Charleston, WV (South Charleston, Cross Lanes, Dunbar: fit in, buying a home, neighborhood)

[surgerigal]

Hi, and thank you for all resposes. We are moving to the Charlestonn area next summer and are wondering what the pros and cons are of this area. We are completely unfamiliar with this State and would love to hear all. We are both Nurses and would need surgery centers/or hospitals. We have a six year old little boy with mild autism and would need good medical providers. We are also wanting to be atleast 10-15 miles out of the city, we love the country life. So if you have any info about all this please help us decide where the best areas are to research for buying a home and a community that is suitable for us. Thanks Again to all that respond.

[Chriscross309]

Hi,

First off, I would like to welcome you to West Virginia.

Seeing how both of you work in medical fields,you should have no problem finding a job in the Charleston area. There is six hospitals, and dozens of other clinics and offices you could easily fit in at.
If you want to live outside of town, I suggest the Elk River area. The community of PINCH is a great place for families, with a excellent school. It is about a 10 min. drive to downtown and in near ELKVIEW, which has some business. The area isn't very densely populated, but is a great bedroom to CHARLESTON.
The city itself is a great place to live. It is full of culture, history, beauty, and is a gateway to all the great recreation WV has to offer. With a charming downtown, great local schools, great hospitals, and a nice four seasons climate, it is a wonder why the city hasn't boomed. The whole metro area has about 200 grand in population, which consists of both Kanawha & Putnam counties. The local communities are as follows: South Charleston, Dunbar, Saint Albans, Cross Lanes, Nitro, Marmet, Elkview, Sissonsville, West Side, Kanawha City, South Hills, ect.

As for the bad stuff. Both Charleston and Kanawha county have been descreasing in population for years now. The industry that once made up the valley has been brought to a minimum, and has been replaced with government jobs.

But personally, I think that the City will grow in the next 10 years. It really is one of the best small cities in the country, you just have to see for youself.

Good Luck

[surgerigal]

Thank you for this reply, we are excited about coming and will look into Elk River.

[surgerigal]

Also could you explain about the government job thing. Is the decrease due to the recession? I am in a military town now and would like to stay away from that if possible.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by surgerigal

Also could you explain about the government job thing. Is the decrease due to the recession? I am in a military town now and would like to stay away from that if possible.

The previous poster just means that government jobs are plentiful in the area because Charleston is the state capitol. Charleston is in no way a military town.

Chris also made a good point...the fact that you are both nurses will provide you with good career opportunities in West Virginia. This can be somewhat of a rarity and will make your move much easier.

You didn't really mention price range or how important schools are to you. The best schools in the Kanawha Valley are located right in the city of Charleston and they are for the most part in the South Hills section of town. Kanawha City, another Charleston neighborhood also has a good school district with the exception of a somewhat mediocre high school.

Pinch and Elkview would fit the bill of a somewhat rural environment close to town, especially the latter as Pinch tends to be a little more suburban in nature. One thing I will note though..the high school for that area is Herbert Hoover and academically it is probably one of the worst in the county. The local middle school isn't that much better. My parents thought they wanted to live in the "country" for a little while so we moved to Elkview...needless to say after one year in the schools up there (middle school) my siblings and I were enrolled in a Catholic school back in town. We moved back into Charleston two years later. That is my personal experience though and some people may be satisfied with the test scores and educational offerings in that part of the county. My parents were just really shocked at the quality of the schools there and in the end it wasn't satisfactory for them. It just really just depends on what you want though.

[red.ochre]

Ten miles outside Charleston is in the sticks, and might as well be a world away. Apples to apples, you can't compare it to other metropolises across the country unless you back them up in time 25 years (or more).

There are people in this state still living off the grid and you don't have to go too far into the countryside to start seeing them. Charleston is in the middle of nowhere, and it gets more nowhere from here, real fast I live "in" the city, have a herd of 15 deer in my yard, and a bear 2 miles away. Although, sometimes it swims across the Kanawha River, and then it's closer.

Food for thought, be sure of how rural you really want to be.

[surgerigal]

Wow this is all great information. Schools are important to us as we have a six year old in 1st grade. Price is somethig to also consider, we would be looking up to the three hundred range. But of course we have seen some wonderfull properties for less and would love to keep price down as much as possible. To answer the rural question, we didn't realize what befriend had mentioned. We want a couple of acres but not so far out that that you would call us farmers. We just enjoy our privacy away from city life. Being from NY originally, we are sick of being stacked around people. Thank yo so much for all the info and we are looking forward to being there. You mentioned the 25 years in time back, could any one give me more info on this? I am hopeing that it doesn't include medically as well, as my son needs special services for his autism. Any help on this is also a help. Thanks again to all.

[snorpus]

I think the 25 years (which might be conservative) refers more to the pace and general "modernism"; especially the city hospitals will be close to, if not equal to, their larger brethren.

Things just aren't as frenetic as they are elsewhere. My girlfriend from Tampa says her blood pressure drops 20 points when she crosses the state line entering WV. So what if there are large areas of the state where cell phones won't work... we survived for 250 years without them, didn't we? Not a Starbucks on every corner? Folgers from an old pot down at the diner tastes just fine.

NY has suburbs bigger than the largest cities in West Virginia. I don't think there's a spot in the state where you're more than 5 miles from forests and farms. You won't find two acre lots in the biggest cities, but in many towns, that's an in-city lot size.

[surgerigal]

Thanks to all, Charleston sounds like the place for us

[Big_Al]

There are psychiatrists who treat people with autism in Charleston. It would not be a problem.
Also, you will find no problems finding a job over here.
welcome.