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I agree with southbound's post, avoid a commute to Charlotte on I-77 south! If you choose a home in the Newton area (south of Hickory), you can use 321 to get to Gastonia, then to Charlotte. For example, the Charlotte airport is about an hr. commute from Hickory if you go 321. I lived in Mooresville and Huntersville , and I preferred Huntersville. I think Huntersville/Cornelius has the edge over Mooresville with restaurants and shopping. The congestion is bad in both though. I moved to Hickory over a year ago & it is SO different. Mainly it's the small city/large town feel vs. living in the burbs of a large city. The festivals in the Charlotte area are much better than here, as is the shopping. Hickory has a nice town square with music on the weekend that draws good crowds, but this is only a summer thing. There are some good restaurants in & near downtown, but the 'big-box' stores and most of the chain restaurants are on the south side of I-40 around the mall area. All in all, Hickory is a good place to live but keep in mind it has a slower pace and less to do than the other areas you mentioned. My impression of living here is most people either spend their free time on Lake Hickory or at the soccer field with their kids. If you want to have more things to do, then you'll be driving up to Blowing Rock/Boone for a day in the mountains or Asheville/Charlotte for better festivals, restaurants & shopping.
Thanks for all your input! Sounds like you've been in most of the areas we are considering. We spent the most amount in Hickory and liked it so I'm leaning towards aiming their for our initial move. We'll be renting for at least a year to help us get more of the lay of the land and ultimately decide where we want to buy again - weather it's Hickory or another town. We just need more time to really see what we like and where our jobs land as well. I do remember the traffic on 77 when we were down there - it was a bit much - but I'm used to CT traffic...so it actually didn't seem too bad LOL.
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