How does Morgantown, WV compare to The Burgh? (Pittsburgh, Athens: buying a house, buying)

[ex-burgher]

I'm from Pittsburgh but lived in Morgantown for a year. It's a lovely town with some beautiful old neighborhoods. The main drawback is that the students are extremely rowdy after football games - I would say more so than other colleges. (I went to Ohio State)

[BrianTH]

Based on prior conversations, I think the OP would probably like Morgantown a lot. It is in many ways a standard nice college town, but without as much of the hipster/hippie scene as some of the more extreme examples.

[sr1234]

Originally Posted by groar

i think comparing morgantown to athens might set up some false expectations - morgantown isn't nearly as hip as athens. i understand the analogy but it's not quite the same.

the surrounding area is lovely, though, and it is true that it's a bit more cultured/whatever than comparable small cities because of the school. it's just no athens.

So true. The two towns can't even be compared.

As far as real estate, Morgantown compares more with the outlying counties of Pittsburgh. Housing costs can be high because Morgantown has one of the best economies in WV.

[creepsinc]

Athens really isn't all that hip. Maybe during the 80s, or briefly during the whole Elephant 6 thing in the 90s. It's one of my second homes, where some of my oldest and best friends live and own a restaurant/bar (Transmetropolitan, 2 locations holla!) and people-wise, it's just like any other college town: full of students and frat boys.

I was just in Morgantown (like, a little over an hour ago) and I'm always impressed with it. If I had to live in a college town, it would be on the short list. Other than being on the Mon and other basic geography, it doesn't have much in common with Pittsburgh.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Hopes, didn't you say you had family there?

My mother was from Clarksburg. I have a frighteningly large number of extended family throughout the entire state, but mostly in the Northern West Virginia areas. When I go to West Virginia, I'm somehow related (by blood or marriage) to almost anyone I meet. It's sort of freaky. When I say who I'm related to, people often calculate in their heads our relationship down to something like 'twice removed on my paternal cousin's side." Makes no sense to me, but they seem to know right away where I fit into some massive family tree that must include half the state's population.

This is a long way of saying that my cousin's wife is a professor at WVU. I won't share publicly what business he owns or it could reveal my identity. But you can definitely count on my providing you with introductions if you decide to move there.

I think you'd love Morgantown. It's absolutely beautiful. The hills you loved in Pittsburgh are even more breathtaking in West Virginia. I consider it more of a large college town----on Penn State level. A town that is vibrant and bustling even in the summer. Smaller college towns seem to become ghost towns in the summer, but Morgantown is THE major city in Northern West Virginia.

Rural areas are immediately outside of the area. A 10 minute drive and you're in farm country. The surrounding towns are like the suburbs of Morgantown--like Fairmont---where many people who work in Morgantown live. You could easily live on a farm or a few acres of land and have a 15 minute commute.

West Virginia lives up to its hick reputation, but Morgantown is a more liberal, progressive, cultured area because of the university.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Based on prior conversations, I think the OP would probably like Morgantown a lot. It is in many ways a standard nice college town, but without as much of the hipster/hippie scene as some of the more extreme examples.

Maybe not as extreme as the examples, but it's definitely more hippie than Pittsburgh. Morgantown is home of the tri state area's main headshop called Cool Ridge. People from Pittsburgh and all over SW PA go there. (Dont' ask me how I know this! ) The street where it's located is filled with blocks and blocks of hippie stores filled with hippie clothes. It's like walking through a time capsule and finding yourself in the 1960s! Ironically, the street is named High Street!

Originally Posted by sr1234

As far as real estate, Morgantown compares more with the outlying counties of Pittsburgh. Housing costs can be high because Morgantown has one of the best economies in WV.

Agreed. Morgantown's real estate is comparable to Pittsburgh. Morgantown's immediate surrounding areas will seem dirt cheap compared to real estate in the populated areas of Pittsburgh's surrounding counties.

[Jukesgrrl]

Fiddlehead, I used to work for a company that had a research grant with OSU and a couple of times had to go to Corvallis to check on progress. I'd compare Corvallis/Portland to Morgantown/Pittsburgh in some respects. Morgantown is maybe more "town-y" than Corvallis (which seems more spread out) and the architecture is different, but the size and culture differences are, to me, comparable.

