Greenwood

[Rick777]

I stumbled upon this site today and decided to respond here since many people answering seem to be negative in my opinion. I'm working as an engineer and like the area. I used to live in a very small town about 13 years before moving here. Greenwood has a lot more to offer than the small town I used to live in. There are lots of stores to shop at. It's true there currently is no Kohl's or Target or Best Buy in town but the city was looking at giving them incentives to locate here before the economy turned south in 2008. Best Buy and a number of other businesses were looking at locating here. I believe it's only a matter of time. I live within the city. Our busiest street called the bypass is really only busy in the morning slightly before 8 and a little bit afterwards and between 5 to 6 PM especially on Friday and Saturday evenings when I suspect people from other areas travel into the city to shop or eat at many of the stores and restaurants here.

Moving from another small city with a population of about 15,000 and nothing too close to it, I was pleasantly surprised at Greenwood. There are lots of restaurants to choose from in town. I thought everyone in town must go out to eat here. I was even told by someone who lived here that might be true. I don't go out to eat that much but like the opportunity to do so without traveling an hour to Greenville. We have a supersize Walmart here and a mall and many other outlets and stores to shop at. We have a Lowe's and other small hardware stores scattered around town. The police here have a reputation as being tough on crime and being good at what they do. Sometimes I think they are a little bit too aggressive but that is another story. They did knock on my mother's door in less than 2 minutes after someone accidentally dialed 911. That was fast.

The people are friendly and I believe the schools are decent even though South Carolina has a reputation for having a lot of dumb people and a poor education system. Cost of living is very decent here I believe. Due to the poor economy, I would not move here without a job first though. It depends on what you enjoy. Greenwood is a good place to raise a family I believe. It may not be the big city Greenville is which I believe many posting here would rather live at but I can travel there in only an hour whenever I want to (when I'm not working) and the drive is a 4 or 5 lane road or divided highway the whole distance. I say that is pretty good. Traffic is always light on my trips. Some people say you can get just about anywhere in Greenwood within 10 minutes. I believe that is close to being correct.

If you move to the area, check out the Festival of Flowers in Greenwood. They have interesting topiaries downtown and take a walk around Park Seed if you like looking at interesting plants and flowers. This may interest someone who has a gardening hobby. Not everyone does. There is also the Festival of Discovery getting to be known for the barbeque. I believe I read over 20,000 people visited the event this past year. I'm not a big barbeque fan but I read it generated over a million dollars in income to the city. I'm all in favor of the city generating revenue that is not coming out of my pocket. They have some good business leaders here and this is a business friendly area. There is also a lot of industry here which apparently some do not know much about. I'm an engineer so I'm more aware of this aspect.

Cons: Small town, not much to a night life or social aspect if you're looking for a big city environment. Greenville is an hour's drive away. Columbia is about 1hr20min. Other drivers, but that is the same across South Carolina.

Pros: Roads are good to both large cities. Things are within a short driving distance within Greenwood. Some of my relatives when they were in Columbia were known to take over 40 minutes one way just to get to Lowe's or other stores from their house and they lived in a suburb of Columbia. Here, you can get there in 10 minutes to just about any store. It may take slightly longer if you travel from outside town. The hospital here is very top notch for such a small town. I believe it serves about 250,000 people. There are about 69,000 people living in Greenwood county (not the city of Greenwood) and I believe the number goes up to about 250,000 if you include all of the small rural counties surrounding Greenwood county.

I should add I'm not originally from here but I have lived most of my life in the carolinas. Weather is pleasant here most of the time as well. Mild winters, only one or two snowfalls tops (usually) and it often melts within a day or two (major exception was last week). June, July, and August it does get hot and muggy but not nearly as bad as southeastern NC or Columbia. Beaches are a good 3 to 5 hours away depending upon which beach you visit but that is good when it comes to hurricane season. Mountains are roughly 2 hours or so away.

Greenwood is the 10th biggest city in South Carolina. I like being able to get to the store and back within 30 minutes in the evening hours. It sure beats the traffic congestion and nightmare 30 to 40 minute drive through traffic just to get one way to the store in Columbia SC after 5 PM. I do enjoy Greenville as well but I heard houses are more expensive. Driving an hour to get there doesn't seem that bad if I want more choices on the weekend. I've never been stuck in a 2 hour long traffic jam in Greenwood like I was one night near Greenville on the interstate.

One more thing, highway 72 connecting Greenwood to Clinton which is located on the interstate is a new 4 lane divided highway and in better shape than the interstates with very light traffic anytime I have travelled on it. The only drawback I see is that the speed limit is only 55 MPH and it could get to be a boring drive with hardly any traffic. Highway 25 to Greenville has a few small towns where the speed limit drops to 45 but it is 55 MPH most of the way. It's also a quiet drive so my biggest worry is falling asleep if I'm driving at night. I put the cruise control on and time goes by fairly quick.

[greenvillebuckeye]

As someone from simpsonville who ends in up GWD a lot for sporting events (High School) I've come to the conclusion 7 years later that Greenwood is Laurens with a university. If not for Lander GWD would be um....not great. The GWD YMCA is pretty nice though.

[DSMRE]

Originally Posted by greenvillebuckeye

As someone from simpsonville who ends in up GWD a lot for sporting events (High School) I've come to the conclusion 7 years later that Greenwood is Laurens with a university. If not for Lander GWD would be um....not great. The GWD YMCA is pretty nice though.

Being from Greenwood I will have to agree. With more progressive leadership it could be nice though. Most of us(family) have relocated to the Greenville area. I still go back though, especially around football season.

[LakeMan45]

Originally Posted by Rick777

If you move to the area, check out the Festival of Flowers in Greenwood. They have interesting topiaries downtown and take a walk around Park Seed if you like looking at interesting plants and flowers. This may interest someone who has a gardening hobby.

Here's some info on the Festival of Flowers this year in June. https://www.travelawaits.com/2667746...al-of-flowers/

Greenwood is a cool spot if you like the simple small town life and living near lakes. I like the fact it is a good distance from interstates, gives it an off the grid vibe. Many people who grew up in SC have never been to Greenwood.

I made Greenwood my primary residence recently and live in the Gatewood swim-tennis community. Here's info about Gatewood https://gatewoodclub.com/about/ I like this neighborhood better than any I've seen in the bigger SC cities and I'm familiar with most of the nicer neighborhoods in those cities.

The city built a new park, Grace St Park, since this topic was created. Here's info on this park. http://www.gwdparks.org/grace-street It feels safer than most parks. The park is more set up for a peaceful experience in nature with no playground and couple of slides down a hill, and no athletic fields and tennis courts.

Greenwood has one of the oldest private golf clubs in the country. It offers social memberships for non-golfers. https://greenwoodcountryclub.com/