Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a college grad looking to move away from Massachusetts. I'm looking at several areas around the country and I want to know a little bit more about WV.
I have a degree in graphic arts and ideally I'd like to work in a state college setting, maybe doing PR/marketing and communications/web design/printing for the school. I know that's being a little specific but it's the direction I'd like to focus on right now.
Huntington and Charleston seem like nice cities. I've never been really into the idea of living in a city, but if I could live in a nice suburb near a city that would be ideal. I'd deal with as much as a 45 minute drive (preferably less) as long as I wasn't TOO stranded out in the woods/up scary mountain passes that are frightening to drive through in the winter. I'm from New England, so I'm sure anything south of Connecticut will have walk-in-the-park winters for me, but still.
Two hugely important factors will affect where I move: I am a nature lover and I want to live near a place that has a good music scene. I'm reading about a lot of WV's cities having nice town parks, or places to have cookouts, but I need much more than that. Is Huntington located nearby any awesome state or national parks? How close is it to the Appalachian Mts. and the trail? In the summertime I really like to have rivers within driving distance for swimming/tubing. Not super congested, trash-littered beaches, but (preferably) pristine, crisp, back-country rivers. Will I find these in abundance near Huntington? I keep mentioning Huntington because I've read there is a good music scene there. Are there a lot of small venues in town? Is there an arena for big name acts as well?
Does anyone have any advice? What I'd probably need to do first is rent a room while I get myself settled, so I'm not too concerned about where the cheapest houses are located, but can someone tell me what rent for small apartments is typically like in Huntington, Charleston, or their surrounding suburbs? Thanks so much. Any insight is truly appreciated.
-Caroline
Why not get the best of both worlds and live in the suburbs between the two cities? Hurricane is a great area with great schools, parks, etc. Charleston would be closer to the better state and national parks as they are mainly in the eastern part of the state.
Morgantown (when WVU is in session) comes close to Huntington and Charleston in population, and is much closer to the Monongahela National Forest, Dolly Sods, Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley and other parks.
The Appalachian Trail doesn't spend much distance in WV. I believe there's a few miles near Harpers Ferry (Eastern Panhandle) and another short stretch in the southern part of the state.
By the way, there are parts of WV where the winter rivals those of New England (120-160" of snow per year).
Thanks guys. How far is Hurricane from some nice national parks? I guess I need to do a little more research on exactly what parks there are around there.
So, what parts of West Virginia DON'T get multiple feet of snow every winter?
Heavy Snow = North Central (Marlinton, Elkins, Davis). Randolph, Tucker and Pocahontas counties probably get the most in the state.
Snow amounts are less as you move south and west, with Huntington and Charleston getting the least (of the major population areas). The Eastern Panhandle (Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry) also gets relatively little snow (their weather is more like Balto or DC).
Based on what you've posted, I think Huntington would be a great fit for you. Looking at your two main needs/wants for a new town to live in, Huntington will provide you with what some in the know call the best local music scene in West Virginia and will keep you close to the state/national parks not only in West Virginia but also in Kentucky and Ohio as well, giving you a greater number of options. We have Marshall University here which may provide you with the graphic arts employment you desire but we also have Bulldog Creative here which does adds on a national level and is an award winning company. Marshall is also about to expand their art department and move into a building in the heart of downtown which may give you more options as well.
We also have lots of opportunities in the area for outdoor recreation. For water recreation, not only do we have the Ohio River for the northern border of the town, but we also have several lakes closeby. Beech Fork State Park and Lake is the closest at about 15-20 min away. There are campgrounds, hiking trails and a swimming pool but the lake itself is for boating and fishing only. Within a short drive, we also have Grayson Lake, Yatesville Lake and East Lynn Lake. Other close by nature areas that may interest you are Carter Caves State Park (really neat and only about 45 min away) and the Boone National Forest is only a little farther. The Natural Bridge State Park is in the Boone National Forest and is one of my parents favorite places to visit. Also, Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area in Ohio is only about 30 min away and is also part of the Wayne National Forest. This is in adition to all of the great state and national parks in WV that are only a 2-4 hour drive as well.
For the music scene in Huntington, we have a great local scene as well as national acts coming into the Big Sandy Arena, The Keith Albee Theater and the ampitheater at Riverfront Park. The Big Sandy Arena brings in frequent national acts and is also have to several other festivals and shows. It is currently in the planning phases of renovation and no shows will happen this year in October and November for these upgrades. The Keith Albee is a grand old theater built in 1928 that holds about 3,000 seats. It hosts most of the shows from the Marshall Artists series along with the Huntington Symphony Orchestra and various other shows. We have a great local music scene as well led by the V-Club and Shamrocks. We also have the yearly Huntington Music and Arts Festival which is a celebration of the local music and art scene.
