SC native ... will answer questions (Charleston, Florence: renting, health insurance, school districts)

[redshirt]

Thanks, Skyliner. I'm new to forums, threads, posts, etc. but I'm learning. I just ask for patience from you and others who may read my posts. Here's what I said yesterday...

Hey y'all...

I'm interested in obtaining information for relocation purposes and would like an overall comparison of Oconee, Pickens, Greenville, Anderson, and Abbeville Counties. Info on things such as churches, taxes, existing housing prices, availability of raw land for building a home, crime rate, population density, demographics, hospitality to newcomers, etc. would be very helpful. Don't need info on schools... my wife and I homeschool eight great kids! Thanks and God bless.

Redshirt

Here's your reply, Skyliner...

Hi Redshirt! You'll find answers to most of your questions over in the Greenville-Spartanburg subforum under South Carolina. Check out the threads in that section and you'll have lots of helpful information to read and learn about the Upstate area. If you have any specific interests regarding what you are looking for we would love to help you out.

...I'm checkin' out the threads...and thanks, again!

Here's Part One of my story...

I made a trip to Oconee, Pickens, Greenville, and Anderson counties in May 2007. Traveled through Easley, Pickens, Pumkintown, Table Rock, Rocky Bottom, Clemson, Liberty, Central, Norris, etc. Traveled on the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway and over to Travelers Rest. Went through Mountain Rest, Walhalla, Westminster, Seneca, etc. Stayed at a friend's place in Anderson County. Went to church with him and his wife. Ate with them and talked with them and learned a lot. Traveled the highways and backroads. Ate at local restaurants. Admired the lakes. Inspired by the mountains. Talked to the locals and natives... hospitable, warm, friendly, sincere. Y'all should be proud of what you have.

...and here's Part Two, with a tune from John Cougar Mellenkamp playing in the background...

My family and I live in a small town. We're small town folks. We're looking for a small town or a place in the country. We're simple folks; don't have much, don't want much, don't need much. Impressed with northern Oconee, northern Pickens, northern Greenville. We live in the mountains now and are looking for a place in the mountains when we move. We're doing our homework... employment, housing, land, taxes, etc. We're into self-sufficiency... well, septic system, small windmill or solar, perhaps... a few head of cattle, some hogs and chickens, a few horses, a garden. Don't have a need to be near the cities, industrial sites, hustle, bustle, nightlife, etc. Don't even need to be near conveniences... we drive 30 minutes to an hour now in any direction; having to do that in the upstate doesn't bother us. We're quiet people, but... we're looking for a good church that we can get involved in. We're looking for any help you folks out there can give us, and, if we ever meet once we've moved, we'll return the hospitality! Thanks and God bless.

[Skyliner]

Hi redshirt! I sent you a private message in answer to everything you posted here. Hope it helps with your search. Just let me know if there are any additional or more detailed questions and I'll do my best to answer them as well.

[meks]

Originally Posted by usc_gal98

You lived in Andrews? Miss it much? lol!
I have some family there.

yea I missed it, cause I blinked when driving by... lol

this was back in the very early 70's, my school went from 1st to 9th grade

there was a pond I used to love fishing and swimming in, probably full of gators today

a one grocery store town, but I hear they have more stop lights now... only one back when I was there

that was the town that I learned where the saying "running like a chicken with it's head cut off" meant

the neighbor behind us had a ton of ducks that I guess something bit or diseased somehow

I was out in the back yard and saw him taking those ducks to a stump and one by one chopping their heads off and setting the bodies down on the ground, them things would run fast all over that yard for what seemed like an eternity with no heads

a yard full of ducks running around like they had their heads chopped off, because they had... weirdest thing I've ever seen

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by meks

a yard full of ducks running around like they had their heads chopped off, because they had... weirdest thing I've ever seen

That would give me nightmares. I hope there are a lot of members here who find that story to be disturbing. I've heard people can live after they're beheaded also, but in my opinion, that sounds like a very cruel way to kill an animal. Of course, I once read a thread where a hunter asked for the most humane way to kill a duck after he shot it and people were answering with suggestions like strangling it, crushing it, if it starts to run-shoot it again or pound it to death, have the dog tear it up, etc. I haven't been able to eat any type of fowl since. When we shop at the market, I guess we never think about what kind of horrible deaths these poor creatures suffer.

[pvjd]

ok, since you are advertising your expertise, tell me a little about Conway, Longs, Socastee, or other places surrounding Myrtle. I am a social worker, my wife and I love the water and all the touristy stuff that natives hate, and want to live outside of MB, close enough to drive to it if want to, and not out in Mayberry land where there is nothing but trailers and you have to drive 20 miles to the nearest grocery store. I also need to be able to make a living as a social worker and buy a house for less than 200k. What are your thoughts?

