Considering Moving to Charlottesville.....help

[NRB]

Any recomendation for realtors? Areas to avoid? Good Schools vs not so good schools? Can someone give me an idea of real time driving distances?

Looking to find a small farmette (10-20 acres). Want to keep the horse at home. Close enough to schools, playgrounds, swimming pools (kid stuff) that I dont' have to spend an hour commuting to little jimmys soccer practice. 30 min fine, shorter distance are better.

Someone recomended Ivy and points west and south of C-ville.

I know that there are a bunch of people that I've ridden with located south of C-ville in the Keene/Scottsville area, but that's too far south, I think its l;ike 40 min from Grayson to C-ville.

Thanks

[LexInVA]

If you can afford private schools, there's a huge number of them in that area. Dunno much about the public education system down there.

[Artful]

Nelson County is not as pricey as Albemarle, and is a short drive. IMHO, the best school in the C'ville area is St. Anne Belfield.

[Event4Life]

There are tons of topics on this, I'd suggest doing a search but I'm bored anyway so here's my 2 cents...

St. Anne's is a great school, I graduated in '06. However, be warned...if you have kids in the LS (grades 1-4), they are completely redoing it so I don't know how that will affect everything. I went there from 3rd-12th grades. The middle school wasn't my favorite, but then again is Middle School the best time of anyones life? For the most part I only have good things to say about the US...a few bad teachers here and there, but again, what can you expect?

As for the horsey scene, be prepared to pay A LOT for what you want. You might want to look around the Garth Road - Ridge Road. Ivy is a great place to live (we lived there for 10 yrs)...does anyone know if Hardendale is still for sale? I rode at Hardendale West wayyyyyyy back in the day. There are lots of opportunities in pretty much any discipline.

[BelladonnaLily]

Shouldn't take you 40 minutes from Grayson to town...more like 25-30 minutes max.

Alot depends on your budget. Ivy is probably the nicest area, but also most expensive. Meriwether Lewis is the elem school (my youngest daughter goes there) is a good school but the pressure is on you if you work...most moms are stay-at-home and they let you know that is desireable. Alot of "helicoptor moms" there...but a good school nonetheless. Crozet (also good elem. schools, Brownsville is better than Crozet, IMHO) and Free Union (where I live) are also nice areas. Crozet is growing rapidly and developers are quickly ruining it, but Free Union is still pretty much undisturbed. Again, prepare to pay for land of any meaningful size. We've had no problems with Henley MS and Western Alb. HS.

Earlysville, north of town, is also nice. I dont' know as much about the schools in that area.

Scottsville may be slightly more affordable (nothing in Albemarle is cheap anymore). We lived there for almost 10 years, and while not as upscale as Ivy, etc., there are good folks there. Scottsville Elem. is a nice little school, but STAY AWAY from the Esmont area. Yancey Elem is the worst Elem in the county, IMHO.

Private schools...there is St. Anne's. I don't agree its the best, but it is the most expensive. I understand St. Anne's has some fairly low scores going on and the kids there get in just as much trouble as the public school kids...only the parents have the money to get them out and cover it up. Covenant is good. I've heard good things about Tandem. Charlottesville Catholic is supposed to be very good, but it only goes through 8th grade. It is the most affordable of the private schools in the area, though.

I'm not crazy about living or raising kids in town, but the city schools are actually quite good. But, you have a huge mix of kids in the schools and you have to be careful of what area you're in. There is only one high school in the city. But from what I understand, they have very high testing scores and seem to really have their act together.

Can you tell I'm raising children in the area? :lol:

Of course, this is JMHO. Good luck!

