Country Lifestyle... (St. Louis, Columbia, Washington: mobile home, schools, living in)

[SilverC]

Sorry if this has been discussed on here...I'm brand new and strongly considering a move to the St. Louis area for graduate school. We're looking for a rural/country lifestyle area to move to (hopefully) within an hour drive of downtown, preferrably on the south, SW or west side of the city. To be honest, we are simply country people and would appreciate any suggestions. I just thought there may be a certain area around St. Louis that is more "country" than others (I'm not talking about mobile home parks and methlabs!---more like farm families, small schools, etc.) Thanks.

[jas131]

Take a look at Washington, MO. Great town! Small town feel w/many city amenities.

[DinsdalePirahna]

I like Defiance. It the wine Country.

[TGS]

If you are willing to live in Illinois, there are numerous really nice country areas within an hour's drive. Look at the area around Edwardsville or south of Columbia.

[kshe95girl]

Sainte Genevieve, its the best, and exactly an hour to downtown, you will have the best of both worlds. Its wine country, rural, but close enough to get to STL quickly.

[SilverC]

Thanks for the suggestions...keep 'em coming if there's more.

[HCC]

I can't remember how far out it is exactly, (couldn't be more than an hr/15) but what about Ozora, MO? I remember driving out to Perryville once with a friend in the 90s and we both thought it looked like the European countryside. Beautiful, rolling hills that went on and on and a tiny old Romanesque church looking down from a hilltop. We couldn't resist, so we drove around the winding roads up to the old church and it was open. The views from the hill top were spectacular. Definitely look into it.

Just looked it up-
Ozora to STL: 53.4 miles

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by HCC

I can't remember how far out it is exactly, (couldn't be more than an hr/15) but what about Ozora, MO? I remember driving out to Perryville once with a friend in the 90s and we both thought it looked like the European countryside. Beautiful, rolling hills that went on and on and a tiny old Romanesque church looking down from a hilltop. We couldn't resist, so we drove around the winding roads up to the old church and it was open. The views from the hill top were spectacular. Definitely look into it.

Just looked it up-
Ozora to STL: 53.4 miles

Pssst, lemme tell ya a secret, thats Sainte Genevieve County. There is not much there in that area but what you saw, but it sure is beautiful. I went to school there, my family has been in the area since 1699, I miss it. Thats my slice of heaven, and I am just a week and a day from being there!

[OA 5599]

Some friendly advice from a former graduate student...you may want to re-think two hours in the car every day commuting from home to school and back. Time can be very precious in graduate school, and that 10-12 hours a week spent commuting could be better spent working on classwork or simply relaxing and winding down from the stress of being a student. It is easy to spend 12+ hours a day on campus as a graduate student (I routinely spent up to 14 hours a day my final semester working), which leaves little additional time to commute, and the dangers of having an hour's drive when you are very tired and stressed.

[SilverC]

I kinda weighing the pro's and con's of the drive issue versus living in the city (I would consider a suburb 'the city' compared to where we live now!) Thanks for the advice!