Small town Virginia living! Where to go?

[sregorat3]

Check out Bedford, as well. Right in between Roanoke and Lynchburg, so you can partake in the best both have to offer and enjoy some real small town living.

[Rob Allen]

You might check out South Boston - a nice small town with a hospital.

[lifesigns64]

Abingdon VA, very close to Tri-Cities.

[SCBeaches]

Originally Posted by lifesigns64

Abingdon VA, very close to Tri-Cities.

MY personal favorite!

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by topaz3335

Hi guys,

So, I'm going to be finishing up school very soon and I am looking for a place to call home. I've been relatively nomadic for most of my life, but now that I've got the final degree in my arsenal and little one who I'd like to give an actual home, I'm thinking it's time I settled down. I've been looking pretty broadly into Virginia/North Carolina and I'm thinking I need some advice/suggestions as to where to look.

I'm looking for something smallish, I don't really do big cities-I just feel too lost. Although if it were within about 45 minutes or an hour of a decently larger town that would be absolutely perfect and there are usually more jobs around in those areas, I don't mind driving from someplace smaller to someplace larger for work. I'm a nurse practitioner so someplace with a large medical facility (or even smaller one) would be ideal. And I'd really love some place with a great community feel, a good/vibrant downtown setting (doesn't have to be big, just have some options) and I'd LOVE for it to be historic. I know there's a lot of history to be had in Virginia and I'd love to live in some!

Because of the little one, schools and safety are very important. I have to have a town with decent schools. And while I'm a big proponent of the teacher/parent really make the school experience theory, having a decent district to begin with helps a lot. As for safety, I'm a single mom and I don't want my daughter (or myself) to feel unsafe in our home given that fact.

I've heard a little about s a few towns that might fit the bill, Staunton and Abingdon being two. Are there any others I should be looking at? And if not, what's life like in Staunton and Abingdon? Is it really like Ive read about? I'm planning on heading out to Virginis in about 3 months to actually see these places but I'd love to get some real life persepctives before I arrive. Anything you all might be able to tell me would be greatly appreciated-so thanks in advance!

Well, I can recommend the area around Winchester, VA.... I live in Frederick County and it is definately a "small town feel", but Winchester has enough modern conveniences to keep you happy, and then just over the Blue Ridge is the mass chaos of Northern Virginia if you're in the mood for upscale shopping and big city "culture" ....

Winchester Medical Center is highly rated and the history of the area is fascinating (one of the reasons we chose to move here).... Also in the midst of a TON of wineries up in this area, are 15-20 minutes from the northern end of the Skyline Drive, 40 minutes or so to Luray Caverns, a little over an hour to DC, maybe 2 or 2 1/2 hours to Baltimore, 50 minutes from Antietam, 1 1/2 hours from Gettysburg, etc, etc, etc.... What I find cool is that we are a 1 hour drive from 4 different states up I-81 (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania)....

Fall colors are beautiful here, winter lasted a little longer than I may have preferred this year, but a mild spring and summer (so far) have MORE than made up for it.....

Anyway, I think you've made a great choice on where you've narrowed your search down to. Good luck on your final choice!!!

[zugor]

You might want to do a bit of research on the Roanoke, Blacksburg/Christiansburg, Radford region. B-burg is home to Virginia Tech and Radford has a small university.

Lots of smaller towns in that area and you can be in rural country just short distances from these cities if that's what you're looking for.