Communting distance to Greenwood (Jackson, Greenville: rental, low crime, house)

[Augustmoon]

My husband has just been offered a job relocation to Greenwood. Before we make a commitment we are hoping to come out and visit the area in the next couple of weeks and would like to view some properties while we are there. We will only have 3 days in MS, so I really want us to cover as much ground as possible.
Having read through numerous posts on Greenwood I get the impression that it is a small sleepy rural town with not much to offer a young family ( we have 3 kids under 10), so where do I start? Greenville looks promising but it also looks like a long commute. So where else would you recommend?
The company has offered to pay for private schooling for the children for the first 3 years so schooling will not influence our decision so much, but I do want somewhere that has good parks, is safe (low crime), not too long a commute for my husband (under 1 hour) and is near a good hospital and has regular stores ie Target, Khols etc.
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[poptones]

I live in Winona and it is under an hour from Greenwood, has a great school (a couple, actually) and is very nicely located. It's small enough you can get around quickly but less than a half hour from Grenada where there is a ginormous walmart and a good bit more. Less than an hour away is Batesvile which is a pretty large town and less than 90 minutes away are Memphis, Jackson, and Columbus. Not much in the way of "public parks" in Winona but there's a nice playground at the church around the corner, and in this area from the HS to the train tracks the whole neighborhood is a bit of a "park."

Greenwood isn't exactly "sleepy." It's fairly spread out and there are some really nice areas right in greenwood. I don't know if you'd want to live along the blvd, but there are some gorgeous homes there. I am fairly certain you do NOT want to move to greenville, as there's a bit of "flight" going on from the area even now due to crime and poverty. Itta Bena is also kinda a cool place - it's a very small town close to greenwood. I lived there once, right on the river, in an old rental house next to the cemetary. Could walk to the grocery store and it was a very quiet place.

[brickpatio]

Greenwood itself is quite beautiful, at least the half of it along Grand Blvd. There is a nice private school there and the downtown area has some charm. However, if you are envisioning an area of properous, new-looking, suburban stores, Greenwood doesn't have it. Half of Greenwood is beautiful and half is very, very depressed. But the commercial part does not look particularly modern or up to date. Neighboring Carroll County is pretty, with woods and rolling hills, and with quaint and historic Carrollton, a tiny town full of historic homes. Greenville frankly is depressing. There really isn't a city within under an hour of Greenwood that is large enough to meet your description. Within about an hour and 20 minutes, you can be in Madison (a nice suburb on the north side of Jackson that definitely meets your description), Starkville (pleasant college town, home of Mississippi State University, that has plenty of shopping in the area and very nice and contemporary residential areas along South Mongtgomery, and a nice private school), and Oxford (college town, home of Univ of Mississippi, which is postcard beautiful and has plenty of shopping). At that distance, from those locations your husband could consider spending the night in Greenwood a night or two a week to cut that commute time. I know people who work in Greenwood who do a combination of some days with the long commute, sometimes spending the night in Greenwood to save drive time, and some days working from home in Madison.

[oldenfatt]

Winona would be a good choice. Cleveland is also an option. Greenville has major issues, Greenwood is headed in the same direction.