Wast Cobb/ Roswell: Walton, Pope, Roswell or Milton- relocating from London (Atlanta: house, tech jobs)

[Sloal]

We are a family of 6 moving to the Atlanta area from London in the next year. I’m from NY but have spent the past 15 years with my British husband & 4 kids in London. We are looking at homes in the Walton, Pope , Roswell & Milton high school districts and trying to get a feel for where we would feel most comfortable. We are Jewish (non- religious but like the sense of community & don’t want our kids to feel out of place or be the only Jew in their class) and politically liberal. My kids range in age from 6 to 13 so need an overall great school district with excellent academics and happy kids. I know Walton and Pope have excellent reputations but have less of a read on the culture of Roswell or Milton. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Cotati]

I don't know much about Walton or Pope but have lived in North Fulton for 26 years and love the Milton area. It is semi-rural but close to Alpharetta and its many amenities and conveniences. The lots are large and the homes are lovely too. It is a very bucolic spot, with horse farms and a very charming small commercial area. Roswell is great too, with a beautiful historic district and frontage on the Chattahoochee river. Schools in both cities are top notch, as are all schools in the area. Roswell is definitely busier (and the larger of the two) but it is closer to Atlanta and a bit more centrally located. Both are wonderful places.

[Sloal]

Thank you, that’s really helpful. The Milton area sounds beautiful but may be a massive culture shock for us, having always lived in either London or NY. We’re ideally looking for a suburban area with easy access to lots of shops, restaurants, etc and a “busy” feel.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Sloal

Thank you, that’s really helpful. The Milton area sounds beautiful but may be a massive culture shock for us, having always lived in either London or NY. We’re ideally looking for a suburban area with easy access to lots of shops, restaurants, etc and a “busy” feel.

If you are looking for a suburban area with easy access to lots of shops, restaurants, metropolitan amenities and a busy feel, you should probably add Alpharetta (which has emerged as an increasingly popular growing hub of tech industry activity for the North metro Atlanta suburbs) to your list.

Of course, Milton is located very close to Alpharetta (Milton immediately borders Alpharetta and the two municipalities share a couple of zip codes, 30004 and 30009), so Milton would also give you very good access to all of the growing robust metropolitan amenities of the Alpharetta area.

Parts of other neighboring communities like Johns Creek, Cumming and Roswell might also be options for places to live that would give you good access to the metropolitan amenities of Alpharetta.

The Walton and Pope school clusters of East Cobb are excellent choices because of the excellent reputation of the schools there.

But the Walton and Pope clusters are mostly (overwhelmingly) quiet residential areas with very few metropolitan amenities inside of the immediate area outside of some quality/decent retail amenities (Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Publix, etc.) along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

Though East Cobb is a relatively short drive away from increased metropolitan amenities in nearby North metro Atlanta areas like Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Cumberland and Buckhead.

The biggest draw for the Walton and Pope (and Lassiter) areas of East Cobb are the extremely high quality and the prestigious reputations of the public schools in those areas which may often put hardworking students on an Ivy League-caliber college preparatory academic track.

[ecuresident]

You cant really go wrong with any of these areas. All of them have top notch schools, and are all close enough to each other to get that "busy" feel. There are a ton of Jewish families in Atlanta, so that is a non-issue.

[Citykid3785]

Its tough to add to what's already been said.

Alpharetta
Very nice, tons of amenities, tons of corporate tech jobs, expensive but well planned, nice downtown. Great if you can afford it, has highway access to Atlanta, but a bit far

Roswell
East Roswell (east of highway 400) is less nice than all the others mentioned, but not bad per se. West Roswell has a historic downtown with mostly restaurants (canton street), and big box shopping along highway 92. Also has highway access to Atlanta via hwy 400

Milton
Really nice, sleepy in parts, building a modern downtown, great if you have a job in Alpharetta, but a bit far from the city and other job centers if you don't. Affluent, large homes

East Cobb
good schools, affluent but still affordable, close to all the job centers and fun downtown areas (woodstock, alpharetta, roswell, marietta square, the battery). Slightly lacking in identity is East Cobb is technically an area, not a city

You really can't go wrong with anything on this list. All are considered nice and affluent with good schools, it really becomes a matter of proximity and preference

[Sloal]

Thank you for the very helpful comments. It sounds like we have a lot of choice in terms of areas, so may come down to the house itself.

[evannole]

You've gotten good advice thus far. I will throw some more out there, myself, working from north to south:

Milton would certainly be the highest degree of culture shock for you, if you're used to London and NYC. There are still horse farms and such up that way. Schools are good. It's by far the most politically conservative of all the areas you're looking at.

Alpharetta, as others have suggested, could also be a good choice. Good retail (largely higher-end national brands like Anthropologie and Tommy Bahama) and restaurants at Avalon, and a nice, newly developed downtown. It's trending blue.

Roswell would probably be a good choice. The small downtown area (just a few linear blocks on Canton St, really) is fun and lively, with a few good restaurants and shops - mostly independent ones. A bit more blue than Alpharetta.

The Pope district is solidly suburban, but if you're along the eastern edge of it, you're close to downtown Roswell. It's very slightly red but has been trending towards blue for the last several election cycles.

The Walton district is also solidly suburban. Like Pope, it's slightly red but has probably trended more towards blue than any other area on the north side in recent years; indeed, some precincts on the west side are already blue. If you're on its western edge, you're pretty close to the historic Marietta Square, which is similar to Roswell's downtown, only larger and with a more urban feel, with many independent shops and restaurants, a new food hall, a couple of old theaters, including a great Art Deco one, frequent concerts and festivals, and so on. The Walton district also has a large Jewish community. (Some of the other areas may as well, but I only know about this one; there's a large synagogue on Roswell Road that I pass on my way to Trader Joe's.)

I'll throw out two other options that no one has mentioned yet: the aforementioned Marietta Square area, which is going to give you the most true (small) city feel of everything you're looking at so far. The school system is independent from Cobb County's and is better than its ratings on school rating websites would indicate; I imagine that a somewhat high level of immigrant population, whose native language is not English, in certain areas drags the scores down. The district has a well-regarded IB program that actually runs K-12 (something of a rarity) and was featured on 60 Minutes a couple of months ago, with a story focused on the great job they did managing learning during the height of the pandemic. I was really impressed.

https://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes...school-system/

The Square has some truly excellent restaurants - Spring was rated one of the ten best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appétit a few years ago - and new and revitalized housing abounds within a mile or so of the Square. The city of Marietta itself is easily the bluest of all the areas discussed so far.

One final option would be Sandy Springs - south of Roswell and closer to Atlanta. Very suburban but they've done a nice job of creating a new town center completely from scratch over the past couple of years. It has a very good high school - Riverwood - with a well-regarded IB program. There's a fairly significant Jewish community centered here as well. It's also one of the bluer areas, probably a bit more so than Roswell and a bit less so than Marietta.

Good luck in your search and feel free to ask follow-up questions!

[bryantm3]

Have you been to this area yet? Suburban in London (or in NY) is something entirely different from suburban in Atlanta. You get a lot more land, but consequently everything is very far apart. Walking will most likely not be an optIon.

[ATL Golfer]

Originally Posted by evannole

One final option would be Sandy Springs - south of Roswell and closer to Atlanta. Very suburban but they've done a nice job of creating a new town center completely from scratch over the past couple of years. It has a very good high school - Riverwood - with a well-regarded IB program. There's a fairly significant Jewish community centered here as well. It's also one of the bluer areas, probably a bit more so than Roswell and a bit less so than Marietta.

This, do not overlook. Large Jewish population, and good school.