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Let's play a game of Pros and Cons... I have a looong list of great reasons to move to the Lake Keowee/Seneca area, but my list of cons is pretty small.
I want to make sure I have all of my bases covered in terms of things I might not have thought of, or might not be expecting... if you've lived in this area, I'd love to hear what you think.
Yes, one of the things on my list is the nuclear power plant.
Schools aren't a concern, as my Son is homeschooled- and employment isn't a concern as I'm self-employed.
You shouldn't worry about the nuclear power plant. Much more likely to get into a car accident than be exposed to radiation from some kind of major accident out there.
The main pros are it is near waterfalls, lakes, mountains, and Clemson University. Light traffc, a decent amount of restaurants for a town so smalll, and a decent small hospital are some others. It isn't that far from Anderson, and Greenville trips on the weekend. Seneca has a nice bowling alley.
Here are my cons:
If you eat out a lot, the lack of variety here will get old. That's a major reason I couldn't live there.
There is no YMCA or other fitness club with both weight machines, aerboic classes, pool, and basketball and racquetball. Clemson University's gym has that but to me it might be awkward working out there if you aren't a student there. I think the city of Central might have a decent one. They are talking about building a Seneca YMCA but I think they been talking about that for 10 years or more.
I think Seneca area has a lot of rich people and a lot of poor people and not much of a middle class as there are not a lot of jobs there. This also leads to really expensive houses and then really bad housing and not a lot of in between or so it seems.
The movie theatre isn't very good. I think they improved it some but it isn't a Regal type like in Greenville. Anderson has some decent ones but that is 20 miles away.
I think it is probably at least 5 degrees colder in this area in the winter than Greenville. I want to say that part of the state tends to be more rainy and overcast in the winter too.
There might be a lot of rednecks.
Kind of far off the interstate.
Thanks! Those are some things to consider that I hadn't. I'm kind of surprised there isn't a bigger theatre in Clemson area, I would have thought with the student population that they'd have that.
The first thing anyone says to me when I mention living there is the Nuclear plant-- but really, Greenville is within a 50 mile radius of the plant. If there was a disaster of some type, it all falls within that range.
I would not be too concerned about the nuclear plant either. If you like to eat out, they have a few restaurants but Anderson & Clemson are not a bad drive. The Lighthouse on Lake Keowee is a good restaurant & there is a steakhouse in either Westminster or Walhalla that is only open Thurs, Fri & Sat that everyone raves about. They do not serve alcohol. Sorry, the name eludes me at the moment.
Shopping is pretty limited but as I said Anderson is not that far.
Pat, is my memory correct in that you lived at Lake Keowee? I think I remember this from previous postings I had read, there's not that many about the area...
We were there over the weekend and ate at J Peters, at Ram Cat Alley- there seemed to be quite a few nice little restaurants there. My son was also excited to find the fudge/ice cream shop, and a cupcake shop- and our favorite Greenville pizza, Peppino's- is also in Seneca.
I did find one other con to add to my list- Lindsey Graham lives there. LOL.
I know of no regular posters on C-D that now live in Oconee County.
I lived just north of Seneca on Lake Keowee (moved away about 7 years ago) - I loved it but my wife hated it (so, now we live 5 min south of downtown Greenville).
Pro's
Quiet
Access to the SC/NC mountains (Highlands, NC is only 45 min drive north - incredible scenery - great escape from Seneca)
Lakes Keowee and Jocassee (pristine lakes with abundant activities)
Cost of living
Con's
Too quiet
Lack of children's activities
Lack of diverse/upscale dining and shopping (this is slowly changing)
No Publix anywhere in Oconee County
(As noted above) no YMCA or decent health-club facility (this is a must for my family)
(As noted above) lack of easy interstate access (but 123 offers easy access to Greenville)
Other comments
The Oconee Nuclear Station didn't phase us at all while living there - but, prior to moving to Seneca, we asked our real estate agent why there were numerous sirens surrounding Lake Keowee - he informed us they were for nuclear (not weather) emergencies
The average temperatures are actually slightly warmer in Oconee County (compared to Greenville) unless your sitting at a higher elevation in far northern Oconee County. Overall precipitation is uniform across the Upstate (again, depending upon elevation - but very few people live at higher elevations in SC).
Oconee County attracts LOTS of retirees - esp in Keowee Key. I disagree with the comment made re the disparity between rich and poor - didn't really see that and I thought the middle class housing stock was robust - but things may have changed in 7 years since I've lived there.
Last edited by drfranklin; 09-24-2013 at 04:34 PM..
My mother in law did but I was there quite a bit. I have a small getaway there now but don't live there. I do visit as often as possible. I love it there, but just go for weekends. Let me know if I can answer any questions. If I don't know, I will try to find out.
Main con. No grocery nearby. We had a place there for a while but it was too far away from anything and I felt I spent a lot of time driving.
That's only if you up on the north side of the lake, if you are in Seneca there are several grocery stores. Food Lion, Ingles and Bi-LO, plus the walmart.
The good doctor mentioned there is no Publix in Seneca but there is a brand new one in Clemson 10 minutes away. There's a Mcalister's deli and IHOP next to that which is pretty exciting for Clemson. LOL
In a lot of ways you can look at it as the Seneca-Wahalla-Central-Clemson-Pendleton area, it's basically one metro. I think you'll probably end up over in Anderson a good bit no matter what so there will be some driving.
really, there is probably no advantage to living in Seneca over Anderson unless you have a boate and prefer Jocasee and Keowee or can live out on one of those hoity toity n'hoods on the lake. If only we were all so lucky.
Anderson's YMCA is the bomb and the north side off highway 81 has some nice n'hoods. the main con with Anderson is they put everything on the main drag thru town so you kind of riding your brake up and down that road and it kind of kills the rural vibe of the area. Greenville seems more rural on Woodruff that that road in Anderson. LOL
It's too bad Clemson hasn't been able to bring some technology type of companies into the Seneca and Pendleton areas. Seneca has a decent little downtown area that could get more swanky if more affluent people moved in there and corporations were able to invest in it some. That area could be like a version of Chapel Hill up near the moutains and pristine lakes.
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