[LisaB]

I'll pipe in for north of town since others have the s and west down pat.
For public schools, Albemarle is the best around, then Fluvanna. Orange and Green are okay until you hit high school.
I have to tell you a story about Louisa. A friend was going to court over a speeding ticket. The guy before him went up to the judge. The judge asks him if he pleads guilty to some charge. The guy answers no. The judge states the case which basically, the guy is busted red handed. So the judge asks him why he thinks he's not guilty. The guy answers ,'Because I can't read'. The judge asks him where he went to school. ' I went to Louisa '. Judge dismissed the case.
The horse scene north is in Keswick and Somerset. Of course Emily is in Somerset. I live in Orange County. Taxes are way cheap and there's some good farms around here. Again, schools aren't great. BUT we do have Grymes for elementary which is a small private school. Heard good things about it. And Woodberry Forest I hear is for the chi chi. We call them Woodberry Fairies :D but seem to be good kids with a few miscreants. There's lots of eventers and dr folks living here now. We are taking over!

[Libish]

Realtor: Debbie Blosser horsesnhomes@cs.com

I bought my sweet mare from Debbie & her daughter and she's also a realtor in the area... so, what better combo than a horesy realtor!

[arabhorse2]

Nelson County is not as pricey as Albemarle, and is a short drive.

Yes, but I think God hates Nelson County as everything bad, especially horrid weather, seems to happen there! :lol:

All jokes aside, Nelson County is beautiful country, and as Artful said, not as expensive to live in as areas closer to Charlottesville. You have to consider the real estate taxes when you buy too, and Nelson is much more reasonable because it has so much agriculture.

[Event4Life]

Shouldn't take you 40 minutes from Grayson to town...more like 25-30 minutes max.

Alot depends on your budget. Ivy is probably the nicest area, but also most expensive. Meriwether Lewis is the elem school (my youngest daughter goes there) is a good school but the pressure is on you if you work...most moms are stay-at-home and they let you know that is desireable. Alot of "helicoptor moms" there...but a good school nonetheless. Crozet (also good elem. schools, Brownsville is better than Crozet, IMHO) and Free Union (where I live) are also nice areas. Crozet is growing rapidly and developers are quickly ruining it, but Free Union is still pretty much undisturbed. Again, prepare to pay for land of any meaningful size. We've had no problems with Henley MS and Western Alb. HS.

Earlysville, north of town, is also nice. I dont' know as much about the schools in that area.

Scottsville may be slightly more affordable (nothing in Albemarle is cheap anymore). We lived there for almost 10 years, and while not as upscale as Ivy, etc., there are good folks there. Scottsville Elem. is a nice little school, but STAY AWAY from the Esmont area. Yancey Elem is the worst Elem in the county, IMHO.

Private schools...there is St. Anne's. I don't agree its the best, but it is the most expensive. I understand St. Anne's has some fairly low scores going on and the kids there get in just as much trouble as the public school kids...only the parents have the money to get them out and cover it up. Covenant is good. I've heard good things about Tandem. Charlottesville Catholic is supposed to be very good, but it only goes through 8th grade. It is the most affordable of the private schools in the area, though.

I'm not crazy about living or raising kids in town, but the city schools are actually quite good. But, you have a huge mix of kids in the schools and you have to be careful of what area you're in. There is only one high school in the city. But from what I understand, they have very high testing scores and seem to really have their act together.

Can you tell I'm raising children in the area? :lol:

Of course, this is JMHO. Good luck!

Agree with most of this. I'd watch out for Crozet though if you want a farmette as developments are going up left and right. It's sad, because 10 years ago when we moved to cville Crozet was beautiful.

On St Annes...Believe me, I'm well aware the school has its problems. I hope the new headmaster will do a lot towards solving some of those. FYI there is a new headmaster for the whole school, MS director, and US director, so a lot will be changing. However. I got a good, solid education. I was accepted to 6 out of the 7 schools I applied to, and once I got to college I found the workload far easier to handle than many of my fellow students did. Whatever its problems, I can say from personal experience that STAB prepared me well for college. My little sister went to The Village School for MS (grades 5-8) which she loved. Both my sisters went to Western Albermarle High School, one all 4 years and loved it. I would be careful about Tandem...you talk about STAB kids misbehaving, I've heard similar things about kids from Tandem too. As for Covenant, it's extremely religious. They pray before every class, before games, etc etc. Some parents/kids at Covenant are just as bad as they are at STAB (this from personal experience). And I don't buy into the cross town rivalry thing, so that does not play into my opinion on Covenant.

