King William County (Richmond, Mechanicsville, Chester: for sale, home sales, buy)

[ksjyoung]

We are thinking of building a house in the new subdivision of Marle Hill in King William County off Oxford road.We currently live in Chesterfield County off the extremely crowded 360 area near Brandermill.The problem is I love having every type of business I could want within a 5 minute drive.I see that property in the 360 and 30 area near the food lion is under construction and more land is for sale.Any idea what kind of businesses are moving to the area? I was also wondering how the schools are out there. I was a little concerned since there was only 1 middle school.Is there any movie theaters or mini golf or skating rinks for the kids?Anybody know how far the ashland berry farm is? Is there alot of kids in the area? I have an 11 year old boy. Any good doctors?We can use any advice
Thanks!!

[Jennifer Parschauer]

I'm still a ways off from making our move, but interested both in the Chesterfield area, and King William/ Mechanicsville areas. I'm anxious to see answers to your thread, but wanted to also ask, why, except maybe because of traffic, are you interested in the move to the east side? Hope all goes well - we have kids too and know those concerns...

[cubmom]

I hope I can answer some of your concerns. I lived in King Wm county for about 2 years...1996-1998 ? The area I lived was off rte 360..near the intersection of 360 and the road that runs towards Kings Dominion ( forge the rte #). Town named Aylett.

At the time I lived there, it was very rural..ONLY one 7-11..and gas station ( Exxon ?)..ONE bank...one mobile home sales person, and one furniture store ( Big red barn I believe it was called ) . a few mom and pop groceries that were high priced. Teeny library but I will say, at least they had a pretty modern selection. No trash pick up..you had to bring bags to the dump...I really detested that. Cotractor mail delivery to a box in front of your home.

I liked the schools..Aquinton elementary and King wm high school...for rural schools, they offered pretty modern courses.

Down side...To do any shopping meant a drive. Mechanicsville 45 min away..so if you went to the grocery and forgot milk you are in trouble. Nearest mall was an hour drive ,, towards short pump Richmond .. Mechanicsville was adequte as far as shopping...the raceway was near is you like NASCAR. Kings Dominion was an hour drive from my front door to the gates.

good citizens..rural but not backwoods..cared about normal family type events..cub scouts, 4-H camps, crime, etc.

I would rate this town a 5 being that it is quiet, rural, affordable,,,but if you like a little more choice for shopping or entertainment, you may find it dull..

[thewolf]

Originally Posted by cubmom

I hope I can answer some of your concerns. I lived in King Wm county for about 2 years...1996-1998 ? The area I lived was off rte 360..near the intersection of 360 and the road that runs towards Kings Dominion ( forge the rte #). Town named Aylett.

At the time I lived there, it was very rural..ONLY one 7-11..and gas station ( Exxon ?)..ONE bank...one mobile home sales person, and one furniture store ( Big red barn I believe it was called ) . a few mom and pop groceries that were high priced. Teeny library but I will say, at least they had a pretty modern selection. No trash pick up..you had to bring bags to the dump...I really detested that. Cotractor mail delivery to a box in front of your home.

I liked the schools..Aquinton elementary and King wm high school...for rural schools, they offered pretty modern courses.

Down side...To do any shopping meant a drive. Mechanicsville 45 min away..so if you went to the grocery and forgot milk you are in trouble. Nearest mall was an hour drive ,, towards short pump Richmond .. Mechanicsville was adequte as far as shopping...the raceway was near is you like NASCAR. Kings Dominion was an hour drive from my front door to the gates.

good citizens..rural but not backwoods..cared about normal family type events..cub scouts, 4-H camps, crime, etc.

I would rate this town a 5 being that it is quiet, rural, affordable,,,but if you like a little more choice for shopping or entertainment, you may find it dull..

How fast did you drive? I make it to Mech.ville in 15 minutes and never go over 65.

I've been in King William for around a decade now. I also came from Chesterfield, and I've been through the school system since the 5th grade.

I'll tell you about King William. The schools are good. Not great, not bad. If your kid is smart, they'll be fine. The citizens are nice, and helpful, but there is hardly nothing to do. Odyssey Martial Arts is the #1 Brazilian Jui-Jitsu school in North America for Youths and offers classes 5 - 6 days a week. A common hobby for King William Folk involves the many local rivers in Aylett and Walkerton. This opens for fishing, swimming, boating, and, in my case, a pristine spot to sit and play bass for the entire day. The most common hobby out here are Horses. If you cant find the land, many people offer boarding. My mother has three horses and has never been happier. King William is growing very quickly, and I will admit that in 1998, there wasnt anything. But we've got a Food Lion now, and many other additions that make life easier.

I rate King William a 7 because of its rich history, natural beauty, and good people. I think the schools could be better and because some kids are too stupid to find something to do with themselves as I did, they turn to drugs. I wouldn't call it an epidemic however.

I hope that helped.

~The Wolf

[buzybee]

My first piece of advice would be to pick if you want the city life or not. You cannot move to a rural county and live in the city. That's what I personally love about King William is the fact that is somewhat rural, not anything like King and Queen, but I can drive 20 minutes and be in town...Mechanicsville. Mechanicsville has everything you named except a movie theatre. I was just telling a friend the other day that the only reason I ever drove to the West End was to go to the movies, go to Lowes or to Best Buy for computer stuff. Well, we are getting a Lowes soon (under construction) and the Best Buy is about to open. So, the movies will just stay another 15 min away at Virginia Center Commons...no biggie!

Now, back to King William. We have 7 restaurants now. They are Vinnys Italian, Lucianos Italian, Don Pedro Mexican (our fav!), Subway, Lunch Ladies (country cooking), 1 Chinese and 1 Japanese. That's plenty. If I want to be more picky I can drive 20 minutes more and we are in Mechanicsville. Today we ate at the Mexican Restaurant on the outside deck BY OURSELVES!!! It was awesome. My 3 and 5 year old had complete run of the place and it was beautiful, especially without 50 million people all over us.

There is a Family Dollar, Movie Gallery, 4 different banks, 2 Post Offices, plenty of Storage Buildings, a Epic Pharmacy, 2 Vets, a Dentist, a Local Doctors Office (super friendly), the Karate place (very popular), a tanning salon, a nice size library with family events, CURVES, laundry mat, NAPA, Hardware Store (enlarging), several car repair shops, a tire store, 2 furniture stores (Big Red Barn and Holiday House), Gymnastics Place, 3 wheeler store, boat store, Seafood Store, 7-11, Amoco, BP, Exxon and Rennies (with food). There's more, I just can't think of it all. I think that one guy had been in King William many, many moons ago which means he probably shouldn't have an opinion on it b/c its one of the fastest growing counties around. Almost all of the people that come here are from Hanover and Henrico Counties.

I love it here and as a matter of fact, we are looking to stay but move further from the hustle-bustle b/c its getting to built up for us. Same county, more land.

I might suggest that you might like a Community as soon as you go through Central Garage (light at Rt. 30 and Rt. 360) keep going and its on the left. Its about 1.5-2 m. from where everything is in King William and 20 min. from Mechanicsville and they are going to be their own lil community within themselves with a pool and all. It's on the left after Ventor Road.

I hope this helps!