Thinking about moving to Richmond Hill (Atlanta, Savannah: best neighborhoods, 2015, crime) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

Stighe1807 · 08-02-2016, 07:47 AM

My wife & I are thinking about moving us and our two young children to Richmond Hill, GA from Polk City, Iowa in the next year or so. We recently took a trip to Orlando and stayed 1 night in Savannah but never got a chance to visit the Richmond Hill area. The schools that my kids attend now are top notch and that's one thing we are very nervous about is moving them to a new school, that's our number one concern for our kids is their education. I'm curious to know more about the community, best neighborhoods, schools, housing, crime, etc. I'm also curious to know if anyone from Iowa or any other Midwest states has recently moved to Richmond Hill or near the area and if so I'd like to know what your thoughts are as well, compared to living in the Midwest. We are planning another trip to visit Richmond Hill next spring and I've been doing quite a bit of research on the area but I'd like to know someone else's opinion who has recently moved to Richmond Hill. Moving from a place we grew up to a place that far away can be difficult so any information would be helpful.Thanks!

bellhead · 08-02-2016, 07:53 AM

Go and visit the area, see if you like it. There are areas of Richmond Hill that are 20 minutes to the nearest grocery store and restaurants. Also employment is another issue, where are you working at? We don't live on a grid here, meaning there is no point A to B. We have to deal with marshes and rivers which means we might drive 5 miles to get from point A to B, for something a bird can do in a mile.

Even though it's the best all around school system in the area, it doesn't have the best individual schools. Savannah has the best individual schools in Garrison & Ellis for elementary and Savannah Arts for high school.

Stighe1807 · 08-02-2016, 08:12 AM

Thanks for the information! We currently live in a small town 20 minutes from all the grocery stores and restaurants as well so that really isn't an issue for us. If I do seek employment it would be in Savannah and I would be looking for a job at an auto body repair shop as an estimator or shop manager if available. Currently I also have a 25 minute drive to work where I live now so I understand if there is a commute to work I am fine with that. From what I understand from other forums and posts, Savannah's schools aren't as great as Richmond Hill but again I've never been to the area so I'm just using information from other people's posts and opinions. I have not checked into the schools you had mentioned though so I will look in to those as well. Again I appreciate your information!

bellhead · 08-02-2016, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stighe1807

Thanks for the information! We currently live in a small town 20 minutes from all the grocery stores and restaurants as well so that really isn't an issue for us. If I do seek employment it would be in Savannah and I would be looking for a job at an auto body repair shop as an estimator or shop manager if available. Currently I also have a 25 minute drive to work where I live now so I understand if there is a commute to work I am fine with that. From what I understand from other forums and posts, Savannah's schools aren't as great as Richmond Hill but again I've never been to the area so I'm just using information from other people's posts and opinions. I have not checked into the schools you had mentioned though so I will look in to those as well. Again I appreciate your information!

You have to navigate the school system, there are large numbers of families who don't value education and the rankings reflect this. There are a lot of families who do value education, which is why you see The 3 schools I mentioned as being some of the best schools in the state. Savannah Arts is a top 5 high school ever year with the average SAT score between 1600 to 1700 every year. Richmond Hill high school is below 1500.

The issue with the drive there is only one road in and out of Richmond Hill on 144, if there is an accident you really suffer.

gt87 · 08-02-2016, 08:26 PM

Just curious but why Richmond Hill? I was stationed at Ft. Stewart when I was in the Army and I use to go their from time to time to visit military buddies or pass through on my way to Savannah and it's really nothing special. I just can't think of why anyone would just want to pick up and move cross country to a place like Richmond Hill, especially if they've never actually been there and have family/friends there. I knew 6 or 7 people that lived in Richmond Hill with kids and they all pretty much said they'd rather have just lived on base or closer to Savannah.

bellhead · 08-03-2016, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt87

Just curious but why Richmond Hill? I was stationed at Ft. Stewart when I was in the Army and I use to go their from time to time to visit military buddies or pass through on my way to Savannah and it's really nothing special. I just can't think of why anyone would just want to pick up and move cross country to a place like Richmond Hill, especially if they've never actually been there and have family/friends there. I knew 6 or 7 people that lived in Richmond Hill with kids and they all pretty much said they'd rather have just lived on base or closer to Savannah.

