Woodstock and Holly Springs (Atlanta, Acworth: townhouses, neighborhoods, buying)

[NJ Vike]

Greetings.

We are thinking of moving to Georgia and was wondering what are the positives and negatives of these two towns? Information on grade schools would be appreciated.

Thanks

[BobKovacs]

Woodstock and Holly Springs are both semi-rural to rural towns in Cherokee County. We just moved to Holly Springs last month from Woodbridge, NJ.

Woodstock is larger and more built out that Holly Springs, which could be seen as a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it. Woodstock has a pretty nice walkaboe downtown area, and is around 5 miles closer to downtown Atlanta.

The schools in both towns rate pretty well on greatschools.net. There are a number of schools and districts in the Atlanta metro area that rank higher, but there's also tons that rank lower. IMO, your kids' success in school is influenced far greater by your involvement than by the school itself, but it's nice to have a good starting point. My daughter is in 1st grade at Holly Springs elementary, and she loves it.

A lot of the kids in Holly Springs are also going to a brand new middle school and high school complex, while Woodstock's schools are getting overcrowded. They're actually bussing kids from Woodstock up to schools in unincorporated areas of the county near Holly Springs.

If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask.

Bob

[NJ Vike]

Hello Bob,

We are also from NJ. Specifically Sussex County (mountains)and that's why Holly Springs and Woodstock appeal to us for starters.

We did visit Harmony on the Lake and was impressed with the homes but not so much with the homes being so close to one another. There was also some negative comments on the web regarding Pultt Homes but how many builders get a 100% customer satisfaction rating?

My one concern is the Canton area where we saw their downtown area. Are there many illegal aliens as it was posted in the other area of this forum?

How do you like living in GA since leaving NJ? We really do love NJ but I can't take the cold and snow any longer which brings me to my next question. Some people are telling me that North of Atlanta is where we would be more at risk for twisters than south of Atlanta. Any truth to that?

Thanks again

[dncngrl1964]

I live in the Woodstock area just to the west of it in Acworth
I haven't seen a tornado in 4 yrs

North of Atlanta is hillier (more hills) than south
Tornadoes don't like hills so even if we do get one it is short lived and not very powerful

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by NJ Vike

Hello Bob,

We are also from NJ. Specifically Sussex County (mountains)and that's why Holly Springs and Woodstock appeal to us for starters.

We did visit Harmony on the Lake and was impressed with the homes but not so much with the homes being so close to one another. There was also some negative comments on the web regarding Pultt Homes but how many builders get a 100% customer satisfaction rating?

Well, close together is relative- we left a 50x100 lot, so our new 75x150 lot seems enormous by comparison. Most of the new subdivisions are going to be on 1/4 acre +/- lots, as the land is getting more expensive. Your other option is to buy outside of one of the new "planned communities" where you can get more land, but you're typically getting less house (or an older house) as well. We've been very satisfied with Pulte- you just have to remember what you're buying- you can't expect $1 million home quality when you're paying $250k for a house. Even with that said, Pulte builds a solid house- their paint subcontractors could be a bit better though.....lol.


My one concern is the Canton area where we saw their downtown area. Are there many illegal aliens as it was posted in the other area of this forum?

Canton's downtown area itself is pretty nice- it just needs a kick in the pants to get some redevelopment going. Right now, most of the businesses revolve around the activities of the Justice Complex. Nearby there are some crummy areas, and they're predominantly hispanic. I can't confirm whether these folks are illegal, obviously, but draw your own conclusions.

We've found that we really don't spend any time in that part of town anyway- there's ample shopping at 140 and Cherokee Drive, a Target down on 92 in Woodstock, and a large shopping center being built right now at Sixes Road and 575. We don't have a need to go downtown per se, though it would be nice to see it revitalized like Woodstock's downtown.

How do you like living in GA since leaving NJ? We really do love NJ but I can't take the cold and snow any longer which brings me to my next question.

We love it. My daughter is doing very well in school, the neighbors and everyone else we meet are really friendly, and there's tons of stuff to do. The kids take cooking classes at the Young Chefs Academy every Saturday, and my oldest daughter is taking drama classes at the Cherokee County Rec Center (she's 6). There's so many things to do and places to explore since we're new to the area that it's almost overwhelming. The weather was pretty brutal the first month we were here (temps topping 100, but that's highly irregular for the area, and it was more tolerable than the 95 degree humid days in NJ), but now it's absolutely awesome- it's been 60 in the mornings, and topping out around 80 and 35% humidity for the past week.


