Lynchburg, Virginia?

[linsei]

I would love to know more about this area for a possible relocation. For reference, we currently live in a rural, but quickly developing and well planned city in a suburb of a large city.

Some things I'm primarily interested in...

What is the feel of the area? I've researched online, but it is really hard to tell. Is it a well planned city? Does the local government run smoothly and efficiently? Things to do with kids?

Housing - Is it the type of city where you live and work, or do people commute from somewhere else?

School systems, of course. Is there a highly rated public school, or would we have to consider private?

Shopping - access to organics? Costco or WF (that alone might sway our decision, lol!), nice mall/shopping area

Surrounding areas? What is nearby?

Any other questions I should be asking?

Thanks! :)

[SASM]

I do not live there but you can maybe ask Kelly from Kozy Carriers. She is in Lynchburg. :) BWT, her MTs are awesome, IMO! :)

Good luck with the research! :)

Oh...ETA: SHe is a busy mom of 4 (at last count) who owns a business so I would imagne that life is kind of crazy...but you never know.

[kedss]

hi-
I live an 1.5 hour away from Lynchburg. It is basically a college town(including Randolph College, used to be Randolph Macon Women's College), we go there to visit my grandmother. Its a smallish southern town, with some older parts that need work, and some parts that have been restored. Here's the wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hill_City

I think if we had to relocate there, it wouldn't be a hard move for us-

[linsei]

Thanks for the link, Kate. I didn't think to look at wikipedia. It's so hard to tell from an article like that. The city's website made it sound absolutely wonderful, and I got a completely different vibe from the wiki article.

Sharyn, thanks - I might try to contact here if no one else has an idea of what it is like there.

[Sillygirl]

I used to live near Lynchburg. There isn't much there, unless you count Liberty University. It's not very pretty. Sorry to be so negative but it was just not charming at all. Move further north if you can - Charlottesville is great and seems to have more of what you're looking for.

[linsei]

Thank you! I appreciate the honest assessment.

[pb&j]

I live not far from Lynchburg, and my cousins grew up there. ITA w/Sillygirl, there are better places nearby for raising a family. I'd put Charlottesville and Roanoke way ahead of Lynchburg in most categories. Lynchburg is the heart of Falwell country, which may be super for some, but definitely not my speed whatsoever.

[ssjarrett]

I lived in Lynchburg for several years when I worked at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in the late 1990s and have been back to visit a few times since then. I was single then (though I met my DH there), so I can't speak to the schools, etc. But, I think it could be a very nice place to live with a family--I'd love to get back to more of a small town myself. At the time there was one mall and since then much more shopping has been developed, but I have no idea about Costco or WF--there may be a Sam's club though.

I did not feel much of the Liberty U influence myself, but I lived over in the older part of town near Randolph-Macon. It is a beautiful area of VA with many great towns to visit nearby and I thought there was a nice quality of life there in town. I did not know of anyone who lived there who then commuted far away for work, so I think most live and work there or fairly close. I'm sure you can get lots of feedback from some others who currently live there, but I'd say it is definitely work checking out! If it was closer to family, I'd definitely consider moving back. Good luck.

[LarsMal]

I talked to my good friend this morning who went to Lynchburg College and her best friend stayed in the area after school. These are her words, not mine, but I'd thought I'd pass them along!

"It's very "Bible Belt", with a lot of Baptist influence. It doesn't bother some people, but it was a bit much for me, and K thinks so, too. K always says she feels like it's '10 years behind the times'. In everything- from stores, to buildings, to beliefs, it's just behind the times."

My friend's friend wants to move, but her husband won't b/c it's close to his family. She feels "stuck" there, but that's obviously just one person's view. (She grew up in Northern VA, so I'm sure it's just very different for her. Her DH grew up in the area, so he loves it.)

ETA: Another vote for C'ville! LOVE LOVE LOVE C'ville!

[maylips]

I love Charlottesville too and wanted to move there a few years ago. But the cost of living must be outrageous. I did an online calculator of plugging in your current salary/town where you lived with what you need to make to equal that in Charlottesville and it was the highest of all the places we were looking to move. I was bummed.

My MIL lived in Lynchburg for a year so we visited a few times. I thought it was fairly charming. There are definitely some older areas but some historic places to see as well. Of course, we weren't there day-to-day, so I can't comment on how conservative it is, or about much else. I can tell you that there is Sam's Club there but I don't think there's a Costco. :)

[octmom]

Though Charlottesville is not a cheap place to live, it is a GREAT place to live. NoVA housing costs are highest in the state, but I think Cville comes next in line. However, there are great schools (public and private), great restaurants, lots of cultural offerings, and it is absolutely beautiful, both in terms of natural beauty and a lot of the architecture.

