VT mom to Wilmington NC (where to stay, condos, crime rates)

[VTmom2]

Hello,
This is my first post, so hopefully I'm doing it right. My husband, 2 children(2 and 4) and I will likely be relocating to Wilmington in the next few months. We currently live in rural VT~ 30 minutes to closest grocery store.... mall an hour and 1/2 away.... We are both in the medical field and currently commute 45min- 1hour one way daily. We enjoy all things beach/water related and lived in Wilmington for 6 months about 6 years ago and loved it. We didn't have children then though and are concerned about the crime rate/schools. We are looking for no longer than a 15 min. commute to NHRH, good schools and family atmosphere. Some of the posts make is sound like a nonfamily place to live???? Please help!!! We want out of rural VT, no more snow or commute?? All opinions welcome.
thanks

[thefinalsay]

Originally Posted by VTmom2

Hello,
This is my first post, so hopefully I'm doing it right. My husband, 2 children(2 and 4) and I will likely be relocating to Wilmington in the next few months. We currently live in rural VT~ 30 minutes to closest grocery store.... mall an hour and 1/2 away.... We are both in the medical field and currently commute 45min- 1hour one way daily. We enjoy all things beach/water related and lived in Wilmington for 6 months about 6 years ago and loved it. We didn't have children then though and are concerned about the crime rate/schools. We are looking for no longer than a 15 min. commute to NHRH, good schools and family atmosphere. Some of the posts make is sound like a nonfamily place to live???? Please help!!! We want out of rural VT, no more snow or commute?? All opinions welcome.
thanks

crime rates are high for a small town in wilmington. I think most of the crime is probably drug related. it's not that easy to make a comfortable living here, and that might be the reason that it's not quite as family friendly. lots of retirees and poor college students. think the move through, as wilmington has gone downhill fast in the last 6 years. I went to UNCW a little under 10 years ago, and moved back 3 years ago. it's night and day. I am looking to live elsewhere, and ironically enough, rural vermont!

[robma44541]

We moved to Wilmington from Massachusetts, so I think I have a good idea of what your looking for. Wilmington is a great town, somewhat like Barrington, as it is a college town. We have found a wonderful community here, a great mix of old, young, families with little ones,(my neighbor is due in 7 weeks!) pet friendly and close to everything you need. We are 5 minutes from the NHMC the shopping malls, 10 minutes from downtown and all its night life, and 15 minutes from the beach. It is a fairly new community and its like living in the country but close to the city, my back yard looks onto the barnards creek, and the collection of birds I get visiting my feeders there is unique. I lived outside Boston for over 25 years and believe me I was more afraid of living there than here, outside of the tourist areas you had to know where to stay away from and its the same here only on a smaller scale. There are some bad neighborhoods but there are a lot more good ones than bad. Not having children of school age any more I cannot say what the school system is like, but I know there are some great academies around town and a lot of wonderful people live here. If you need any more information I would be more than happy to help you as best I can, you can send me an email if you want more informaton about the area I live in, hope this helps you.

[movedtothecoast]

i can second the experience that robma44541 has had , we find wilmington to be a wonderful city.
seems to me that it is a very family friendly city, crime is found in pockets , isn't that true about most places?
beach is lovely and as long as you stay on the wilmington side of the bridge it will be a short commute to anything.
parks , gyms , shopping , ywca, ymca.
having visiting wilmington for the last 30 years i do not see that it has gone downhill at all.
seems like there has been a lot of improvements.

[thefinalsay]

Originally Posted by movedtothecoast

i can second the experience that robma44541 has had , we find wilmington to be a wonderful city.
seems to me that it is a very family friendly city, crime is found in pockets , isn't that true about most places?
beach is lovely and as long as you stay on the wilmington side of the bridge it will be a short commute to anything.
parks , gyms , shopping , ywca, ymca.
having visiting wilmington for the last 30 years i do not see that it has gone downhill at all.
seems like there has been a lot of improvements.

depends on what you consider improvements. it's next to impossible to park and enjoy wrightsville beach anymore. traffic has gotten bad due to poor city planning. the job market hasn't improved a bit. it just got too crowded to me. to each their own. it used to be a ghetto little beach town, and that's what I liked about it. now it's trying to be a place that it's not.

[robma44541]

We must be living in two different Wilmingtons, because the place I live in NC is not the same one that you live in. A ghetto beach town? Its not even on the beach. As for the parking problems on Wrightsville beach in the summer, its the same problem for beaches up and down the coast, its vacation season. The other nine months of the year I never have a problem parking there and its free! The city is working hard to move forward while retaining its beauty and history, its not trying to be something its not, I've lived in 2 countries and 3 states and think this is the best I've lived in.
If you lived and travelled around this country maybe you would see things differently.

[thefinalsay]

Originally Posted by robma44541

We must be living in two different Wilmingtons, because the place I live in NC is not the same one that you live in. A ghetto beach town? Its not even on the beach. As for the parking problems on Wrightsville beach in the summer, its the same problem for beaches up and down the coast, its vacation season. The other nine months of the year I never have a problem parking there and its free! The city is working hard to move forward while retaining its beauty and history, its not trying to be something its not, I've lived in 2 countries and 3 states and think this is the best I've lived in.
If you lived and travelled around this country maybe you would see things differently.

you obviously have not lived here too long. I went to college here in the late 90's, and the town has gone downhill since then. this is my opinion. actually, parking is easy at topsail and some of the other beaches. wrightsville is horrible now. parking sucks now, and it also used to be free. this city does not work. bill saffo is the biggest idiot in the city. they have also done nothing to retain the history. since you haven't been here too long, you probably don't remember the icehouse, but it was a wilmington historic landmark. it was torn down to build condos. yup, they certainly preserving the history of the town. I have lived in 5 states, and while it's not the worst here, it's not the best.

[movedtothecoast]

i don't believe anything has been built where the icehouse stood.
remember the bar well , i have to say that wilmington has done way more than a lot of towns as far as keeping historic buildings.
a town is what you make of it, yes ,wrigthsville is bad for parking during the summer week-ends , park at the park and hop on your bike , there is a solution for everything.
it is the law of the world , nothing stays the same .

[robma44541]

I haven't lived here long but I have visited the area since 1999. I have seen a lot of improvements since then, the area across from the PPD building was a real shanty town and some of that still exists up south 3rd near the bridge, but it is coming down, along with the abandoned projects further up the road. Front St was pretty much boarded up early in the decade but its a great dining area now and much improved. And I love to walk on the new boardwalk by the river, which wasn't there years ago. As for the Icehouse, if I remember wasn't it just a shell of a brick warehouse with wired windows on Water Street down from the Serpentarium? I could be wrong, but it wasn't anything special. You'd have to go to Charleston to see all the beautifully preserved mansions downtown, the Thalian Hall, and the churches on 3rd Street. These are the kind of buildings worth saving and they help make Wilmington a unique town. I have lived in a lot worse than here and appreciate all that it offers.

[wilmingtonmom]

We love Wilmington! We moved here 3yrs ago having never seen the place and it has turned out to be one of the best decisions. We have two kids, 4 and 2, and it is def. a family friendly place. We live in Marsh Oaks that's somewhat far away from the hospital and downtown but I love it here. Crime is like anywhere else usually downtown but I'm guessing with young kids you will not be down there after 9pm anyway. Yes, the beaches are packed but that's they way life is at the beach! Wilmington is a great mix of families, college kids and retirees.