[skyking128]

Well I have been here twice and going on 3 years this time. Lost my job so definitely will be moving out of this backward little town. There are the have's and the have not's here. 50% of the population is in public housing and living on the goverment. (Our taxes) The great corrupt town fathers fought any kind of growth for 40 years and now the chickens have come home to roost. 12.2% unemployment and getting worse everyday. No new business's coming and not enough left to sustain the town. Taxes are cheap but everything else is sky high, water, gas, crime, insurance, groceries, housing, etc.. This is the last place to buy a house, you can't give them away if you decide to leave. This town has had a negative population growth for the last ten years. (wonder why?) The ship has sailed and no hope of this town ever getting better only worse. This town is also known as the sue capital of the world, no wonder why business's don't want to come.

[sybarite]

Can anyone who has or is living in Eufaula, AL. tell me if there are gnats there as is in south Georgia during the summer?

[Mawoods]

Just moved to the area and honestly, YES there are gnats. I think it is worse than other places I have lived. It is south after all.

I look at the positives and not think about them-- sometimes easier said than done.

[Eufaula Jim]

I realize this is a fairly old thread, but I wanted to add my perspective. I moved to Eufaula a year ago from Prattville AL, where I lived for six years. Prattville is a suburb of Montgomery, with all the traffic, crime, and taxes that go with living in a suburb.

Eufaula is not a suburb of anything. It's a stand alone town. The nearest larger cities are Columbus GA/Phenix City AL to the north, and Dothan AL to the south. Both are about 45 miles, and easily driveable in less than an hour on Highway 431, which is a divided, four lane road the entire way. Many people live in Eufaula and commute to the north or south. Traffic is almost never a problem. I lived in both L.A. and the San Francisco Bay area for more then 35 years, so I know bad traffic. People in Eufaula think traffic is bad when more than 4 cars are backed up at a traffic light. I am thankfully retired, so I don't have to worry about commuting, but it would be a heck a lot easier here than back in the Bay area.

There are some things you will have to forego if you want to live in a small town. We do have a Walmart, Marvins (home improvement store), two chain groceries (Winn-Dixie and Piggly Wiggly), and one chain drugstore (Rite Aid), plus almost every fast food joint you can think of. We don't have a bookstore, craft store, plant nursery, or even a good gun shop, which is kind of weird for an Alabama town of any size. There are some things that you just have to drive to Columbus or Dothan to get, but either town has all the large chains and shopping malls anyone could desire.

What we do have are more historic commercial and residential buildings than any town in Alabama except Mobile, and more per capita than almost any town in the USA. I live in the historic district, and have a wonderful home that was built in 1895. The previous owners did a great job updating the home with all the latest mod cons, including central air and heat, vinyl siding, and lots of extra insulation, while maintaining the character of the house. The house has a screened porch, a large front porch, a side porch, and a rear deck, so there's always a place to sit and enjoy the outside, even when it's warm. There are many houses similar to mine that are available for ridiculously low prices. Real estate in Eufaula has not recovered from the housing bust of seven years ago, and many bargains abound. If your tastes run more to country living, you can be on a nice piece of acreage five miles out of town.

The people here are genuinly friendly, even to Yankees like me. We still have local businesses that have all but disappeared in most other towns. We have a real hardware store downtown (Eufaula Hardware)that has just about anything you need, and things you didn't even know you needed. There are three local drugstores downtown, and the best from my experience is Eufaula Drugs. The employees actually know your name, their prices are competitive with Walmart, and you don't have to wait in line for half an hour. We have some excellent local restaurants, including the River City Grill, Cajun Corner, and Barb's County Cookin', when you want to load up on down home food. Downtown is well maintained, with lots of cute shops, banks, and a couple of other small ice cream and sandwich places. Nice place to take the dog for a walk in the evening.

If you're into fishing or boating, Lake Eufaula is a huge inland sea, with numerous boat launch ramps, and a good sized marina at Lakepoint State Park. The bass fishing is reputed to be the best in the world (I don't fish, but I've seen some of the monster bass pulled out of the lake), and you can motor or sail south from Eufaula all the way to Port St. Joe, on the Gulf. The shoreline of the lake itself is about 650 miles. Yes, there are gators in the lake, but they don't bother anyone, and you have to go looking for them to find them. They are mostly nocturnal, so an after dark swim probably isn't a good idea, but there's nothing to fear from them during the day.

