considering move to Manning/Sumter area (Columbia, Clemson: fit in, crime, cheap home)

[annhart]

I am considering a move to the Manning/Sumter area. My husband and I prefer small town living and outdoor/water activities. Any info about the area would be appreciated.

[thewingate4]

I haven't verified any of this, but I know a great family from Sumter, and several people from Manning, and I honestly would not suggest relocating there. From what I understand, the Sumter schools are really bad, and crime is big. The family I know from there is a very nice, well educated family, and she refuses to have her kids in the schools. They are actually trying to relocate right now. Manning, from what I hear, also has a large crime problem. Don't mean to offend anyone from either, just going by what I hear every week.
If you are looking for small town living, close to water, maybe Chapin (near Columbia), Lake Wylie, or some of the small towns in the upstate would suit you. There are many lakes in Pickens County.

[afvet]

Hi annhart,

I lived in Sumter for two years, 1998-2000, and wouldn't want to go back. It's an inexpensive small town, has some beautiful parks and small lakes, and some quaint older buildings, but for the most part it is poor and crime ridden. I was in the Air Force at the time so I don't know much about the local job market, but I didn't hear of too many residents having well paying jobs. The cost of living is low, so a $50K job allows you to live very well.

Anyone I knew with kids sent them to private school. According to a cop I knew there at the time, the area has a VERY high rate of AIDS/HIV which caused a lot of concern among police, doctors, firefighters and other occupations which may involve contact with needles or blood.

If you chose to live in Sumter I would recommend the "country" areas on the outskirts of town. You may want to take a look at Columbia. Even though it's the capital and one of the larger cities, I thought it had a small town feel.
Clemson is near a large lake and from what I've heard is a nice town, but it's growing.

[anonymous]

annhart, I was born & raised in sumter - and have spent plenty of time in manning. I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know.

But to be honest, what these people said is pretty much true. It does have its good points and it's bad points, despite it's popular nicknames, "Dumpster" and "Swampter".

Pros:
-Extremely good hunting & fishing in this area. That's easily the #1 pastime. If you hunt or fish, you'll like it in Sumter. Bonus points if you like football or baseball.
-Also, if you're a Christian and regularly attend church, bonus points.. you'll have plenty of options.
-Has a very good K-12 private school (Wilson Hall), and fairly good high school (Sumter High)
-Excellent farming opportunities
-Cheap homes
-Not too far from the beach
-Large, inexpensive lakes in the area (Lake Marion, Moultrie)
-People are typically very southern and very friendly.

Cons:
-#3 most dangerous area in the U.S., behind Detroit & Memphis (saw this one posted on the NC board somewhere)
-Sumter County has more trailer parks per capita than any county in America (read this in "The Sumter Daily Item")
-most public schools are pretty bad here. I don't have any numbers, but you just have to take my word for it.
-the brutally hot summers
-the poor economy, poor city in a poor part of the state
-still a little bit of 'old south' racial tension.

I could go on, but i think y'all get the idea. It is a quiet area, and it's not nearly as dangerous as the statistics make it sound. You have a lot of areas that it's best to just drive through, usually.

good luck, though

[kilo-alpha]

My first posting. Doing it right?
What can anyone tell me about the Manning High School library. I can't make heads nor tails out of the state reports.
Thanks.

[eureka1]

I have ROOTS in Manning although I've never lived there, just visited. In fact my great-great-grandfather's farm was approximately where the High School is now. But the source for this info was not the High School library but the wonderful Clarendon County library (in Manning)whose librarian is a genius at geneolology. I wonder if you could be thinking of it? When we were there, the town was upset about a purse-snatching at a supermarket. Don't know about crimes of violence but I got the impression there was a lot of petty crime. But you gotta check out Lake Marion!

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

This thread is ancient, but as someone who grew up in Sumter, I feel compelled to defend it.
1) The schools aren't as bad as everyone makes them seem. Overall test scores are low, but they also have pretty fantastic programs for gifted kids. Sumter High was a Blue Ribbon High School, though that was quite a few years ago. I graduated from there and feel I received a top-notch education. In fact, I went k-12 in Sumter District 17 schools and would put that education up against most public educations, nationwide. (Admittedly, I received the benefit of the aforementioned gifted and talented programs, but rest assured that there is help for students who choose to excel.)
2) The crime? Problematic, but largely centralized. We never had a problem when I was growing up with any crime that I can recall. Most of it occurs in areas to which you'd be very unlikely to relocate. In fact, I don't know that all that many people move TO those areas if they have a choice.
3) Yeah, it's fairly poor. Still, the cost of living is very low. Property is a breeze. My brothers and I picked up a piece of property near Lake Marion a few years ago, and it's been really nice. The brothers who live a little closer get to use it a lot more than I do, but those are the breaks. Fishing. Boating. Hunting (though that's not really my thing). It's nice.

