Moving to Shaw AFB, Sumter... any advice??? (Columbia, Charleston: apartment complexes, for rent)

[Steffiepooz]

Hi everyone!

I am british and my husband is American serving overseas in the Air Force. We a re currently based in Mildenhall in the UK but have been told that 3rd Jan we move to Shaw AFB, SC.

I have heard many mixed reviews about the area, wheather and houses ect. I just wondered if anyone could tell me anything really about the Sumter area?

Many thanks

[PawleysDude]

Welcome to SC!

Like everywhere else, SC has its good and its bad, but I feel sure you'll find that South Carolinians have nothing but respect for members and families of our armed forces. Our winters are pleasant, and summers have plenty of heat and humidity. These will help you slow down and enjoy the pace of life in this area. Sumter is close enough to the beach to be able to enjoy it, and far enough away not to be bothered by the hassle of living in a tourist area. Sumter is only a couple hours from Charleston, which is one of SC's crown jewels. Be sure it's high on your priority list for visiting and learning about SC's history. Although I've lived most of my life in the Carolinas, I've never lived in Sumter, so I'll leave the housing details to the locals.

Don't worry about all the opinions, just come on and enjoy. Life is good in SC.

[Ceezer]

Steffie,

We have a few threads in the Columbia region sub-forum regarding Sumter that will give you a better idea and go into more detail. I'm not a 'search button nazi' and don't mind answering any questions you have, but I'm not really sure what kind of information you're looking for.

I've lived in the Carolinas for 13 years but have been in the Sumter area since '04. The reviews you've heard are most likely mixed due to the muddled nature of Sumter, meaning it's hard to see what you're really getting into. Coming from a small town, we were initially excited by the prospect of moving to a larger (to us) town for a change, and as a friend of mine drove us around we were won over by the (what seemed like) sheer size and opportunities for things to do/entertain us. It wasn't but a few months that the novelty had worn off and we were complaining about boredom. There really was nothing, it seemed, to do in Sumter. Sure, Florence was 45 minutes away and so was Columbia, but we didn't want to have to head out of town every time we wanted to get out of the house.

This is probably the biggest disease that plagues Sumter: the appearance of having nothing to do. There is a park downtown that used to home a minor league baseball team but I'm betting it didn't stick around because even when it was there people were most likely complaining about 'nothing to do'. I blame the lack of publicity for this. I'm constantly hearing about events that I would have liked to attend/take part in, but I hear about them after the fact. Why didn't I hear about them leading up to it? There was an influx of traffic and people this weekend; turns out we were hosting the Dixie softball World Series. Well, that would have been nice to know about...

So there really are things to do in Sumter, you just have to dig to find them and/or remember them. I'll touch on some other aspects now:

Sports - I mentioned that we hosted the Dixie World Series over the weekend. We were also host to the Double-Dutch World Championships and I've heard the soccer fields they put out on 521 are supposed to be for some youth league (world?) championships. Several years ago they redid Dillon Park (improved the drainage in the softball fields, put in a nice walking path, etc) and are constantly making improvements to it (they're currently building a new snack pavilion). There is also access to the new bike trail (the name of it escapes me at the moment) from Dillon Park (they also have a playground, soccer fields, and there is a golf course on the back side of it (seperate from the park itself)). The baseball fields off Wise (I think it's called Palmetto Park, and also includes a playground and tennis courts) has a very nice complex. Out 261, past Wedgefield (about 20 minutes from Sumter), at Poinsett State Park/Manchester State Forrest are a set of nice mountain bike trails (along with equestrian & ATV trails). You know, with a little focus Sumter could maybe increase revenue & income by becoming a sort of 'sports-centric' town (like SLC?). That would certainly be cheaper and easier than most alternatives.

Parks & Recreation - I mentioned Dillon & Palmetto Parks, which contain playgrounds and sports complexes, and I also mentioned Poinsett/Manchester which is a state park/forrest. We also have Swan Lake in town, which is home not only to the Iris Festival, but is also the only park in the US to contain all 8 species of swans (you'll also find turtles, ducks, mallards, geese, etc). In the last few years they have put in a few water parks around Sumter. These are concrete pads in playground areas that have sprinklers and sprayers that work on a timer (press a button and they'll run for 10 minutes or so). They're also free to the public. We have been to the one on N Main by Morris College, which some might consider a "sketchy" area, but the addition itself is really nice! There are other parks in the area I'm sure I'm forgetting and some that are no longer used (Riley Park, for instance, which is the one that holds the former minor league stadium).

