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The Parkersburg area is a great place to retire in unless you're looking for someplace warmer in the winters. There are plenty of retirees living here, and I'm one of them. My wife and I have lived here for over 25 years and love the area, not that we wouldn't mind living further south someday. Serious crime is basically non-existent, property taxes are low, and housing is very affordable. I met a lady a few days ago who is originally from Parkersburg but who has lived in San Diego for quite a few years. She said how much she misses this area - the trees, the mountains, the people, and yes, even the rain! Sometimes I think we take living here for granted. As far as the VA hospital is concerned, it's an easy (but maybe a little boring) one hour drive on U.S. Route 50. You may like Clarksburg as well.
The best thing would be to make a visit to the area and spend a few days to see what you think.
I'm guessing that you can get specific answers if you ask specific questions. For example, what crime issues? Specific areas of Huntington? Tell us what you mean by a "rougher, more gritty appearance." I've got family living in Huntington, raising children. Those are NOT the concerns they have about their community. They are looking forward to more bike trails, more places selling local products, like the Wild Ramp, finding time to take the kids to the parks for play time, and maybe finding a couple of hours to spend at a brew pub if they ever get it open.
Parkersburg/Marietta has two. There is that for Parkersburg. I prefer Marietta for the beer and Parkersburg's for the food.
sounds to me like Parkersburg would be the safer, nicer place....a bit low on inventory for homes sale I noticed....I don't mind the rain, and a bit of winter....got lots of wild fires going on there in the NW
sounds to me like Parkersburg would be the safer, nicer place....a bit low on inventory for homes sale I noticed....I don't mind the rain, and a bit of winter....got lots of wild fires going on there in the NW
That raises in interesting plus about West Virginia. The weather. Not the hot, muggy summers, and not the fact that there is a snowy winter to deal with. It's all the stuff that DOESN'T happen. WV doesn't get devastated by hurricanes. Yeah, once in a while the remnants of one will dump some rain and wind on us, but it's not often and it rarely does any really bad damage. WV isn't in tornado alley. Yeah, they happen, but it is rare, maybe a time or two per year, and, when it does, it is only an F-0 or F-1. Wildfires like Southern California that wipe out thousands of acres and hundreds of homes don't happen here. The forest fires we have are "brush fires" in comparison. Blizzards where the snowfall is measured in feet? Lake effects snow? Nor'easters? Not here. Normally, our snowfall comes in inches and is dealt with in a day or two.
Weather-wise, WV is normally a pretty boring place, which is an outstanding characteristic.
That raises in interesting plus about West Virginia. The weather. Not the hot, muggy summers, and not the fact that there is a snowy winter to deal with. It's all the stuff that DOESN'T happen. WV doesn't get devastated by hurricanes. Yeah, once in a while the remnants of one will dump some rain and wind on us, but it's not often and it rarely does any really bad damage. WV isn't in tornado alley. Yeah, they happen, but it is rare, maybe a time or two per year, and, when it does, it is only an F-0 or F-1. Wildfires like Southern California that wipe out thousands of acres and hundreds of homes don't happen here. The forest fires we have are "brush fires" in comparison. Blizzards where the snowfall is measured in feet? Lake effects snow? Nor'easters? Not here. Normally, our snowfall comes in inches and is dealt with in a day or two.
Weather-wise, WV is normally a pretty boring place, which is an outstanding characteristic.
My wife is originally from Schenectady, NY (in the snow belt). She RAVES about our weather in West Virginia. Take this summer, for example. We have had only 3 days when the weather got into the low 90s and the majority of them here in Morgantown have been in the low to mid 80s range. We have next to no flying vulture type bugs here. Unless you live next to an area with a stagnant body of standing water there are few mosquitoes. And, unless you are in the higher elevations there is little snow. If 85 low humidity degrees is too warm for you, you can drive a few minutes to the Alleghenies and spend some time in 75-79 degree weather in the same day.
Is it "perfect" year around? No, but it is pretty darned good. West Virginia weather (at least the parts of West Virginia that are not on the mountaintops) lacks the heavy snowfall and intense cold of northern winters, and it lacks the bugs of the northern summers and the highly humid, very hot weather of the southern summers. For year round weather, the only places I have lived or spent time that I like better are Monterey, California and Hawaii. That puts West Virginia in some pretty good company. I have to believe someone living in Parkersburg would be very comfortable most of the year weather wise.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 08-07-2014 at 01:43 PM..
Simply put, you get mild to moderate versions of all four seasons with only exceptionally rare disasters. I'm a warmer-weather guy, so I could do with a little more warmth in the summer and definitely less cold in the winter, but that's my preference. The only other thing I would change would be days with sunshine. Most WV cities have about 60 sunny days (not partly sunny/cloudy) per year, on average.
yea like Seattle which I think only gets about 55 days of sunshine a year...I might be wrong though....but It is something like that....trouble is it is getting hotter and hotter out west here....and it is already a dry arid climate ( a bit east of western WA and western OR).....OR, WA, and CA all have had or have major wild
Well, at this moment in the low elevations in Mon County we are having a wonderful partly sunny, partly cloudy 80 degree day on August 8th. ... in my mind it is hard to top that.
The last two summers around here have been unusually cool and wet, almost fall-like. While it's comfortable & saves on the A/C bills I wish we would get back to some real summer weather again.
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