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Old 10-09-2009, 04:52 PM
 
72 posts, read 318,543 times
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We are fortunate enough to be retiring in our early 50's in 2011.

Question: What is the most beautiful historic residential neighborhood in Virginia?
We are only interested in 2 criteria:
1) a high concentration of beautiful, historic homes in a nice neighborhood;
2) decent weather for most of the year. (We can tolerate cool winters, but we do NOT like extremely hot, humid summers.)

(Assume employment , housing costs, and all other factors irrelevant. Does not matter if its a small town, medium sized city, or large city --- we have lived in all 3, and each has advantages and disadvantages.)

Feel free to post any photos if you have them.
Thanks in advance.
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Old 10-10-2009, 12:11 PM
 
Location: alive in the superunknown
542 posts, read 991,538 times
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Unless you are specifically looking into the Norfolk/Va Beach area I would post this on the general VA forum. But in Hampton Roads the Ghent neighborhood I believe is what you would be interested in. In Richmond the Fan district is in my opinion one of the nicest if not the nicest in the state. It has Monument Ave. which is the only street in the country to be on the National Register of Historic Places. In Roanoke you have old southwest, but it's nowhere near as cool as the fan or Ghent. In NoVa, you have old town Alexandria, and over the river in DC you have Georgetown. Va is a very old state, so most if not all of the cities and towns are going to have these features to a degree that you are looking for. FYI VA gets quite humid and hot summers, this last one was not so bad and our winters can range from mild to very cold. Just depends where in the state you are. Hope this helps!
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Old 10-10-2009, 12:13 PM
 
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If you hate hot and humid this is not the place for you.
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Old 10-15-2009, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Newport News, Virginia
368 posts, read 995,771 times
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Hilton Village in Newport News just got named one of the top ten best planned historic neighborhoods in the country--we have friends who live there and love it.
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Old 10-15-2009, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Va Beach
3,507 posts, read 13,451,338 times
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I'd say Williamsburg
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Old 10-15-2009, 09:19 AM
 
Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia
1,123 posts, read 5,331,941 times
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All of the SE has hot humid summers! The east coast has all the historic neighborhoods, obviously . So it sounds like you might have to compromise on weather. Since VA is mid coast, we have 4 seasons which is nice. Hampton Roads has milder winters - it gets cold but less snow than NoVa.

Once you go more north, the summers may be nicer, but the winters are worse.

Fortunately, in Hamton Roads, our really hot part of the summer is just about 2 months. Not too bad when you consider the other 10 months are pretty good.

I like Old Town Alexandria as a truly historic neighborhood - but it is very very pricey. Then there is historic Fredericksburg.

Like another poster said, Hilten Village in Newport News has beautiful homes, but overall - I don't like the general area. Williamsburg may be the right place. Definitely historic .
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Old 10-15-2009, 02:50 PM
 
Location: Newport News, Virginia
368 posts, read 995,771 times
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Yorktown Proper is nice, too--history on the beach!
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Old 10-15-2009, 04:40 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,596,211 times
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Fredericksburg!
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Old 10-15-2009, 09:44 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
2,124 posts, read 8,841,018 times
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I would say Williamsburg. did you know you can live in the actual old town area? or Richmond VA in the FAN or Church Hill. Did you know that St. Johns Church is at the top of Church Hill and is the place where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech? or that Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond is home to 3 deceased presidents? Wonderful architecture, rich history, some excellent food and you are : 2 hours to DC, 2 hours to the mountains and 2 hours to the beach. How central is that?

shelly
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Old 10-16-2009, 04:03 AM
 
Location: Williamsburg
1,194 posts, read 3,976,728 times
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I will second the Colonial Williamsburg area although historic homes are a rare commodity. There were only two home sales of 1940 or earlier homes in the last year at an avg price of $540k. There are a few more available this year but they are still pricey. The Duke of Gloucester Street was just named one of the Top 10 Great Streets in America by the American Planning Association Our homes are not as historic as a few other areas with most being built after the late 1920's. I will say that the Monument District in Richmond is one of my favorites as well. My in-laws lived in numerous homes there and all were truly unique.
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