Fishing - This is one of those instances where publicity is killing it. There are numerous bodies of water in and around Sumter, but despite countless hours of searching, I cannot determine which are open to the public. The only one I know for sure is Ashwood Lake, which is actually 20 minutes away outside Bishopville. That kind of sucks. If you've got a boat and the means to get it around, then in an hour's time you can head to either Lake Murray, Lake Marion or Lake Moultrie. Last year the FLW (it's a fishing organization, like Bassmaster, but lesser known) Forrest Wood Cup was held on Lake Murray and they had a nice event at the convention center.

Crime - On paper Sumter looks really bad. Truth is, if you stick to the main traffic areas you shouldn't have any problems. Cherryvale is reputed as a high-crime neighborhood, as is much of South Sumter. It's easy to avoid most of these areas. I live on the West side of Shaw and the only problem I've had is that my car was broken into on Christmas Eve.

Housing - When decided to rent for the first year that we were here and my wife was very particular about where she'd stay. To get in one of the nicer apartment complexes cost us $800/mo ($875 w/garage), which hurt because we were used to paying $375-450 for the same thing. A 'starter' home (3BR, 2BA, ~1400sqft) will run around $115k, which is also higher than the $65-80k I was used to. But to hear others talk about it, the housing costs for Sumter are cheap. Take from that what you will.

Other attractions - The new public library downtown is very nice. My daughter and I love it and spend many Saturday mornings there (the old library was hard to navigate and didn't contain much so I ended up buying most of the books we read). There is also a branch on Wesmark Blvd. I haven't been to the Sumter Opera House or the museum, but have been meaning to for years. For Halloween the city will close off a couple blocks downtown and hold festivities with games, trick-or-treat/candy handouts, food vendors, a haunted alley and more. We've stopped the neighborhood/mall trick-or-treat and have just done this the last 2 years and had fun. A couple years ago they also hosted a recycled materials fashion show which was neat and it seemed everyone enjoyed themselves (even the old folks that had come out for it). There's a seasonal event, which I believe runs every weekend during a specific set of dates, called Sumter at Six. I haven't been to it yet (this is one of those things that, come Friday evening, I always forget about) but they have live music and food (I don't know if it's vendors or what).

Shopping - Sucks, for the most part. I suppose it depends on what you like and what you're looking for. The 'mall' has JC Penneys and Belk, and there is a newer TJ Maxx in town, but the majority of the stores in Sumter are urban street wear. Your other options are Walmart/Kmart. It's not that big of an issue, I guess, because if you wanted to spend the day shopping you could head to Columbia or even Florence.

Employement - Also sucks, for the most part. Shaw is the life-force of Sumter at the moment. I moved here because I was hired at Shaw so it wasn't an issue for me, and my wife went to CCTC for nursing (we're both former Marines so we got a late start with the schooling). In '07, after 12 years in/around the military, I decided to try out the civilian market. There was next to nothing available in Sumter so for the last 2 years I've been commuting to Columbia. There used to be a plethora of civilian jobs available on-base, but I have a new neighbor that just got stationed here and his wife is a recent AF retiree and was told that there is a hiring freeze on Shaw. If you're going to need work, start looking now.

One of my favorite aspects of Sumter is the traffic flow. The highway and street systems are laid out so that traffic is never really an issue.

I don't like to state that the appeal of Sumter is that it's in close proximity to other locations because that takes the focus off the city itself, but it is a nice bonus. Within 30 minutes you can be to I77, I95 or I20 (and about 40 minutes to I26). The beach is 90 minutes away, as are the mountains. Several large cities are just a few hours away.

I've mentioned that whoever is first to put in a Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts/Tim Hortons at the intersection of 378/441 is going to become a rich (wo)man (you've got people coming in to the front gates at Shaw; you've got people commuting in to Sumter from the West; you've got people heading out of Sumter to McEntire/Jackson/Cola; If there's one thing the military and commuters arguably favor, it's coffee and perhaps breakfast-to-go). I also don't know why the lower end of 441/Peach Orchard hasn't been more developed. When I worked on-base, it seemed like *everyone* went out for lunch. Since the options on-base were limited, and the only thing right outside the gates at the time was Subway, most people went all the way to town. If there were more options there right behind the base, I think Airmen would gravitate towards them to save the time spent driving to Sumter and back.