Being a city grrl, I could never wait to beat it out of Corvallis and get back to Portland, but if you're into wanting that town/country vibe, you might like Morgantown. Keep in mind it IS in West Virginia (no offense, hill people, but none of the great stuff you've got going is ever going to be mistaken for "urban.") I have a friend who was a doctor at the hospital in Morgantown (a quite decent medical center judged by people I've known who had surgery there). He used to drive up to Pittsburgh almost every weekend because he disliked Morgantown. But he was a North Jersey native who spent lots of time in NYC, so he just couldn't handle country-fied WV. (And also note, his car hit a deer on the highway to Pittsburgh two different times!)

Finally, please take what people told you about football weekends in Morgantown seriously. Those people go dangerously crazy whether WVU wins OR loses. We're not talkin' ha ha crazy, we're talkin' lock-down riot crazy. But football season doesn't last all year and nothing's prettier than autumn in the hills between Pittsburgh and WV -- sez the grrl who's been all over this big country.

In any case, good luck.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

Fiddlehead, I used to work for a company that had a research grant with OSU and a couple of times had to go to Corvallis to check on progress. I'd compare Corvallis/Portland to Morgantown/Pittsburgh in some respects. Morgantown is maybe more "town-y" than Corvallis (which seems more spread out) and the architecture is different, but the size and culture differences are, to me, comparable.

Being a city grrl, I could never wait to beat it out of Corvallis and get back to Portland, but if you're into wanting that town/country vibe, you might like Morgantown. Keep in mind it IS in West Virginia (no offense, hill people, but none of the great stuff you've got going is ever going to be mistaken for "urban.") I have a friend who was a doctor at the hospital in Morgantown (a quite decent medical center judged by people I've known who had surgery there). He used to drive up to Pittsburgh almost every weekend because he disliked Morgantown. But he was a North Jersey native who spent lots of time in NYC, so he just couldn't handle country-fied WV. (And also note, his car hit a deer on the highway to Pittsburgh two different times!)

Finally, please take what people told you about football weekends in Morgantown seriously. Those people go dangerously crazy whether WVU wins OR loses. We're not talkin' ha ha crazy, we're talkin' lock-down riot crazy. But football season doesn't last all year and nothing's prettier than autumn in the hills between Pittsburgh and WV -- sez the grrl who's been all over this big country.

In any case, good luck.

Thanks Jukesgirl,

I just returned from a road trip to Corvallis (I live in Ashland, in S. Oregon) and a spectacular hike on Cape Perpetua on the Oregon Coast. If you are ever on the West Coast and want a stunning 6 mile hike, do it! In any case, in my reading of Morgantown, and its proximity to Pittsburgh, I was also thinking Corvallis/Portland would be similar.

Well, truth be told, I am a college town guy, but I love to visit cities. I love hitting Portland, and I know I would love cruising up to Pittsburgh.

[Fiddlehead]

So, you've all convinced me to apply to the WV job. Fiddlehead rides again....Morgantown seems like it is a beautiful and friendly college town. I think we might just love it. It is a testimony to your collective powers of persuasion that my Rhode Island turned Oregonian wife was even allowing me to consider the Burgh. Now I get to convince her to consider nice, progressive, trend-setting West Virginia.....

If I get an interview, I am pretty certain I will be flying into the the Burgh. I will let everyone know, and perhaps a gathering at the Church Brew Works will be in order.

Thanks again everyone! This Pittsburgh board remains my favorite on City Data. Yinz rule!!

p.s. Drunk, crazed Appy kids after college football games...hmmmm...can you say Scots-Irish?!

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Athens really isn't all that hip. Maybe during the 80s, or briefly during the whole Elephant 6 thing in the 90s. It's one of my second homes, where some of my oldest and best friends live and own a restaurant/bar (Transmetropolitan, 2 locations holla!) and people-wise, it's just like any other college town: full of students and frat boys.

I was just in Morgantown (like, a little over an hour ago) and I'm always impressed with it. If I had to live in a college town, it would be on the short list. Other than being on the Mon and other basic geography, it doesn't have much in common with Pittsburgh.

I've been to the Transmetropolitan on Oglethorpe Avenue! Small world!

I'll say one thing about Athens: a lot of the women are good-looking (too bad a lot of them are dimwits too), and the University of Georgia seems to be dominated by the "Greeks" compared to the University of Pittsburgh.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by groar

i think comparing morgantown to athens might set up some false expectations - morgantown isn't nearly as hip as athens. i understand the analogy but it's not quite the same.

the surrounding area is lovely, though, and it is true that it's a bit more cultured/whatever than comparable small cities because of the school. it's just no athens.

Morgantown may not be as hip as Athens, but Pittsburgh sure isn't as hip as Atlanta (meaning anywhwere is hipper than Pittsburgh.) So the analogy could fit better than you think.