Low Country/Pee Dee Region (Florence, Summerville: low crime, school district, living in)

[Barbara]

Hi Everyone!

I would like to know if anyone has any opinions on living in the "low country".
My family would like to get off of Long Island to a safe, good schools, low crime, milder climate kind of small town (like everyone else I guess). We want to be near the shore but not directly on the coast. We don't mind hot summers at all but don't like winter much. It's got to be 95 or above for us to bother to close the windows and turn on the a/c, the heat and humidity are not really issues. We will be visiting S.C. in the comming year and will check out Summerville. From what I can find out, it seems like it would be a nice town. But I would really like to know if anyone knows about the schools and town of Johnsonville. Its about 40 miles inland from Myrtle Beach. I've heard some really good things about the school district, yet this particular town is never mentioned in any of the blogs. Its not far from Conway and I know people who moved there (Conway) years ago, they loved it then and still do. There is a new community being built there in Johnsonville and if anyone knows about it or anything else about the town of Johnsonville or surrounding areas, please let me know.
Sorry this is so long. Thanks in advance for any useful information.

[milfy]

See my earlier post. The summer's are almost unbearably hot and humid! We live in Florence currently and plan to move back to the west coast in spring. Smaller towns around Pee Dee area. I have noticed not great number of decent paying jobs plenty of low service type job mostly. If you want great shopping you have to drive to the larger metro's. It's colder than I thought it would be in the south it gets in the mid twenties. The coldest I'm use to is mid forties in peak of winter and only at night. Schools I don't know about I have school age kids. It is a little slow paced for us.

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Barbara

We don't mind hot summers at all but don't like winter much. It's got to be 95 or above for us to bother to close the windows and turn on the a/c, the heat and humidity are not really issues.

Don't worry, you'd probably like SC summers.

Their "hot days" are usually no different than heat waves up in the Great Lakes; the main difference is their heat sticks around longer.

I've spent plenty of time in Myrtle Beach. The longest stretch of "hot" weather I've seen was 94 F for two weeks. It might have stayed in the high 90's inland, but that kind of heat is probably not going to fry your garden.

Normally it was high 80's to low 90's F. Inland it's often 2-3 degrees warmer in the day, so maybe expect low to mid 90's, but it's still usually cooler their overnight than by the coast.