Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 06-09-2007, 08:34 PM
 
190 posts, read 863,502 times
Reputation: 48

Advertisements

Best NC towns @ 20K population

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are thinking of relocating to NC from the NEast to escape the snow and cold and ridiculously high housing prices.

We've visited NC three times now, and see and stayed in Asheville, Hendersonville, Southern Pines, Raleigh, Durham, Wake Forest, Pittsboro, Hillsborough, Carborro and Chapel Hill area - staying at Fearrington. We are pretty sold on Fearrington, but want to be sure we check out what we can before we decide.

I thought I would like Chapel Hill better than I did. It's described as "quaint" but quaint it aint to us. That said, I think the area has a tremendous amount of things going for it, and we LOVE NC people - so friendly!

To us, quaint is Southern Pines, and Hillsborough - but they are too small for us. We come from a really vibrant waterfront community with a strong art culture, and lots of festivals, and a very safe walkable, livable community of @20K. We can walk to the library, the bookstore, the coffee shop, and like that sort of feel.

We dislike cookie cutter subdivisions, sprawl, and places with no downtown to speak of. Fearrington doesn't have a downtown to speak of either, but we liked the "village" feel and the peace, with Chapel Hill, Carborro, etc. so near.

Ideally we'd like to be near the water, but know the downsides - hurricanes and higher heat and humidity, and can't seem to find anything that fits our criteria on the coast or near. We had considered New Bern until I saw the crime stats and some posts of people with not so great information.

One thing we don't want is to be stuck out in the boonies with nothing around. If Fearrington didn't have Chapel Hill nearby I don't think I would like it as much.

One other most important criteria is that we be near a hospital - near being have one in town, as my husband has both asthma and a heart condition, and we've had a few trips to the ER that made us glad we have a small hospital where we live now.

Can anyone recommend any other places to visit? We are thinking of planning a visit to Wilmington, albeit not small, but we've always wanted to see it, and we love historic places like Charleston and Savannah. I guess Wilmington is not quite on par, but it sounds interesting.

Any suggestions appreciated. I SO miss the friendly people in NC when we return home - hate to say it, but it's true!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-10-2007, 04:14 PM
 
17,455 posts, read 38,845,424 times
Reputation: 24078
Did you check out the little town of Black Mountain when you went to Asheville? It is about 15 miles east, and seems to fit the bill of what you are looking for. Not sure of the population, but it is just the most charming town, fabulous mountain views, all kinds of cute cafes and galleries and shops, and festivals. And it's an easy commute to Asheville for great medical care.

Not sure if this is too small for you, but since it is so close to Asheville thought it might be of interest, I personally love it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2007, 05:12 PM
 
190 posts, read 863,502 times
Reputation: 48
Default Yes, we did see Black Mountain, thanks.

It is absolutely adorable, but yes, it is too small for us. Plus, we decided we want to be closer to the ocean. Right now it is at the end of our street, so Chapel Hill/Pittsboro is about as far west as we want to be.

Had fun in the Asheville area though!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2007, 04:44 PM
 
190 posts, read 863,502 times
Reputation: 48
Default Wilmington??

OK, I know Wilmington does NOT meet out 20K population requirement but can anyone comment on the other aspects - does it have some/all otherwise of what we are looking for??
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2007, 05:45 PM
 
Location: Indianapolis Indiana
1,242 posts, read 3,743,437 times
Reputation: 1185
Do a little research on Hickory and Newton.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2007, 10:39 PM
 
347 posts, read 1,561,675 times
Reputation: 120
Tryon is adorable with a great art community. Don't know how many people live there, but it's wonderful.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-12-2007, 08:40 AM
 
4 posts, read 14,169 times
Reputation: 13
Default small town in North Carolina

We would love to have you visit out small town. It's Norwood, about 45 minutes from Charlotte. We have a beautiful lake, Lake Tillery. Sidewalks to walk, beautiful park to walk, community schools, historic homes....10 miles from the hospital. Friendly people....check us out.

Norwood, North Carolina
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-13-2007, 09:55 AM
 
Location: Wallace, NC
3 posts, read 14,136 times
Reputation: 10
Southport is about 40 minutes south of Wilmington, they have a growing hospital, beautiful downtown on the water, access to beaches and lots of new (mostly cookie cutter) subdivisions with reasonable prices for coastal counties. Still some good deals here in the downtown area if you're wanting to do a fix-up. Look out for high electric bills near downtown due to the electric cooperative. St. James Plantation is a large private community with golf & more...may be worth looking at if you can afford it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-13-2007, 07:33 PM
 
190 posts, read 863,502 times
Reputation: 48
Default Looking for Larger Towns

Hi everyone.

Norwood, Tryon, Southport, Mt. Airy, Newton are all too small. We really want a place @20K.

Hickory we will look into a little more. Isn't that farther West though than Chapel Hill? We don't want to be much more beyond the coast than Chapel Hill is so that we can visit frequently.

Any other thoughts?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top