looking to retire to progressive area (Richmond, Charlottesville: apartment, condos, hotels)

[TN Lily]

I agree with jtees4. I was back in Charlottesville recently. It has many good qualities, including two outstanding hospitals, but friendliness of the community overall is not one of them. Yes, there are plenty of good folks, but on a weekend in December, the good folk of C-ville will mow you down to get an open parking space in Barracks Road Shopping Center. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but I have found other areas of Virginia more welcoming and overall more friendly -- including Newport News.

It has trendy restaurants and overpriced stores and a student body at UVA that often thinks they're better than everyone else (hence the many UVA jokes). Homelessness is an issue especially on the downtown mall where folks can dine in outdoor seating areas on the mall with a homeless person sitting a short distance away. C-ville offers any services for the homeless. I realize that studies say that providing these services does not attract homeless persons from other communities, but I question those studies after having spent lots of time in C-ville when we lived nearby.

[petsandgardens]

Yes, progressive blue are is Northern Va...outside DC area which has greatly expanded over the decades...and Hampton Rds area. Hampton Roads is popular with retirees. Lots of water, history, beach, ocean.

[Mikanid]

You may like living in Old Trail in Crozet. It is a huge community with a traditional neighborhood design. It is a wonderful mix of young couples, families with kids of all ages and retirees. The neighborhood has golf, pool, and active people running and walking everywhere. Crozet has a handful of great restaurants and Charlottesville is 20 minutes away.

[Bigfoot424]

I was also in Charlottesville recently for the first time in several years. I had to visit UVA for medical reasons. I then drove downtown and looked around. It's starting to look more and more like a bigger city and I wasn't impressed too much. Parking was an issue and people just seemed to be so into themselves. I realize a short visit isn't enough time to really tell what a city is truly like but I can remember visiting here over the years past and just loving the place. I didn't feel the same on this visit.

[mountainrose]

Asheville, NC is where you should look.
Fantastic weather year round and highly, highly progressive with a warm and very friendly attitude unlike Cville which is somewhat progressive but unfriendly and has lots of crime and racial tensions.

Plus Asheville area is extremely beautiful

[jtees4]

Just FYI. I spent the last four days at my son's house outside C'Ville. I went into the heart of C'Ville only once, and it was OK, but didn't change my mind at all. We ate at Three Notch'd Brewing one night. It was not busy and they were out of both steak and chicken....we didn't mind except they didn't tell us until we were ordering....strange. The food was quite good, and the brews were fine. Another might we ate outside the center of C'Ville (along rt. 29) at BJ's Brewery, which is a chain. MUCH friendlier there...and we also noticed that the waitresses were much older (which actually seemed strange to us), but maybe since school is out that is who is left. The food was good just like Three Notch'd. So, I haven't changed my mind about C'Ville...but at the same time I don't want to come off as sounding like it is awful....it's OK....just not particularly friendly. I usually shop in Ruckersville and find the stores better and much friendlier generally.

[BGCTFL]

It's such a shame that the political situation in this country has gotten to the point that we decide where to live and who to associate with based on our/their political views.

The current labeling of someone / someplace as being conservative, liberal, progressive, etc. has gotten so blurred that the terms have little meaning anymore.

As a kid, I asked my mother whether she voted for the Republican or Democrat for President. Her response: "That's my business, that's why they have curtains in the voting booths". That attitude would come in handy today!

So, in two weeks my wife and I will be coming to visit the Staunton, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg areas. Maybe catch a ballgame down in Salem, too. We're both optimistic and hopeful that one of these towns just might be "it" for us. No politics. No senseless violence, no unkindness.

"What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?"... George Eliot

[An Old Tavernkeeper]

Charlottesville is definitely socialist leaning and as "old libs" we felt comfortable for years. The University is a big drug and gang draw (because of the drug sales to students, mostly cocaine) and you have the normal college shennanigans, but also rapes and Jesse Matthews the rapist and serial killer. But we tolerated that. Now things are changing. The University is displacing all of the poor and minority populations by pricing them out of the area. And worse, Charlottesville has now become a target for outside groups both left and right. You have seen the violence on TV. My wife works in Albemarle County Public Schools and in 2 years we will be moving away if there are any more incidents.

[RobinG60]

Two years ago, I spent a year traveling back and forth from NJ to Virginia, looking for our relocation spot. My friend had built a gorgeous farm by the Blue Ridge Mountains, i fell in love with those mountains, thought it might be a good place to look.
Northern Albermarle county was too busy and trendy for me.
Further south, I spent time in Roanoke. Nice, but town was too big, wasn't for me.
I loved the town of Staunton. The people were friendly, the town very cute and walkable.
I loved the town of lexington.
Both Staunton and Lexington were pretty costly compared to other areas and real estate in or near to town was gone quick.
So, I looked a bit further out.
The problem I encountered was venturing out in to the more rural areas, on the outskirts of these towns. I wanted more land, more quiet, more nature. Those are my personal priorities.

But I was put off by some of the trailer homes with dogs tied to couches on front lawn, the plethora of Confederate flags, the barrage of church billboards all over, plus it was uncomfortably hot. I all of a sudden felt out of place. In unfamiliar territory.
Dont misunderstand. I spent more than a few of my younger years living on the lean; as young married with kids in NJ and also in Maine, renting a two room cabin down a country road with no running water.
I dont care if you live in a trailer. But the dog chained in the hot sun, and the untidiness, was a turn off.
I respect your desire to go to church, but was uncomfortable being asked by so many folks about my church going habits.
As for the rebel flag, well I thought that war was over, but guess not.
And must add, I was making these visits during the 2016 campaign and found myself balking at the hundreds of Trump billboards all over. I do admit to leaning left, but was suprised how scary it was to see his huge face plastered all over!
So, I reevaluated.
Reminded myself I am a northeast girl. I love the; cooler summers, the live and let live dogma, the more familiar terrain and lifestyle.
We ended up here in southern Vermont. I have never been so content. They say it is the state where hippies and rednecks get along comfortably. Lol. My taxes are not as affordable as in Virginia, but my house on the 35 acre mountainside was a steal comparatively. And yes, we get snow, but I'd rather sit by the wood stove in the winter, than by the a/c in the summer.
I know many transplanted northern folks living in Virginia, North Carolina, who are very happy with their choice. And I know others, like myself, that found it a bridge too far.
Make sure to visit lots of places and get a real feel for different areas.
Good luck to you!

[whiskeytangofoxtrotalpha]

I moved out of New York and wound up in Locust Grove Virginia still in Orange County but close to Fredericksburg, we just had a Publix open in Cosners Corner, excited, use to shop at the one in Ocala Florida when I was down there.

Charlottesville is a posh town as far as quality sporting events with UVA, concerts, but being from the northern part of Westchester NY C'ville reminds me of the pretentious vibe of the river towns.

Also racial tensions high, they all want to cover civil war statues but yet willingly attend a University founded by a slave owner, kinda like an oxymoron I guess.