Property taxes can be high here in NC too. I think Gaston county has a lot of crime. Charlotte is wonderful, that's where we go to do decent shopping/dining. Charlotte is definitely where it's at as far as I am concerned. Wilmington is nice but too close to coast, hurricanes. Personally I like Asheville a lot. Lots of art and culture there including hippies. I don't have a clue about the schools in any of the areas I mentioned. I live in Hickory, NC, small city with the traffic of a large city, yuk. Winston Salem is also nice. Greensboro is near and High Point although I don't know what High Point has to offer. Carla

Welcome to Greenville!! You are in for a treat. First let me tell you that you likely will not feel the impact of the drought as Greenville has one of the best water conservation systems on the East coast. We do try to conserve water but we have a gracious supply fed by 2 mountain lakes. The downtown Greenville area has been revitalized and now is full of Bistros and great shops. We have a waterfall right in the middle of our once rustic downtown and its a fantastic place to spend the day. Growing seasons are long here and sometimes plants that are close to the house don't even lose all their leaves. We dont have much snow....maybe one good one a year. Keep in mind a 'good one' here means that the snow actually sticks on bushes and grass and school gets called off. lol Our winters here might not give the proper chilling for things like lilacs and currants but since I dont grow these its hard for me to say for sure. We are zone 7a and typically expect a last frost date of April 15 (tax day) but most gardeners here push that. It common for me to have everything in by April 1 with crossed fingers! This is a great place to live....people are so friendly. You have a choice of many nurseries and gardens to visit. You are situated between 2 of the best rose nurseries in the country (Roses Unlimited and Ashdowns). You will be hot during the summers as I find that northern states get night time cooling. We dont get a much of a temp drop in the evenings here. You will acclimate and as a gardener will grow to appreciate this heat and the longer season it brings. I had roses blooming in October!! Feel free to email me with any questions you have....you are in for a real treat.....welcome to SC!! Ronda Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Upstate SC

Hi Ginny - They are redoing the greenhouses and botanical gardens at Roger Williams. I'm not exactly sure when it will open, maybe March? There is supposed to be a Valentine's Day Gala/Auction, "Love In Bloom" on Feb 14, in one of the newly planted greenhouses there. If you ever make it there in late spring or summer, please let me know. My friend Frank lives about a block from Roger Williams Park and he has the absolutely most amazing tropical gardens in his front, side, and backyard. Every fall (I don't know how he does it) everything goes into the basement and he recreates it in spring. It's just amazing - like visiting SeaWorld's gardens or something. Bill Here is a link that might be useful: Botanical Gardens at Roger Williams

Once again, thank you all for your thoughts on this subject. People move all the time so you wouldn't think this would be such a big deal but it sure can be depending on the specific people and places. Here's a brief update but I will be back with more questions. We have fallen in love with the Asheville, NC area. We have made a few trips and are going again early Aug. Our plans were shoved aside last spring due to a family emergency so we haven't been to NC since Feb. and we had really hoped to have things much more nailed down by now and be marketing our house. That's now several months off. flyleft - what an unhappy living situation that must have been. I am confident that Asheville is, to be perfectly transparent, liberal enough for us. I don't need to live with people who only see the world through my lenses but I can't live where I am the only person with liberal social thinking. Ashville is actually known as Portland's sister city, it's a great mix of traditional Southern and transplants, many from the Midwest and PNW and the vibe is anything but stuffy or stifling. It draws artsy, funky, food centric, outdoorsy people and in my mind I'm already there! judithn & maire_cate - I get daily news reports, video of all city/county meetings, and various other 'reports' so I do feel confident that I know as much as possible without actually living there. There's only so much you can learn without having 'boots on the ground' and a local address but I'm doing my best. martinca you are right about ease of transportation and ability to see family. Asheville is an easy, 90 minute non-stop from Chicago where most of our family is. Our sons, however are another story. Since my original post, our oldest has taken a new job at Sequoia Nat'l Park in CA. No easy flights to him - even from O'Hare it's not non-stop and Fresno, the closest airport to him is over an hour away. Same story with our youngest who has now graduated college and is living in Carbondale, CO, but who knows for how long. Asheville has a great small airport that can get us easily to Chicago but the rest is more complicated. We'll just have to see how this works, I guess. francypants - Asheville is also a college town, although a small one with UNC but the college vibe is alive and well. We were there for Halloween and have to say, it was interesting trying to figure out over that weekend who was in costume and who dresses the part 365!!! tina even tourist towns have regular residents so we don't mind seasonal visitors. All the same things that draw us to the area draw vacationers so it's just part of the mix. Since the plan is to have some land, we are not looking within the city limits and that means my 'research' has limited correlation to the surrounding county areas and smaller towns and I am somewhat concerned about that. I'm gathering my thoughts and questions for our next trip and will start another post soon.