[BelladonnaLily]

I have to tell you a story about Louisa. A friend was going to court over a speeding ticket. The guy before him went up to the judge. The judge asks him if he pleads guilty to some charge. The guy answers no. The judge states the case which basically, the guy is busted red handed. So the judge asks him why he thinks he's not guilty. The guy answers ,'Because I can't read'. The judge asks him where he went to school. ' I went to Louisa '. Judge dismissed the case.


:lol:

As a Louisa County High School graduate, I can assure you that we've heard all the jokes before. And I seriously doubt that is a true story ;) But funny anyways...

[BelladonnaLily]

As for Covenant, it's extremely religious. They pray before every class, before games, etc etc. Some parents/kids at Covenant are just as bad as they are at STAB (this from personal experience). And I don't buy into the cross town rivalry thing, so that does not play into my opinion on Covenant.

Well, it's a CHRISTIAN school. I'd expect it to be religious. The Catholic School is also "extremely religious". ;)

And you are spot on about Crozet. My husband is a native and it is so sad to see how much it has changed. :no:

[LisaB]

Nah, it was true Bella. He came into work that day with the story.
And here's an example of school. Bella is very eloquent. So, I don't think it matters what school they go to. They will either succeed or not, depending on the parents and their genetic makeup.

[NRB]

thanks all. I have searched on the C-Ville topic and read everything that came up before my post. Didn't really find much info on schools so this has been very helpful.

Location and the school issue does really become a bugaboo for me. My daughter is Chinese, my hubby and I are Caucasian. I do not plan on moving to the country and having the horse farm of my dreams only to surround her with all white faces. On the flip side I'm not moving to NYC or some other big city in order to be surrounded by multi ethnic faces. Hence the deisre to find something small and close enough. I just need some diversity, preferable some adoptive families around for support (playgroups and etc)

We are weighing the pros and cons of C-Ville against our current location 25 miles south of Fredericksburg as well as Charleston WV (where my family lives). Our local elem school keeps failing the grade for accredidation, so if we stay where we are 1) she gets shipped out to another school and 2) I can't keep the horse in the back yard.

Our current location means that we drive an hour round trip to grocery stores, schools, and the swimming pool (her favorite activity) and we drive 2 hours for a plagroup. But we have a terriffic adoptive families group that gets together every Friday so my daughter gets to hang out with other Chinese children. I'd love to be closer in to all that and have the horse in my back yard.

Chas WV gets us near family, and about 10 to 15 min drive from everything. But the horse scene drops away completely and for major vet work ups I got to haul 3.5 hrs to Lex KY. And haul the same hours for events, shows etc. And no good farriers around locally. There is a slightly smaller group of adoptive families the area, and about the same ammount of diversity in schools as here and C-Ville.

C-Ville I was thinking might be what I wanted, closer to WV and family, mountanous terrain, good horse scene, vets and farriers and shows around. Some diversity and supportive adoptive families as well as the local Univ brings in interesting and more diverse stuff to partake in.

[LisaB]

Charlottesville is VERY diverse. Have a co-worker with a Chinese daughter. I can hook you up with him if you like. It's not like Richmond, if you get my drift. You may have some trouble in Orange, Greene, and Louisa with that but not so much. Again not like Richmond and south.
The hot spots are Somerset/Keswick, Crozet, Scottsville areas for horses.

[fordtraktor]

Lexington, VA might also fit your description (and be a little more affordable/closer to Charleston as well).

[BelladonnaLily]

Nah, it was true Bella. He came into work that day with the story.
And here's an example of school. Bella is very eloquent. So, I don't think it matters what school they go to. They will either succeed or not, depending on the parents and their genetic makeup.

:lol: Well, can't say it totally surprises me...I did date a few boys from Louisa :lol:

And thank you for the compliment...not sure anyone has ever described me as eloquent! Wanna be my new best friend? :)

Seriously, you are so right. We are lucky there are so many nice schools in the area...alot depends on your child and what they need. :yes:

[BelladonnaLily]

Reading the OP's last post, LisaB is correct, Charlottesville is a very diverse area...your family will have no problem feeling at home here, in just about every area. As a matter of fact, my middle daughter's best friend was adopted from Brazil and her younger sister (3rd grade) is from China. Her mother is from Ireland and her dad is from New Jersey (that is the standard joke around our house...we just say New Jersey is just LIKE another country :lol:). Extremely nice family and we think it is so cool that they are such a mixture of cultures! If you do move to the area, I would be happy to introduce you to them.

