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.
Easley, taylors, greer, powdersville? Are they just smaller towns and why they're not mentioned often?
Taylors is really more of a part of Greenville. Its really hard to tell where Taylors begins and Greenville ends but its not a bad area though it has less of its own identity.
Easley and Powdersville are both to the west of Greenville. Easley is a bit more stand alone from Greenville than Taylors and has its own downtown area but is only about 10 mins from downtown Greenville. Powdersville is beginning to grow rapidly more as a suburb of Greenville and does not have its own downtown to speak of.
Greer is between Greenville and Spartanburg and IMO is the best of these towns. BMW and GSP Intl Airport are both in Greer and it has a very nice downtown area. Its not as close to downtown Greenville as the others you mentioned but still within 20 mins or so. Only thing is that it has grown and continues to grow much more rapidly than the others mentioned so I would be hard pressed to describe it as a small town. It certainly still has some of the small town feel but its growing more and more as Greenville and Spartanburg begin to grow more together.
All you mentioned are great places, I would check them all out for yourself when you are down here. You cant truly go wrong with any.
i've lived in both Cola and Florence. i don't see any big deal with Columbia, but I'm not a shopper.
most people who live in Florence go to the beach a lot. many of them do some shopping while down there.
I believe MB's mall is the biggest or 2nd biggest in the state, the Coastal Grand. I think it is better than any in Charleston.
The housing costs in Florence are great, i think many people can live with less retail if they can get more bang for their buck on housing and be 1 hour closer to the beach. also a much better traffic situation in florence.
Ive lived in both as well and I can tell you at least for myself and most of the people I knew in Florence, we would go to Columbia far more often than Myrtle Beach and not for shopping. I know the girl I dated when I was down there and her friends would go to Sandhills all the time and one even worked there. You are right about Columbiana though being on the other side of the metro, it would be much closer and easier to get to Coastal Grand from Florence so many do go there instead of Columbiana.
Florence is not a bad place but I would be hard pressed to agree that West Florence is one of the state's safest or its schools are great. Its certainly not a bad area nor is WFHS a bad school but compared to schools in places like Greenville, the Lake Murray part of Columbia (Dutch Fork, Lexington, Chapin, River Bluff), it doesn't really stack up. The other thing about West Florence is that its really not far removed from some of the worst parts of Florence. Windsor Forest, arguably one of the nicest subdivisions in Florence, backs up to the Darlington Street area. Florence really isnt big enough to have sections that you would consider more stand alone suburbs. Its not like Irmo to Columbia or Simpsonville to Greenville or Summerville to Charleston if you will.
Taylors is really more of a part of Greenville. Its really hard to tell where Taylors begins and Greenville ends but its not a bad area though it has less of its own identity.
Easley and Powdersville are both to the west of Greenville. Easley is a bit more stand alone from Greenville than Taylors and has its own downtown area but is only about 10 mins from downtown Greenville. Powdersville is beginning to grow rapidly more as a suburb of Greenville and does not have its own downtown to speak of.
Greer is between Greenville and Spartanburg and IMO is the best of these towns. BMW and GSP Intl Airport are both in Greer and it has a very nice downtown area. Its not as close to downtown Greenville as the others you mentioned but still within 20 mins or so. Only thing is that it has grown and continues to grow much more rapidly than the others mentioned so I would be hard pressed to describe it as a small town. It certainly still has some of the small town feel but its growing more and more as Greenville and Spartanburg begin to grow more together.
All you mentioned are great places, I would check them all out for yourself when you are down here. You cant truly go wrong with any.
I started looking into these areas because it seems you can even more house for the money but also it seems like Wren MS and HS are rated very well (I forget what town(s) those schools actually belong to though). Am I right in believing that they are rated as well as they seem? Mind you, it's a possibility I might have some info messed up because I'm researching so much.
I started looking into these areas because it seems you can even more house for the money but also it seems like Wren MS and HS are rated very well (I forget what town(s) those schools actually belong to though). Am I right in believing that they are rated as well as they seem? Mind you, it's a possibility I might have some info messed up because I'm researching so much.
Wren schools are good. It's not really in a town, though. Wren is kind of out in the country. That area is kind of between Greenville and Anderson.
It's part of the Anderson District 1 school system. The other high Schools in that district are Palmetto and Powdersville.
Ive lived in both as well and I can tell you at least for myself and most of the people I knew in Florence, we would go to Columbia far more often than Myrtle Beach and not for shopping. I know the girl I dated when I was down there and her friends would go to Sandhills all the time and one even worked there. You are right about Columbiana though being on the other side of the metro, it would be much closer and easier to get to Coastal Grand from Florence so many do go there instead of Columbiana.
