Moving From Upstate, NY to Greenville area

[HP91]

Originally Posted by Phil A. Delphia

Only in comparison to its surrounding towns, but not in comparison to places like Asheville, Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, etc.

I'm sorry but I don't agree with that. ECU and the Medical Center bring a ton of people from the outside to work and the majority of students are not from ENC....so how on earth could being a transplant be an issue.

What some may have an issue with is adapting to the culture. ENC is a slowed down pace. Greenville has easy access to some of the best hunting/fishing/boating and beaches in the entire country...but there is a culture there you have to adapt to. If you have an open mind and not an elitist attitude, it can be a much more rewarding place to live.

Dave Mirra (from BMX fame) loves Greenville and ENC (he had a house in Bath) because it reminded him of upstate NY. If you arent the kind that like upstate NY, you wont like ENC. Its more laid back and less pretentious.

If you like elitism, Asheville, Chapel Hill and Charlottesville (not sure if you meant Charlotte) Va are ideal places for that attitude in the south.

[MrBojangles]

Originally Posted by snowbirdmn

we are also looking to move to Greenville NC. I have read on some posts that if you are a transplant to the area, look at buying a home in a neighborhood where a lot of transplants live?? My husband and I still have a 5th grader at home (other 3 in college or out) and are interested in a safe, family friendly neighbourhood with kids.

I also was interested in knowing how the Catholic School is in Greenville. Where do most of the families live whose children attend there?

Does Greenville have youth sports teams, football, basketball and baseball? Any other advise is appreciated.

I am not catholic, but I think St. Peter's is tops. Plus, John Paul II High School is the only catholic high school east of Raleigh.

Our youth sports programs are large, and there is always something for them to do.

[Richard Martin]

Originally Posted by snowbirdmn

we are also looking to move to Greenville NC. I have read on some posts that if you are a transplant to the area, look at buying a home in a neighborhood where a lot of transplants live?? My husband and I still have a 5th grader at home (other 3 in college or out) and are interested in a safe, family friendly neighbourhood with kids.

Like I've said before, I went through the whole transplant where I wasn't wanted thing. It wasn't the best 5 years of my life. It's exceedingly difficult but try to find a neighborhood that suits your lifestyle. If you're an outdoorsy type of person cruise the neighborhoods on nice weekends in the afternoon and see if anybody is out and about. The locals tend to stay indoors most of the time and not be very neighborly.

There are tons of youth programs in Greenville. They've even recently started a lacrosse team at one school. Basketball, baseball and football are huge. Soccer does very well too.

Originally Posted by HP91

I'm sorry but I don't agree with that. ECU and the Medical Center bring a ton of people from the outside to work and the majority of students are not from ENC....so how on earth could being a transplant be an issue.

What some may have an issue with is adapting to the culture. ENC is a slowed down pace. Greenville has easy access to some of the best hunting/fishing/boating and beaches in the entire country...but there is a culture there you have to adapt to. If you have an open mind and not an elitist attitude, it can be a much more rewarding place to live.

It's an issue because the majority of folks that live here are from ENC. Granted there are already a ton of transplants here, but they are still in the minority. I'm of the opinion that if the local folks didn't think that their way was the only way and had an open mind, that things may improve in a big hurry.

An excellent example is the Greenville river park. There are plans that would make huge improvements to that area. The plans didn't hardly even get announced and the old timers are screaming about leaving it alone, it's fine the way it is.

Another example is the Chicod School. It's an old decrepit school built in the early 20th century. It's a K-8 school. The county built a brand new middle school, Hope Middle, with the intention of sending the middle schoolers from Chicod there and building a brand new Chicod Elementary school. But the old timer parents would have none of that. Their grand daddy's daddy went to that school and if it was good enough for their grand daddy's daddy, then it's good enough now.

The school is a disgrace. It's filled with asbestos, the roof leaks and several engineers have said it needs to go. So now they're going to tear the front off of the school, flip it around and face it in another direction using the small additions that they've built over the years as the basis for a new front to the school.

The delay while the county fought with the parents has fouled the financing up and now the county doesn't have the money to fix the old school. Nice job there closed minded parents.

[HP91]

I agree with your examples...but lets keep them in perspective.

Chicod is a rural school, like 10-15 miles south of Greenville. It's similar to another school in Martin Co called Beargrass. The rural area outside of Greenville is long time ENC residents.

As for the Town Common, sometimes you hear some of the old time residents push for things that the City government and city staff don't agree at all with. Much of it is different philosophies, which I don't think is altogether a bad thing. The history of the Town Common is that it was a huge urban renewal project where there were a bunch of slums and such and the whole area was redeveloped into pretty much what you see now. Many of those old timers were involved in that HUGE change 40-50 years ago. As well, you have people who want to protect water access and public spaces, so proposals to develop them are going to garner opposition by some. I'm not sold on the plan I saw...I don't like the idea of a building between the park and water access. Most wont have a problem with developing a tract near the bridge because its fringe property.

You are correct about many folks moving to Greenville from other parts of ENC...some of what you describe may be in some of the older neighborhoods, maybe folks from out of state should look at more of the new neighborhoods a little more.