[cswoodlandfairy]

I love Charlottesville. I didn't grow up here but I live here now. I went to high school in Staunton (boarding school) then went to Sweet Briar just down the road. My little brother is going to Miller School starting in Jan. My family lives in Harrisonburg and want to send him to a school that will meet his needs and has a good college acceptance rate. unfortunately nothing on that side of the mountain is what they are looking for. They also drove around St. Anne's and are planning on visiting the teachers etc with them next week. When I was in high school I played many other schools here in Charlottesville and can say that the schools are very diverse. Granted I was in a private schools and the schools we played were private but being local and a day student the cost isn't as bad. Where I went to school we had a large population or Korean and Chinese girls. Some of my good friends are Korean!

As for the horsey scene it is great! Many local shows, many nice willing to help people! Just a great laidback kind of community for the most part. You are literally in the center of everything still being close to DC, Richmond, and WV is a straight shot west on 64! I am currently house shopping as well and am finding things pretty expensive around here. As we are considered one of the wealthiest counties in VA. But in the right places you can find just enough land for what you are looking for.

Hope this helps and good luck with your search!

[NRB]

Again thanks so much for the replies they really help.

Odd I had figured that Lexington would be too small town with little to no diversity.....I've only spent about 2 weekend in the town though. I can take a closer look at it though. I'd be right there for the VA starter HT's and rec horse trials.......LexinVa what say you about diversity in Lexington?????

Of course I've spent all of 1 day in C-ville on the mall and was like wow cool place, diverse population. So I am sure that I will need to spend more time there to really get a feel for things. I am expecting the real estate market to be similar to Fredericksburg.

I have yet to locate a Families with Children from China or equivalant social group of adoptive families in Charlottesville. So Lisa and Belladonnalilly if you are inclined, can you ask your friends to email me if there is such a group? PM me for an adress, Lisa this is Nina from the Area 2 group.

Nina B

[LisaB]

I know silly, guess why I mentioned Emily? :D
Lexington itself is a 2 college town so the diversity will be there. Outside of it though ... And the hospital is frightening. I pray that I don't have a nasty fall at the HC!
I will email my friend. The downtown mall is 'diverse'. Did you get hit up by a bum or a punk selling crack? Yeah, a real problem there. Check out Cville Coffee. They cater to lunch with the kiddies.

[BelladonnaLily]

NRB, will do. I'll send an email to the mother right now.

[NRB]

I know silly, guess why I mentioned Emily? :D
Lexington itself is a 2 college town so the diversity will be there. Outside of it though ... And the hospital is frightening. I pray that I don't have a nasty fall at the HC!
I will email my friend. The downtown mall is 'diverse'. Did you get hit up by a bum or a punk selling crack? Yeah, a real problem there. Check out Cville Coffee. They cater to lunch with the kiddies.

OK yes Lex has 2 colleges but one is VMI, not exactly the bastion of the progressive left. (FWIW My grandad went to VMI) Can't say that I know much about W and L. I'm going to bet that UVa is more liberal and progressive than either. Can ya tell I'm a lefty?

And no Lisa I had a positive experience on the mall, no druggies or bums in the short time I was there (ok been there 2 days)

Belladonalilly thinks!

[TheOrangeOne]

I know silly, guess why I mentioned Emily? :D
Lexington itself is a 2 college town so the diversity will be there. Outside of it though ... And the hospital is frightening. I pray that I don't have a nasty fall at the HC!

Yes, I sustained a fall in lexington and had to go to the hospital. My horse reared and flipped and I got away with just a nasty cut and some major soreness. I had to finish everything and went to the ER after dinner to get the cut cleaned. I had to fight for a teatnus shot, waited for three hours, then they proceeded to scrub the cut out with a brush. This is common practice. Not numbing the area beforehand because 'look, I am really busy right now'? Not common practice. Ack. I got over it, but my three hours there were miserable.

