Relocating to Laurel, Ms (Hattiesburg, Petal: new home, best schools, university)

[TL004]

We have recently discovered that we will be relocating to Mississippi. We have narrowed the area down to Laurel as it seems to be the nicest with the closest commute for my fiancé who will be working out of Waynesboro. I have had a difficult time finding out information about the area though in regards to activities for our kids (aged 10 and 7) and in general information for people relocating there. Our kids are very sports oriented and one is also gifted. We have looked in the Windermere subdivision and I absolutely loved the subdivision, so I believe that's the area we would like to be. Are there any subdivisions I have overlooked? Are there any places online to find out more information regarding the communities? Anything that anyone could tell me would be extremely helpful!

[brickpatio]

I think you've located one of the few new subdivisions in the Laurel area, particularly that goes to county schools. This is largely because Laurel has a huge supply of beautiful historic homes right in town, especially for a town of its size.

Laurel served as the local headquarters many decades ago for companies that came to this area to harvest the massive amounts of timber, bringing much wealth to the area. In addition, Laurel went through a period of oil wealth, and the result of the timber and oil money is the many gorgeous homes and beautiful rolling yards throughout town.

Because of all this, there just isn't a need for building many new homes these days outside of town, especially since they haven't been growing in population in recent decades. The area though you've found definitely is a nice one. The problem of course with living in town is the city schools are very bad and the county schools are much better. I'm fairly sure that Windermere feeds into West Jones schools which are decent public schools in Jones County.

Beyond schools, I'm not sure what else to say about Laurel when it comes to your children. I do believe the city has a very nice city-owned sports complex and a very pretty country club, I believe one of the oldest in the state. They also have I believe the state's oldest art museum (Lauren Rogers Museum of Art). Otherwise for children it's probably the standard sports such as baseball, swimming, tennis, basketball, etc.

If you haven't been into neighboring Hattiesburg, it's much larger and has the university, so there's a good more action there.

[TL004]

Thank you so much for the information! It's actually been harder than it thought it would to find anything out about the area belong the historic district. I appreciate the response!

[brickpatio]

This link below is to the Laurel city parks and rec dept, including a phone number. The site also has a page listing all the youth and adult sports with information on signing up etc. Of course a lot of sports are done through the schools also. I do know West Jones High is known for girls soccer, winning state championships several years in a row. That suggests that soccer is big in Laurel.


Parks and Recreation Department - Laurel, MS - Facilities

[viverlibre]

One word, Petal. It would be around an hour drive, but more than worth it to have the best schools in the state and things to do for you and the kids. There are also young professionals who move into and out of Petal, so making friends and fitting in will be easier.

Laurel is closed society, with few people moving into town, so unless you're into the traditional church scene (which I doubt due to your living arrangements) fitting in in Luarel will the hard. Plus the schools are bad.