Berryville (Roanoke, Franklin, Abingdon: transplants, real estate, schools)

[sean&diane]

We are looking for a quiet town where the neighbors are friendly and there is a real sense of community. We really like Berryville, but are wondering whether it is just another DC bedroom community where everyone is either sleeping or commuting. We're looking for a realy country atmosphere, not a bunch of city folks transplanted to the country.

Assuming it is not, is it headed that way? Seems to me like high gas prices and lower metro real estate prices may reverse some of the trend.

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about their schools, but the test scores aren't great. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

[seanpecor]

I might get into trouble for saying this, but where Berryville isn't just a bedroom community for wealthy city folk transplants, it feels (to me) like an economically depressed rural area. I think that is what would help explain lower test scores (the D.C. commuters who might be higher income don't often have kids to elevate scores). OTOH, maybe in Berryville resides many middle to upper middle class retirees who sought out exactly what you're looking for, and I just didn't see them in my stays within that area.

If you're looking for a small town with a real country atmosphere and a close community, you might have to exclude anything with a 1.5 drive from Northern Virginia.

Other options to consider might be:

Rocky Mount (pop. 4,500 or so, county seat of Franklin County, about 30 minutes south of Roanoke):
New Page 2

Abingdon:
The Town of Abingdon, Virginia

For the most "country" w/ the least population you might tour the Monterey, VA area:
Highland County Chamber of Commerce, Monterey VA

I'm sure others can chime in.

Sean

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by sean&diane

We are looking for a quiet town where the neighbors are friendly and there is a real sense of community. We really like Berryville, but are wondering whether it is just another DC bedroom community where everyone is either sleeping or commuting. We're looking for a realy country atmosphere, not a bunch of city folks transplanted to the country.

Assuming it is not, is it headed that way? Seems to me like high gas prices and lower metro real estate prices may reverse some of the trend.

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about their schools, but the test scores aren't great. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

Berryville is nice... I live a bit west of there in Stephens City which is more of a growing family-oriented town. Clarke County, where Berryville is located has gone out of it's way to avoid becoming a "bedroom community" to D.C. somehow with it's land laws..... Someone explained it to me but I don't remember how it works...... The jist of it is that Clarke County doesn't intend to become another Loudoun with sprawls of cookie-cutters all over...

Berryville's not a bad choice at all....

If it were me though and I really wanted that "sense of community" that you speak of, my money would be on Strasburg...... There's a nice mixture of old and new residents there and while it could be described as "blue-collar" to an extent, I've never really seen a town with the sense of community that they have....

I covered high-school sports for a local paper last year and Strasburg is just cool.... All of these 60+ year old people coming out to support Strasburg High in all sports.... It was a very warm atmosphere there...