Blairsville and surrounding areas (Pittsburgh, Johnstown: for sale, real estate, cheap apartment) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

mrpontiac80 · 09-13-2009, 12:18 PM

Hello, I am interviewing for a job teaching at WyoTech in Blairsville PA and am trying to research all I can for the area. I have not found too much in the way of that area specificly, and would love to see more about it. Of course I have seen the city data section and the Blairsville link... the chamber of commerce maybe.. I also have been skimming through the PA site here using search for Blairsville and it is simply not turning much up.

If any of you have pictures, or links or thoughts on the area and surrounding areas, I would be gratefull. Thanks

Michael

NoMoss · 09-15-2009, 11:35 PM

I grew up in Blairsville, but have not lived there for a little over 20 years. My sister lives there, though, and she has a super cheap apartment that she loves.
Houses are inexpensive, the town is mostly very friendly. When I lived there (as a wild teenager), Wyotech was Vale Tech, and it was NOT cool for the "town" girls to date the "techers." I think there is still somewhat of a division between the students at Tech and the "townies"--very childish and there is no real reason for this.
Since I've been gone, I guess there are bigger grocery stores, a Walmart, and more fast food places, but the town is basically the same. Go to the Pizza Barn, just outside of town, for good food, and there are several good little bars for hanging out. Not much else in the way of culture--lol! but Indiana, PA is just up the road, and there is a university there--the football and basketball games are big draws. In between Indiana and Blairsville are Black Lick--avoid this area--and Homer City--a nice little town where everybody knows everybody else. In other directions from Blairsville are Greensburg (mall) and Ligonier (quaint small town with a fort and terrific historic amusement park). I would live in Indiana and drive down, it would only take you 20-25 mintues. But, there is nothing bad or dangerous about living in Blairsville, and you could get a house cheap (depending on your tastes). I will be moving back, too, maybe to Johnstown, which is about 30 minutes or so in a different direction, and is very depressed. There are houses for sale there for under $20,000 (that I would live in--but I don't require granite countertops and steam showers).
Anyway, it is a pretty area with good weather, a good diner, good pizza, roads that lead to bigger, more exciting places, and a smalltown paper, The Blairsville Dispatch, that you can read online. Good luck!

mrpontiac80 · 09-16-2009, 11:34 AM

Thanks for the repsonse. I was thinking I might not get one on here.

I really like small unpopulated areas so this all sounds OK. I still am hoping for a visit to the area within a few weeks for a second interview. I like the fact that Pittsburgh is not too far away cause my wife has all the college degrees and needs a larger area for her line of work.

Thanks again, and I welcome any additional comments.

pinetar10 · 09-16-2009, 12:16 PM

I would avoid living in Blairsville. Lots of speeding cars from Wyotech students, and the school taxes are really high. wrecks are fairly common and often involve speeding wyotech students. There is quite a divide between the students and the townspeople. i'm sure most students are fine, but its the bad apples that cause the problems and give all the students a bad name in town.

Homer City would be a much better choice. It is about 10 minutes north of blairsville just off of route 119. It is a nice, quiet town that has cheap housing. Taxes are also fairly high in Homer City and in Indiana, but Homer City is the better choice if you're looking for a quiet place.
If you have kids, Homer-Center or Indiana school districts are where you need to live in that area.

pinetar10 · 09-16-2009, 12:19 PM

if you're looking for a house, here is the website for the indiana county mls where you can search listings throughout the county

Indiana County Multi-list Real Estate Website > Home

NoMoss · 09-16-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

I would avoid living in Blairsville. Lots of speeding cars from Wyotech students, and the school taxes are really high. wrecks are fairly common and often involve speeding wyotech students. There is quite a divide between the students and the townspeople. i'm sure most students are fine, but its the bad apples that cause the problems and give all the students a bad name in town.

Since the OP is going to be working at Wyotech, I assume he would not be ashamed to be associated with the school and students. Yes, there are plenty of wrecks because drinking is one of the only amusements there for teenagers. My wild friends were involved in plenty of accidents--of course, this is 20-30 years ago--and none of them were Wyotech students. The high school students are no angels, believe me.
There is a rivalry between the school students and the town students just as there is a rivalry between Blairsville and Homer City or Blairsville and Derry--as groups, we DID NOT EVER intermingle. That is just an example of the close-mindedness that is frequent in any small town where you are afraid of anyone new.
There is nothing wrong with living in Blairsville (and believe me, I can't BELIEVE I am defending it--lol!) and anyone would find exactly the same things in Homer City. I have lived in both places, and Indiana as well.
If you like small towns, then drive around Blairsville. If you like movies, restaurants, etc, then Indiana is where you will want to be. LOTS of people commute to Pittsburgh from Blairsville to work.

mrpontiac80 · 09-16-2009, 05:25 PM

Thank you all for your thoughts. I did fail to mention that I have 2 children and one more on the way. Ages are 7 and 5 and obviously one more to be determined. Schools are very important as my wifes mother is a teacher and my wife is also well educated. I am a car nut and have a HS diploma and that was enough for me.

My wife has a background in marketing and business. So a little comuting is expected for one or both of us. I do not want to be in the bigger citys though as I have always been one to love the land over buildings. Entertainment is always a plus and we dont mind driving a few minutes to enjoy something.

Again I welcome any additional thoughts.

rothbear · 09-17-2009, 09:08 AM

You might want to also look at Latrobe, which isn't all that far away. It's a bigger town than Blairsville, but still with a small town feel. Plus it is pretty close to Greensburg, which might have something for your wife for work. I grew up in Homer City, went to Indiana Univ of PA, and did my med tech internship at Latrobe Hospital, so I'm pretty familiar with all the area. All nice rural areas, although yes there is a rivalry between the schools, but usually only for football season, at least in Homer City and Indiana. We didn't have much drinking and car racing problems, but that was quite a few years ago. When back in HC, though, I really don't see much difference in those respects.

pinetar10 · 09-17-2009, 11:19 AM

one thing to keep in mind, blairsville-saltsburg school district is in shambles. lots of fighting between board members. right now, the board is controlled by saltsburg, so they get the money and blairsville suffers. when blairsville has the board majority, its the other way around. lots of people moving out of blairsville because of that.
I did forget about derry/latrobe. They are within 15 minutes of blairsville and are nice areas. derry is more of a small town, while latrobe is a little bigger, but not too big, and greensburg is only 10 minutes or so from latrobe, where you will have a mall and lots of shopping/restaurants. The better school districts in the surrounding blairsville area are: Derry Area, Greater Latrobe, Homer-Center, Indiana Area.
Blairsville isn't all bad and probably not as bad as I made it sound in an earlier message, but if I were moving to that area, blairsville would not be my top choice

villageidiot#1 · 09-19-2009, 06:12 AM

Just a few additional comments to what everyone else has said. Take a good look at the Blairsville-Saltsburg school district before you move into the district. The fighting between the two towns has gone on for years with no end in sight. The two towns are too far from each other to have one school district. Blairsville does have a nice school campus just north of town. The other town that was mentioned is Derry. It is the school district to the south of Blairsville and next to Latrobe. Derry, Latrobe and Indiana are larger but not huge school districts. Homer-Center SD is very small and the people are very proud of their district. The comments about the Wyotech students are mostly true but not surprising. Much of the same can be siad about the IUP students. Some of the Wyotech students live in Indiana and like to drive up and down Route 119 at 120 MPH. The state police hopefully have put a stop to it. The difference between the days of Vale Tech and Wyotech is that Wyotech has a lot more students and people are offering student rentals all over the area. The best shopping in the area is either Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg or Monroeville Mall. Both are about 30 minutes away.