Forest Acres - Good place overall? (Columbia, Welcome: insurance, neighborhoods, wedding)
Columbia areaColumbia - Lexington - Irmo
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Hello. Me and my long time boyfriend will be relocating to Columbia from NoVa next year. We're a mixed race couple (he is white, I am Arab), not flamboyant but not in the closet either (we're more the beer and BBQ type but do enjoy culture and fine dining and wine from time to time as well).
One of the areas we are looking at is Forest Acres. So far, it seems to be where we would be leaning to as far as living in. It seems to be nice on paper - upscale, clean, safe, close to downtown, close to lots of the other shopping and dining areas of Columbia, etc - but just wanted people's advice. How nice is it overall? And how gay friendly is it? I know Columbia in general is tolerant by South Carolina standards, even if that isn't the best metric to go by, but just wanted to know how things there are.
If anything, a friend told me our religious affiliations might be a bigger issue than our sexuality lol I'm Eastern-Orthodox Christian, while he is mostly Atheist. I do hear people in the South don't hesitate to ask what church people go to upon meeting them...
In any case, just wanted some feedback from people in the know.
Forest acres is nice, although I'd also consider Shandon, Cottontown, Earlewood (probably the most gay friendly), and Rosewood. I'm not religious either and neither are the vast majority of my friends. I don't think you'll have a problem in that regard downtown.
Thanks for the other areas, will look them up. But your thoughts on Forest Acres?
It's nice and largely fits your description. It skews a bit older / family friendly. More diversity in the other neighborhoods I mentioned. But Forest Acres is nice, convenient, and has access to lots of amenities.
Hello. Me and my long time boyfriend will be relocating to Columbia from NoVa next year. We're a mixed race couple (he is white, I am Arab), not flamboyant but not in the closet either (we're more the beer and BBQ type but do enjoy culture and fine dining and wine from time to time as well).
One of the areas we are looking at is Forest Acres. So far, it seems to be where we would be leaning to as far as living in. It seems to be nice on paper - upscale, clean, safe, close to downtown, close to lots of the other shopping and dining areas of Columbia, etc - but just wanted people's advice. How nice is it overall? And how gay friendly is it? I know Columbia in general is tolerant by South Carolina standards, even if that isn't the best metric to go by, but just wanted to know how things there are.
If anything, a friend told me our religious affiliations might be a bigger issue than our sexuality lol I'm Eastern-Orthodox Christian, while he is mostly Atheist. I do hear people in the South don't hesitate to ask what church people go to upon meeting them...
In any case, just wanted some feedback from people in the know.
Columbia is definitely the most gay-friendly city in the state and we just had 55,000 in attendance at Pride last month. The in-town neighborhoods are much more heavily gay than Forest Acres, but you won't have any problems there. Forest Acres isn't the most diverse area, though. The most gay-friendly neighborhoods would be Earlewood, Keenan Terrace, Cottontown, Elmwood Park, Shandon, Melrose Heights, Rosewood, Hollywood-Rose Hill and downtown. Welcome to Columbia.
I have lived here for 10 years, and no one has every asked me what Church I go to. It may having something to do with the circles I run in, but I have a pretty diverse group of friends and business relationships. No one has ever had a problem with me being gay either. Thanks to Fort Jackson, the University of South Carolina, Federal Government offices, Healthcare, Statewide non-profits and associations, and a fairly robust insurance and banking industry, and a strong artistic community, Columbia is much more cosmopolitan than other parts of South Carolina.
Forest Acres, for me, would be very boring. It's way more similar to Ashburn, or Reston VA than Dupont Circle... It all depends on what you are looking for. You are mostly going to be around upper middle class to wealthy families in Forest Acres. Columbia, however is pretty chill in general. There is are places like Vino Garage and The War Mouth, and lots of local breweries you could visit in the NoMa or Rosewood/Shandon ares.
I've never been asked what church I attend either (full disclosure: I'm not religious and haven't darkened the door of a church except for a wedding or funeral in almost two decades). Columbia isn't Manhattan (or DC for that matter), but it isn't the Deep South either.
Anyone on this post who is not a member of a church..... should burn in Hell!!!! Alleluja....praise his gloriooooooous name...
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