Seeking Cultural Mid-Sized Towns in Virginia... (Roanoke, Lynchburg: relocating, real estate, military)

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by VSB

If you're willing to live a bit outside town, then there is a lot of reasonable real-estate near Charlottesville. As another poster mentioned, you should post the price range you might be able to afford. Even within Charlottesville, or just outside its borders, there are affordable lots. It really depends on what you're interested in. Charlottesville's Belmont neighborhood, which has admittedly skyrocketed in value over the past few years, still has some value in it and is very close to its famed downtown mall.

In your shoes, I wouldn't bother looking anywhere except Charlottesville. I don't know about JoAnne Fabrics, but I've shopped at the Michael's there, so I know they've got that . . .

The only caveat is that many people may feel like outsiders if they are not somehow affiliated with the university. However, it's the university that provides the culture to the town.

Check out google maps (or other) to get a feel for the layout of the neighboring communities. You will find cheaper housing on "29 south" or on route 29, south of I-64. It's beautiful country there, and I mean COUNTRY! It gets quiet very fast. You can go 10 minutes down the road, find something very affordable, and still be right next to town. All the traffic in town (for now) is on the north side of C'Ville. There's no traffic (I've never ever even seen "traffic" on 29 south all the way to Lynchburg) on 29 south.

Other communities to take a gander at that are close to CVille and relatively affordable:

North Garden
Scottsville
Palmyra
Louisa
Waynesboro
Stuart's Draft

For more information on Charlottesville, see this thread:

Want to learn more about Charlottesville, VI


best of luck!

Yup, and I know I keep banging on it, but look in Crozet out 250 West from C'ville..... they are building like crazy out there and it's right at the base of the Blue Ridge....

[KAPPA ALPHA PSI GUY]

what way do u take from blacksburg to richmond thats 2.5 hrs and at what speed?

[Blacksburg1]

Originally Posted by ganakart

Blacksburg is a beautiful place, picturesque. Roanoke is 40 mins drive, Richmond is 2.5 hrs, DC is about 4 hrs. It is a quiet and awesome place. Full of energy, young and old, friendly and smiling always. I love it here.

Agreed! You can get on I-81 in less than 10 minutes then run 70+ miles an hour .

VT has a HUGE library that is totally under used (internet), over 100,000 books in 'special collections' alone.

You can listen to a quartet on Friday night, and go hike up to a waterfall Sat. morning. Assuming we don't have another event like on April 16th, this is nearly a perfect area. Oh, and the university does have an airport which can handle any type of private/corporate jet.

[seanpecor]

Originally Posted by KAPPA ALPHA PSI GUY

what way do u take from blacksburg to richmond thats 2.5 hrs and at what speed?

I think us guys have some sort of condition which prevents us from factoring into our ETA unimportant things like getting into the car, fighting through stop and go prior to reaching the interstate, or two full lanes of drivers traveling an average speed that's slower than we'd prefer, or the backup at the exit ramp, or the stop and go crawl towards our final destination Generally it's just the it takes from the ON ramp to the OFF ramp that we utilize to arrive at an ETA and that also assumes an empty interstate or an interstate full of red bull drinking cocaine sniffing leadfoots

So, yeah, 2.5 hours to Richmond. And 5 hours to the beach baby!

Sean

[vglattn]

What about Ashland, Virginia. It is home to a small college, has a nice coffee shop or two, and is close to Richmond.

[onevthoki]

I'll throw my hat in the ring and offer up Farmville, home to Longwood University. The only thing is that it will probably lack the modern shopping oppurtunities you mention, but the antique side would be no problem. It may help if you give us an idea of what your price range is for housing.

[SmerkyGrl]

Roanoke's crime rates are definitely, highly inflated. Its a city so granted, there's going to be some slummy places but overall, people who live around Roanoke do not think "unsafe" when they go to the city. There is plenty to do in Roanoke (I like in Blacksburg, about 40 mins away) and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous since you're nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drive to DC from Roanoke is about 4.5 hours or so so its a bit long but this is a city you should definitely look into.

[shellytc]

I would recommend Ashland as well. Just north of Richmond it has a college (randolph-macon), a nice downtown, you should be able to find affordable housing in the area, and you are close enough to Richmond to enjoy some of the larger venue cultural offerings. You get the best of both worlds (small town feel, with a large town offering), and a fairly easy commute to DC.
(and to the beach when you something different).

Good luck with our decision,

Shelly

[NeesM]

How are places like Ashland or Blacksburg for raising children?
I have three ages 5,9 & 11.
Does anyone know how the job opportunites are for nurses?
Thank you!

[richmondpics]

Plenty of job opportunities for nurses in the Richmond area (which includes Ashland). For hospitals, Bon Secours and HCA have several hospitals and the largest hospital is VCU Medical Center.