Anyway, get a feel for the place before you judge it. If you hate it, that's cool. But who knows. You might enjoy it.

[Linnie]

We lived in Sumter for 5 years while hubby was in the Air Force...honestly, it was the worst 5 years of our life. The schools were horrific...wish that were an exaggeration but it's not. I would NEVER put my children in a school environment like Sumter's...the things that go on. Unbelievable. My child was in the so-called 'Gifted and Talented' program the entire time she was in school there...but when we PCS'd, she had a LOT of catching up to do. Especially in Math and Science. It was pretty rough on her but she did it!

And honestly, I never felt all that safe...even on base. LOTS of problems with gangs when we were stationed there.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Linnie

We lived in Sumter for 5 years while hubby was in the Air Force...honestly, it was the worst 5 years of our life. The schools were horrific...wish that were an exaggeration but it's not. I would NEVER put my children in a school environment like Sumter's...the things that go on. Unbelievable. My child was in the so-called 'Gifted and Talented' program the entire time she was in school there...but when we PCS'd, she had a LOT of catching up to do. Especially in Math and Science. It was pretty rough on her but she did it!

And honestly, I never felt all that safe...even on base. LOTS of problems with gangs when we were stationed there.

Out of curiosity, was that District 2 or District 17? Just wondering.

And do you care to elaborate on some of the things that made the environment so bad? You can DM me if you'd rather not post it.

I'm consistently amazed that experiences can be so different in a small town. I spent my whole pre-graduation life in Sumter, but it's not as if I've been there much since except to visit family. I've lived in a number of places in the meantime that have taught me the pros and cons of my hometown.

I'm also sorry you never felt safe. That's unfortunate. I can only reiterate that no one in my family ever suffered from any crime to speak of that I can recall in my time there. That's not an exaggeration.

[Linnie]

Hi CarolinaBred! My child was in District 2 and I have to say, the experience from beginning to end was horrible. She still doesn't like to talk about her time there...and for that matter, no one in our family does.

First of all, I wanna say that I was VERY involved with the schools that my daughter attended. I volunteered on a regular basis so I was there and I experienced what was going on firsthand. And I also wanna add that my kiddo was lucky enough to have a few good teachers...teachers that did truly care. But overall, I think the entire system needs an overhaul. I witnessed children who should NEVER have been promoted but somehow were each year. I remember working with a little girl in particular...it was the saddest thing to watch her struggle. She SO obviously needed help and wasn't remotely close to being at the level she should have been...but yet she was promoted. And this wasn't an isolated case. MANY children failed to do their homework, classwork, or have any kind of respect for their peers or teachers for that matter. And yes, that's a parental failure. But it's also a failure of the school system if they continue to pass these children who are lacking in required skills.

Disrespect ran rampant in the schools while we were there...from the students toward their teachers and vice versa. I heard so many ugly things...even teachers telling the kids to shut up. Nice, huh? I walked down halls and heard yelling...even witnessed teacher/student shoving. It scared the crap outta me!

And I have to bring up the bullying. My daughter was bullied...often. In fact, my neighbor pulled her son out of the school where he and my daughter attended because of bullying. Why were they targeted and harassed? Because they were extremely bright students who actually wanted to learn and who displayed respect toward teachers and others around them. For no other reason. The teachers did NOTHING to try and stop it...and until I had a mad screaming fit in a busy school office, the administration did nothing to stop it either. Sad. After speaking with many parents, I found that bullying was quite a common occurence. Disgraceful in my opinion as bullying should NEVER be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.

Another issue was the amount of homework. I know that sounds odd but my poor kid had hours of homework each night...in elemenary school. Now this is a smart kiddo we're talking about. She was in the Gifted and Talented program to boot but the amount of homework was unbelievable. And this homework was nothing more than repetitive 'busy' work. I'm assuming this was a desperate attempt on the part of the school system to bring up test scores and national averages. What it was was silly nonsense. And even with all the 'homework' and extra guidance in the so called Gifted and Talented program, my daugher STILL had a tremendous amount of catching up when we moved of of state.

So anyway...that was our experience with the Sumter school system. I do hope that things have improved since we left in 2001. I really do!