When I lived in Roanoke I actually met a few people from the ‘north’...my landlords were from CT and my co-worker was from NY. We actually networked pretty well. Roanoke is actually one of the key areas along the Blue Ridge that is desirable for retirement so you shouldn’t have much of a problem.
Ironically the places outside NY and even Philadelphia are Less around-the-clock type places than places like the Allentown PA area(college area),there were even a few late nite type places in Roanoke again probably due to the colleges nearby.