Covington, KY (Cincinnati, Dayton, Kent: house, neighborhood, live in)

[Putty]

Hi, I was hoping I could get a response in this forum about Covington, I tried in the KY forum and nothing.......since you guys are neighboring cities I thought I would give this a try.

I am looking for a historic river city/with a bikeable, walkable riverfront that u can actually see w/o flood walls. Sounds like Covington has a flood wall, and is it around the whole riverfront?

Anyhow, I am into privately run coffeeshops/bookstores, and I enjoy bicycling in the streets, or on greenways. Also, concerts in the park and just activities going on around the area. Is Covington laid out pretty nice? Are there alot of empty buildings in the downtown district, or is it pretty clean and artsy! What is the bicycling/walking like? Do people pretty much enjoy this kind of activity? Are the parks pretty nice? library?

[SteelCityRising]

Good afternoon. I can't speak for Covington, as I've never been there, but we just returned from a vacation in the Cincinnati, OH area, and we spent a half-day in Newport, KY, just east of Covington, and we had a wonderful time. We noticed a lot of bicyclists on the "Purple People Bridge," a pedestrian/bicyclist-only link between Cincinnati and Newport, as well as in the adjoining Sawyer Park in Ohio and the Newport-on-the-Levee area in Kentucky.

Best of luck on your move!

[katiemr1]

I live in Frankfort, KY, and it is also really nice. It's a LOT smaller than Covington, though. Lexington and Louisville are close drives, so if you HAVE to have a mall or specialty shop, you're not totally lost.

[Ohiogirl81]

Covington does have a floodwall, but there some really cool murals on it. The most stunning park in the entire area, in my opinion, is Devou Park in Covington, which is on hills that overlook the river. Plenty of biking, walking, and arts opportunities in the park alone. Across the Licking River from Covington is Newport, where the Purple People Bridge and Newport on the Levee are. There's also a small park on Newport's riverfront with a bike trail. Further east, in Dayton or Bellevue (can't remember which) is a riverfront park with bike trails. And it's an easy connection among the small riverfront cities.

The riverfront in Covington itself is divided between a quite stately residential area -- without a floodwall, and that neighborhood can go under every now and then -- and the business district/restaurant barges.

Across the river is Cincinnati, which is not exactly a bike rider's haven, but there are safe places to ride your bike. But oy, those hills!

[JefferyT]

The part without the floodwall. The Point. This is a really neat little area. Check it out.

Covington is actuallly a lot like Cincinnati, sort of a Cincinnati neighborhood, but disconnected from the city by the river.

[phoneman]

Covington is nice, an old river town in many places. Remember, there are only two major cities in Kentucky, Louisville is one, Covington is the other. (Sorry Frankfort, sorry Paducha, but you are still not a Class 2 city, there are only two in the Commonwealth).

Many Cincinnatians consider Covington, and the whole group of cities in Northern KY to be "south Cincinnati" with a better view.

[Putty]

Thank you so much for the info, you guys have been extremely helpful. I love bicycling so I think I may like the Covington area....Any rails to trails along there? I can check on the website also, but if anyone knows of any first hand and can tell me what they are like, that would be super.

Also, I am interested in privately owned bookstores/coffeeshops and the like, and a charming downtown atmosphere, does Covington have that appeal?

Hopefully I will be heading up there soon.

[JefferyT]

^
not in Convington. There downtown is actually somewhat intact, but its not really charming. The so-called Mainstrasse Village is more likley the place that will have coffeeshops, tho I think they are more bars thought. Across the Licking River is Newport, which has that big Newport on the Levee.

I dont know of any bookstores in Covington. For good used bookstores there are two across the river in Cincinnati: Ohio Bookshop on Main (which specializes in local history and railfan things), and Duttenhofers up near UC, which is good for arts and design books.

[zorst]

Covington is an interesting place but not a high concetration of coffeshops and bookstores. I cant's think of any bookstores. There used to be a coffee house "Stones" on MainStrasse but it may have changed names recently.

However if you want to get drunk there are plenty of places to do that in the downtown Covington area.

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by phoneman

Covington is nice, an old river town in many places. Remember, there are only two major cities in Kentucky, Louisville is one, Covington is the other. (Sorry Frankfort, sorry Paducha, but you are still not a Class 2 city, there are only two in the Commonwealth).

Many Cincinnatians consider Covington, and the whole group of cities in Northern KY to be "south Cincinnati" with a better view.

??? Kentucky's two major cities are Louisville and Covington? How about Lexington at about 270,000 people? There are tons of little communities on the KY side and Covington is one of them, although the largest at about 45,000 people. There are about 400,000 people on the N.KY side of the Cincy metro.