lYNCHBURG/ROANOKE (Richmond, Charlottesville, Salem: loft, crime, house)

[Mt.Hope]

Well. We've been down here visiting since Tues late. We are just getting used to getting around. So far we like it alot. We've talked to a few people and the concensus(sp) seems to be that getting a decent job can be hard.
We are planning on going to Roanoke tomorrow. We are getting alot of good word on it.
We're just wondering what in the two cities we shouldn't miss. Is there any food we should try while we're here? We're looking to get a feel for the place and are trying to stay away from alot of touristy stuff.
We saw downtown Lynchburg. Great architecture and very clean. Stopped at the chamber of commerce visiting center. The courthouse museum. The mall.
Timberlake rd and Wards rd seem to be the center of most things.
We're in the area 3 more nights and thurs we head back.
Thanks for any advice.

[seanpecor]

Check out downtown Roanoke for lunch and shop the market square! Drive up to the Mill Mountain Overlook (and check out the zoo if you have time). The overlook is touristy but it's a neat place where you can take in a pretty breathtaking view of the valley and you can combine it with a drive through of some nice hill section neighborhoods (check out Cornwallis Ave, West Ridge Rd, Avenham for nice house eye candy).

For lunch I like anything downtown but a fun place is the Market Square building. Burger in the Square is my lunchtime favorite but they have quite a few choices. For dinner I like Metro!, Alexanders (Alexander's Restaurant) , Montanos, 202 Market (202 Market, Kitchen, CityBar, The Loft - Roanoke's premier dining and entertainment venue featuring food, music, art and you). The Market Square building is getting ready for a major renovation so I'm excited about that. Check out the art museum in the Center on the Square. If you've got young kids then the science museum is fun too. If you're into malls then Valley View is a must-see (I can take it or leave it). Since you'll likely see the country east of Roanoke coming from Lynchburg, you can take a day trip down to Smith Mountain Lake, which will also give you some nice country driving.

The nicest shopping outside of downtown is on Electric Road heading towards Salem. Lots of boutiques.

Sean

[cocozot61]

My family will be moving to Lynchburg in 3 weeks because I got a job at Tyco
Electronics. We are from a big city Montreal, Canada and have 2 kids at age 10 & 12. Here are my concerns in Lynchburg since it's a much smaller city:

1. Schools are good?
2. Are there lots of activities, places to visits & entertainments ?
3. Lynchburg is considered " small village?", isolated ?
4. Are there many high tech companies? When someone lose a job in Engineering field, is it easy to find another one or he/she has to look for jobs
at somewhere else like Richmond, DC...

Can someone give me some information about these questions?
Thank you.

[badger74]

1. City schools are good--particularly in the 24503 zip code area. However many do go to private schools which are also abundant.
2. Not so much. Good restaurants, decent shopping, colleges do arts productions and that's about it.
3. Not that small. I'd call it a small city but a very large town. Population in the area is over 150,000 and growing--lots of new construction.
4. For the size a fair amount mostly related to nuclear power. There are about half a dozen large companies in town and after that they get smaller.

5. Housing is cheap and taxes are low. Charlottesville and Roanoke each about an hour away provide more arts and such.

[cocozot61]

Thank you Badger74,

I have been thinking a lot about my decision to move the whole family to this place. I am afraid that I make a wrong decision. I am used to big city which
has everything we need. I am not type pf person that goes to bar, clubs...
like young guys. But I feel comfortable to live in big city.

I would appreciate a lot if you can gives more thoughts about moving to Lynchburg.

[seanpecor]

I'm from Vermont and as a teenager I lost more than a few brain cells in Montreal, but that's a different topic altogether

Lynchburg would be larger than Burlington, Vermont if you've ever been there. Burlington city limits have about 40,000 people and Lynchburg has 60,000. There are about 215,000 people living in the Lynchburg metro area. Montreal is a BIG city. The greater area has about 3.5 million people, no? It will be totally different than Lynchburg. But if you were to ask me where the best place to raise kids is, I'd say Virginia. Once you get down here I think you'll understand. Of course, I prefer Roanoke over Lynchburg

Sean

[cocozot61]

Seanpacor, where are you now? Roanoke?
I did some research on Roanoke and my feeling is it seems better than Lynchburg. The city is bigger than Lynchburg. Can you tell me why you prefer
R over L ?

[sregorat3]

Spent a week of my honeymoon in Montreal- particularly Vieux Montreal- I'd recommend it to anyone. Lynchburg and Roanoke are both VERY different than Montreal, and as I work in both cities and have for 21 years, they seem more similar to one another in comparison to a city such as Montreal. If you are working at Tyco, look at Boonsboro or Rivermont (in Lynchburg); then you can hop the train to DC to get your big city fix. I'm originally from the DC area, and there isn't a city west of Richmond that can give the big city feel like the real thing. It appears that within the next year and a half, we here in Lynchburg will have an additional train to DC with hours that make day trips easy. Schools in the city fare better than many of their neighboring city counterparts. In regards to high-tech jobs, Lynchburg has become known as a strong area for engineers; there are quite a few electronic technology companies here besides Tyco, along with nuclear technology and robotics. That being said, I really like Roanoke, but I wouldn't want to make a 45-60 min. commute to Tyco daily. It isn't bad to drive an hour to enjoy Charlottesville, Roanoke, Lexington, etc. a night or two a week, but most people have to work five days a week. We have two small children and between the parks in Lynchburg, the children's museum, and a bunch of other fun things we do in the area, I don't think the 'Burg can be beat.

No disrespect to the Star City intended, Sean!

[badger74]

I think Roanoke is ahead of redeveloping its down town and has some more amenities in museums and such. Lynchburg is closer to Richmond, DC, UVa, Williamsburg, and the beaches which are all nice escapes from small city life. It also has lower crime and nicer neighborhoods. The three colleges in Lynchburg also provides lots of entertainment at low cost.

[cocozot61]

I consider Lynchburg is my temporary stop for few years and after that I will
make another move to big city. I am a family guy, I don't go to bar, clubs.....
But I still feel much comfortable to live close to big city. When I say "close to big city" I mean the suburb, like 20,30 min drive. I never live in the center of the city, too crowded. For example : Herdon, Fairfax, Sterling which are not far from D.C. For Lynchburg, it still takes 3-4 hours to D.C, 2 hrs to Richmond. You can't go there every week.