Hanover County? (Richmond, Mechanicsville, Chester: new home, neighborhoods, construction)

[pastrymom]

Hi All,
Our family is relocating and I was looking into schools in Hanover County. I came upon some really good schools in a city called Mechanicsville. Can anyone tell me anything about this town?

[richmondpics]

Hanover County has nice schools. Mechanicsville (neither a city or a town, just an area/zip with the name... Virginia's weird like that) is an up and coming area with new home construction and a growing retail segment. However, it doesn't have everything that an area like Western Henrico would have. Home prices would be slightly less though.

[novanwbie]

It really depends on what you want. Mechanicsville really is just sprawl, it's not a town. Hanover has some good schools, and others that are really not good. You have to be careful. I really recommend western Henrico and western Chesterfield. Chesterfield is less expensive (although housing costs have really escalated in Richmond in the last few years) and Cosby, James River and Midlothian are really great high schools/area. Cosby is brand new. Western Henrico is very desirable as well, but more expensive. Can you give us more details on what you're looking for and what kind of environment/culture you seek? Hanover is in large part very rural, except for the sprawl that has developed in the last 10 years. There aren't neighborhoods, but developments.

[htlong]

you will be happy in mechanicsville it has min. sprawl compared to west henrico and chesterfield

[niklex]

Wow! It is laughable that people here are recommending Chesterfield and Henrico as the opposite of sprawl!! Okay, facts first. There IS A TOWN called Mechanicsville. The Times Dispatch did a very nice feature story referring to it as the "village" and locals here refer to it as "downtown." It is a very small area with some really nice but old shops (i.e. eat-in pharmacy with great bbq). Second, the entire area referred to as Mechanicsville does extend far beyond this "village" but it is not an overdeveloped commercial/urban sprawl like western Henrico. Rather, there is a nice mix of new and old neighborhoods offering everything from 2-3 BR ranch style 1950's homes to brand new 3500 sf brick estates on acreage. The entire M'ville area extends from east of Richmond to northeast along I-95.

WRT schools, it is true that there is variation as there is in every school district around Richmond. If you are looking for the top Hanover school districts, then you should focus more on the northernmost areas east of I-95 (Hanover Co. HS and Atlee HS), however none of the schools are really considered "bad" per se. I live in an area where the ES only gets moderate ratings per the test scores, but the parents and teachers rave about the school.

Good luck - I'll keep trying to fight the misinformation about M'ville!