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Hi,
I am so excited but our family (husband, myself-the wife, daughter who is 5 and our cat) will be moving to the Raleigh area in the next few months. My husband is an engineer and I am a stay at home mom for the moment. I am from the east coast, grew up mostly in Pennsylvania and my husband is from Europe. We presently live in California (right outside Sacramento) and can't wait to leave. We lived here for 10 long years and I am waiting to move back to some familiar grounds. I am a east coast girl thru and thru. The only thing I will miss in CA is the coast and not anything else. Sorry to rag on California but my experience in living in CA has been nothing but awful. You will find me sometimes in the Sac section here and I am not the most positive person when it comes to Sac.
We have been looking to move fore quite sometime now and a wonderful job opportunity came up for my husband. I have been reading posts and suggestions on the board and getting some good and not so good feedback which is great. I swear, I will never look at a place again with rose colored glasses. I learned too much living out here. We have moved around alot and we are looking to settle down. We aren't buying a house right off the bat as we want to see what the area offers. Eventually, we would like to get a chunk of land and build. For me, number one important issue is education....I have been on greatschools.org, etc. and it seems that CHapel Hill is the number one area for kids and schools. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
Also, what towns are walkable to coffee shops and shopping and schools that have a quaintness and not suburb feeling. Can't live in suburbs anymore...no offense to those who do.
Just wanted to say hi and introduce myself....there will be more questions.
I have to say that I found it very encouraging from other CA people who have found NC to be positive. I am not a California native but always like to hear perspective. Also, any PA people here....would like to hear your opinion too!
You might enjoy Carrboro. There's some excellent people, fantastic coffee shops and shopping, very strong artistic vibe, very culturally rich, you have Cat's Cradle and UNC nearby... Most of my friends live in Carrboro. I'm in North Raleigh myself which is also wonderful but it sounds like you might want something more like Carrboro.
There are some past threads on this forum talking about Chapel Hill and Carrboro and their schools. Walkability for grocery shopping, errands doesn't happen too much except maybe in Carrboro but the houses are smallish and older.
When you start doing research be aware not every Chapel Hill address is in the Chapel Hill school district. Some in Durham or Johnson County schools and that won't change.
We are close to beach and mts. In fact years ago motto was Variety Vacation Land.
You might enjoy Carrboro. There's some excellent people, fantastic coffee shops and shopping, very strong artistic vibe, very culturally rich, you have Cat's Cradle and UNC nearby... Most of my friends live in Carrboro. I'm in North Raleigh myself which is also wonderful but it sounds like you might want something more like Carrboro.
I will definitely look more into Carrboro. Where exactly is it and is it a town name or a part of a larger town? i.e. Chapel Hill.
There are some past threads on this forum talking about Chapel Hill and Carrboro and their schools. Walkability for grocery shopping, errands doesn't happen too much except maybe in Carrboro but the houses are smallish and older.
When you start doing research be aware not every Chapel Hill address is in the Chapel Hill school district. Some in Durham or Johnson County schools and that won't change.
We are close to beach and mts. In fact years ago motto was Variety Vacation Land.
Look into archives for much info on this area.
I will look more into CH and Carrboro. And thanks for the tip of not all schools in CH are in the CH district. I am looking for a charter (public) school if possible and would be open to catholic schools as well. My daughter will start Kindergarten in the Fall of 2011. I love that we are close to the mountains and beach. It is very much like Sacramento in the fact that we are 2 hours to lake Tahoe and 2 hours to the beach. I laugh because I still get annoyed when poeple say who live in Sacramento yeah, we are 2 hours to Tahoe and the Beach....like Sacramento is a pit stop....funny....
There are some past threads on this forum talking about Chapel Hill and Carrboro and their schools. Walkability for grocery shopping, errands doesn't happen too much except maybe in Carrboro but the houses are smallish and older.
When you start doing research be aware not every Chapel Hill address is in the Chapel Hill school district. Some in Durham or Johnson County schools and that won't change.
We are close to beach and mts. In fact years ago motto was Variety Vacation Land.
Look into archives for much info on this area.
Johnson County? I'm afraid you're mistaken. There is no Johnson County, NC...there's a Johnston County, but it's on the complete other side of Raleigh than Chapel Hill.
I will definitely look more into Carrboro. Where exactly is it and is it a town name or a part of a larger town? i.e. Chapel Hill.
Carrboro is a town (Google Maps is your friend ) right up against Chapel Hill. There is kind of a love/hate relationship between them because CH gets all the "glory" but to many, Carrboro is more "real" and interesting. You might vaguely compare them to San Francisco and Berkeley? Carrobor is definitely among the most 'hippie" places in NC, but that's only part of it. It is right there with access to all Chapel Hill has to offer (the Carrboro limit is walking distance from the University) while escaping some of the "snootiness" of Chapel Hill. A lot of grad students live there as it is more affordable than Chapel Hill (probably the most expensive municipality in the state).
Also near Chapel Hill are Hillsborough and Mebane, two towns with very walkable downtown areas. Mebane has a lot of older areas despite a lot of new "suburb" areas (which you say you don't want) since sprawl from the Triangle is now reaching that far out.
In the other direction, there is Clayton, another formerly "nothing" town that's had huge growth in recent years, but like almost all new growth, mostly very suburban.
Where is your husband's job located? That will make a difference because I don't think he'd want a really long commute. If it's in East Raleigh, Chapel Hill would be a bear of a commute, for example.
my bad---I meant Chatham County....Some Chapel Hill addresses are in Chatham County and not in CH/C school district.
Thanks for the correction. I was way too tired to be typing last night.
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) right up against Chapel Hill. There is kind of a love/hate relationship between them because CH gets all the "glory" but to many, Carrboro is more "real" and interesting. You might vaguely compare them to San Francisco and Berkeley? Carrobor is definitely among the most 'hippie" places in NC, but that's only part of it. It is right there with access to all Chapel Hill has to offer (the Carrboro limit is walking distance from the University) while escaping some of the "snootiness" of Chapel Hill. A lot of grad students live there as it is more affordable than Chapel Hill (probably the most expensive municipality in the state).
