[Ashnic78]

My husband and I are wanting to move from a Dallas suburb to a smaller town in another state. Both have lived in Texas our entire lives and want a change of scenery. We have children very active in sports. We would like a town that has a great high school football program. I know I am very interested in VA,NC,SC areas, as well as Alabama and Georgia. I would love a town that is small, rich in history, and very family friendly- festivals, celebrations, etc. I also want the small hometown feel- tree lined streets, craftsman style homes with large front porches. I am bored with the flat lands of Texas, so I would love some scenery- woods, lakes, waterfalls. I would appreciate any help with specific towns that I should look at. If you gave any specifics on their schools, High school sports, housing costs, cost of living and job markets that would also be great. My husband is in the land surveying field but open to other work as well.

[cpg35223]

Fairhope would be atop my list, even though that's on the coast.

[Ashnic78]

I will look into it! thanks for responding!

[humacaena]

Fairhope is a great town, and has wonderful recreation facilities. Pools, soccer, baseball and football fields...and a skate park, all in the same place. The High school has a great football team, plus great academic program.

Check cofairhope.com and theutopianfairhope.com These sites help to know more about lovely town.

The housing market here is a bit different from your area, as you get more for the money in TX. (My son lives in McKinney) But our property taxes are much lower...about the lowest in the country. It is more humid and green..almost tropical, but we get cold weather...not as bad as Dallas .

[Ashnic78]

Thank You! Very helpful info! My child plays plays softball at Craig Ranch in McKinney quite a bit- it is a great town!

[Keeper]

I love Fairhope too, but you can also find what you are looking for in NE AL including Guntersville. Small town, 69000 acre lake, quaint downtown, hills and lots of trees. I live 15 minutes away from there but sports is big here. You are 30 minutes from Huntsville or 50 minutes from B'ham. Where I live in Arab, the schools rank in the top 4 every year
Really there are many places in AL that would fit your desires.

[Keeper]

Originally Posted by shuzaa

The High school has a great football team, plus great academic program.

They do have a great sports program in Arab and nearly 80% of all seniors received scholarships. This year one young man was appointed to West Point.

[sedriskell]

I would suggest cities like:

-Guntersville - mountains
-Fort Payne - even more mountains, nearby is Little River Canyon National Preserve which is absolutely gorgeous
-Eufaula - a lot of Southern charm, definitely has those tree lined streets
-Athens - another good school system and a very good community with larger city amenities nearby in Huntsville and Decatur
-Cullman - pretty good athletics with a good community
-Hartselle - very good school system with pretty successful athletics
-Scottsboro - mountainous

The above cities are around 10,000-25,000

[becca2]

We also love to live in a place with hills,woods, mountain and lakes. My husband likes this kind of place.
And we want also to change life style, a simple kind of living.
Thanks for all the suggestions here.. we'll talk about it.

[writerwife]

I raised my children in Arab, AL (I had grown up in Ct. and then lived in Huntsville before moving to Arab) and I can't think of a better place to have done that. The street we lived on was wonderful, the neighbors all looked out for one another (without being intrusive), it was common to go outside and be invited to the neighbors porch for iced tea. A very sports minded town, many folks go to the high school football games that don't even have children. A beautiful town park with many different events.
A very civic minded town and you will definitely get that small town 'involved' feeling, if you do get involved. If however, you move to the outside of town and do not get involved, it would be just another town (like any other).