Best mountain town west of DC (Roanoke, Burke: house, rent, school)

[CGC]

I'm looking to leave florida in a couple years, hoping to fiind a nice medium sized town at a high elevation that doesn't get too hot in the summer. I'm attracted to Asheville, but turned off at it's far distance to a large city (not very fond of Atlanta anyway). So I was wondering if there are any nice medium sized cities in the mountains west of DC which aren't suburbs, but are still within an hour and a half or so from DC.

Actually, come to think of it, I wouldn't be opposed to being in a DC suburb, if it was at a higher elevation and therefor not as hot in the summer, but I expect such a suburb doesn't exist. Any help would be appreciated.

[seanpecor]

An hour and a half from DC? These days, that's Winchester.

As a frame of reference, I live in Boones Mill, Franklin County VA. Just south of Roanoke. I'm at about 1,300' and most of Franklin County is around 1,000' which helps mitigate the warmer temperature on this side of the mountains, which in my case are directly to the north:



During the warmest months (July/August) it can rise into the lower nineties but expect the high eighties. I lived in Longwood, FL for a year and I've spent several weeks during the summer in Saratoga and Saint Augustine, and the summer highs in Franklin County are not as blisteringly hot as Florida. Nor are they as humid as D.C. is. We're about 4 1/2 hours from D.C. We're about 25 minutes from the Roanoke regional airport, which has direct flights to D.C. and most major hubs, including Orlando.

If you compare my western Virginia county to Winchester and Frederick County, we're often about 1 degree warmer. Maybe if you look at Warren and Page counties just outside of Clarke County you'd get into some mountainside communities and still be just under 2 hours to D.C. Here is one I found on a Warren County search:

http://www.homes.com/Content/Listing...ropId=47475957

Sean

[theburro]

Originally Posted by CGC

I'm looking to leave florida in a couple years, hoping to fiind a nice medium sized town at a high elevation that doesn't get too hot in the summer. I'm attracted to Asheville, but turned off at it's far distance to a large city (not very fond of Atlanta anyway). So I was wondering if there are any nice medium sized cities in the mountains west of DC which aren't suburbs, but are still within an hour and a half or so from DC.

Actually, come to think of it, I wouldn't be opposed to being in a DC suburb, if it was at a higher elevation and therefor not as hot in the summer, but I expect such a suburb doesn't exist. Any help would be appreciated.

You will not find as much relief from the heat at high elevations as you might imagine. Maybe 2-3 degrees cooler than the valleys. Some people live on the ridges, e.g. Bull Run Mountain in Prince William County, or the Blue Ridge on the Loudoun-Clarke County line. There's also a small community/subdivision on the Blue Ridge that's in West Virginia, the "Raven Rocks" section of Bluemont. Most people avoid the ridges because of zoning and uncertain water supply. I just heard about a guy that had to drill 3 wells, 750', 900', and 1000+' and he only has about 6 gallons/minute so far. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[seanpecor]

1,000'! Cheese and crackers! We're good for 15 gpm in our relatively shallow well. Originally our farm was a cattle operation and 15gpm was just barely enough. So we have in our basement a 300 gallon (!) cistern w/ it's own pump that the house gets its water from with the aid of an expansion tank. The cistern is handy when I'm running my overhead irrigation for the indoor arena (now THAT was a challenging project!) or anything else where I'm hogging water supply on the farm for a short period.

I wonder if a similar cistern system is used in homes with a low gpm?

Sean

[Rhett_Butler]

Can I ask why everyone ignores Warren County and towns like Linden, Front Royal and Strasburg when questions like this come up???

My wife and I are looking for the same thing and toured around and are IN LOVE with Front Royal..... Nice hilly town and the entrance to the Skyline Drive is RIGHT THERE!!!

Is there something I'm missing???

(BTW, I realize Strasburg is in Shenandoah County, but still very close to Front Royal.... )

[theburro]

Originally Posted by CGC

I'm hoping to fiind a nice medium sized town at a high elevation that doesn't get too hot in the summer. So I was wondering if there are any nice medium sized cities in the mountains west of DC within an hour and a half or so from DC.

I probably didn't articulate my previous answer very well. There are no cities or towns in the Virginia mountains. Every town I know of is in a valley or along a river. It's just not practical to build up high without infrastructure. There are of course, communities on the ridges and in some of the mountain gaps. It depends on what you consider a town/community: anything with a zip code and a post office ....... a place with shops and services.....? There are some high elevation communities in southwest Virginia, Konnarock and Burkes Garden come to mind. But nothing like that near DC except the ones I mentioned. I guess you could add Pine Grove (Clarke County, 800' above sea level) to the list. Also, Sperryville and Chester Gap although they are over 1.5 hours away.

Originally Posted by VAFury

Can I ask why everyone ignores Warren County and towns like Linden, Front Royal and Strasburg when questions like this come up??? My wife and I are looking for the same thing and toured around and are IN LOVE with Front Royal..... Nice hilly town and the entrance to the Skyline Drive is RIGHT THERE!!!

I suppose because it's not really a "mountain" town, though it's near the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains. Ditto Strasburg and Linden. Front Royal is down next to the Shenandoah River with an elevation of 500'. Also, some people on this forum have characterized Front Royal/Warren County as industrial and blue-collar with a marginal school system.

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by theburro

I suppose because it's not really a "mountain" town, though it's near the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains. Ditto Strasburg and Linden. Front Royal is down next to the Shenandoah River with an elevation of 500'. Also, some people on this forum have characterized Front Royal/Warren County as industrial and blue-collar with a marginal school system.

I see.... Yeah, I guess when I think "mountain" town, anything with hills counts since the biggest mountains here in Florida are the garbage dumps...

BTW Strasburg really struck us as blue collar. You're right on that. Front Royal had a different feel to it, though it isn't like we really walked around and mingled with the locals...