Some people are telling me that North of Atlanta is where we would be more at risk for twisters than south of Atlanta. Any truth to that?

There's a map somewhere that plots all of the "tornadoes" that have hit the area over the past 50 or so years, and they're pretty uncommon and very minor- mostly F0's and F1's. Not moving here because of the risk of a tornado would be like not moving to NJ because of hurricanes, IMO.

Thanks again

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask any other questions that come up.

Bob

[mary inc 602]

I live in woodstock and love it... theres more stuff to do then in holly springs. We own some buildings up in holly springs its growing, but slowly still. There's also a ton of illegals up in the canton area (downtown) as for woodstock we dont have that. They mostly sit there and look for work not to be mean, but im only 20 and a female and I don't travel that part alone!

[Coffeecake]

We also moved to Woodstock, GA recently. We like it alot here. The small town center is busy and there's a lot of new construction going on with historic distric townhouses and new boutiques and restaurants. Saw the long-term forcasted plan and it seems ambitious. I don't really like the townhouses they just built. They remind me too much of a factory environment and seem to overpower the quaintness of downtown Woostock.

Just recently discovered Holly Springs and it's really very nice. Had I known about it, I probably would have bought there instead of Woodstock. But for commuting sake, Woodstock is closer to Atlanta.

One point to mention. If you do buy one of the properties that has land and is not located in a subdivision, make sure you are aware of your surroundings. My husband made a good point that although we could have a beautiful house with plenty of landscaped, gorgeous land.............what good does it serve when your neighbor has 5 fridges and 7 rusting cars in their yard. That's the risk you take when you buy outside of a subdivision with convents and restrictions, and that's the trade off as well. Smaller lots, less privacy, closer houses.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Woodstock and Holly Springs are both semi-rural to rural towns in Cherokee County. We just moved to Holly Springs last month from Woodbridge, NJ.
Bob

Bob, in your opinion, what is rural about Woodstock? I didn't realize that all the development and traffic along Highway 92 and Towne Lake Parkway constituted "rural". Good grief, you have serious issues if you would call Woodstock and Holly Springs "rural", or even "semi rural". Both of these towns are suburban. I will agree with you, however, that Woodstock is built up somewhat more than Holly Springs.

A "rural" or "semi-rural" environment would be found in the North Cherokee towns of Ballground and Waleska.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by mary inc 602

I live in woodstock and love it... theres more stuff to do then in holly springs. We own some buildings up in holly springs its growing, but slowly still. There's also a ton of illegals up in the canton area (downtown) as for woodstock we dont have that. They mostly sit there and look for work not to be mean, but im only 20 and a female and I don't travel that part alone!

If the city of Canton grew some balls, they'd go into downtown Canton and surrounding neighborhoods and ask the Indian/Mestizo non-English speakers for their papers. If they couldn't speak English, or if they couldn't provide papers, they need to call immigration services, or perhaps lock their rear ends up. Invaders such as these have ruined hundreds of cities throughout the southwest and beyond, and once they become the majority, the town is ruined for forever more. No one ever thinks about the citizens and the homeowners who have their community, their way of life, and their financial investments ruined because of these parasites who broke the law by crashing our borders.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

Bob, in your opinion, what is rural about Woodstock? I didn't realize that all the development and traffic along Highway 92 and Towne Lake Parkway constituted "rural". Good grief, you have serious issues if you would call Woodstock and Holly Springs "rural", or even "semi rural". Both of these towns are suburban. I will agree with you, however, that Woodstock is built up somewhat more than Holly Springs.

A "rural" or "semi-rural" environment would be found in the North Cherokee towns of Ballground and Waleska.

Try driving more than 1/2 a mile off of 575 for a change. While the downtown area and Towne Lake obviously don't qualify, once you get out on Arnold Mill and 140 it gets very rural (not 300-acre farm rural, but still rural). These areas may not "officially" be Woodstock anymore than many areas with Canton zipcodes aren't in downtown Canton, but they've got Woodstock zipcodes.