[usc_gal98]

Originally Posted by pvjd

ok, since you are advertising your expertise, tell me a little about Conway, Longs, Socastee, or other places surrounding Myrtle. I am a social worker, my wife and I love the water and all the touristy stuff that natives hate, and want to live outside of MB, close enough to drive to it if want to, and not out in Mayberry land where there is nothing but trailers and you have to drive 20 miles to the nearest grocery store. I also need to be able to make a living as a social worker and buy a house for less than 200k. What are your thoughts?

What do you want to know about Socastee? I live here in Socastee.
We have a Food Lion, a BiLo, and we are 10 minutes from WalMart. We are also ten minutes from the new Lowe's Food store. We have a local library, alot of churches, and we are just a short drive to the beach, and a hop, skip, and a jump to the Intercoastal Waterway.

You can check the local DSS office, the Horry County Schools website, or Coastal Carolina University if you want to work in social work.

We have mobile home communities (yes, i do resent the word "trailer"). But, you can also purchase a home in this area for that amount, too.

Conway is a nice area.

[usc_gal98]

Originally Posted by meks

yea I missed it, cause I blinked when driving by... lol

this was back in the very early 70's, my school went from 1st to 9th grade

there was a pond I used to love fishing and swimming in, probably full of gators today

a one grocery store town, but I hear they have more stop lights now... only one back when I was there

that was the town that I learned where the saying "running like a chicken with it's head cut off" meant

the neighbor behind us had a ton of ducks that I guess something bit or diseased somehow

I was out in the back yard and saw him taking those ducks to a stump and one by one chopping their heads off and setting the bodies down on the ground, them things would run fast all over that yard for what seemed like an eternity with no heads

a yard full of ducks running around like they had their heads chopped off, because they had... weirdest thing I've ever seen

That's the old fashioned way of doing things, as shocking as it may be to some.

The pond you speak of was probably Clemmons pond. I'm sure if you drove through Andrews now you would be shocked. It has went downhill so bad because of bad management.

[pvjd]

Originally Posted by usc_gal98

What do you want to know about Socastee? I live here in Socastee.
We have a Food Lion, a BiLo, and we are 10 minutes from WalMart. We are also ten minutes from the new Lowe's Food store. We have a local library, alot of churches, and we are just a short drive to the beach, and a hop, skip, and a jump to the Intercoastal Waterway.

You can check the local DSS office, the Horry County Schools website, or Coastal Carolina University if you want to work in social work.

We have mobile home communities (yes, i do resent the word "trailer"). But, you can also purchase a home in this area for that amount, too.

Conway is a nice area.

Thank you very much. Sorry about the "trailer" word. I have a friend down here who who has a double wide, and he always has just called it his trailer. I didn't realize it had the potential of being offensive. Would you say that Socastee and Longs are as built up as Conway, or are they about the same ratio of ruralness?

[usc_gal98]

Originally Posted by pvjd

Thank you very much. Sorry about the "trailer" word. I have a friend down here who who has a double wide, and he always has just called it his trailer. I didn't realize it had the potential of being offensive. Would you say that Socastee and Longs are as built up as Conway, or are they about the same ratio of ruralness?

My co-worker lives in Loris. He says that Longs is a small rural community.

Socastee is a town and much closer to the activities than Loris. But thankfully, there are still areas in Socastee that have that rural feeling.

You have the "trailer" parks. I'm not ashamed to say that. Some are filled with the type of people you don't want to hang out with. Then you have people like me who live in modular homes. We consider them homes, not trailers.

Conway has the little downtown area which is nice. There are still areas in Conway that seem to be rural. But like Socastee, you are still close to all the activities that you desire. The courthouse and main police department are located in Conway. There is an area where you can go boating if that is what you desire.

Of course I am partial to Socastee because it's where I live. I'm in an area where I'm close to everything, but fortunate to have a little heaven on earth from everything.

[azhlynne]

