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Hi.
My husband and I are thinking to move to North Carolina with our 3 years old little boy from Nashville.
I'm Italian , i love the community feeling and living outside preferibly on the coast .
Good schools and family friendly places are very important to us .
New Bern ,Wilmington or Kinston may be good possibilities for my husband 's job. Can anyone send me some informations about these places ? Are good places for families ?Any other suggestion?
Thank you very much.
Here is a post I made about a month ago. Wilmington is beach and traffic and by far the biggest. New Bern is much much smaller, four historical districts, lots of retirees (but many young families, too) and about 45 minutes from coast. Kinston is 25 minutes inland from New Bern. I don't know much about Kinston. I live in New Bern -- the three towns are not at all similar, I think you need to decide what you want a letter better.
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Our family moved to New Bern last fall. My wife and I love it, our teenage daughters hate New Bern. Though they laugh at the frequent comments about gang activities at the local high school. Their school in Charlotte was much worse, though they never had an issue there, either. Don't let wild talk about gangs at New Bern High worry you.
We live in the Riverside Historic District. You will see New Bern has three historic districts (maybe four). The one downtown is very nice, pristine if you will, but the prices their are still outrageous. The Riverside district is about 3/4 miles north of downtown. We can bike to church, to the bank's ATM and other places. We could walk it, but it is just a bit far for that. Riverside is still in some degree of transition (meaning there are some very nice and a few not so nice houses), but prices for historic homes here are reasonable. We do have a pretty active Historic Riverside Homeowners Association. The other historic district is, I think, Ghent. Right now there are several homes for sale in Riverside, and one of our neighbors in Riverside is one of the top local realtors. She loves to sell homes in our (and her) neighborhood.
Right now the main bridge in to New Bern is closed for construction (If you have GPS it will probably direct you that way..watch the signs instead), and other the main road into town, Broad Street, is also torn up for a very ill advised "lane reduction and tree planting in the medium project" which has most citizens riled up.
As you approach New Bern, though the construction, it is a little grim...but keep on heading down town and you will be pleased when you arrive. There are two hotels on the waterfront, downtown, a Sheraton and ugh...can't remember but it looks pretty nice as well.
New Bern is about 2 1/2 hours from Raleigh, almost all interstate type highway, 45 minutes from Greenville, Morehead City (the beach) and Jacksonville. All of those have malls and big box stores. Our mall, here in New Bern, is pitiful, but we have about all you need otherwise, but my girls go to the above mentioned towns for "real shopping."
New Bern has good, not necessarily great hospital. There are a number of Doctors and Physician groups here. I spent four days there last spring and walked out!
Like many southern towns and cities, there are some undesirable areas sometimes pretty close to nicer areas, but that is the south. If you are afraid of seeing people who do not look like you, stay away, cause we are all in New Bern together! It seems to work well, by the way.
Today, November 2nd, we were on the water about 6 hours fishing. I was in shorts and fishing shirts, my wife was bundled up a big more, but I did get sunburned. You cannot hate fishing in November. New Bern is at the confluence of the Trent River and the Neuse River. Lots of water sports and a world class kayak club. The bridge complex over the rivers is pretty amazing for this size town...your NC tax dollar at work. By the way, one of the candidates for governor is from New Bern. UHMMMMM........
We have a superb restaurant in town, The Chelsea, and a number of other very good ones. You should try the Chelsea while you are here. The theater is active, the community college is very intertwined with the town. My girls think the local movie theater is pretty weak, but I don't go to movies, so I do not care.
There are a number of old, beautiful historic churches in New Bern. We go to Christ Episcopal, which is right downtown. You should check it out, too.
I do not believe the local government is all that sharp (trying to be polite), but that is the case in many small towns.
There are a lot of retirees here, I am not one, yet, and there is not a lot of quality nightlife, though I am not in search of any.
There are also a number of developments farther east on US 70 such as Carolina Colors and Taberna, but to me, New Bern is historic homes, with front porches with light (Carolina Blue) ceilings. You don't get that in the newer areas.
Hope this helps. New Bern is pretty small and may not have all the services you are used to, but we (at least my wife and I) are very, very pleased to be here, and wish we had made the move many years ago.
The above poster was really accurate about New Bern. I actually like N.B. and if you read some of my other posts you will see I don't like much! Lol. Don't know Wilmington really. My daughter lived in Kinston for a while and it seemed pretty crumby. Lots of gang activity from what I've read and heard on the news. If it were me I would cross that off my list. Morehead is pretty nice, what about places like Swansboro or down that way?
Kinston is the armpit of Eastern NC. Lots of crime and not much going for it. Kinston is also home to the "Global Transpark" --one of the biggest pork-barrel wastes of tax payer money in North Carolina history.
If it wasn't for Tands, Inc (Bojangles franchise owner & Kinston Indians minor league team owner) there would be nothing going on there.
Wilmington or New Bern are definitely MUCH better choices.
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"48 years in MD, 18 in NC"
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Location: Greenville, NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foyle
Kinston is the armpit of Eastern NC.
Kinston is also home to the "Global Transpark" --one of the biggest pork-barrel wastes of tax payer money in North Carolina history.
Spirit Areosystems just signed a contract to move to the TransPark. 1,000 jobs at $48,000 a year plus a $570,000,000 investment going into Kinston.
On a side note: The city officials of Kinston related to Greenville city officials that Greenville should just close their airport since there was "Big Money" coming to Kinston. Greenville told Kinston to go pound sand.
Boy does it need it.. Wouldnt it be great if that place could grow and prosper maybe less people would pile into Cary and Raleigh and go to a place that needs more growth.
Kinston is a social service city with a soon to be closing hospital due to funding cuts. No jobs, incredibly high unemployment rates and a lot of crime.
Wilmington is a have and have not city. Lot of opportunity for industrious people as long as you can put up with the " We were here first " crowd.. I have my kids in a private school due to the social engineering around here.
Housing is high due to the retirees and transfers.
New Bern is middle of the road. Decent home prices. Okay schools but VERY limited job opportunities.
If you are educated or skilled , go to Wilmington. If you are entrepreneurial, go to New Bern.
Avoid Kinston like the plague.
Check the crime rates. Kinston is very scary. New Bern is alittle less scary. There's parts of New Bern that crime probably doesn't touch but I think you have to buy in an expensive neighborhood. I live in Greenville,Nc about an hour away. I can't say much good about the schools in Eastern NC. My granddaughtor attends private school. I lived up near Raleigh for 30 years and I'd say if you like things to do and safety, that's a better bet. Good Luck, Lin
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