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Where is Or how far is the best hospital for major surgeries, serious medical conditions, etc in the Horry County. I see that there are some smaller hospitals but wonder about serious medical issues. Also are medical centers plentiful in this area? Thannk you
Grand Strand Medical Center has an excellent reputation for heart related issues. Some people travel to Charleston (2 hours) for other major surgeries.
CTyankee...what a small world...were are from Newington also!! I looked at earlier posts an I see you had posted before with some if my questions. You said that there are towns like Coventry....what towns in the area are like that? We have been researching the area and are still unsure. We keep going back and forth ... should we move or not!! Good medical care is important to us....don't want to drive 2 hours for a hospital!! We were thinking maybe between Myrtle Beach area and Charleston might work...any cimments on that area.....We are thinking that 30-60 minutes from the coast would be ok.
The taxes are the main reason for us wanting out of CT. Although I like snow...the older I get...my mind might change!
We plan to visit the area this summer and want to have as much info on the area as possible to make the visit worth while.
Wow...it is a small world. We lived in the Hickory Hill area. Where in Newington do you live? If you come down this summer, my wife and I would be happy to show you around.
Towns like Coventry...you might like Conway. It's a small agricultural town (30,000) that's also the county seat. It's about 30-45 minutes from the beach depending on which day you're trying to drive in to the beach (don't even try to drive in on the weekend from June-August). Aynor is an even smaller agricultural town and would be about an hour to the beach. Don't sneeze driving through the "downtown" part of Aynor or you'll miss it (LOL). You might even like the Little River area. All are within 30 minutes or so of Grand Strand Medical. Little River also has a small hospital that my doctor is associated with...and I like my doctor. As I said in an earlier post, Grand Strand really has a good reputation. My Dad just had a health episode this month and I thought they did a very nice job with him.
There's not much between Myrtle Beach and Charleston (I include Murrells Inlet/Pawley's Island as part of MB for purposes of this post because even from there it's still almost 2 hours to Charleston). The only decent size town below there is Georgetown and I wouldn't recommend GT due to the paper mill and soon to reopen steel mill and associated smells which can be intense at times. McClellanville is a tiny town between GT and Charleston but it's quite a ways to the hospital in Charleston or GT from there. But other than that, the area between GT and Charleston is mostly straight roads and lots and lots of pine trees!!! And once you get away from the coast, it's mostly farm land and tiny towns.
If you want to consider Charleston, there's an adorable little town outside of Charleston called Summerville. Summerville reminded us a lot of Newington. We seriously considered moving there when we were trying to decide where to move but it was a good hour to the beach on a good traffic day and we just didn't want to be that far away from the ocean.
I certainly understand about moving for the taxes...we have a bigger house here than we had in CT and the taxes are only 10% of what we were paying there. And when we turn 65, they will go down even lower. Car taxes are significantly less as are license fees, etc. Car insurance is slightly higher (lots of tourists who don't know where they're going causing fender benders). Homeowners is slightly higher too due to hurricane risks.
I always tell people moving from the north that things are different here and to be ready for a culture change...not necessarily "bad" different...just different. A few examples--SC is a very "red" state politically while CT is very "blue." In many areas, you pay for trash pickup...its not part of your taxes. But, you can haul your own trash to the sanitation center and drop it off for free if you'd like. If you don't live in an HOA, you can burn your leaves without a permit. There's no helmet law for motorcycles. Life is a lot "slower" but so is getting anybody to work on your car/house, etc. An HOA is desirable for many people because, unlike CT where every town abuts another, much of the area outside of towns is governed by a County government and there are very loose zoning laws. You may have a $500,000 house and someone can put in a mobile home right next door. HOA's protect against that but come with other baggage as well. Churches are a big deal here...not so much in CT unless you're Catholic. People who grew up here are friendlier. Jobs don't pay as well. No or very few unions...it's illegal for government employees to organize/join a union. In the country, people target practice with guns or bow/arrows in their back yards.
So, that's a taste of how things are different. If you live in the MB area, you have to plan around tourist traffic especially on the weekends in the summer. But, once you get to know the area, there are many backroads to take to avoid most tourist traffic. Spring/fall/winters are great, though. Average high temp in Jan/Feb is 59 and sunny. You can play golf all year long. BUT, it's very hot and humid in the summer. Think about the hottest two weeks in the summer in CT and that's what it's like pretty much from June to August.
Like I said, if you come down, let us know and we'll show you around. My employer is making me come back to CT in late June for some meetings (much to my chagrin). It's not that I don't like CT...it was a wonderful place to raise our family and we still have many friends and a son living there. But, I really don't enjoy trips back there anymore.