Crime in Eufaula is almost non-existent. I was a reserve deputy sheriff in California for 27 years, and have a lot of experience living in places affected by both property and and violent crimes. I have a scanner to keep track of what's happening in town. There are times I think it's broken because it goes so long between calls. I almost never lock my doors, and my neighbors, whom I actually know, keep any eye on my house, and I keep an eye on theirs. This kind of thing is the best deterent to crime. We have a good fire/rescue department, and the local hospital is fine for most medical problems. Like any town, we have a few thugs and wannabe gangsters, but crime is just not something most of us worry about.

The climate is hot and humid in the summer, with highs in the low to mid 90's, and lows near 70. As long as you avoid yardwork at noon, you get used to the heat, and the bug population is much less than it was in Prattville. Spring and fall are both wonderful, with highs in the 70's to low 80's, and lows near 60. Spring is a great time to even just visit, when the azaleas and spring bulbs are in bloom all over town. Winter is generally mild, with highs in the mid-50's, and lows in the mid-30's. We do have occasional chilly spells. We are going through an unusually cold and cloudy period right now, but the high today was still 55. Snow is a rarity, occuring about once every 10 years, and it's never more than an inch or so, and never makes it through the day. Tornadoes are much less frequent here than in most parts of Alabama. This year, for instance, SE Alabama didn't have one tornado. We are affected with heavy rain and gusty winds when a hurricane makes landfall in the Florida Panhandle, but we are about two hours inland, so we never get any direct affects from hurricaines. When there are no hurricanes (like the past eight years, for example), I'm also only two hours from the beach, so it balances out.

Well, looks like I've written War and Peace. I'll just close by saying that I can walk out on my back deck on a clear night and still see the Milky Way. Eufaula is a great place to visit, and an even greater place to live. Y'all come on down.

[columbusmetro89]

Your best bet would be columbus ga to the north or dothan al to the south for jobs. Even though Eufaula is a great little city but doesn't offer much yet as far as jobs but it's a small growing city making progress. Try out columbus ga first it's larger than dothan and eufaula combined and has a lot going for it the city of columbus along by itself has a population of almost 200,000 population of people it's a fast growing city.Maybe eufaula will offer more in the future because I am starting to see a few construction projects down that way. Dothan al is closest to the beaches of florida and columbus ga sit's right there in the middle of the state it's 3 hours from the beaches and three hours from the mountains well counting mount cheaha in alabama alabama's highest point it's only 2 half hours but three hours from the north georgia appalachaian mountains range. There are a few gators seen time to time in columbus on the chattoochie river but once in a blue moon but there mainly just to the south down the river near cottonton al and eufaula al points southward. eufaula has a lot of gators florida really has a lot of gators

[columbusmetro89]

Originally Posted by Eufaula Jim

I realize this is a fairly old thread, but I wanted to add my perspective. I moved to Eufaula a year ago from Prattville AL, where I lived for six years. Prattville is a suburb of Montgomery, with all the traffic, crime, and taxes that go with living in a suburb.

Eufaula is not a suburb of anything. It's a stand alone town. The nearest larger cities are Columbus GA/Phenix City AL to the north, and Dothan AL to the south. Both are about 45 miles, and easily driveable in less than an hour on Highway 431, which is a divided, four lane road the entire way. Many people live in Eufaula and commute to the north or south. Traffic is almost never a problem. I lived in both L.A. and the San Francisco Bay area for more then 35 years, so I know bad traffic. People in Eufaula think traffic is bad when more than 4 cars are backed up at a traffic light. I am thankfully retired, so I don't have to worry about commuting, but it would be a heck a lot easier here than back in the Bay area.

There are some things you will have to forego if you want to live in a small town. We do have a Walmart, Marvins (home improvement store), two chain groceries (Winn-Dixie and Piggly Wiggly), and one chain drugstore (Rite Aid), plus almost every fast food joint you can think of. We don't have a bookstore, craft store, plant nursery, or even a good gun shop, which is kind of weird for an Alabama town of any size. There are some things that you just have to drive to Columbus or Dothan to get, but either town has all the large chains and shopping malls anyone could desire.

