Moving to Morgantown WV

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by Micah Girl

Is it a typical college town? Great book shops, coffee shops, interesting cultural activities, fun stuff to do for families? Is it progressive or conservative? Is it multicultural or homogeneous? How does it take to newcomers?

VERY!!! It's progressive and very liberal IMO. Multicultural, very much so. It has everything you mentioned above, plus a great night life scene

[morgantownnurse]

I love Morgantown!!! Friendly people!!! I moved to Kissimmee Fla. for 1 year and simply missed running into a stranger at a store and them saying oh sorry with a smile. I moved home and now I know how unfortunate other people are who don't live here!!

[John Cady]

My dad lives near the Star City section of Morgantown, and his neighborhood is pretty nice. His only beef about living in the city was all the traffic from the college students...from my last visit, there had to be a lot more students than actual residents.

Still, there are plenty of good restaurants and activities there.

[CBNP]

Originally Posted by farmerkd

Morgantown......low crime, good schools, pricey housing....not much for under 200,000. Cheat Lake is best area, really need to be choosy about your area, this is a big deal in this area.

I am curious what you mean about being choosy about where to live in Cheat Lake. Is there a good side and a bad side? I have been looking at homes around Cheat Lake online and plan to spend some time next week looking around there. What should I avoid? We want to build or buy existing, lot>1 acre, plenty of trees and some privacy. 2 small kids. Hubby interviewing w/University next week.
Thanks in advance for your help!

[David Kennedy]

The Cheat Lake area is the most expensive area we have.
My advice, go down to Rock Forge and see the new homes there.

Look at TJ's stuff...he's a very good builder...Rocky Gearad at Vision Homes is also very good.
Those guys have had a hell of a year with the Obama-nation of our area.
They have paid a great price for their businesses. Check out their homes, you won't be sorry.

[timbalaya]

Brookhaven is a nice area about 10 minutes from downtown. There are a couple to subdivisions in the area.
The Pleasant Hill Road/South Pierpont stretch is also nice... there is at least one newish subdivision and many other homes along the drive. Very nice rolling hills.
Prairie Village is also a nice neighborhood. Prairie Village is more central to much of Morgantown... within 2 minutes of city limits. Ashworth place is right down the road from Prairie Village, perhaps a little more expensive, and I am not as familiar with this neighborhood.
(I am fairly certain all of the above places are outside of city limits, which can be nice)

South Park has a lot of older homes... some very nice.... many with a unique, historical feel. (Also many are probably un/poorly insulated!). If you go further to one edge of South Park (Greenmont, I believe), you get into more student housing. Also, South Park is in city limits and borders one of the two major high schools.
Also, you might want to consider the South Hills area, which is close to South Park, but a bit more private and houses are generally not quite as cramped together.
There are many nice houses in first ward (also within city limits), that are generally much more affordable than South Park. Elysian Ave, Madigan Ave, Callen Ave, West Virginia Ave, all have some nice homes, and are very close to downtown (but separate enough, generally), and surround a nice park (Jack Roberts Park).
I have lived in the Morgantown area all my life (~26 years) and love the area very much!
A main complaint, however, is that while the University has done a TON for the town, there is a lot of traffic, crazy parties, and crazy nightlife during the main semesters when the majority of the students are in town.
If you do not want to be near the party atmosphere, there are tons of locations to choose from that are still close to town, and also several to avoid!
Let me know if you want any more info.... there is too much to put on one post!

[timbalaya]

Also, to address the other question about living in PA... Monongalia county is so diverse that I would recommend exhausting my possibilities here before considering commuting from PA.

[timbalaya]

Originally Posted by Shoteka

We're also moving to Morgantown this summer of fall for grad school. Hiking there must be lovely, no? How bad are the ticks in the summer? Are there many lakes/rivers for water activities?

There are LOTS of nice hiking places. Cooper's Rock is well know for this and is not a far drive. www.coopersrockstateforest.com/trails.html
The Virgin Hemlock trail is awesome, especially when the creek isn't dried up. It is on the Cooper's Rock website above.

The WVU arboretum is right beside the coliseum (where wvu basketball plays), but has nice hiking trails and is a great place to get away and hike/jog without having to go far.
The arboretum is right beside a portion of the rail trail which runs miles and miles beside the River, Decker's creek, and into Preston County... something like a 33 miles... might be more. ~10 miles paved (the part closer to down) and mostly a crushed limestone surface good for biking, jogging http://www.morgantown.com/trails.htm
The West Virginia Botanical Garden is about 15-20 minutes from town and has some nice trails, especially once you venture off of the main loop. www.wvbg.org/
I don't recommend the Mon river adjacent to Morgantown for much more than canoeing and fishing, however Cheat Lake has lots of Boating activity.
We are about 45 minutes from Deep Creek lake, in Maryland, which is probably considered a bit nicer than the cheat
The Deep Creek/Mchenry area is also home to Wisp, which makes for a nice day of skiing/snowboarding. Wisp also has a warm weather outdoor activities. www.wispresort.com
We are with 2.5 hours of probably 7 or so Ski resorts... at least 5 of them decent.
Whitewater rafting close by...
About 1.5 hours to Pittsburgh, 3.5-4 ish to Baltimore or D.C.
Sorry for the info overload... but I have a lot to say

[CTMountaineer]

1.5 hours to the 'Burgh? Maybe if you hit it right at rush hour and get hung up getting into the tunnel. 1.25 hours is generally what it takes me to get to the central part of the town. It will become closer still when they finish the Mon Fayette Expressway to the east end of town.

You can also take the hiking/biking trail south along the Mon River all the way to Pricket's Fort in Fairmont. It's around 40 miles total including the 10 paved miles. And, there is a hiking trail along one side of Cheat Lake.