Evans, Martinez, Clayton (Atlanta, Cartersville, Washington: public schools, subdivisions, salary)

[1111tmw]

Hi. I am considering relocating to a small town in the south from "way too expensive" FL. My criteria are....true small town (not just a suberb of someplace bigger), low cost-of-living, safe, good schools, decent teacher's salary (I'm a teacher), close to a sailable lake. I am considering the following towns in GA:

1) Evans
2) Martinez
3) Clayton

I have a few questions.

1) Are Evans are Martinez essentially the same place? If they are separate which do you prefer and why?
2) Are Evans and Martinez completely separate from Augusta? I am looking for a true small town, not a suberb.
3) Is Clayton just a tourist/retirement town or are there young families? Are there any restaurants/shopping (I'm not expecting a mall).
4) How far are each of these places from a sailable lake?
5) Are there other towns that you think fit my criteria better?

If you can help me answer some of these questions I would greatly appreciate it!

[DisgustaTruth]

Evans and Martinez are not towns and are not distinguishable from one another.. they are infact suburbs of Disgusta..
If you like strip malls, fast food chain restaurants and cookie cutter subdivisions then you will LOVE Evans-Martinez. But if you want small town charm then you will hate it.
You mentioned Clayton.... that seems to better fit what you are looking for.. it is a town in extreme northeast Georgia.. not far from the NC border. It is a relatively short drive to The Smokey Mtns and abt a 2 hour drive to Atlanta.

[DisgustaTruth]

Also consider Cartersville.. it's about a 40 min drive from Atlanta but has a seperate identity..It is also right next to Lake Allatoona.. which I think is one of the prettiest lakes in Georgia.. and it has plenty of marinas if you enjoy sailing... but with the drought in GA not sure about that right now.. Clayton is not too far from Lake Chatuge.. maybe a 25 min drive or so. Both twns have adequate shopping and dining. I guess the main benefit with Cartersville is that it is closer to Atlanta so you have more dining, entertainment, and shopping choices.. but it does not feel like a suburb of Atlanta.. it has its own identity.

[Dixie Dawg]

Martinez and Evans (Both Columbia County) are fastly growing areas that are becoming very congested. Many people in Augusta are moving out to Columbia County and the traffic is terrible. I call it the new "yuppie area" of Augusta - no offense intended.

There is a Super Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls, a lot of new restaurants and a lot of subdivisons going in. I was in that area a few weeks ago and was overwhelmed at the traffic and bad drivers. The main road that runs through Columbia County is Washington Road and, at times, it is a racetrack or terribly congested.

The school systems in Columbia County are better than those in Augusta and the area is attracting a more upper-middle class group, but I feel that the area is too small to accommodate the huge population explosion. Of course, more and more people are moving further out from that area going towards Lincolnton, Georgia, but the Martinez-Evans area is a little too crowded for my tastes.

[johndoeboy]

Davidson in richmond county is the only school year out to beat metro atlanta schools in sat score. Augusta also has AR johnson. Westside, ARC, Cross CreeK, are good public schools in richmond county. Hephzibah, & butler are public schools also. Columbia county is a suburb you cant compare it augusta. Evans has 60,000 martinez has 30 and grovetown has 7 thousand. They have 4 high schools richmond county has 8 and has magnet & private high schools.westside, arc, cross creek who you can find a student who parent makes over 60,000 match up in sat scores against lakeside evans, and greenbrier in columbia county. I know they beat harlem in sat scores in columbia county. Lets be fair match augusta's upper middle class schools against columbia counties

[DisgustaTruth]

The original poster said they were looking to move to a true small town.. and not a suburb of someplace else. That would seem to rule out Evans and Martinez.