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My wife and I are thinking of moving to the Charlotte area, and are looking for a small town, with lots of charm, and a great place to raise kids (we have a 20 month old). Basically, if anyone has seen the show Gilmore Girls, we are looking for Stars Hollow.
We currently live in North Florida, and we are tired of the heat, and basically two seasons (spring and summer). We want nice falls, occasional snows, good culture.
We have research some towns around the Lake Norman area such as Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, as well as Gastonia.
Any help, pros/cons, would be be helpful, such as:
-Education (public & private)
-Crime
-Housing
-McGuire Nuclear plant? (makes us a little nervous)
-commutes to Charlotte
If you are tired of heat, then you will probably be happier in the western part of the Piedmont area of the state or the mountains. The coastal area is humid and hot with over 100 degree days common. I have seen 100 days in May a good month before the start of summer. Isn't Matthews located around the Charlotte area someone?
hi! my husband and i live in matthews now and we really like it. we are a young couple with no plans of kids yet but everyone around us is family friendly. we live off of hwy 51 and near hwy 74 and interstate 485 and that is the best thing. to be able to hope on the interstate and be in downtown, SC, concord or the airport in 20 minutes. downtown matthews is wonderful with its farmers market (with guest chef from nearby restaurants) every saturday from april-november. stump park with so many activites during the spring summer and fall like parades, movies in the park, and children's plays. they have a woman;s society that has a victorian tea that gets booked in october for november and december every year. there's a lot of growth around matthews. heres the website www.matthewsnc.com
another little town to check out is either mint hill or indian trail
Depends on your definition of small town. I would say that crime is low and there is plenty of housing to choose from.
Charlotte has pretty much connected itself to its booming neighbor to the north called Huntersville. Charlotte is expanding north and Huntersville to the south, hence they have met now.
North of Huntersville is Cornelius, then Davidson (small college town) and then Mooresville. I would say Davidson has the best "small town" feel out of all of these and is closely followed by Cornelius. Cornelius recently upgraded its entire downtown area, it looks really nice and emphasized on keeping its small town feel.
These are also lake communities. There was space to build on the lake and was affordable about 10 years ago, now it is like owning property on the beach. Expensive, especially in the affluent Cornelius' "Peninsula" neighborhood.
What you mentioned about Gilmore Girls town feel, that is exactly what my boyfriend and I are looking for. We plan to move to NC at the end of the summer. We are looking outside the Raleigh area, because I keep hearing that Charlotte is so congested.
Good Luck finding Stars Hollow, if I find anything when we visit NC in June, we will let you know!!
I think we found Stars Hollow in Rolesville. Its a tiny little town north of Raleigh on the SR401. The population is small but growing. I think it has less than 1500 people. The City Hall is so cute and small and I can fit the police station in my living room.
If you are set on Charlotte for work, I love the areas around Concord. It was a little crowded during a race though and there wasn't a hotel room available for miles.
Raleigh has more to offer us, so we are gong to be going there.
I was on this website and reading some comments about Raleigh.
It was not very useful, but it did make me think it talks about Raleigh's lack of culture and diversity. It also says there is no place for liberals. I am not a very political person, I would say I am more conservative on some things and liberal on others, but take a look at this site it paints a bad picture.
Don't worry I am not scared just wondering what you guys think. I am still Raleigh Bound!!
Raleigh has more to offer us, so we are gong to be going there.
would u mind expounding on this statement, please? My husband and I are making the relocation to NC sometime within the next 2 months, and choosing between outside of Raleigh or Charlotte has been a huge challenge for us. For a while, we were dead set on Raleigh, then heard about the redistricting of the school system every year and the shuffling of kids from school to school, and also the value of the homes depreciating and decided to start looking around the Charlotte area.
hi! my husband and i live in matthews now and we really like it. we are a young couple with no plans of kids yet but everyone around us is family friendly. we live off of hwy 51 and near hwy 74 and interstate 485 and that is the best thing. to be able to hope on the interstate and be in downtown, SC, concord or the airport in 20 minutes. downtown matthews is wonderful with its farmers market (with guest chef from nearby restaurants) every saturday from april-november. stump park with so many activites during the spring summer and fall like parades, movies in the park, and children's plays. they have a woman;s society that has a victorian tea that gets booked in october for november and december every year. there's a lot of growth around matthews. heres the website www.matthewsnc.com
did you guys relocate from somewhere else? and if you don't mind, how did you decide to move to Matthews? I'm so nervous about choosing an area, its starting to overwhelm me!
would u mind expounding on this statement, please? My husband and I are making the relocation to NC sometime within the next 2 months, and choosing between outside of Raleigh or Charlotte has been a huge challenge for us. For a while, we were dead set on Raleigh, then heard about the redistricting of the school system every year and the shuffling of kids from school to school, and also the value of the homes depreciating and decided to start looking around the Charlotte area.
One reason is my husband's job. He lived in Concord for 5 months last year flying out of Concord and Charlotte airports. I visited a couple of times because we thought we may move there permanantly. He liked Concord- didn't love it. The new homes cost a fraction of what they do here in Orlando. His job changed and he now lives in North Raleigh and really really loves it!! We originally were thinking Cary because of the location to RDU. But-He flies out of Franklin County airport in Louisburg further up SR401. So living in Cary would never work. I was thinking maybe Wake Forrest. During my visit a couple of weeks ago, I drove all over and Wake Forrest wasn't quite what I had in mind to move to. So, as he drives up the 401 he drives right through Rolesville. He stopped and talked to some of the new home builders there and found the perfect lot of land and asked me to come up and see it. So I did. Oh MY!!! It was perfect... everything... Not too country, not too city... 5 minutes from the 540, 25 minutes to RDU, and 10 minutes from what is probably the nicest mall I have ever seen, and still a small town (less than 1500 people). We wouldn't have been able to find something like this in Concord. The lots there in the new home developments in our price range were small. We picked an almost 1/2 acre lot on a small lake/pond and will build the home of our dreams!! (second reason) And the third reason, as far as my work, I could do well in either, but to get the job I want if we lived in Concord, I would have to commute to Charlotte. I work banker's hours so I would be driving in rush hour traffic on the 85. (I might as well stay here) If we live in Rolesville and I have to drive 20 minutes to get to my job in North Raleigh, I will have the best of everything. My career will soar in Raleigh. The average family income (according to the 2005 census) in North Raleigh 107,652, Rolesville 71,803, Charlotte 51,581, and Concord it is 76,400. It is only 55K here in Orlando.
As far as the schools in Rolesville. Your children would not have to change schools in such a small town. My kids will attend Wake Forrest-Rolesville high. I have seen the school and they are building more to it to accomodate the new people. It is a beautiful school!
Alot of people are looking at Cary and Apex. There are new schools going there thus the redistricting. The only thing I can say is my husband told me to look out the window when my plane took off to come back to Orlando. We flew right over Cary. Although I am sure it is very very nice, it looked over crowded. You would be hard pressed to find my almost 1/2 acre waterfront lot there. Think broader... look NE Raleigh. That is where the small towns are.
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(makes us a little nervous)
hi friend
