Best and/or Up-And-Coming Coastal Cities or Towns in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic (house)

[NomadByKnight]

Recommend some good options for coastal cities or towns in the Southeast/Mid Atlantic region. These can be the obvious choices like Charleston, or hidden gems/up-and-coming beach towns few are aware of.

As work-from-home jobs become more and more popular, the idea of living off the coast becomes more appealing for a lot of us beach lovers.

Personally I have a lot of friends who are talking about relocating closer to the ocean. Just curious on thoughts from those who have either lived in a coastal city within these regions or currently live in one.

[MrJones17]

I work remote as well. We just bought a house in Lynchburg, VA as we want to attend Liberty University but we plan on moving to Wilmington, NC after we graduate.

Working remote is the best thing ever. Now I don't have to wait til I'm a million years old to move closer to the beach.

[Iconographer]

Ocean City, NJ
Avalon, NJ
Lewes, DE
Manteo, NC
New Bern, NC
Morehead City, NC
Southport, NC
Wilmington, NC
Georgetown, SC
Beaufort, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
Darien, GA
Brunswick, GA
St. Marys/Kingsland, GA
Fernandina Beach, FL
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
St. Augustine, FL

I relocated permanently from Atlanta to St Simons Island, GA last year (have had a second home here for much longer) and absolutely love it.

https://www.explorestsimonsisland.com/

[NomadByKnight]

Agreed MrJones, working remote is awesome! Iconographer love the list. I've also had my eye on the Newport News/Hampton VA area for its proximity to Virginia Beach and having the much smaller Buckroe Beach nearby.

[kyle19125]

For up-and-coming I would have to say places like Bluffton-Okatie SC (just inland from Hilton Head Island) or the Conway-Carolina Forest SC area (just inland from Myrtle Beach) and while not "new or up-coming", the city of Norfolk VA has certainly seen an impressive amount of revitalization.

[NomadByKnight]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

For up-and-coming I would have to say places like Bluffton-Okatie SC (just inland from Hilton Head Island) or the Conway-Carolina Forest SC area (just inland from Myrtle Beach) and while not "new or up-coming", the city of Norfolk VA has certainly seen an impressive amount of revitalization.

I lived in Myrtle Beach from 2008-2011, so its definitely been a while. Back then Conway/Carolina Forest was definitely up-and-coming, so I can only imagine where it is now. The only negative I would say about that area is Myrtle Beach. It has gained quite a negative reputation about the time we moved out until now and I will say at least from when we were there and it was fairly obvious that the drug problem there had gotten worse. Of course, you don't have to go to Myrtle if you want a beach - Murrells Inlet is beautiful (although not offering a beach does have the little boardwalk overlooking the marsh), and Surfside was definitely much more family friendly (and the police around that area don't mess around either).

[mpier015]

Yorktown, VA

[NomadByKnight]

Originally Posted by mpier015

Yorktown, VA

Yorktown looks like a cool little town too! In the same area that I've got my eye on. If I can get my wife on board with Virginia, we might just have to check out the Yorktown/Hampton/Newport News area. Geography wise I think it accomplishes what we both want - be near the coast!

[ClemVegas]

Southport NC is a cool small town on the coast of NC, about 45 minutes south of Wilmington, 40 minutes from Mrytle Beach. Has some restaurants on its little harbor, and Oak Island beaches are nearby.

You can take a ferry to Wilmington.