I'll stop there because I'm starting to forget what I was trying to remember to mention, so if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

As I mentioned, it didn't take long for the novelty to wear off when we moved here and within a year or two we were actually longing to "leave this craphole". But since then, in the last 2-3 years, we've really come to appreciate Sumter for what it is. It's not my 'dream town' and I'd really love to be back in the mountains, and there are certain things about the area that I don't like or confuse me, but I'm not miserable here. If they would/could work on just a few of the problem areas then Sumter could actually grow to become a great city.

Some of the people here have spoken against growth. They claim that Sumter is, and should remain, a small town. These people obviously have no worldly experience and are just looking for something to complain about. I come from small town Appalachia. My wife, who herself grew up in the tobacco fields of NC, is actually scared of my hometown... So from my perspective, Sumter is already huge. On paper they have the population around 40k, but I think that's just for the city proper and doesn't include those on & around Shaw. I'd estimate the area's population closer to 75-80k.

And I'm not asking that Sumter try to compete with Columbia, just that it become sustainable without the aid of Shaw so that if anything should ever happen, Sumter would be able to stand up on its own two legs. There's plenty of land to be developed on the west end of town, down near Shaw. If we were to get, say, a shopping center with a nice bookstore, a Target, a nice restaurant and something not available in Cola (i.e. Apple store) then that would bring some of the traffic in thats already gravitating towards SE Cola. Someone in another thread mentioned putting a convention center in town, or on the East side of town. That is a good idea, but I'd also like some sort of small arena (to host things like Motocross, etc) in conjunction with the aforementioned sports theme, but it might be too much to ask with arenas in both Florence & Columbia. If we start small with some retail growth then wouldn't it be that much more appealing to industry/business/technology/employment propspects? With more cash flow and more employment opportunities, Sumter could be a town that folks were proud to call home.

[Ceezer]

Wow... sorry for that!

[Steffiepooz]

The place sounds great, i cant wait to move now!! i just wanted it confirming really that it was not one big dump but from what I read above I see its not.

My husband is from OH and I like the pace of life there. I do not want to live in a busy city that is chaos all the time so the area seems great. I have an eight month old daughter also, I did not want her being in a really built up busy area. I wanted somewhere we could go out and have a walk, go to the park ect. I read somewhere that the library has a story time or something along those lines at 10am everyday, that will be something I will for sure want to take her to. Where we live at the moment there is nothing at all close, its an hour drive to anything so I dont mind that if I want bigger stores I will have to drive. It seems Sumter is in the middle of everything, you can live the quiet life or within a few hours drive you have beaches, mountains or malls which is perfect really.

We are looking on renting for the first 6 months so we can check out the area and then buy a house once we know whats around. Which areas would you say are best for renting/living.

Thank you sooo much

[adam7]

I'll have to agree with Ceezer. I spent a month working at Shaw AFB. There really isn't anything to do there. There's a small go kart track I went to. That was about it.

[waccamatt]

Many people who are stationed at Shaw live in Columbia. The east side of Columbia is only a half hour drive from Shaw and downtown is about a 45 minute drive.

[nissanv8]

there is a lady with a british accent that works in the mt. vernnon inn motel in downtown sumter. she has been here a long time so maybe she can help you some, she works the front desk. finally its what you make it also, just keep in mind thats its a small southern town and not atlanta,charlotte,or miami and you will do just fine just keep an open mind and open heart. i'm prior military and military people and families always learn to adjust and adapt to new places so you guys can do it. best of luck

[Steffiepooz]

Thank you everyone, I really think I am going to like it. From what I have heard so far everyone is really friendly. Im not one of those people who wants to be in an ultra modern city with everything at your fingers so I really dont mind that there is no huge mall ect. I have lived in built up cities before and the people horrible and everything is a million miles an hour, no one has time for you.... hated it so really excited about Sumter

[Proud Air Force Wife]

Ceezer...great information...probably the best I have read yet. One question...what side of town is the mall in?