What's the Best City in West Virginia? (Charleston, Huntington: real estate, high crime)

[spurnell]

Beckley is doing so great right now, I hear the vrime rate is really bad now.There are a lot of great places in WV...there is almost no other plce where you can stretch out on your front porch and take a nap and no one will bother you.

[faithie911]

I am thinking of moving to West Virginia as an adventure. I am 48 and work for Home Depot. I want to experience life in a state that has 4 seasons. I am from Louisiana and we have almost continuous heat and humidity. My children are grown but 2 may move with me. One works for Wal-Mart and the other in the hospital-medical field. I would like to live in an area that is beautiful but not too remote and that is accessible to the Interstate highways. I would like a place that is considered low crime and preferably near a great state park and college or university. Let me know of some great WV places to live and I will "google" for more information. Thank you.

Chris

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by faithie911

I am thinking of moving to West Virginia as an adventure. I am 48 and work for Home Depot. I want to experience life in a state that has 4 seasons. I am from Louisiana and we have almost continuous heat and humidity. My children are grown but 2 may move with me. One works for Wal-Mart and the other in the hospital-medical field. I would like to live in an area that is beautiful but not too remote and that is accessible to the Interstate highways. I would like a place that is considered low crime and preferably near a great state park and college or university. Let me know of some great WV places to live and I will "google" for more information. Thank you.

Chris

One place that you should definately check out is the Huntington area. There is a Home Depot in Barboursville(just next to Huntington) along with several Wal-marts in the area if you and your family wanted to transfer jobs. For your son who works in the medical field, there are also several nice hospitals in the area to work for/with depending on what he does. Beech Fork is the closest state park to Huntington(about 15 minutes away) but many other beautiful state parks are within a 2 hour drive. Huntington is also home to Marshall University which is the second largest university in the state. There are also plenty of little towns in the area that are somewhat rural in nature but it would still only take you 10-15 minutes to get to the interstate and then quick access to Huntington and Charleston (the 2 largest cities in the state). Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Tim

The Greater Huntington Community Web Portal

[snorpus]

Also check out Morgantown, home to West Virginia University and its Medical Center. It's right on I-79, is a decent sized city in its own right, but only a little over an hour south of Pittsburgh.

Coopers Rock State Forest is just east of the city, and one of the prettiest state parks, Blackwater Falls, is about an hour's drive southeast.

Other cities to look at in the same general area are Fairmont and Clarksburg.

Smaller, and located in southeastern WV near the Virginia border, is Lewisburg.

Snorpus

[kevinm]

You have to be kidding about Montgomery. I went to college there from 1982-1986. It is a hole and is 100% dependant on the college for its existence.

[kevinm]

I grew up in Ronceverte/Lewisburg. It is right off of Interstate 64 which is one hour from Charleston and four hours to Richmond, VA. There is a 5-star resort (The Greenbrier) 9 miles away. I live in Northern Virginia now and cannot get my wife to move back to WV. It is dirt cheap to live there. You can get a nice house for less than $250K.

[snorpus]

Lewisburg --> Charleston in an hour?

I think two is more like it. Google says it's 117 miles.

Beckley is about an hour, maybe a little less, but Charleston is a pretty solid two hours. Still, Lewisburg is a nice place.

Snorpus

[kevinm]

Oops. You are right. I can get to Oak Hill in about a hour. When I lived there Interstate 64 did not continue to Beckley. We had to take Route 60.

[robert loughley]

What about Chester? It has the Ohio River,Mountaineer Racetrack & Gaming Resort,Tri-state location(WV,OH,PA) and the best people anywhere!

[faithie911]

Hi Tim and all posters to my request. Thank you for the suggestions on all of the towns and cities; I will start looking into these areas. I am enchanted by the state of West Virginia--it sounds so beautiful. I will visit a few times before making a decision.


Chris