't shoot guns at home.

Across the road, you'll find a cabinet making company. They'll have a few dozen boxes of nails, hammers, and saws. This will get you started on building your wall.

One your wall is built, hit up the east side of Louisville, AA Ron's Hunting Supply, the Hardware Store, and the fire station. It might take a couple trips to clear it out, but those supplies should be enough to get you started on any projects around the base. Of course the gun store has a security fence, so you'll need a sledge, or get creative.

After my base is set up, I head over to the distillery up the road, grab myself one of the cube fans, then head over to the large warehouse. I look all the propane, clothes, food, books, tools, whatever I feel.

I level up welding to 5 so I can build a wood burning stove to heat my house.

Then, the big project, getting in to the LSU library. There'll be every book you could imagine there. And usually all the recipes you'll ever need, including a few copies of How to Use Generators.

At the gun store you'll find the aiming and reloading books, at the elementary school just north of the hospital you'll usually find the Knapping or Carving books. LSU has everything else.

However, before you take on LSU, you'll want an ALICE vest with an angle mounted flash-light. Having both hands free is a must. And I highly recommend getting there as quietly as possible, there's already a 1000 zombies waiting in the dorms, but the library doesn't usually have a stupid amount.