Madison/Huntsville (Valley: relocation, property taxes, for sale)

[Memphis Bill]

Originally Posted by BigMunch

Question for you:
Is Lewis Smith Lake nice?
I am interested in any info you have about property in that area on or near the lake.

Smith Lake was created by damming up the Sipsey River back in 1961. There are photos in the History Section on removed

It has over 500 miles of shoreline and is over 21,000 acres in size.

Some parts of the lake are 400' deep. Towns, bridges, forests all lay beneath its crystal clear waters. They claim its the third cleanest lake in the US.

Fishing is great. They have hybrid stripe bass that are 40-60 lbs in size. They have bass tournaments on it all the time. Last February one was televised on ESPN.

Part of the lake is in the William Bankhead National Forest. Its very quiet and isolated. Land prices are getting up there, but compared to other parts of the country they're pretty cheap.

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Bill

[floridagrl]

There's the one on Univeristy and the one at "The Mall" (that's what we've called it since grade school so I can't remember the actual name of the mall!). Cinema 8 on the Parkway closed years ago & now it's a Mike's store. Is there another one I don't know about? We've lived in Tampa for 5 years but are in Tampa 3-4 times a year with family.

[VMH2507]

There is a movie theater behind the Walmart on University. I think it may be on Old Monrovia. There is another at Madison Square mall. Also one on S. Memorial Parkway. I think there may be another one but not sure where.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by VMH2507

There is a movie theater behind the Walmart on University. I think it may be on Old Monrovia. There is another at Madison Square mall. Also one on S. Memorial Parkway. I think there may be another one but not sure where.

There's one near the Huntsville Stars stadium. And the new Rave, in Jones Valley behind Target. And don't forget the drive-in theatre in Athens. The owners just opened a small indoor twin theatre on the same property.

[zenjenn]

I'm from Southern California, and after learning about Huntsville, removing the blinders from my eyes and learning how much money I squander in living expenses and taxes in California, my only "worry" is that my husband won't be able to find a job there fast enough!

He's an engineer though, so hopefully what I hear about engineering jobs falling from the sky there is true.

I honestly would pack up my house and go tomorrow if I could. Tell your wife to educate herself. Yes, I too heard "Huntsville, AL" and immediately thought of racist confederate flag-waving yeehaws, but I honestly don't remotely have that concern at all anymore. I know it's more conservative than here, but I can live with that, and in some cases even prefer it.

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by Southlander

There's one near the Huntsville Stars stadium. And the new Rave, in Jones Valley behind Target. And don't forget the drive-in theatre in Athens. The owners just opened a small indoor twin theatre on the same property.

The new Rave theatre in Jones Valley is probably the nicest movie theatre I've ever seen. Digital surround and picture, stadium seating, lots of leg room, 18 screens... Very nice.

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by OCCASparky

Thanks for the information. I liked the Madison area (closer to BFN than Huntsville, but not too close) and really wouldn't even mind Athens but I think the wife would like something a little more suburban than that, hence the Madison choice.

Personally, I can't stand Madison and the whole rat race/keeping up with the Joneses mentality, but since you're moving from ultimate suburbia (OC), I'm sure you will like it just fine.

[HSVmom]

Oh, please. We've owned a house in Madison for four yrs. and haven't yet encountered anyone with a "keeping up with the Jones" attitude. Folks have been pleasant, down to earth and helpful. Both of my adult children would be delighted to settle there.

[VMH2507]

I think the previous poster is confusing Madison with Hampton Cove. Madison has some areas (mostly out off County Line Road) with very large expensive new homes, but most of the homes in the main part of Madison are 20+ years old on very nice large wooded lots. I am with HSVmom in not noting any "keeping up with the Joneses attitude" in Madison.

[Charles]

Found this on a blog search. Has some subjective comments on some of the more popular neighborhoods in the Huntsville Madison areas.

One implied negative on Madison was some of the nicer subdivisions are in less than ideal locations (I don't know; not familiar yet.) I found tons of nice neighborhoods in Madison online.

One implied negative on Hampton Cove was Huntsville High School. I looked at the test scores and HHS scores weren't bad, not #1 but in the top three or four in most categories (excluding specialized charter-academy type schools). HHS is something like five or six years old (rebuilt), That's a good thing (though one poster mentioned it was overcrowded). It's a Great Schools rating 9. What is it about HHS that prompted the questionable comments in the blog? I can see the 12 mile bus ride as a negative; especially when VGHS is like four or five miles away.

Anyone have any comments on HHS?

It's interesting, but again, it's totally subjective random comments:

carol comments: on moving to Huntsville