Moving to Harvest (Huntsville, Madison, Triana: homes, teaching jobs, neighborhood)

[HsvMike]

Honestly, I don't give it much thought at all. Never heard of a jail break happen or anything like that at all ( that I know of ) and it is never brought up as a discussion with the neighbors or anything.

[pyrotwisty]

Yeah, I live maybe 6 miles from the prison and never really give it a second thought. Harvest is very safe, break-ins and stuff like that are pretty rare.

[Southeastern]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
Your post will prompt me to check out those places. How far north up Jeff, what general cross streets?

When I stayed at the Homewood Suites at Providence I'd go running north from there past a roundabout and maybe a mile north (Indian Creek road), then cut west through a nice neighborhood for about another mile then south and then east again.

On the question of location for Monrovia -- My best guess on the area would be from Old Monrovia Road north on Indian Creek Rd, Bishop Road, Jeff Road, Nance Road and all the east-west connecting streets. Anything farther west than Nance I would consider Harvest. And once you get to Sparkman High you're into Toney area.

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Just past Sparkman High at the intersection of Jeff Road and Hwy 53 the new Publix is under construction.
http://www.aronov.com/harvestSquare

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While house hunting in the area, check out Bishop Farms (http://www.woodlandhomes.com), Kelly Plantation (http://www.pollardhomes.com and others), and neighborhoods where Nance and Pettus Roads join. Also The Ridge of Kellywoods which has Madison 35757 address but is located in Monrovia. Neighboorhood is well hidden with homes in the $475k+ range ...some of the street names are Wedgewood Terrace, Highland Ridge Drive, and Ivyridge Road.

Here are a few maps to get an idea of Harvest-Monrovia location:
http://www.woodlandhomes.com/communities/map/map1.html

http://www.springtourofhomes.com
4 area maps showing homes on the recent Spring Tour of Homes

http://www.madisoncountyparadeofhomes.com
Links on left side will take you to location maps for last year's Parade of Homes.

http://www.jeffbentonhomes.com/comm.html
If you choose a community from the map, you will go to another page. From there you should see another link labeled "Area Map". If you click on that link another map will open.

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If you have children in Baseball, Basketball, and Volleyball, there is Monrovia Parks & Recreation with Phillips Park on Jeff Road.
http://www.eteamz.com/mprasports

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
What good things and what bad things have you heard about the Madison County vs City vs Huntsville School Systems? All I have to go on are tabulated assessment data from the Alabama Department of Education and data from Great Schools. I am going to try to walk around a couple of candidate schools while I am there next week. I'd like to talk to faculty and staff and also just check out the appearance of the school, do the kids look happy and with it, engaged, etc.

fyi since you may be visiting schools: Last day of school for Madison County is May 20th, Madison City and Hsvl City is May 22nd.

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And in the throw away category of who knew you'd see this in Alabama -- Across the street from Sparkman 9th Grade School is a 13,000 sf home owned by Walter Jones of the Seattle Seahawks with a regulation football field and NFL-standard goal posts in the backyard.
http://www.sellersphoto.com/projects/pages/_MG_3845.htm

[brooklynight]

My brother lives in Harvest and he says it is the safest place he has been in this country!

[briloveswendy]

Hi!!

My fiance and I recently bought a new home in Harvest - Hunter Homes to be specific off Old Railroad Bed Road. We currently live in New Jersey and my son and his family live in nearby Toney and they just love it here. All of our kids are all grown...As it turns out, we also love it also! I'd like any feedback on the area in general and what to expect - or is it too good to be true...LOL!!

[Deb_N_HarvestAL]

Just move to Harvest one Month ago. We built a new home here and so far we love it!! Your biggest challenge will be to learn the back routes so when traffic builds up on 53 (and it will) you can have a way to get home. New to Harvest is a Publics opening in August, along with Starbucks, a BBQ restaurant, Pizza, Nails, Gifts and more. There is even talk of Wal-Mart to follow. I feel like we were fortunate enough to get in on “the grass roots" of a really up and coming area that boarders the most wonderful city of HUNTSVILLE! Come on down!!

[gsp4ever]

briloveswendy--don't exactly understand what you mean by "too good to be true".

Harvest is a large residential area. Some areas are serviced out of the Harvest post office and have a "Harvest" address but are really more closely aligned with Madison and Monrovia. I know you said Old RR Bed, but are you closer to Capshaw Rd and Highway 72? If so, you'll probably rarely find yourself out on Hwy. 53. This more southern area of "Harvest" has the nicer homes and more transplants who work in Huntsville. This would be the Endeavor Elementary School zone.

As you move more North on Old RR Bed (more towards Harvest proper and Toney) then it becomes more rural with perhaps a taste of old Alabama (country roads and cotton fields) and would be the Harvest Elementary School zone. There are quite a few new neighborhoods in this area as well.

Overall, it's all a quiet, safe area. Neighbors should be nice--I would expect a mix of transplants and natives, probably. This particular area seems to be a bit more prone to the nasty storms (weather follows a general pattern here but you never can tell) so you'll want to be vigilant about that. There's a good Chinese takeout place at the corner of Pine Grove and Wall Triana and there's a good pizza place (Village Pizza) just over the county line.

Hope this helps and please ask for more specifics if needed.

[briloveswendy]

Thanks for the info! When you spoke about 'this area being more probe to nasty storms' do you mean tornados, torrential rains or both? I just can't hack commuting to work in ice storms up here anymore!

[gsp4ever]

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. We haven't been hit with a big tornado in the Huntsville area in quite a number of years but it's generally a matter of "when" and not "if" it happens in the future. People get lulled into a sense of complacency about these storms but they do happen.

Ice storms have been a problem in the past but not in the seven years that I have lived here. I suppose there has been some sort of shift in the overall weather patterns in the South (warm winters with little/no snow and harsh drought in the Summers) but you can never tell when it will swing back the other way. If there is a snow or ice storm you won't be commuting to work because they will close nearly all the roads. Huntsville simply doesn't have the equipment to do a lot of snow or ice removal. Your big concern would be power outage and with all the above ground power lines (why they do this I have no idea) that can be a problem in all storms.

[briloveswendy]

We are going to be near Dorning Road and right down from Harvest Road. My son and his family live in Toney which is about 10 minutes away. I know there is some crazy intersection that seems dangerous, but after living in NY and Jersey, I can handle that! LOL!