Beckley, WV Anyone?? (Charleston, Shady Spring, Tornado: crime, homes, good schools)

[Glo]

Hi!
Been looking into the Hampton, VA area and now looking into Beckley, WV (because of a possible job at the VA hospital).
What is Beckley like?
Schools?
Weather? Lots of snow? Flooding? Tornados?
Nice areas to live in?
Any and all input is highly appreciated. Thanks!

[CraziS05]

Well, this might be a little late considering you posted this over 5 months ago...so here's a little info from an area resident of Beckley. (I just joined)

Beckley is a city of about 20,000 (it says 17K something on here) but you can tell by certain factors that Beckley's population is way up above that. I'm anxious to see the stats when the new census information rolls around in the coming years.

Beckley is about an hour from Charleston, which has most of your shopping needs for whatever Beckley don't have. Beckley (Raleigh Co.) has very decent schools, and they have won many awards. However, a lot of politics and "favorites" see to float in the county school system, but they are good schools. I think as Beckley continues to get bigger this will fade away.

Beckley is definitely growing. I think there for a while it wasn't really growing, but the last 3-5 years it has grown, and really skyrocketed in the last year or two. We've seen many things being rebuilt here and probably at least 2 new shopping plazas and many new stores, with a new shopping plaza planned in the next few years. (Beckley Town Center)

Our weather here is fairly decent. In the summer average temperatures usually stay in the mid 70's. During the winter it's hard to tell. We use to have a reputation for getting bad snows, but the last 7 years or so we haven't hardly had anything. During the winter season we might see a total of 8-14 inches all at different times. Some years are different than others though. Just like right now we're almost in February and we've seen maybe 4 inches of snow so far this winter. It does flood here sometimes, but it's mainly just roadways, not a big threat to homes. Basically one area of Ewart Ave. and Robert C. Byrd Drive (Rt.16).

We don't really have to worry about tornadoes here, but as the atmosphere changes and our weather gets more wacky, you can never really tell! I've yet to see one and I'm 21 years old. Beckley as it's growing isn't really a "night time" city...I don't know your age group. Basically Beckley starting dying out after 8:30-9pm. Although we are starting to see more businesses open up later hours. We have a mall here that has between 50-75 stores (so they say, i haven't actually counted.) This will probably change as population gains. Crime isn't too bad here, but it has it's spurts where you think we would live in a bigger city.

Nicer areas would be Shady Spring area which is on Rt. 19, about 10-15 minutes south of Beckley, and is a rapidly growing area. I figure it will catch up with Beckley in population in the coming years, if Beckley doesn't grow first. Also, Beckley was featured as one of the top growing cities in the country, and I do believe it. I would avoid the East side of Beckley if you decide to move here, generally that's a bad area...but not all of it is.

The best places to live in Beckley would be along Harper Rd. (Most of that is middle class) There's some housing developments near Beckley ARH Hospital (Speaking of which Beckley has 2 hospitals, plus the VA) and it's for all classes (but mainly higher class). Woodlawn Ave. is a nice area too, and it's located right there near the VA Hospital, in which you plan to work.

Well, I hope this has been helpful information if you still need it! You may contact me if you need to know anything else. I've lived here all my life, so I'm pretty sure I can answer any specific question you'd have.

[kayla011394]

I live there. You will love it. Nice warm loving neighbors.

[highliner]

and if you want excitement in beautiful Beckley, you can always go to the Go-Mart truckstop, or hang out by the federal prison and wait for an escape/riot......wheeeeee!