Florence is not a bad place but I would be hard pressed to agree that West Florence is one of the state's safest or its schools are great. Its certainly not a bad area nor is WFHS a bad school but compared to schools in places like Greenville, the Lake Murray part of Columbia (Dutch Fork, Lexington, Chapin, River Bluff), it doesn't really stack up. The other thing about West Florence is that its really not far removed from some of the worst parts of Florence. Windsor Forest, arguably one of the nicest subdivisions in Florence, backs up to the Darlington Street area. Florence really isnt big enough to have sections that you would consider more stand alone suburbs. Its not like Irmo to Columbia or Simpsonville to Greenville or Summerville to Charleston if you will.
Did you live in West Florence? I saw you say something about going to Francis Marion. That is not west FLorence.
I never said nobody goes to Columbia for shopping or other things. I just don't think it is a majority of people who work and over age 30, and it isn't all that often. It would basically be to go to the zoo, maybe the state museum or something.
Most people in Florence go to the beach some, and it makes snese just to do shopping while you are down there.
I don't see how you can say a school doesn't stack up if you did not attend it. I know physicians, engineers, scientists, lawyers, etc who went to West Florence schools, and we went to good colleges in and out of the state. How can it be a bad school and 'not stack up' if the good students went on to have succesful careers in challenging professions?
Windsor forest, Hoffmeyer road is not close to any bad area there. Do you think the Oakdale, Pineneedles area is not al lthat safe? What about the Forest Lake area? The Cloisters off 2nd Loop isn't safe? The neighborhoods around Florence County Club aren't safe? Why would people live in those neighborhoods if they are no safe.
Irmo (Columbia surburb) has a reputation of having high crime and SPring Valley High school in N.E Columbia has a reputation for gangs.
How many people live Chapin? That is a very small suburb and it is far out from Columbia.
I knew a lot of students from Chapin at college, and I was making better grades than them, and one of them dropped out.
I started taking Advanced Placement courses my junior year and received a lot of college credit and I didn't have take those courses in college. If you can take collge level classes starting junior year in high school, it seems the school must stack up pretty well and have some good professors.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 06-17-2016 at 12:43 PM..
Status:
"Without data, it's just an opinion."
(set 26 days ago)
Location: South of Cakalaki
5,772 posts, read 4,775,621 times
Reputation: 5217
There are a never ending supply of opinions about best places to live. In the end, choices come down to many variables. Schools are normally a major factor for parents with children. There are sources of data for this stuff that you can use to determine your choices.
Not surprisingly, the larger cities, or their suburbs, have the better schools.
Charleston, the NW Columbia suburbs, and the Greenville area are rated the best. Which pretty much tracks with what many have posted. Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville.
school scores don't rate the teachers. it makes no sense to rate a school by the bad students. If a school has had thousands of students get into good colleges and then obtain good jobs, the school must be preparing students for life. A school has to have standards, passing bad students wouldn't make it a good school. Students drop out of highly ranked colleges all the time, does that make them bad colleges? The students have responsiblity for their academic success.
it makes no sense to believe that teachers who work at schools in smaller cities are not qualified to teach. They have college degrees in education. Why do universities confer teaching degrees to teachers if only a percentage of them are capable of teaching. Our colleges are corrupt if they are operating like diploma mills and conferring degrees to people who cannot teach.
you cannot realistically rate a school without talking about the teachers specifically. if you cannot even name one teacher at the school, it doesn't seem credible to claim the school cannot stack up to other schools (where you also cannot name a single teacher).
Would a failing student at a school in a small city became a good student if he or she was transferred to a highly ranked school in Columbia? It does not seem probable. Failing students are not struggling in just one class, they are struggling in several if not all classes, taught by different teachers with different teaching styles, who graduated from different colleges. it is not believable that every teacher at a school in a small city is terrible.
Small cities are not big enough where the affluent parents can almost entirely segregate themselves from the poorer areas, which is where most of the students who struggle in school live. The school scores reflect the student body's socioeconomic status, a higher score correlates to a school having more affluent and educated parents.
If students can take college level courses at a high school in a small city staring junior year, and are able to pass the test to obtain the college credit, the school must have good professors.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 06-18-2016 at 09:51 AM..
School scores for schools in Florence at the link above.
Royal Elementary has a 10, Carver Elementary has a 9, and Delmae has a 8, Briggs has a 7. These are the elementary schools serving the affluent areas of town. They feed into West Florence high which is only a 5 because the high school is serving a wider area with more poor kids.
Florence has two high schools with a 5 school score, and one with a 4 (this in the poorest area). Columbia metro has several high schools that are 3 and below. There is more segregation at schools along class lines in Columbia and bigger cities.
For some Columbia schools:
Spring Valley High 6
River Bluff High 6
A.C. FLora High 4
Brookland Cayce 4
Airport High 4
Columbia High 3
Richland Northeast 4
Irmo High 3
Lower Richland High 2
Eau Clarle 1
Two schools touted in a prevous post, Dutch Fork is at 7 and Chapin at a 6.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 06-18-2016 at 11:00 AM..
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.