I live in charlottesville now for UVA. I know there are a ton of kids of asian descent here as students, but I don't know about the normal town population. I know that covenant and STAB are the two very good schools, but that STAB has more issues int he way of drugs/booze/whatever so covenant is gaining on them. There is also a montesorri school at pantops which seems to be pretty popular.

[LisaB]

If you're a lefty then Charlottesville will be more your cup of tea. VMI is military but you'd be surprised how liberal some of those folks are. I was when I came to work for the DoD.
You might also look into Harrisonburg. Again, college town. You will definitely find some really nice farms there.

[BelladonnaLily]

Oh yes, Charlottesville is extremely liberal. I'm fairly certain they chop conservatives up and put them in freezers after midnight around UVa. Not sure how I wound up here ;) :lol: But anyways, I have some very nice liberal friends around here, even if they are wrong :lol:

I would guess H'burg, Staunton, anywhere "over the mountain" would probably be more conservative, but times they are a'changing, so I could be wrong. Beautiful country over there, though.

[carolprudm]

Nah, it was true Bella. He came into work that day with the story.
And here's an example of school. Bella is very eloquent. So, I don't think it matters what school they go to. They will either succeed or not, depending on the parents and their genetic makeup.

Mr P and I have 45 acres in Louisa near the power plant. FWIW it's zoned A1 or 2 and we were told by a Realtor it is worth $700,000 though I seriously doubt we could sell it for that.

Unfortunately Louisa has a number of parents who don't put much emphasis on education. Parents make a HUGE difference and the SOL's and "No Child Left Behind " programs seem to be helping also

When our daughter was accepted to Annapolis another woman was from Bumpass. A friend's son graduated from Brown.

If I were sending a child to school in Louisa I would make sure they didn't ride the bus.

[Applesauce]

Consider visiting "over the mountain" in Augusta County where Waynesboro and Staunton are. I live here in Waynesboro and LOVE it here. The schools are good just kind of depends on which district you live in. I am in the Wilson district and the schools here are EXCELLENT. Land is a bit cheaper here too than in Albemarle and it's still a huge horsey area.

[NRB]

Did I mention that I grew up in WV? In my public Jr High School (your middle school) there was the math teacher who would play a prerecorded lesson off of his tape recorder for the classroom while he sat at his desk, silent, eating a bag of Doritios...in front of the class...... Another teacher was fond of literally picking up male students and slamming them up against the lockers and yelling at them. And yet another teacher marked my paper off for capitalizing the word "Thoroughbred" and using the word to indicate the breed of a horse. She insisted that thoroughbred should never be capatalized, it was emphaticly NOT a breed of horse, but rather a descriptive term........Sigh you should have seen that argument. Me a wee little 12yo horse crazy kid going up against the english teacher. The list goes on......all though the 9th grade I never had to take a year end exam nor write a tern paper. This would have been 1983......

Sometime good parenting can't over rule bad schools. I went to a private boarding school from 10th to 12th grade.

Eh Beladonnalilly I have a pack of friends and family who are staunch republicans and I loff em anyway...despite they are wrong to...hehe. Loff folks who can accept each others differences and let it be. Just don't want to be the only leftie in the town. Which kind of rules out large ammount of rural Virginia and West Virginia areas.

[Melyni]

I think it's nicer over the mountain in Staunton, Try Harrisonburg, it's diverse and good shopping. Plenty of horses anywhere you look.
And land is way cheaper in the Shenandoah Valley plus the taxes are lower.
Check out the Shenandoah.
YOUrs
Melyni

[Melyni]

Consider visiting "over the mountain" in Augusta County where Waynesboro and Staunton are. I live here in Waynesboro and LOVE it here. The schools are good just kind of depends on which district you live in. I am in the Wilson district and the schools here are EXCELLENT. Land is a bit cheaper here too than in Albemarle and it's still a huge horsey area.

I second that motion! Less than 45 mins to the VA Horse center, you can show and sleep in your own bed at night!

