Cheap land within 1 hour of major US city or culturally diverse?

Question

We'd like a family farm close to cultural diversity and college(s). Leery of long winters. Hills better than flatland.

Interests: museums, zoo, the arts (ballet, music, theatre), asian and other cultures, sport teams, homeschool groups, Catholocism, great libraries, education...

Ideas please!

Answer 1

I would say Northern Virginia fits your description nearly perfectly but unfortunately it's far from cheap - at least if you're within one hour of Washington DC. And it's also a very rapidly growing area, so there isn't much open space within an hour's drive of DC (and if there is it will be built up very soon).

Unfortunately that's probably the case with a lot of parts of the country - anywhere that people actually want to live, is going to be more expensive.