People say that if you don't play golf you won't like this area..comments? (We don't play golf).
We lived off Connectucit Ave near Mountain View in Newington. We are looking for more rural than Newington...too many people...too much congestion. We moved to Glastonbury a couple of years ago..much nicer and quieter and rural....yet close to Buckland Mall, etc.
We looked at Summerville as à possibility but think we want a little more in the country.
Can you recommend any places for us to stay that are decent and not too pricy? Not near the coast.... we would like to stay where we can check out Horry County and also Summerville area, Moncks Corner etc. and not spend hours on the road.. thank you for offering to show us around.
Not too be too nosey, but what made you decide to move from Ct to SC and this area?
Sorry for the delayed response. Holiday plus our daughter visiting has occupied a lot of time.
I'll start by answering your question in your separate thread about best time to visit. July and most of August are the busiest time here...far more busy than the fall golfers. The number of golfers is dwarfed by summer visitors. Especially if you're not going to visit the beach, I'd come in Sept/Oct...some of the most beautiful months here. You won't even notice the golfers.
As far a where to stay...it would be hard to recommend a place where you can get to Horry County and Charleston without spending hours on the road because, well, Horry County and Charleston are 2 hours apart and there's not much except pine trees at the half way point. My suggestion is that you spend a few days in the Charleston area and then drive 2 hours and spend a few days in Horry County (or visa vera). That way you're not spending hours on the road several times...just one 2 hour trip to get from one place to the other. I can't really recommend any place on Charleston other than to definitely stay in the suburbs because anyplace close to Charleston is very expensive. In Horry County, there are couple of nice B&B's in Conway(don't know how much you want to spend). I'd stay away from the $39/night places...you get what you pay for.... Conway would give you easy access to Aynor and not too bad of a drive to Pawley's Island. Check out airbnb.com...we use them all the time with great results.
Based on what you are looking for in a place to live, I would suggest Aynor or Pawley's Island. Aynor is very rural but is only about 15 minutes to Conway where you can get to Walmart, other shopping and dining. Home prices are not too bad in Aynor and you can get more than a 1/4 acre lot as long as you stay outside the housing developments. Pawley's Island is probably a little more like Glastonbury. You can buy a decent house away from the ocean but it will cost a lot more than Aynor. PI has some unique shops and is doing its best to keep the big box stores out. But, if you want a big box store, you can go to Murrell's Inlet or Georgetown in 20 minutes or so. Aynor is still a 2 hour drive to Charleston and PI is about 1.5 hours.
The other option I would suggest would be McClellanville but it's in the middle of nowhere between Charleston and PI. For healthcare, you're going to be 45 minutes to a major hospital in either direction. And there's NO shopping there...you'd have to go about 15 minutes to Georgetown for any shopping.
As far as what made us decide to move from CT to SC...high taxes and cold weather...the same reasons most people leave CT...LOL. When we first were trying to decide where in SC, we visited Greenville (western part of the state) and it was beautiful but too far from the ocean (4 hours). We also looked at Summerville but still too far. Then we looked at the Grand Strand from Little River all the way to Pawley's Island. We wanted to be within 15 minutes from front door to the beach and originally focused on Conway but it was still too far from the beach. After spending two weeks (2 separate 1 week visits) looking, we settled on the Forestbrook area of Horry County. It's off the beaten path but allows us to get to the beach, shopping, entertainment, local fairs, and even touristy stuff if we want without having to drive a long way. We still spend a lot of time in Conway as they have many street fairs that we like to attend. The hospital is about 20 minutes away and there's lots of back roads to avoid tourist summer traffic. We love it here. You probably would find Forestbrook a little too congested but....ya never know.
One strong recommendation...wherever you decide to move, RENT for the first year. It will give you an opportunity to make sure that the area you've chosen meets your expectations and if you don't like it, you can try a different area. If you do like it, you can continue to rent or look for something to buy. That's what we did...rented a house about 4 miles from where we ended up building. We found it convenient to everything so we stayed in the area.
Finally, regarding the golf comment...no, you don't have to like golf to enjoy this area. If you like mild winter weather where you can get out and about without bundling up like Nanook of the North, you'll probably like SC. What we've found as we've moved several times during our lives, you can make any place you live enjoyable by finding new friends, getting involved in your community and looking for interesting things to do. You can also be miserable if you decide you won't adapt, sit at home all the time and hibernate it your cave. It's really positive mental attitude. What types of things do you like to do in CT? You can probably find the same types of activities in SC but you might have to look for it...it's probably not going to come looking for you.
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