Everything I need to know about Fayette County (Atlanta, Peachtree City: transplants, 2013)

[mamazaza]

Hey all!

Many of you have been helping me with incredible kindness and patience as we plan our family's relocation journey from NY to ATL (all shenanigans in the other NY to ATL thread i got going), but I thought it would be beneficial to have an altogether separate one on Fayette County.

Some background: when we realized we were relocating, we also realized we had absolutely NO IDEA what we were doing, where we should look, or start, or research, or really... anything. We snagged an awesome realtor and then headed straight to this forum.

Like many/ most of the posters here and families who are relocating, I started by looking in the northern suburbs. We tried to rationalize costs, congestion, values for money, and good school districts and amenities for our kids.

Through this forum a few people had gently recommended I look in Fayette County. And after exhaustively researching the northern suburbs, I did. And I was incredibly impressed, and very, very happy with what we found.

We are T minus 1 week to our official visit down to ATL, and while we will be sure to visit some of our preferred areas in the north (Hamilton Mill, Chateau Elan- Mill Creek HS cluster) we will largely focus our time in the southern suburbs.

In Fayette, we like the South Fayette area, with particular interest in homes in the Whitewater HS and Starrs Mill HS clusters. And between the home sizes, acreage, and schools, we feel good about it.

So with that being said, I figured I'd start an "Everything I need to know about Fayette County" thread for transplants like me.
What are things unique to the area (particularly south Fayette area)?
What are things that are unusual?
Drawbacks?
Vibes?
Shopping?
Traffic?
Schools (Peeples Elem, Whitewater MS/HS)?
Local insights, knowledge, insider info?
Things you wish you knew before?
Regrets?



THANKS !

[aries4118]

Love Fayette County…

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by mamazaza

What are things unique to the area (particularly south Fayette area)?

One thing that is unique to the South Fayette County area is the historic Starr’s Mill Waterfall site that Starr’s Mill High School is named after.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/St...er=0&entry=ttu

Originally Posted by mamazaza

What are things that are unusual?
Drawbacks?

There’s nothing really unusual about the area.

And there’s no real drawbacks to the area. Though, people who prefer to be closer to the scenic and outdoor recreational amenities of the Southern Appalachian foothills and Blue Ridge Mountains may prefer to live on the side of metro Atlanta that is closer to the foothills and mountains in the Northern suburbs.


Also, while the area features a growing amount of diversity (especially compared to how much less diverse the area was a decade-plus ago ), the area doesn’t feature the increasingly extreme diversity of Northside suburban areas like North Fulton, South Forsyth and Gwinnett counties.

Originally Posted by mamazaza

Vibes?

A far-outer suburban/exurban area that generally is decidedly conservative in character but appears to be trending more moderate with all of the out-of-state transplants that are moving into the area.

Originally Posted by mamazaza

Shopping?

Nearest shopping/retail is located along GA-54 and GA-34 from the GA-74 junction in and just west of Peachtree City and into eastern Coweta County.

More shopping/retail options are located on the north side of Fayetteville at the large Fayette Pavilion shopping center that sits on Pavilion Parkway between GA-85 and GA-314.

And there is a large upscale shopping center at Ashley Park at the southwest corner of I-85 and GA-34 in Newnan.

Originally Posted by mamazaza

Traffic?

Traffic is growing as the area continues to grow but traffic congestion in the area is still nowhere near on the scale of much of the part of metro Atlanta that is located north of I-20.

[mamazaza]

Somebody said to me the area "feels more Georgia" than other counties surrounding Atlanta today. I'm assuming that means more "southern" in culture, vibes, life?

[mamazaza]

Also where's the nearest outlet mall? I'm looking forward to (lower taxed) shopping!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by mamazaza

Somebody said to me the area "feels more Georgia" than other counties surrounding Atlanta today. I'm assuming that means more "southern" in culture, vibes, life?

Yeah, that’s a good and true assessment that Fayette County generally “feels more Georgia” (more Piedmont Deep South) than other metro Atlanta counties with far heavier transplant and immigrant populations.

But with the continued fast growth of the area and with the introduction of the television and film production industry into the county with the opening of Pinewood Atlanta Studios (now Trilith Studios) in 2013, historically ultraconservative exurban/rural Fayette County definitely is trending more suburban and metropolitan in character.

Though, the southern end of Fayette County remains noticeably exurban and semi-rural when compared to the more developed northern half of the county.

[aries4118]

Fayette County
https://www.city-data.com/forum/66142896-post130.html

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by mamazaza

Also where's the nearest outlet mall? I'm looking forward to (lower taxed) shopping!

The nearest outlet mall is located nearly 30 miles east of the Starr’s Mill area at Tanger Outlets Locust Grove at I-75 and Bill Gardner Parkway in Locust Grove in Henry County.

There are also multiple outlet malls located in the Appalachian foothills north of Atlanta, including:

> Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta, located about 65 miles north of the Starr’s Mill area along I-575 at Ridgewalk Parkway in Woodstock in Cherokee County in the North Georgia Appalachian foothills…

> North Georgia Premium Outlets mall, located about 88 miles north of the Starr’s Mill area just over the Dawson-Forsyth county line along GA-400 in Dawsonville in South Dawson County in the North Georgia Appalachian foothills…

> Calhoun Outlet Marketplace, located about 98 miles north of the Starr’s Mill area along I-75 off the GA-53 exit in Calhoun in Gordon County in Northwest Georgia…

> Tanger Outlets Commerce, which is located about 107 miles northeast of the Starr’s Mill area along I-85 at US-441 in Commerce in Jackson County in exurban Northeast Georgia.