Trying to decide between living in Hartsville or Cheraw (Sumter: home, magnet school) - City-Data Forum

palmettogirl44 · 08-21-2012, 11:19 AM

Which area is better, Cheraw or Hartsville, SC? My husband will possibly be working just outside of Hartsville. We would like to have at least 5 acres of land for a little hobby farm. Cheraw interests me b/c I found a few properties that I really like(barn 20acres, etc for a good price). The high school has a Japan club and my daughter is big into Japanese(learning the language and wants to mjr. in asian studies in college) so that interests her but other than that the HS doesn't seem to have much else to offer. Hartsville has that new program where she could possibly take a class in Mandarin Chinese and she would love that too. Not seeing many good properties with land that interest me around Hartsville at the moment and I wonder if she would even be allowed to take those advanced classes. She's always been average in school but has started to take off in middle school. She has an August B-day so she's always been a bit behind her peers but like I said she's now caught up and starting to test better than her honors friends. She will be in high school next year when we actually will make the "whole family" move. The main negative that I've read about Cheraw is that there is nothing to do. I'm not bothered by this b/c I will have plenty to do on the farm and I'm happy watching the grass grow so to speak. I'm originally from Camden, SC and know a bit about each area but I don't know how clique-ish the areas are. How are new people treated in each town? Camden is very clique-ish and has hs sororities and that is the primary reason I'm probably not moving there. Of course, she will be gone in 4 yrs. but I'm too nervous to put her there. Our budget for the right property is 200k-400k. Any thoughts on the two areas?

palmettogirl44 · 08-26-2012, 09:01 PM

Blah! Cheraw is off the list. Drove around and saw what looked like a drug bust in the first 5 minutes there. Went to the chamber of commerce-closed. Walked around the cute downtown area. Most shops had a gone out of business sign or closed on Sat. and Sunday sign. Kinda crazy to close a resturant or shop on saturday!! Turns out there really is nothing to do there and it's too far to drive to Hartsville or Florence to do anything. I hate walmart and don't eat at fast food resturants and that was the only thing open on a Sat.....Sad! I realize I'm too spoiled to live too rural after driving around, but it did have a nice High School and a cute downtown area IF anything was actually there. I'm feeling sad it didn't pan out.

palmettogirl44 · 08-26-2012, 09:12 PM

Spent some time in Hartsville too. Cute downtown area. Shops open. At least a few things to do. Then drove by the high school....Yuck! Needs renovation!! Looked up the rating (3 out of 10) Yikes!! it might as well be zero! Then a teacher friend told me they got a B on the last school report card for the state. Seems they are improving BUT I'm still leary. I guess I will put Camden back on the list and my daughter will have to get along with the sororities or I can send her to Thomas Sumter(private school). There is a bus that picks up in Camden. Still keeping Hartsville on the list but leaning back toward my home town. At least I know there is stuff to do in Camden and I have some friends there too. If anyone knows if Hartsville High is really a 3 out 10 let me know. That's really bad! if it's true. The schools my kids attend now are rated 9 out of 10.

kkjm · 08-27-2012, 04:20 PM

Hartsville High is probably rated poorly because in the past many of the high achieving students have chosen to go to Mayo magnet school of math and science. I would look into sending your daughter there, but I think there is a lottery system. However, I know several families that have recently chosen to send their children to hartsville high because of the IB program. That is a relatively new program so I am not too familiar with the quality.

JonTheGreat · 08-28-2012, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palmettogirl44

Spent some time in Hartsville too. Cute downtown area. Shops open. At least a few things to do. Then drove by the high school....Yuck! Needs renovation!! Looked up the rating (3 out of 10) Yikes!! it might as well be zero! Then a teacher friend told me they got a B on the last school report card for the state. Seems they are improving BUT I'm still leary. I guess I will put Camden back on the list and my daughter will have to get along with the sororities or I can send her to Thomas Sumter(private school). There is a bus that picks up in Camden. Still keeping Hartsville on the list but leaning back toward my home town. At least I know there is stuff to do in Camden and I have some friends there too. If anyone knows if Hartsville High is really a 3 out 10 let me know. That's really bad! if it's true. The schools my kids attend now are rated 9 out of 10.

How far is too far of a commute? Would the Lugoff-Elgin area be too far?