Small town feel near Atlanta? Possible??? (Marietta, Decatur: schools, place to live, restaurants)

[pmichaelmd]

Originally Posted by brittabake

My husband and I currently live in Tampa, FL with our 2 year old daughter. We are considering relocating to the Atlanta area when he finishes his residency in December. Neither one of us wants to live in the "big city" but most of my family is in Ohio so I want to have access to a major airport. He's from Augusta, GA and he'd like to get back close to "home" but for several reasons, I don't want to live in Augusta. He would like to live in the country where as I am more attached to the sort of things I've gotten used to in Tampa like the zoo, activities for kids, symphony, shopping, festivals, etc. We both love to get outside and hike in the woods. I'd like more of a small town feel with access to the bigger city. I'd love to be able to go to the grocery store without fighting endless traffic. We hope to send out daughter to a private school when she's old enough. We don't want to live in a planned community with homeowners assocations dictating what we can plant or what color the house has to be. Low crime is very important...is that even a possibility around Atlanta? Living in Tampa I'm frustrated with the traffic so I'm wondering if the Atlanta area is a lost cause just based on that? He doesn't have a job offer at this point so I'm trying to find information on areas where he could start job hunting that wouldn't require a long commute. He will be an anesthesiologist and I don't know much about the jobs around Atlanta though there are plenty of listings.
I envision a nice established neighborhood with big trees, kids riding bikes, crickets at night, birds and hopefully no one giving me a hard time for being a "yankee"! Does anyone think any of this sounds realistic?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

We just moved to a place outside of Douglasville, which is western Atlanta metro. So far, so good. People are very friendly and we live in a community with plenty of families and children called Mirror Lake. As a point of interest, I'm an anesthesiologist and work at a medical center that services northwestern GA and northeastern AL. There are indeed plenty of jobs for anesthesiologists in GA and groups here are generous

Best of luck,
PMMD

[clipartfan]

I suggest Douglasville, GA - Great small town but still close enough to Atlanta to take advantange of the big town

[love45]

I am a wife and mother to 4 small children. My husband is in Accounting/finance and is wanting to relocate to the Savannah or Atlanta area. We currenty live in a very small town in Southern VA, I have been here all my life and I love the feel of a small town. He wants to work in the city, however, I do NOT want to live in the city. I am a nurse and would love to work close to home (for a private practice, family doctor or pediatrician). I am looking for a great area to raise kids, good schools, low crime rate. Can anyone please give me some ideas on where to start? Anything would help!

[netdragon]

Powder Springs is relatively close to Atlanta and has a small town feel. It's also close to Cobb Hospital on the East/West connector and not too far from Kennestone Hospital in Marietta. It itself isn't a planned community and you can buy houses there in areas without homeowners associations closer to the center. It's also not too far from the Silver Comet bicycle trail.

Like someone else mentioned, I'd find the job and then pick the area based on it. You'll find areas like you mentioned all over the outer metro.

[dlh891]

My husband, daughter and I moved from Tampa and live in the 30039 zip code in Snellville (east metro). We love it here!

We used to live in Temple Terrace.

[runnergrl]

My cousin is an anesthesiologist and he lives up in Ballground GA (north of Atlanta) near hwy 20....he is like contracted out to different centers and goes to different places in the region. I havent spoken to his wife to get the lowdown on family living out there...but it is more rural than the burbs.

What about Birmingham? They have an airport and it isnt as big as Atlanta. Just a thought. Or what about Tennessee...like Memphis or Nashville? all are smaller towns...and maybe not so much congestion as atlanta.

You will get burb congestion anywhere you live outside Atlanta. I lived up in Cumming before it exploded with growth...like right at the beginning of all the new walmart and that whole shopping entity off of exit14 ...and it was STILL congested because the infrastructure could support the continually growing population. It will be that way everywhere.

[netdragon]

I'd check out Powder Springs, Dallas, Cartersville, Canton, Acworth, Woodstock and Cumming on the North side. Of these, Powder Springs has the best commute and is closest to the airport.

[CalieCat]

Originally Posted by brittabake

and hopefully no one giving me a hard time for being a "yankee"!

THAT you will NOT be called! You won't find many people that are originally from the area, most of my neighbors now are from the North!

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by CalieCat

You won't find many people that are originally from the area, most of my neighbors now are from the North!

CalieCat's location is given as "North Georgia" ... I suspect this phenomenon may vary depending on the town. Late yesterday afternoon my husband and I took a drive (to try out a new GPS) up to Canton, where we'd never been before. We stopped for an ice cream at a Dairy Queen and both of us were struck by how ... rural ... all the other customers in line appeared, in regard to attire, accents, and content of conversation. When we got back into the car we agreed that "wow, it's not the Atlanta suburbs here!" despite the fact that we really weren't very many miles from home.

[CalieCat]

Rainy, are you talking about the Dairy Queen on Marietta Hwy in Canton?? That little one just beside the road?? YEAH, a lot of Canton on up is very rural!!