Quote:
Originally Posted by ITB_OG
Chapel Hill, and even more so Carrboro, might actually be a good compromise, and you seem to have the budget for it. It's not the mountains, but it's very wooded and has lots of nature areas. And it's not on the water (as in the ocean) but there are a couple lakes, and it's not a bad drive to the coast.
I'm not sure I'd call either tiny, but Carrboro is pretty small and Chapel Hill minus the students doesn't really have that many people. And while everyone doesn't know everyone per se, I found that everyone only seems to be separated by maybe one or two people, especially for families with kids. It seemed like I couldn't do anything there without running into someone I knew or talk to anyone who didn't know someone I knew. It's a little transient because of the university, but so is the rest of the Triangle, and plenty of people stay until their kids finish school
The schools rank highly although that's due to the demographics of the area. IME, they're not exceptional or any better than schools in the rest of the area. But they are definitely considered "good."
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It's been a few months but I have to say I agree with all of this.
Having been on both sides of the "town and gown" relationship in CH; I was surprised and even charmed by the degree to which there was a small-town/interconnected vibe in Chapleboro that existed with or without the university.
If you want waterfront you're looking at 2 mil+ to be on Eastwood Lake; but $900k can put you in that general vicinity of Lake Forest.
Just like all school rankings; it's mostly a byproduct of the demographics. Chapel Hill's unique and potentially controversial stand-out aspect in NC is that it is a smaller non-county-wide school system. It would be more similar to the type of school districts OP is likely used to coming from NJ.
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