In July my family and I moved here to Conway from Maryland. It has been the worst experience in our entire lives. Rather than experiencing "warm, southern hospitality", we have discovered that here in this county where everyone knows everyone and everyone went to school with everyone else, outsiders are kept as outsiders.
My son attends one of the Elementary schools here in this "warm christian community". From literally day one he has been ostracized and bullied for no other reason than he can not stand flat on his feet due to a medical condition. One child smeared saliva onto my son's desk, my son has been slapped, hit, pushed, verbally bullied, and jabbed in his neck on one of his "pressure points" by another child. When one boy attempted to hit my son in his stomach, my son- as taught in karate class- blocked the attempt only to have the teacher call him hard headed! My every attempt to communicate with the teachers and finally the principal of this school has been met simply with silence. I have gone to the school several times and nothing is ever done to these hatefull children. A new teacher, from another state, joined the faculty a few weeks after school started and even he told me that he is having a hard time being accepted by the other 4th grade teachers. One telling incident was where a parent, against the school board rules, brought in cupcakes. This new teacher, my son is in his class now, refused to pass the cupcakes out. One of the other teachers told him: "you better pass them out. It is better not to **** off the parents than worry about doing something that the school board will never find out about!" 8 weeks into his being at the school, he still doesn't even have a dictionary in his classroom. The quality of the teaching is extremely poor, for example in Spelling one of the homework assignments is for the children to draw pictures and put the spelling words into the pictures. The pictures that the kids draw have nothing to do with the words!
Additionally, the neighborhood we moved into has been less than ideal as well. The people who live on one side of us let their 2 children just wander at will. The little girl is only 4 years old and her mother literally doesn't know where the child is. Both the little girl and her brother (aged 7) just started walking into our home without invitation, call from their mother, or even knocking. I walked out of my bedroom one night after taking a bath and there was the 7 year old standing in my kitchen! The mother would then leave her kids at my house and leave in her car, expecting me to babysit with no idea when she would return. Several of my son's toys went mysteriously missing when the little girl was here. When my husband finally said something to the father of these two children. They got mad at us! Now it is horribly uncomfortable even to walk outside when they are there. I'm not exactly sure how we are in the wrong. Also, the people who sold us our current home lied extensively on the Seller's Disclosure. We weren't in the house a month and we had to shell out almost $5000.00 to replace one of the two air conditioning units. On the Disclosure the owners stated that both units were the same age as the house, 7 years. Upon inspection we found that one unit was 14 years old and the other was 15 years old! When we tried to get more information about the units, we discovered that the serial numbers had been carefully cut off the label both inside and outside of both unit. Wonder why? Right after we spent all that money on the air conditioning, we were sitting in the kitchen during some rain and imagine our shock when we realized that the water was coming through the kitchen ceiling, running down the chain of our light fixture and dripping onto the table! The water was coming through the ceiling in 2 separate places. Going up into the attic, we saw that someone had secured a bucket in the trusses because of the water leaks in the roof. When we confronted the previous owners they just kept saying that they were good christians. Also, talking about schools, know that there are no after school clubs for the children. Where we came from there were a variety of fun things for the kids, lego club, chess club, indoor soccer, etc. Here there is only a bible class. In a public school. Horry County's (Where Conway is located) reading and math scores are low. There is a 15 year old boy who lives next door to us (on the other side from the rude people). He can barely read, did not know what a Coroner was when my husband said the word in a conversation. My 10 year old reads out loud better than this 15 year old. It is my opinion that this is a friendly place for tourists. If you think you are going to move here and just live your new life, it is way more complicated than that. If you have children and if you are concerned about their education DO NOT MOVE HERE!! My husband and I are very disillusioned with this place. We are seriously considering moving away from here. My son is being tormented, on Sunday nights he cries because he faces going back to school the next day. The school is not going to do anything about it because they are not going to risk making their own mad. This school issue extends far from just the school my son attends. The middle school he would be expected to attend next is so bad that one year the school its self actually gave parents the option of sending their children to a different school. That middle school is known for violence. Just recently, a 5th grader was caught in a different elementary school with a gun. That child is now on house arrest, with an ankle bracelet. 5th grade. The State Report Card from the NCLB AYP Summary shows that the AYP objectives have not been met, only 73 percent graduated in 2006, and overall student preformance has not been met. I hate it here. If I can keep just one person from making the mistake of moving here to Horry County South Carolina then I will be very glad. This is no place for children. I have nothing good to say other than that it is a nice place to visit, but you do not want to live here. Also, before you consider moving here you'd best check to see if you can get insurance for your home, in addition, you need to check and see if you will be able to find a doctor who takes your insurance. That is another serious problem for us down here. My husband has been in a union for his whole life. We have a union plan that is not taken here. Only a couple of weeks after we got here my son woke up in the middle of the night moaning in pain from an ear infection. I had no peditrician yet and found out the hard way that there is no Urgent Care center, or Night Time Pediactrics I could go to a midnight. I ended up taking him to the ER. We got a $465.00 bill for the ER, a separate bill from the ER doctor for $265.00. She misdiagnosed him, saying he had an inner ear infection and prescribed a very mild dosage of antibiotic. 8 days later he was still in so much pain that I took him to a doctor who said that the antibiotic could have been twice as much, but it wouldn't have helped him because he had swimmer's ear and needed antibiotic drops. The ear infection finally cleared up, but that ear infection cost us almost $1000.00!
Recently in the news there was a piece that stated that South Carolina is number one in the country for crime.
Please don't move here. This place is hell. Go somewhere else before it is too late.