ETA: Cville has a Whole Foods and is getting a Trader Joe's. No Costco, but there is a Sam's Club. There are also lots of very nice local shops and several CSAs to choose from, if you are looking for organic and/ or locally grown foods.

I have only driven through/ past Lynchburg, but it has never interested me enough to spend any time there. That said, I am told that they have a fabulous children's museum.

[linsei]

C-ville sounds great from everything I have read here, but I looked it up and C-ville is 1 hour:20 minutes away from Lynchburg. It would be a long commute to live there/work in L-burg. Are there any other areas around L-burg that would be nice to live in and not have such a long commute?

[kedss]

you could try Amherst? or somewhere in Nelson County?

[swrc00]

My father in law lives in Lynchburg. I also went to college in Salem, Virginia, which I would move to in a instant. Lynchburg is a very conservative southern area. My DH's sibs go to private school. I imagine in parts of Lynchburg there are decent public schools. Like anywhere also there is a nice part of town and a not so nice part of town. These sides are sadly determined by race.

In Virginia each school and division receives a report card. Looking at the State Accreditation site all schools in the city were fully accredited, except two, who were accredited with warning. However the school system as a whole did not make adequate yearly progress. I used the following link for the information. You can view the report cards at this site:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/

I am sorry the teacher in me, couldn't resist.

[ilfaith]

I have friends who lived in Lexington, VA for a few years (while the wife was in law school at Washington & Lee). We only visited once, but thought the town had a lot of charm and history. In fact while we were there, there was an ice cream shop for sale on one of the main streets, and DH and I spent much of our drive home fanasizing about buying the place and coming up with interesting flavors.

I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about the schools (their son was a baby when they lived there) or local shopping...but if you're interested, I'll be happy to ask my friends what they liked and didn't like about the area (they now live in Roanoke...which might be another option for you...both friends are originally from Richmond.)

[octmom]

I have friends who lived in Lexington, VA for a few years (while the wife was in law school at Washington & Lee). We only visited once, but thought the town had a lot of charm and history. In fact while we were there, there was an ice cream shop for sale on one of the main streets, and DH and I spent much of our drive home fanasizing about buying the place and coming up with interesting flavors.

I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about the schools (their son was a baby when they lived there) or local shopping...but if you're interested, I'll be happy to ask my friends what they liked and didn't like about the area (they now live in Roanoke...which might be another option for you...both friends are originally from Richmond.)

Lexington is idyllic, but small. I went to W&L and stayed to work there a year after I graduated. It is really a beautiful small town, but it is very small. (Have I said yet that it is small? ;) ) I know of several families where the husband or wife commutes to Lexington to teach at W&L or VMI from as far northeast (45-60 minutes) as Charlottesville or Crozet (small town west of Cville) and as far south as Roanoke (about 45 minutes). From what I know of the public schools there, they are OK. Several faculty members at W&L sent their kids to prep schools in other places though, including one in Charlottesville that has a few boarders. Lexington doesn't have anything like Whole Fooods, but it does have a small natural foods co-op and there are enough crunchy types around that I'm sure organic foods wouldn't be too hard to come by.

The ice cream shop is Sweet Things. :) We take our kids over there sometimes to wander around my old haunts in Lexington, have lunch at The Palms (casual restaurant) and ice cream at Sweet Things. Total small town America afternoon. It's a wonderful place to visit, was a wonderful place to go to college, and would probably be a wonderful place to retire.

[mamicka]

I don't know anything about the area but just wanted to say...

Thanks, Liz. I read the thread as "vagina".

OP - good luck with your possible relocation.

[Tinkerbell313]

Something to think about when looking at public schools here in VA. Virginia public schools (private schools are exempt) utilize the SOL (standard of learning program). Basically, it involves 4 areas: Math, Science, English, History/social sciences. The standards are what some (community leaders, parents, teachers, etc) believe schools should teach and what students should learn. Each school system is held accountable.

In my opinion, basically, what you have is teachers teaching to the SOL tests that students take at the end of the year. Teachers do not have time to teach anything but the information that is on those tests. In my opinion, students are not learning how to write or to think or to be creative. They are memorizing facts for a test at the end of the year. I would try to visit the schools and the classes your children would be taking.

We have a DD who will be going into Kindergarten next year and this is one factor (the SOLs) we are thinking about. We are all for public schools and would love that my kids go to public schools. However, the county we live in is doing away with IB/AP tests, trying to do away with athletics (is this legal), among other things and just making a big mess out of what could be a great opportunity for my kids.

VA has a great higher education system...I just wish the K -12 would catch up.

[ilfaith]

Funny that when I see "SOL" I think "sh;t out of luck"...which might also be accurate in this case. I'm sure the acronym has not gone unnoticed by those who oppose the standard of learning program.

Here in Florida we have the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), and the big complaint about public schools is that the merely "teach to the test".