Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am looking for some local perspective on Johns island.
The good? bad? what is the overall feel of the island?
We are a young family looking to move down to the area and stumbled upon Johns island and liked the fact that you can get some acreage while still being close to the beach and downtown. (or at least it seems that way...??)
I've seen that there seems to be a traffic problem, is that just during the commuting hours (7am-9am and 5pm-7pm)? or is it more than that? how bad is it?
We are from out of state so we can take a look at it ourselves until this fall, but before we get too hyped up on it I am trying to do extensive research and get some local perspective.
My opinion... Johns Island is beautiful and has great potential. The two biggest problems there are the traffic as you noted, and the lack of good schools. If you can avoid the rush hours and schools aren't important, it's a great option. Not sure about morning rush hr but in the afternoon, it starts getting thick at 4-4:30. I don't live out there and I can usually avoid the high traffic times but I occasionally am leaving Johns Isl in the afternoon and passing by the gridlock going the other direction. It's not pretty.
I have friends who live out there and work on Kiawah (so traffic's not an issue) and they love it.
Yes as long as you dont have to go into charleston during rush hour times (morning) and back to johns island in (afternoon) you will be ok. Very very nice out there
We have two young boys (and we live on James Island) and know a number of families who live on Johns Island. Two things spring to mind- 1- none of them have their kids in Johns Island schools. They either drive them to James Island (and managed to get them into one of the James Island schools) or do private schools. 2- They are constantly driving the kids off the island for activities (school stuff, sports, etc.). It just seems to be a ton of driving and a huge hassle.
We spent several weekends driving around the island as well thinking about buying out there (based on the positive things you have noticed). But ultimately it is not nearly as convenient as it might seem on paper... I would highly suggest spending a week (during the school year!) exploring it before deciding for yourself.
There's a lot of tranquil things to do on Johns Island. We use to live there (2011-2014), and loved going strawberry picking, traveling down to Kiawah/Seabrook beaches, all the farms and events, etc. But the developers are growing so rapidly we started dreading the commute/traffic. We also left before our oldest started school.
Unfortunately there are some great, affordable places with LARGE plots of land in places like Johns Island, Ravenel, Awendaw, etc. But if public school is something you will put your kids in (unfortunately) there are some poor choices of schools that you must consider. A lot of our friends on Johns Island also took their kids to other schools.
We opted for James Island, on a 1/4 acre, good schools and close to all the action. The same could be had with a lot of parts of Charleston! Johns Island just has not had time to catch up with the surge of people moving, nor the time for schools to improve.
James Island and Johns Island both have more "locals' than others areas of Charleston.
If you want to live in the 'North' of Charleston , you can move to Mt. Pleasant or Daniel Island. That is like living in New York.
These people are correct, the schools are no good on Johns Island, and most all parents that are concerned send their kids over to James Island or Private school. The traffic is very bad in the afternoon for returning to the island at the 500 o' clock time block.
The Island is very pretty with many wetlands and the beautiful Stono River. There are many beautiful Live Oak trees.
The Island is changing , many people can't stand this. Over the next two years, there will be big changes. There are many, many neighborhoods and developments in process and being developed. There is commercial property and residential property that has been sold, and will be developed. The area of River Rd. and Maybank Rd will be a major intersection in the next two years. Part of Johns Island will be like living in the suburbs of Charleston. Road construction and improvement is also on the way, and will help with the traffic in the next two years greatly. The first improvement to add an additional lane on the Stono Bridge entering Johns Island will begin at end of summer/fall.
There are many places on Johns Island away from this area I'm describing , which are still very rural, and there is a large amount of land.
There are bad areas as well on the island, but mainly two areas which are to be avoided.
Road construction and improvement is also on the way, and will help with the traffic in the next two years greatly. The first improvement to add an additional lane on the Stono Bridge entering Johns Island will begin at end of summer/fall.
While I agree with most of what you say, I just don't believe there will be any real traffic improvement there in the next two years. In fact, I think it will get worse before it ever gets better. Just my 2 cents, I could certainly be wrong...
As Exhibit A, I give you Bacons Bridge Road, which has taken 2 years to show any measurable progress. It currently has no Bridge, and probably no Bacon either.
The locals have taken to calling it Orange Barrel Boulevard, since most of the work seems to involve moving the brightly-colored traffic markers a few feet this way, and then a few feet the other way on alternating weeks.
I will say that if they ever finish this project, it will be the finest 1 mile stretch of asphalt anywhere in the Palmetto State.
While I agree with most of what you say, I just don't believe there will be any real traffic improvement there in the next two years. In fact, I think it will get worse before it ever gets better. Just my 2 cents, I could certainly be wrong...
Agreed, and now with them removing a lane for bikes going over the Ashley into Charleston, I don't see how it's going to get better.
Thank you, everyone for your replies, each of you mentioned some great things to think about.
I did see about the schools on the island and it is something we are taking into consideration. What's it like to try and get a child/children into a James island school?
We're looking to move down for warmer weather, enjoy outdoor things with our kids, be close to the beach and a better quality of life that those all bring - while being close enough to enjoy Charleston's amenities when we want to. We love the Charleston area but aren't interesting in being right in the hustle and bustle, we want a more relaxed life than what Mt. Pleasant seems to offer. James island looks really nice but for the amount of acreage we want (2+; ideally somewhere in the 5-10 range), it looks to be out of our price range.
From what we can see it's about a 20-30 min drive to downtown from Johns island (without traffic), is that accurate? Also, what is flooding like on the island?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
