North Carolina

[egoodell]

Hi you all in North Carolina, or those who know it well - I have a question.
My DH's parents are getting older and wish to leave the cold of Vermont. They are simple folk, and need a small town where they can buy a little house with some property on which they can garden. His dad likes to watch and hunt deer. They are not used to busy traffic.
They are looking for something not too far from getting on a highway to either visit his younger brother just outside Hilton Head in Ridgeland, SC, or come up to us in Charlottesville, VA.
Ideally they need something that would be around 2 hours or so from Ridgeland SC and about 4 hours from us. Chris's brother is wheelchair-bound, so we need to check out areas closer to him than us.
Do any of you have favorite areas that would fit? Somewhere maybe where retirees are settling so they will be around folks they can make friends with?
Thanks!!
RIki

 

[inncogneeto]

We have some friends who just retired to the Bethania area in North Carolina, about an hour from Greensboro. THEY LOVE IT! They are the same, wanted a slow place, nice green quiet community... But that's father away from SC...

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Price range, humidity level (older folks have a hard time with that in their joints and the eastern portion is very humid). The Western portion is pricier.
Central has some beautiful small towns. Statesville and Hickory, Winston-Salem suburbs - which has the big hospital system - which most older folks require to be nearby (it is close to interstates, highways and airport). Greensboro has some lovely places outer suburbs as well.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Greensboro is not too far from SC. CHARLOTTE sits on the border in fact, when we went to the theme park we stayed on one side of the road which was SC and the theme park was in both states.
Inncog are you planning on visiting them? Let me know if you do, you will have to stop in and see us!

 

[egoodell]

Price range, humidity level (older folks have a hard time with that in their joints and the eastern portion is very humid). The Western portion is pricier.
Central has some beautiful small towns. Statesville and Hickory, Winston-Salem suburbs - which has the big hospital system - which most older folks require to be nearby (it is close to interstates, highways and airport). Greensboro has some lovely places outer suburbs as well..

Thanks to you both! I'll add your info to my research for them.
They are visiting on their way to visit Chris's' brother in SC
Riki

 

[Morticia]

Where do they live in VT? Big city (the one big city?), 'burbs, farmland, hinterlands? Would they like the same when they move?

 

[egoodell]

Where do they live in VT? Big city (the one big city?), 'burbs, farmland, hinterlands? Would they like the same when they move?.

They are very simple country folk. They live in a tiny dying village in Southern Vermont called Springfield. It is one that is dying due to no jobs in the area.
They want a little house in a village with a little property to garden. THey like the outdoors and fishing and he likes to hunt deer. They love wildlife. They don't need any fancy culture but like the small town friendly folk type places. They like comfort food restaurants.
Working on this move is very scary for them but they can't stay up there much longer as he is getting older (about 13 years older than mom).
I envison them setlling in a small village not far from a small city in case they need to shop or to be close to good medical care.
Riki

 

[Morticia]

Where do they live in VT? Big city (the one big city?), 'burbs, farmland, hinterlands? Would they like the same when they move?.

They are very simple country folk. They live in a tiny dying village in Southern Vermont called Springfield. It is one that is dying due to no jobs in the area.
They want a little house in a village with a little property to garden. THey like the outdoors and fishing and he likes to hunt deer. They love wildlife. They don't need any fancy culture but like the small town friendly folk type places. They like comfort food restaurants.
Working on this move is very scary for them but they can't stay up there much longer as he is getting older (about 13 years older than mom).
I envison them setlling in a small village not far from a small city in case they need to shop or to be close to good medical care.
Riki
.

I know where Springfield is. It's tough when our parents have to move at that stage in their lives. I would research the medical care aspect of things first and then try to find a town nearby where they would be comfortable. I think about moving BACK to VT when we're done here. Heading toward the colder weather!

 

[riverbendnewbie]

AHH, North Carolina truly a beautiful state. My husband and I lived there for 3 years while I was there nursing. Sometimes I wished we had stayed but we maritimers get too homesick. We lived in Hickory and then in Statesville. I will definitely look into staying at some B&B's when we take a trip back. This is not probably on topic but I just had to jump in and comment on this wonderful state.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

AHH, North Carolina truly a beautiful state. My husband and I lived there for 3 years while I was there nursing. Sometimes I wished we had stayed but we maritimers get too homesick. We lived in Hickory and then in Statesville. I will definitely look into staying at some B&B's when we take a trip back. This is not probably on topic but I just had to jump in and comment on this wonderful state..

AHH, North Carolina truly a beautiful state. My husband and I lived there for 3 years while I was there nursing. Sometimes I wished we had stayed but we maritimers get too homesick. We lived in Hickory and then in Statesville. I will definitely look into staying at some B&B's when we take a trip back. This is not probably on topic but I just had to jump in and comment on this wonderful state.

There is a killer bbq place in Hickory! I will never forget it. They brough out like 6 bottles of bbq squeeze bottles, it was fantastic.
Nice people in those towns. Oh yeah, why we went there was to go gem mining. That was so much fun!
The Emerald Hollow Mine
http://hiddenitegems.com/
Near the town of Hiddenite, and boy was it hiddenite, we could barely find it. We loved it. What a fun thing to do as a family.