What we do have are more historic commercial and residential buildings than any town in Alabama except Mobile, and more per capita than almost any town in the USA. I live in the historic district, and have a wonderful home that was built in 1895. The previous owners did a great job updating the home with all the latest mod cons, including central air and heat, vinyl siding, and lots of extra insulation, while maintaining the character of the house. The house has a screened porch, a large front porch, a side porch, and a rear deck, so there's always a place to sit and enjoy the outside, even when it's warm. There are many houses similar to mine that are available for ridiculously low prices. Real estate in Eufaula has not recovered from the housing bust of seven years ago, and many bargains abound. If your tastes run more to country living, you can be on a nice piece of acreage five miles out of town.

The people here are genuinly friendly, even to Yankees like me. We still have local businesses that have all but disappeared in most other towns. We have a real hardware store downtown (Eufaula Hardware)that has just about anything you need, and things you didn't even know you needed. There are three local drugstores downtown, and the best from my experience is Eufaula Drugs. The employees actually know your name, their prices are competitive with Walmart, and you don't have to wait in line for half an hour. We have some excellent local restaurants, including the River City Grill, Cajun Corner, and Barb's County Cookin', when you want to load up on down home food. Downtown is well maintained, with lots of cute shops, banks, and a couple of other small ice cream and sandwich places. Nice place to take the dog for a walk in the evening.

If you're into fishing or boating, Lake Eufaula is a huge inland sea, with numerous boat launch ramps, and a good sized marina at Lakepoint State Park. The bass fishing is reputed to be the best in the world (I don't fish, but I've seen some of the monster bass pulled out of the lake), and you can motor or sail south from Eufaula all the way to Port St. Joe, on the Gulf. The shoreline of the lake itself is about 650 miles. Yes, there are gators in the lake, but they don't bother anyone, and you have to go looking for them to find them. They are mostly nocturnal, so an after dark swim probably isn't a good idea, but there's nothing to fear from them during the day.

Crime in Eufaula is almost non-existent. I was a reserve deputy sheriff in California for 27 years, and have a lot of experience living in places affected by both property and and violent crimes. I have a scanner to keep track of what's happening in town. There are times I think it's broken because it goes so long between calls. I almost never lock my doors, and my neighbors, whom I actually know, keep any eye on my house, and I keep an eye on theirs. This kind of thing is the best deterent to crime. We have a good fire/rescue department, and the local hospital is fine for most medical problems. Like any town, we have a few thugs and wannabe gangsters, but crime is just not something most of us worry about.

The climate is hot and humid in the summer, with highs in the low to mid 90's, and lows near 70. As long as you avoid yardwork at noon, you get used to the heat, and the bug population is much less than it was in Prattville. Spring and fall are both wonderful, with highs in the 70's to low 80's, and lows near 60. Spring is a great time to even just visit, when the azaleas and spring bulbs are in bloom all over town. Winter is generally mild, with highs in the mid-50's, and lows in the mid-30's. We do have occasional chilly spells. We are going through an unusually cold and cloudy period right now, but the high today was still 55. Snow is a rarity, occuring about once every 10 years, and it's never more than an inch or so, and never makes it through the day. Tornadoes are much less frequent here than in most parts of Alabama. This year, for instance, SE Alabama didn't have one tornado. We are affected with heavy rain and gusty winds when a hurricane makes landfall in the Florida Panhandle, but we are about two hours inland, so we never get any direct affects from hurricaines. When there are no hurricanes (like the past eight years, for example), I'm also only two hours from the beach, so it balances out.

Well, looks like I've written War and Peace. I'll just close by saying that I can walk out on my back deck on a clear night and still see the Milky Way. Eufaula is a great place to visit, and an even greater place to live. Y'all come on down.

LoL your right about that crime in eufaula is a jewel compared to columbus ga and it's crime. Crimes rates in dothan al are also low compared to columbus ga.

[lilbit113]

Eufaula Jim…… Please check your direct messages. Thank you!!