In terms of a place to live, you might start with Barboursville if you want a suburb. Barboursville has some nice new apartments and is very convenient to Huntington at only a 10-15 minute drive. Barboursville is also the home of the Huntington Mall which is the largest mall in the state. We are also close by to cities like Columbus and Cincinnatti and amusement parks like King's Island and Cedar Point and Carowinds are only a short drive. Plus, should you need to fly anywhere, Tri-State Airport is one of the fastest growing airports in the country and it is offering ever improving flights and service. Oh, and Huntington has about the mildest Winters in West Virginia. It gets cold but we have very few snows of greater than 2-4 inches. A former co-worker from Maine loved it here in part because of that.
Here are some links and let me know if you have any other questions.
Tim
Outdoor Recreation
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District - Lakes and Reservoirs (http://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/projects/lakes/ - broken link)
No one has asked, so I will. You are a recent college grad. Where will you work? What will you do? Or do you plan to work? Those are usually the questions that I ask first. The skills you listed are not really in great demand in WV I would imagine. If you want to work at a college, your choices are pretty limited, close to Huntington or Charleston would be best most likely. Hurricane might work for you because it's inbetween both.
Huntington has two extreme cheerleaders that post on this forum. Take everything they post with a grain of salt. They somehow make themselves loud enough and biased enough to make Huntington sound great. I spent 3 months there last year, against my will, and wanted to hang myself about a month in knowing that two more months were to follow. The only redeeming thing in the town was a decent comedy club that attracts true headliner talent. I think it is shut down now, however. Outside of that, I couldn't really find anything that piqued my interest. It's Rust Belt in that bad sort of "we haven't grown since 1972" sort of way. There is a rather rundown, beaten part of town that scared me more than some parts of North Philly. It's like how people describe Baltimore...go a few blocks from the hospital and you'd think you were in Somalia. Same goes for Huntington. there is this house like 4 blocks from the hospital...I swear it is falling down and being held up by a long beam that's wedged into the ground. It's astoundingly ghetto. In addition, there are no good grocery store, no good shopping...just a few run down Krogers and a mall with typical stores.
A girl I know from NY did a residency at Cabell hospital...the first thing she said to me a week in? "I didn't think it was possible to consume as much Oxycontin as some of these people claim to ingest. These blood concentrations are off the charts!"
That's Southwestern WV in a nutshell.
Like me, she was counting down the days until her stint was over and she moved on to Chicago.
But here's the thing when it comes to WV. It is V E R Y slow paced and rather boring for people used to typical amenities seen in populated areas. Huntington and Charleston are over 3 hours away from the nearest major city. The isolation is killer. Which isn't a bad thing if you're into calm serenity, but what I'm saying is that if you want a real music scene, exciting events, etc, etc. Well, that's not going to happen anywhere in the state, really. You might have a few collections of mediocre local bands, but that's about it. If WV is your goal, your best bet is to live in Martinsburg, Morgantown, or Weirton. Then you could drive to a real city about an hour or so away and have a real music scene.
The most exciting city in the state on its own is probably Morgantown, thanks to its recent expansion in population and major university. But it got old when I turned 25 or so. It's a town built for college kids, so take that for what its worth. Rents in Morgantown are astronomical, thanks to exploitative land lords, anyway. Weirton is hella run down, but very cheap and 45 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. Only 20 from a major Pittsburgh shopping complex. The Martinsburg area is expanding like crazy and has a bit of a New Englandy charm to it around where Harper's Ferry is...tons of history in the area. There is a commuter train into DC and driving in is a good hour or so. I spent a few months there last year and felt it was acceptable living.
As for the nature part...you have that everywhere in the entire state. Personally, staring at trees and walking up mountains never excited me, but to each their own. If that's your thing, its ample in WV.
To each their own WVUPharm. FYI, take any opinion from someone with WVU or Mountaineer in their name with a "grain of salt", especially their opinions of a city with an in-state competitive school.
Everyone has an opinion and that opinion will be biased based on their life experiences and the things they like. I lived in Morgantown for 6 years, not just 3 months. Huntington definately gets my vote based on real experience, not just a few months that I came into with a biased opinion anyway.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
