Where Does The Dc Sprawl Stop (Harrisonburg, Leesburg: how much, home, buy)

[greenhornetnc]

How Far Outside Of Dc Do You Have To Go To Get Away From The Sprawl And Get Into Some Country Style Living, Space, Small Town With Only A Couple Of Stop Lights, Great Outdoors Activities Like Hiking Swimming?

[theburro]

Try the following as a rule of thumb:

Draw a line from the west side of Winchester, south to Stevens City. Then over to Front Royal, from there to Amissville (north Rappahanock Co.) Continue the line to Bealton, then more-or-less down U.S. 17 to Fredericksburg.

However, within this imaginery line there are several nice samll towns and lots of uncrowded countryside. Beyond the line, some messy sprawl situations, e.g., some of these medium cities create their own sprawl, Front Royal sprawl in Strasburg, Fredericksburg sprawl down as far as Hanover, etc. But I can't imagine that too many people beyond this range would try to work in D.C. or the close-in VA suburbs on any regular basis.

[roanoker 4]

To GreenhornetNc..You will need to go a long way outside the suburbs of Washington to see hiking and swimming. I don't know of anyplace now where one can work in D.C. and enjoy a country lifestyle. If you are extremely wealthy, Middleburg is rather country and it tries to stay secluded from the
rest of the urban jungle. When I think of a country lifestyle head south of Harrisonburg to the Shenandoah Valley. There is a neat little place there called Weirs Cave. It is a small town and not far from H'burg. Its not commuting distance to D.C., but its a friendly small town.

[greenhornetnc]

I am trying to stay around the harrisoinburg area but i might get a job offer around the winchester strasburg area and wanted to see what areas to stay away from. We want some small town country living with what i said in my previous post. I am hoping that I can get a job in or around the valley, I work in heating and air so i hope it is only finding the right wage.

[Lookingforasafehome]

You could commute to DC, there is a very nice countryside developement outside that is growing fast and it is beautiful...it is called Clarksville. You can commute to DC, be close to what is good and then retreat to the country. Hope this helps!

[bemn]

look into berryville, va. Not far from Winchester, nice area .....commutable to DC.

[Boatdrinks]

The area around Shenanndoah University is rural. Also Front Royal. There are LOTS of rural areas in VA and MD too. Just depends on how much of a commute you want. Some people buy in WV and commute to DC. If you follow 270 up in MD, you'll find lots of rural too. It's everywhere. But you'll have a longer commute and less amenities.

[dullnboring]

By my own definition, the DC area's sprawl sort of ends at Leesburg to the West, Gainesville to the Southwest, Quantico to the South, Waldorf to the Southwest and Frederick to the Northwest. It doesn't really "end" in the Northeast as it sort of merges into the Baltimore sprawl. My definition of sprawl however is bit more conservative than others'.

As far as finding actual small-town country living, well, truthfully I'd say you're looking at being at least two hours from DC proper to find that and your best bets are the areas off of I-81 south of Front Royal or Winchester, in that stretch before Harrisonburg.

[Crazy_Daisy]

Originally Posted by Boatdrinks

The area around Shenanndoah University is rural. Also Front Royal. There are LOTS of rural areas in VA and MD too. Just depends on how much of a commute you want. Some people buy in WV and commute to DC. If you follow 270 up in MD, you'll find lots of rural too. It's everywhere. But you'll have a longer commute and less amenities.

Not for long! All the other wealthy people are moving there too and they are driving up the prices.

[ashbrn4]

People are moving farther out to afford the home they want. I'd say it's not "rich" people moving out, but average to above average income families looking for more than they can afford closer in. We like living closer in so we're not spending our lives on the road. You can easily go hiking, etc by driving no more than 1-2 hours outside of DC. You can find community anywhere by getting involved. These small communities are not the idyllic lifestyle people dream of. There are just as many problems (drugs, for example) in the country as there are in the "big city". Why spend 3-4 hours a day on the road when you can live closer and enjoy the family and home you have?