When you look at great schools, they have the highest ranked school system. Also there is very little crime in the area.

gt87 · 08-03-2016, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellhead

When you look at great schools, they have the highest ranked school system. Also there is very little crime in the area.

Right, I understand that. I just want to see why the OP is uprooting their whole family to move cross country to Richmond Hill. I could see if they where moving because they wanted to live close to family, had a job offer, or wanted to live by the ocean but it's close to an hour to a beach. Also, the Savannah area economy isn't the greatest and from the OP they don't have jobs lined up. Richmond Hill has no real culture or anything special to offer. Mainly just a commute town to Savannah and Ft. Stewart.

If that's there dream to live in Richmond Hill then by all means, go for it. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the OPs reasons for moving to south GA, because when I lived there I couldn't get away fast enough. But I'd still like to help because I am familiar with the area.

SavannahLife · 08-03-2016, 02:26 PM

gt is right Richmond Hill is a nice decent little exurb town. Like half of them in the country. Stighe1807 will probably end up commuting into Savannah for auto work. You will grow to dislike that fast..

Newsboy · 08-03-2016, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellhead

When you look at great schools, they have the highest ranked school system. Also there is very little crime in the area.

Schooldigger.com, which is a more reliable school rating system than Great Schools, ranks Richmond Hill HS 67th in the state. South Effigham is 70 and Effingham is 90. Really, the difference between all three is negligible and places them in the top 20 percent of all high schools in Georgia. I use an additional measuring stick to gauge the quality of schools anywhere, and that is MUSIC PROGRAMS. Almost without fail, any good school will have an outstanding, highly regarded and large music program. You can apply this measure across the board and find that bad or poor performing schools almost never have any substantial fine arts programs worth speaking of. Richmond Hill has perhaps the largest and most successful band programs of any school in SE Georgia, and gets high marks in my book. The two Effingham high schools have long histories of music excellence as well.

In Chatham County, the ONLY high school that excels at music is Savannah Arts, which is a magnet school and thus not a fair comparison at all. Further, when it comes to traditional high-profile performance groups like a competive marching band (which is a VERY BIG activity in the state of Georgia) Savannah Arts doesn't even have one. And there is not one other high school in all of Chatham County that fields a marching band on the competive level like Richmond Hill, Effingham and South Effingham.

Unless you're familiar with the activity of marching band, this might seem like a "meh" thing that's unimportant. But trust me, in much of the rest of Georgia, particularly Metro Atlanta and the NW portion of the state, high school marching band is HUGE and one of the most prestigious things going at many high schools and a point of enormous pride in many communities.

It's a pitiful thing here in Chatham County.

RICHMOND HILL MARCHING BAND 2015:

https://youtu.be/F6dXr2TuTRM

tiktok4321 · 08-09-2016, 06:43 AM

I live in Richmond Hill. I live in town rather than the outskirts. It's a nice little community, but as is the case in many small towns, the gossip mill is horrible. Some folks call it Rumor Hill or Rich Man's Hill. Interesting for a town that has nearly 30 churches between I-95 and Belfast Keller.

We have three EXCELLENT Scout groups for boys and an almost active Girl Scout troop. We do OK in sports and have a great academic reputation.

There is no 'central' town. No typical Main Street USA or city square. GA-144 intersects with US-17. Most businesses are along either of those two roads.

Hardly any dilapidation, though there are plenty of abandoned business office buildings.

We have a great Christmas parade, weekly Farmer's Market, fantastic 4th of July party and of course, the annual Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival.

We have our share of drugs and underage drinking - typical to affluent towns. But overall crime is pretty low. Where US-17 meets I-95, we have thousands of hotel rooms, yet hardly any fine dining establishments. Two Waffle Houses, a Denny's, and a mediocre Southern buffet along with a couple of half-decent bars. It's this area where most of Richmond Hill's police stay busy - generally with Interstate transients rather than the locals. In fact, cops say that it takes nearly a year to get the sort of experience that their peers gain in three months in Savannah.

There is no beach - Tybee is as far as Jekyll or St. Simons. But there is plenty of deep water access if you like fishing in salt or brackish waters.

The furthest homes away from civilization are by far the quietest. Anywhere within the city limits you will hear the sounds of two railroads - one major through way for CSX and a minor shortline. They like to toot at all hours, day and night.

That's my take. Wouldn't hurt my feelings to stay or leave.