looking for a great small town

[Sunset_Va]

Farmville- Small town, university town, but small population, in many historical areas. Very clean, low cost of living and beautiful surrounding areas.

Clarksville- Even smaller town, lake views ($$$$$$$). Near Kerr Lake. (Buggs Island)

Fries- Tiny community , in Blue Ridge Mountains, Parkway. Galax is nearby.

Last and most interesting....

Floyd- Never a dull moment in this town, in the foothills of the mountains, near Roanoke.

Do an Internet search of all the ones I suggested, and good luck!

[roanoker 4]

Great Small town with lots of pre civil war houses and near Harpers Ferry Natl Park. Close enough to DC(about an hour) but light years away as far as culture, traffic, etc.
Another small town in the Shenandoah Valley VA is Weirs Cave, VA. It is in the middle of nowhere with civil war era homes and not too far from Harrisonburg. Beautiful farmland and very quiet.
Clifton Forge, VA, a gorgeous little town in the mountains about an hour north of Roanoke. As yet rather underdeveloped and undiscovered and it has seen better times but for some reason it has a lot of character. I liked it because of the mountain views and proximity to WV lakes and ski resorts.

[FarmVegan]

Farmville is in south-central Virginia, about 1.5 hours away from Charlotteville and Richmond, and an hour east of Lynchburg (about a half-hour east of Appomattox).

Farmville is a quiet place, though growing. Longwood University has about 6,000 students and is one of the main employers, along with Centra Southside Hospital. It's in the middle of rural Virginia, so if you like to hunt, fish (both are great - several quality lakes nearby for bass & crappie fishing), horseback ride, etc., you'll enjoy Farmville life. There's also a new golf resort called The Manor Resort.

In terms of shopping, Green Front Furniture is a real "mecca" for people wanting quality furniture and imported rugs at low prices. There are also some good antique stores. Farmville is the area shopping hub, so it has the local Wal-Mart and Lowe's, plus the only Starbucks for miles around. It's true that there are a lot of empty stores on Main Street downtown - south of the Green Front warehouse buildings - but that's because there's not enough easy parking right there. Stores that have moved from downtown Main Street to other shopping areas with more parking (like Schewel's furniture and Carrington's Music) have gotten a lot more business.

The Hampton Inn, which opened 3 years ago and is located in the Sunchase development on E. Third St., is almost completely booked 100% of the time, and last year got the Hampton award for the chain's best Virginia hotel! So, people appreciate quality and good service. According to the paper, two other motel chains are going to build in Farmville soon.

Check out The Farmville Directory (FarmvilleDirectory.com), a locally run site that keeps up with new shops and businesses, to get a better idea of what's in town.

[matthews1965]

Hi - I just found this site so I'm tardy in replying - with the many towns to choose from I'd love to know if you've found "your town" yet? If not I will put my two cents in the pot

[eastonmaine]

yes there are places like you are looking for in Northern Maine

[carterharuka]

well have you even thought of either farmville or rocky mount, their both small towns but there growing by leaps & bounds.

[Rosinante]

I grew up in northern Virginia, but left in 1969 for Quincy, Illinois for a few years, a small city of about 40,000 then. Quincy had everything a simple man or woman could want: good schools, low crime and sufficient culture to appease the inquisitive — the Chicago Symphony Orchestra would visit once or twice a year, and the local college offered all sorts of diversions. When I returned to Fairfax County in 1972, the massive population had gotten even worse, so, after nine months (teaching in the Staunton area) I left Virginia again, only to return for visits with family and friends. I bought gasoline in Staunton in the summer of 2007, and found that time had not been kind to this beautiful town.

There was also mention of Warrenton earlier in this thread, an absolutely beautiful town then that has since been tainted by urban sprawl and the encroachment of liberal politics from DC and Maryland that threatens to turn this state blue.

My wife and I would love to return to Virginia, but we believe that it will be difficult to find the town where prices for real estate remain reasonable and the individual can remain proudly traditional and individual.