Want to learn more about Charlottesville, VI (Richmond, Blue Ridge: home, employment)

[artichoke63]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently in Los Angeles looking desperately for a new place to move to. Someone recently suggested I check out Charlottesville, VI. They described the area as beautiful and relatively diverse. Can anyone tell me more? I'm a 43-year-old single woman who loves the trees and outdoors. i was looking at Raleigh, NC, but decided that it's just too plain vanilla for me. I really want a few ounces of diversity and funkiness. Any information is appreciated!

Artie

[williamsburgfan]

if you mean Va you have come to the right forum.

there are quite posts re: charlottesville - those are a good statrt. also check out the websites for the city of charlottesville and albemarle county. do you have a job lined up?

it is great college town, home of The University. The surrounding areas are beautiful. it is expensive compared to other areas of Va.

winters are cold, some snow, not blizzards, can get a few bad weeks depending on the weather that year.

[artichoke63]

Va, right. Pardon me....

I like the cold and the snow. No problem there. I like the trees. How's the political climate? Liberal, conservative, mixed? I'll look around for a few other links. Thanks!

Artie

[Panks]

Try looking at the 2004 election results on CNNs website. If you look up VA, each county is color coded as red or blue. I dont know if its ok to post links but I'll try pasting it below.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pag...tates/VA/P/00/

[VSB]

My wife and I spent a combined 16 years in Charlottesville (I spent 5 and she spent 11) but we moved to Chicago in 2002 due to work.

My wife (more than I) would move back to Charlottesville in a heartbeat but there really aren't too many job opportunities there for me (or her for that matter).

If you're considering a move to Charlottesville, then you read the following (positives):

1. Check out Outside Magazine's snapshot of the town in their 1999 Dream Towns listing (it paints a rosy picture): http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/0599/9905meccas_cva.html (broken link)

2. Check out this article in USA Today regarding Charlottesville's place at #1 on the list of "best places to live:" http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifesty...ies-main_x.htm

3. Or this listing of accolades from the city's website: http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=158


There's no doubt that Charlottesville is a beautiful community and my wife and I miss it quite a bit. We got married there (after we moved to Chicago) in 2004 and loved it and we still have pictures of the Blue Ridge Mountains on our walls.

But you'll need to be ready for a major change of environment. My biggest complaint about Charlottesville while I was there was the lack of anonymity. Charlottesville's downtown is built around a beautifully revitalized pedestrian mall that extends for several blocks (try: http://www.charlottesvilletourism.org/php-bin/resource.php?id=360 (broken link) or http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=177 or http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2001Jun28.html). I find a quote in the Washington Post article summarizes it all: "It takes me half an hour to get to the post office five blocks away because I see so many people I know," says bookstore owner Scott Fennessey.

Of course, that's coming from a local store owner, so he's bound to know more people than the average individual.

This is the exact point where my wife and I differ. She loves the tightknit sense of community and the "small town feel" where everyone knows everyone. I got tired of being unable to "walk the mall" without having to exchange pleasantries with various work-related acquaintances and colleagues when I just wanted to enjoy myself and the weekend evening. Sometimes you just need a little anonymity.

That being said, the mall is great, and the summer's Friday's after Five concert series (http://www.charlottesvillepavilion.c...daysafterfive/) is a social focus for the entire town.

However, you might find Charlottesville to be a bit small (depends on what you're looking for). Given its central Virginia location, the town is a complete aberration and quite different from the surrounding communities. It is a liberal enclave surrounded by a relatively red sea, and while the University (as it is called) is quite diverse, I don't think the "natives" cut a wide swath across the diversity spectrum. The University of Virginia is a top-notch institution and as such, it provides a substantial amount of diverse social offerings, but I don't think you'll find anyone really referring to Charlottesville as "funky." Despite the fact that Charlottesville is politically liberal, this is still a place where the majority of white male fraternity brothers dress in bowties and Sunday best to attend the Foxfield races (http://www.foxfieldraces.com/) only to end the day half-way before it even gets started passed out in some trough where everyone else is taking a leak. Well done.

The key negatives to understand about Charlottesville are:

-it's small
-it's relatively isolated (e.g. 70 miles from Richmond, 100 from DC and a 90 minute drive (at least) from Dulles)
-don't believe people who tell you that "it's only" xyz far away from DC and that you'll "go there all the time," since you won't
-it's dominated by the University to such an extent that if you're not part of the University community in some way (employee or student), you may feel isolated
-it can occasionally be oppressively hot and muggy in the summer
-it's expensive given its size
-some people feel that it's over-run by students
-there are limited employment opportunities outside of the University


I apologize if this was too "stream-of-consciousness" for you. It certainly has a disorganized feel.

I find that I miss Charlottesville in so many ways, and I found your email interesting since my wife and I are strongly considering a move to Raleigh. I think Charlottesville is a wonderful community though I don't think I would describe it as "funky." One alternative you might consider is Asheville, NC. It's another "Outside Magazine" dream town and also sits in the blue ridge mountains. It's similarly small and isolated but not as student-dominated as Charlottesvillle. Asheville has a university (UNC-Asheville) but it's 1/5th the size of UVA and is the only liberal arts school in the UNC system. Asheville has an even more liberal feel than Charlottesville and has some pretty funky schools (e.g. Warren Wilson college: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/external_index.php). However, the job search in Asheville is bound to be as difficult as in Charlottesville (or worse) so be prepared for that. If you're at all tight on $$, then I would make sure that you have a job before moving to either place.

Best of luck on your search and move.

[vasinger]

Originally Posted by Panks

Try looking at the 2004 election results on CNNs website. If you look up VA, each county is color coded as red or blue. I dont know if its ok to post links but I'll try pasting it below.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pag...tates/VA/P/00/

What do elections have to with it? Are you saying that only liberals can be interesting?

As a staunch conservative, I certainly am not vanilla .
Im in Indie musician, and I generally distain the suburbs, vinyl siding, and SUVs.

[vasinger]

Originally Posted by williamsburgfan

if you mean Va you have come to the right forum.

there are quite posts re: charlottesville - those are a good statrt. also check out the websites for the city of charlottesville and albemarle county. do you have a job lined up?

it is great college town, home of The University. The surrounding areas are beautiful. it is expensive compared to other areas of Va.

winters are cold, some snow, not blizzards, can get a few bad weeks depending on the weather that year.

Winters are not that bad in Charlottesville. Winters are cold everywhere in the USA, save Florida.