Come on over the mountain.
MW

[MaresNest]

I think its l;ike 40 min from Grayson to C-ville.

I boarded and worked at Grayson when I was at UVa. It's 20-25 minutes when you're used to the drive and take the secret shortcut. It's 25-30 if you're just coming straight down Route 20 and obeying the speed limit. ;)

So I think Scottsville and Keene are reasonable places to look. I also really, really like Free Union and Earlysville. And I'd probably take a look at Stanardsville/Greene county if I were you. I don't know much about Stanardsville, but with all the new stuff north of town, Stanardsville is suddenly a much more convenient location. Also, Afton is nice.

Location and the school issue does really become a bugaboo for me.

If I were looking for a school, Peabody, Tandem, and STAB would be my top three.

Good luck! Cville is a great town!

[Yakmaniac]

All this talk of Charlottesville is making me homesick. I've been in Florida for 25 years now (minus 1 yr hiatis back to VA) and often wonder what it would be like to live back there. I don't know if I could handle the cold anymore. I've lived in Barboursville, Gordonsville, Orange ,Charlottesville and kept my horse in Louisa when my parents got divorced. My dad lived in Culpeper and my brother still lives in Madison. He is the chef at a restaraunt called the Bavarian Chef. Ah.....the fond memories of that area. Thanks for the flashback:D

[BelladonnaLily]

Bavarian Chef! Yummmmm!

[LisaB]

Was just there Bella, on Friday. Still have leftovers!

[monalisa]

I have a farm between Lexington and Staunton, no kids though, so schools and carpooling are not an issue for me. I just love it. I can't really say there is much diversity though but it is surprising the depth that you will find. I am in Northern Rockbridge County, near Augusta. I would not say that it is a "liberal" area either. Charlottesville would be much more cosmo and also much more crowded (never even considered the area for that reason). Have good vet care, good farriers, but I have to go to Charlottesville to get the "A level" training that I am used to. But that is ok. Prices are not cheap here but certainly less than Charlottesville.

Send me a PM if you want me to recommend a good Realtor. I was happy with the person I used.

[Yakmaniac]

Glad to see my brother is still cooking up some good food! See OP if you move to the area you already know of a good restaraunt :D

[LisaB]

Yak, your brother is the cook at Bavarian? Does he have myopia or something? The portions are HUGE! Delicious but HUGE.

[Yakmaniac]

Hey atleast ya get leftovers, right? I guess he thinks everyone eats like he does, hes a BIG BOY:eek: I haven't been up there in years! Bad Sister, I know, but thats a long way to haul my horses :D

[shoutten]

Yakmaniac, Who is your brother??? I have a bunch of family that works at the Chef :) My brother-in-law is the head chef, my sister-in-law is the hostess, and my niece is learning to waitress (currently bussing tables)! What a small world!

[Yakmaniac]

Well, shoutten and I just found out that we share family members. SMALL WORLD! She is married to my brothers wifes brother, small world!!
Hey ,was I not right about him being a "big boy" :winkgrin:

[shoutten]

hahhahaha, yeah He's like a big teddy bear! He pretty much looks like exactly what you would think as chef at a German food restaurant would look like :) BUT he makes the BEST cheesecake in the world ... its unbelievable!

Look at COTH ... bringing families together!:D

[Cedar Bluff Stables]

(i haven't read all of these)

If you're still looking you could try Earlysville. You get more of the "country feel" while still being in town. I'm sure the land is just as pricey, but you see a lot more houses with a number of acres. Most of my friends live there, and the farthest drive is 10 minutes. I go to Albemarle High School. I went to Jack Jouett and Greer.. all great schools. If you are in Earlysville you go to a different Elementary school, but same middle school and high school. It beats making elementary friends, leaving them for middle school, and then going back to them in high school. Thats what happens to most people that go to Western, which is on the other side of town. The YMCA is in town and so is SOCA. If you're looking into sports outside of the public school program. ACAC is also in the middle of town. Both the outdoor swimming pool and the gym. If your looking at private schools there are a number of great ones right in town.