Moving to Morgantown in a couple months (apartment, school)

[KillerK]

Hi all,

I'm moving to Morgantown in July from northwest PA to start grad school at WVU. I've visited once to scope the place out a bit and find an apartment. I settled on a place off of south High Street, kind of nearby the fire station there. I'd been warned away from the downtown area (specifically downtown High Street and Pennsylvania Avenue areas) but that south High Street area looks like it may be a decent place. I mostly settled on that one because the other places I looked at were either too downtown, or they were too expensive, or they were perched on a precipice on or near Wiles Hill and I didn't feel like testing my car's ability to navigate those streets in winter.

I just wonder if south High Street is as peaceful as it seems, or whether I should expect to have trouble regarding crime/homeless people there? I've read and have heard about the homeless problem there (saw quite a few homeless downtown Saturday night when I went to Iron Horse for dinner). I'm already planning on keeping my car/apartment doors locked and not keeping anything valuable or important in my car (to be honest, this is all pretty standard practice for most places anyway).

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for internet providers? What's the cheapest one that is also reliable? I probably wouldn't need a ton of bells and whistles since I mostly just use it for browsing online and very occasional video streaming.

Also, any recommendations for decent hiking trails in or nearby town? I've heard that the Caperton trail in/near downtown is not great because of the homeless problem. Any other tips about living in Morgantown are welcome, too.

[youngman86]

South High, Chancery Hill, into South Park are all fine. You definitely need to lock your car at night and doors because you might get some opportunistic wanderers in the evening but during the day you don't really ever see any homeless up into the neighborhoods. They pretty much stay under the bridges and out of sight shooting drugs unless of course they are asking people for money or looking for drugs on and around High Street. It is a very sad situation. Outside of that, I think you will enjoy Morgantown. You have enough bar and restaurants to walk to definitely hit up Gene's - it is a one of kind and very welcoming in an odd kind of way. I wouldn't worry so much about the Caperton trail, especially on sunny days, there will be a ton of "normal" people out and about walking, riding bikes etc. Just go down to the Ampitheater and walk up past the Marriot you can go a couple miles up that way with really no problems. The back walk by the dog park is a bit sketchy, under the Walnut Street bridge but the main strip is fine really, it does get a little sketchy once you get past Reynolds Hall from time to time.

I use comcast for internet, there is a competitor, comcast is expensive but reliable.

Coopers Rock has a lot of trails that are interesting and safe, the botanical garden offers some decent walking trails and is very safe, White Park just down the road from you is fine as well.