All help appreciated (Columbia, Seven Oaks, Lexington: 2009, safe area, to live in)

[james fitzgerald]

Hi. My wife and I will be relocating our future to the Columbia, S. C. area this year (2009) and we are looking for any help you can give us regarding this big move. We are relocating from New York and her wonderful winters, LOL. We are a quiet, friendly, hard working couple that is seeking a quiet, safe and friendly area of town to live and work and be comfortable. We enjoy fishing, going to church, family time, sunsets, walking, (enjoy nature), reading, learning something new every day and volunteering our time to good causes. If you have the time to give us info on quiet, friendly, safe areas, good fishing spots, Catholic churches, safe parks - for picnicing, walking ect... then we would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Outside of downtown Columbia is not drastically different in one part of town to the next. Lake Murray in on the NW side of Columbia so that may be an attraction for you.

[Intergalactic]

The very busy Catholic Church on Devine is St Joseph's, 3600 Devine St. There is a smaller, more urban church, St Peter's, 1529 Assembly St.

In Seven Oaks there is Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church‎, 120 Marydale Ln.

There are others further afield.

The only sort of contradictory need you have cited is the fishing. The usual neighborhoods mentioned as good in this and all the other threads will fit all your other needs. For nature, you have the Riverfront Park in Richland County, the Riverwalk just across the river in Lexington County, Sesquicentennial State Park, Harbison State Forest and the Congaree National Park.

If you live further out, you will discover that you will have to drive most places, especially for "learning something new every day and volunteering our time to good causes", since most of those opportunities are near downtown and USC.

[ranger17]

while my wife and I are still 'newbies' down here, just being since Feb that we moved down from WI; I can say that there should be plenty for you to find down here that fits your needs. So far Lake Murray has been a wonderful find for us, and we had plenty of lakes back home. Good for fishing, recreating, swimming, and great scenery.
We actually are quite fond of the zoo here, which when including the gardens area has some nice walking spots ( and again good scenery ). Congaree Park on the other side of Cola gets you some real quiet walking trails deep in the woods.
Another plus to this region-- 2-2.5 hr drive to the coast which opens up many more doors for day trips. Or 2 hrs north to get near the mountains.
A different spot for a sunset walk: over the dam on Lake Murray. About 3.5 miles total from one side across and back, and again the nice views across the lake ( unless you have your own boat in which case you're all set ).
I'll let the locals speak for more specifics on churches, more parks, even areas to live in. But from us--we're really enjoying our time here so far.
good luck.