Georgetown Delaware? (Dover, Milford, Lewes: sales, insurance, violent crime)

[sapphos]

MY husband has a job offer in Georgetown but I can't seem to find any reason to live there other than for the proximity to the water. We have an 8 month old daughter and I like shopping at places like Whole Foods and like all types of food. From what I understand it's a black hole there. Can anyone lend comment?

Also, where is the best place to look for housing in that area, Craigslist gives me absolutely nothing.
thanks

[jjtdjr]

There is no Whole Foods in the entire state of DE, nothing like it.
Georgetown is close to the Beaches; towns of Rehoboth, Lewes and Bethany Beach. A lot a retirees and more year round residents in the past few years. More and more families are living there and activites that have followed. The traffic at the beaches and surrounding area is horrendous in summer, fine in other seasons. The taxes in DE are very low and there is no sales tax but in a sense you get what you pay for. Milford is a very nice small town with a nice family atmosphere. There is a wonderful coffee shop and a great restaurant, other than that its Wal Mart.
Good luck with your decision.

[mistyseaocean]

Just wanted to throw in 2 cents about Georgetown. The small area where there are jobs is right in the town square. Surrounding that square is a large Hispanic population, as they are able to live within close proximity to chicken plants where many of them are employed. As you drive around the streets, you will see signs of them, as they do a lot of walking and shopping about the area. They are very friendly and polite (although most speak limited English)and I think are just trying to work hard for their families. You can hear the music and smell the cooking. I experienced this as I was doing jury duty at the court house. It was very interesting and I almost felt like I was out of the country. Going further out away from town are other parts of Gerogetown that are more rural or have a large lot. It is definitely a good bet to be close to the beaches, but far enough away from the route 1 craziness. I think your best bet would be to try looking at Milton-it's kind of artsy and old fashioned at the same time. For health foods, I believe there is a store on route 9 which has advertised as being a full functioning organic-type grocery. I haven't been there, as I no longer live in the area, but maybe it is something like Whole Foods. I'll tell you, if Whole Foods came here, they would be rampaged. There are sooo many people here who want it to come. I also have been campaigning for a Trader Joe's to come to Dover. Good luck to you and I hope you enjoy finding a new place to call home!

[rockky]

Kent County could just get better food shopping started with a Wegman's. They have a huge organic section and a wide variety of everything.

There is a health/natural food store on Governor's Ave. It's just a bit beyond the hospital away from town.

Whoops! Sorry. I forgot this was about the Georgetown area.....in Sussex County.

Probably Georgetown's biggest claim to fame was when the Disney/Eisner trial was held there over ten years ago.

It is the center of Sussex Co. government though. Beautiful center square.

[Logand]

I used to live in Northern Delaware and I spent a lot of time in Sussex County in my youth. Georgetown used to be a nice quiet place as I remember. I do not claim to have any first hand recent experience with this area now, but when I compare Georgetown to bigger cities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Albuquerque (where I live), I find some disturbing crime statistics. When looking at violent crime in 2005 per 100,000 people, which includes murder, rape, robbery and assault, the following results:

Baltimore 1755; Atlanta 1675; Albuquerque 952; Georgetown 2736

Yes … because Georgetown has only 5000 people, the numbers get skewed. It does, however, provide a crime likelihood measure that is very scary. I got this data from the “city-data” pages for these cities. I believe it is derived from the FBI stats.

Maybe someone with more direct experience can comment on this. I too am considering Georgetown as a retirement location. Albuquerque is too violent for me. Hopefully I am reading too much into these numbers. Other comments?

One thing about Georgetown that is attractive is the fact that the Georgetown area has the highest elevation of all of Sussex County (50 ft.). I heard that the expected flood surge for a direct hit hurricane is 18 feet. So, Georgetown should remain high and dry. Better home insurance rates too, I’ll bet.

[peeweeaz]

After reading your crime stats, now you all know one of the reasons why we left the Baltimore area (cesspool).

[sun]

My family recently returned from Lewes which is on the coast and where we go yearly for a short vacation, about 10 miles away from Georgetown.
Georgetown doesn't look so bad to the passerby with some stores, plazas and restaurants on the major thoroughfare. But the Lewes area is probably the best place to be with nice schools and a medical center. The whole Lewes/Rehobeth area has undergone tremendous expansion over the last 10+ years with new cul de sacs being built all over. And there's a convenient short cut from there to Route 9 and Georgetown, and more little shortcuts that the locals know about in and around Lewes to avoid the main traffic on Route 1 during tourist season.
The shopping opportunities are great with several new supermarkets and many factory outlet stores everywhere. The Lewes schools are the best in the area, and there was a
major expansion of sports fields(?) going on at the high school.
I was impressed to learn from a student that their 1st two years of college are free if they maintain a good grade point average in high school (3.0?), with a guarantee of entrance to the U of Del. if a 2.5 GPA is maintained after that. So there's lots of commercial activity, many banks and an influx of money and investment there around Lewes. Some of the cul de sacs are pretty close to the corn fields, but continued expansion should change things even more in the future.
And there were also new lanes being built on Route 1 in Lewes to alleviate traffic backups mostly caused by travelers to Ocean City, MD and back.
The people are all very nice and many move in from all over the region, and they're not just retirees. Many just like the jobs and the environment there. Lewes is a very pretty & cosmopolitan area with lots of brand new homes, and it is very nice in many different ways.

[nlblueyes]

Just keep in mind that there is a prison complex in Georgetown which probably alters the statistics. Also, any crime that may occur while in the court complex affect the numbers. Just a thought re: crime stats in Georgetown. I grew up in Sussex County, not far from Georgetown in Milton. Sussex County is relatively safe -- of course I am currently living in the cesspool of Baltimore.

[mikandmari]

Violent crime in Georgetown 2736? I didn't think there were 2736 people living in Georgetown!

[peeweeaz]

Probably the same clowns committing multiple crimes. Lock 'em up, let 'em out; Lock 'em up, let 'em out - revolving door.