neighborhoods in chesapeake-where to drive around (Virginia Beach, Suffolk: apartment, houses, subdivisions)

[Cole-B]

My husband and I have been visiting VaBeach for the past couple summers and are thinking of moving. We would like to explore Chesapeake because I read a lot of good things about it.
Can anyone please give me a good driving route that will help us get the "feel" for the neighboorhoods and the area. Ideally, we would like a place in a more rural setting but would also like to look at some single family neighboorhoods. Any wooded areas around? We just don't want to drive aimlessly for hours.

Thanks

[PaperTrail]

I moved away from Chesapeake a little over a year ago, and I'll tell you an area that I lived in, which I liked.

Get off at the intersection of I-64 and I-464, which will dump you off onto Dominion Blvd. You can cross Great Bridge Blvd. and go south on Dominion Blvd. There is a low-moderate housing development on your left as you go down the road, and there is a higher-income housing development about a mile or two down. That's a pretty wooded area as a whole, but the road is getting busier and busier.

You'll cross a steel drawbridge to get to the light at Cedar Rd. Lots of shopping/grocery/Wal-Mart/etc. down this way. Turn left at Cedar and take that for 10-15 minutes. There's housing -- both old and new, rich and poor -- around there, as well as several businesses and churches. Cedar Road is essentially the boundary between rural/urban parts of Chesapeake.

Then you'd get to Battlefield Blvd. (there's a BB&T at the corner). More shopping and stuff at that intersection. You'll have just passed the library, and the houses that are tucked into that area around the library (on the left) are some of my favorite. I'd guess them to be 1960s-era, they have character, and though they connect with some very big roads, they seem to be off on their own and somewhat secluded.

At Battlefield Blvd., you can turn left, and you'll cross another drawbridge. You're in the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake at this point, so the bridge there is called the Great Bridge Bridge. Yeah. Anyway, alot along this road is older businesses. Some nice stuff, but also some mom-and-pop stores that don't look nice and new like those along Cedar Road.

Then, you'll come to Great Bridge Blvd., and you turn left there. There's more houses there as well as some apartment. It'll be a lot of low- to mid-income places, but also some really large wealthy homes. A couple miles down the road, and you'll be back at Dominion.

That big square, I think, would give you a nice snapshot of Chespeake. And, being just off of the 64/464 interstates, you'll have easy access to many places. It was a place I liked living at a lot.

[stacylee926]

Seriously - I personally dislike the Greenbrier area - it WAY WAY WAY too congested. If you like something more rural - the western edge of Chesapeake - Jollif Woods (I think) is a little more rural and off of Dock Landing Road. You are right on the edge of Ches and Suffolk - which only has little pockets of subdivisions and lots of land left. Close to Ches Square Mall but not congested at all.

For a more rural setting - but still close to everything, look into Suffolk and the Bennetts Creek area off or Rt 17. Both areas are close to the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel.

[Kuro Manga X]

Yeah, Western Branch is a lot less congeste than Greenbrier, that's for sure. I wouldn't say that it's more rural tho. More like quiet suburbia (like most of the 'Peake). I'd say the area around Hickory, around the southern part of Battlefield Boulevard, also off of VA 168, is more of the rural setting. Some parts, like Edinburgh are really expensive-looking, but there are a lot of quieter places too, especially around Saint Brides Road. There are some really rural areas of Chesapeake, like if you continued straight down Dominion Boulevard to US 17, or down Battlefield Boulevard or 168 past Hanbury Road, but overall the city has a suburban feel to it. The first post gave a really nice route; Cedar Road will also take you past the civic center. If I may add on to it; take a detour by making a right onto Battlefield, then make a left at Mount Pleasant Road. If you follow Mount Pleasant down past Centerville Turnpike, you'll pass a lot of quiet neighborhoods and a few farms as well, although once you cross the canal bridge, you'll be on North Landing Road in southern Virginia Beach. I hope that you enjoy your time visiting Chesapeake!