Things to do in Prestonsburg or Paintsville (Lexington, Louisville: rent, car insurance)

[happymee]

I'm going to move to Ky soon and just wanted some suggestions on things for the kiddos and myself to do I love the beauty of these areas I live in Columbus Ohio now but am really tired of all the gang banger wanna bees..How far away to malls and other attractions of the blue grass state?Also how good are the schools and Hospitals..

Thanks

[Toria]

Originally Posted by happymee

I'm going to move to Ky soon and just wanted some suggestions on things for the kiddos and myself to do I love the beauty of these areas I live in Columbus Ohio now but am really tired of all the gang banger wanna bees..How far away to malls and other attractions of the blue grass state?Also how good are the schools and Hospitals..

Thanks

I've never been to either place, but found these sites which might help:

http://www.prestonsburgky.org/

http://www.macarts.com/

http://www.paintsville.org

[phoenix74]

I have lived in Johnson County KY since my parents moved us here from Columbus, OH in 1988. We live about 4 miles outside of Paintsville. There is not alot of family activities to do here. We do have a nice lake with walking trails, a movie theater and a bowling alley. We are trying to sell our home so that we can move toward central KY. You will have to drive a least an hour to get to any shopping malls. You can travel to Ashland, KY or Barboursville,WV to shop. I hate that! The local hospital is Paul B. Hall Medical and I would only go there if you had a medical emergency and didn't have time to get to Ashland or Lexington, KY for treatment. As for the schools they are OK but are too sports crazy. People here will hold straight A students back in elementary school just so they can play school ball another year for a championship. I would recommend moving toward Lexington before I ever came here. I want to move so bad that I dream about it all the time! Too many "backwoods" people here that ruin the whole area.

[jonashville]

I lived in Prestonsburg for a year. There is not much to do at all. Paintsville Lake State Park is beautiful, with manicured walking trails through the woods. I still miss it. Otherwise, there just isn't much shopping or anything. There is the Mountain Arts Center which has some music shows and has music lessons, and Jenny Wiley State Park is beautiful and has theatre productions in the summer. We ended up going to Walmart a lot, and sometimes, in retrospect, it was just for entertainment, something to do. There are virtually no restaurants worth eating in, so we ended up saving some money that way. (Although the Dairy Cheer has awesome hot dogs with chili and slaw). I had never lived anywhere so small before, and it was kind of claustrophobic. Most of the people who live there have extended family there, and socialize with them. I didn't make any friends, although I was only there for a year. People are very involved in their churches, and the churches have a lot of social activities.

One odd fact is that car insurance is very high there, which was a shock to me coming from paying $70/mo. in Indianapolis. I paid $200/month for a 10 year old car. I was told this was b/c of all the car wrecks with the coal trucks. People there are very litigious, also, in my opinion. Lots of poverty, lots of people on disability, lots of prescription drug abuse, lots of intoxicated/impaired drivers.

I would recommend going there and checking it out before moving there. I don't mean to sound negative, but this is a rural, isolated area, with no hope of much "development." It is inexpensive to live there, and the people are nice.

Jonashville

[EclecticEars]

Oxymoron (ks-môrn, -mr-)
n. sing. "Things to do" and "Prestonsburg and Paintsville."

I guess you can find a hiking trail at Jenny Wiley State Park and try to find Loretta Lynn's birthplace in Butcher Hollow. Woooow! At least the terrain in that region is beautiful.

Also, the poster immediately above me is right, there are many poor, litigous, and (my addition) undereducated people in the "land of the far east." London is the ONLY town in E. Ky. I'd ever consider living in. Plus, it would suck to have to drive to Lexington, Huntington, or Charleston for more substantial shopping.

[pop5300]

The cost of living is definitely lower there, especially rent or property taxes. The car insurance is the highest around, it is ridiculous.

I love this region of the country, but I admit there isnt a whole lot to do especially for city people who visit. Not alot of glamour and glitz, but you will find a big social scene there as everybody knows everybody. It is alot easier to make friends there, and you will be invited to alot of church functions.

There is alot of natural beauty there, and alot of outdoor activities. 4-wheeling and ATV's are big there, along with fishing and some hunting.

[The Village Idiot]

As some of the other posters have indicated, most of the things to do in southeastern Kentucky are outdoors activities. If you really enjoy the outdoors, you might like it, but prepare for some culture shock. Unfortunately, the poverty rate in the area is higher than the state average (29.4% for Paintsville and 27.5% for Prestonsburg). Of course, this does not mean that the people there are bad people, but it's just something you have to be prepared for if you're considering moving to some parts of Appalachia.

The closest mall is probably in Ashland, which is about an hour north of Paintsville. Ashland's mall is pretty small compared to what you'll find in Columbus, of course, but at least it has a few well-known stores like JC Penney's.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by The Village Idiot

As some of the other posters have indicated, most of the things to do in southeastern Kentucky are outdoors activities. If you really enjoy the outdoors, you might like it, but prepare for some culture shock. Unfortunately, the poverty rate in the area is higher than the state average (29.4% for Paintsville and 27.5% for Prestonsburg). Of course, this does not mean that the people there are bad people, but it's just something you have to be prepared for if you're considering moving to some parts of Appalachia.

The closest mall is probably in Ashland, which is about an hour north of Paintsville. Ashland's mall is pretty small compared to what you'll find in Columbus, of course, but at least it has a few well-known stores like JC Penney's.

To my knowledge, the only indoor malls in eastern Ky. are in Middlesboro and Ashland, which are 2.75 hours southwest and 1.25 hours north of Paintsville, respectively. Huntington, Charleston, Richmond, Lexington, Louisville, Bristol, Cincinnati, and Columbus all have malls, as may Williamson, WV, but don't hold me to that. The closest you can go for an "ooooooooh" and "aaaaaaaaaah" type of mall would be Cincinnati, then Atlanta.

And The Village Idiot is right: E. Ky. is very much for outdoors-oriented folks. There's a lot of hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling, and mudding that goes on in that part of the state.

[GaBoyinPike]

There isnt anything to do in either place, you are wasting your time.