If you have read the previous post, I want to give an update. My husband spent the day in Raleigh and did not like it! He drove to Charlotte today and felt much better about living there. Does anyone have any advice on neighborhoods, living etc? Also, what about Winston-Salem?!

Winston-Salem is a charming town. As home to Wake Forest, it offers more cultural opportunities than similar-sized towns.

What type of housing would you be looking for in Charlotte?

ttt

Do you need to be in a big city?

In your previous post you mention loving the outdoors, hiking, climbing, etc. Seems to me if those are your prefered activities, then Asheville would be a no-brainer. If your husband in still in NC, he should drive over.

It is true there are no big-time professional sports or decent clothes-shopping in Asheville...if that's your thing.

The best thing about Charlotte, IMO, is the Dean and DeLuca!

He is going to drive to Asheville today. We don't need a big city, but would like to be able to walk to amenities. Do not care, a bit, about professional sports teams

I haven't been to Asheville but hear good things about it. It's a much smaller community than Charlotte and perhaps a bit more liberal and inclined towards the arts rather than commerce. These are impressions I get rather than know facts or observations. I've heard that the scenery there is lovely as well. I've been to Charlotte four times recently as my new GF is transferring there and has purchased a home in the Uninvcersity Park section. She's in a beautiful development that has plenty of hills and a small lake with nicely wooded lots. The downside is that you have to drive everywhere to get to things. The downtown area is appealing with a nice mix of old and new architecture and it's quite clean. The downside there is that it's very quiet at night and on the weekends. We did some nosing around and really liked the homes and neighborhood we found in the Dilworth section, just south of downtown. It's near a major hospital and the neighborhood appears ot haver grocery stores, deli's, restaurants, a coffeehouse and other amenities all in close range. There are many beautiful older homes in the arts and crafts style and it has more of a traditional neighborhood feel than the suburban developments.

Unless you know where to go in Charlotte (Uptown, Dilworth, Myers Park) he will hate it. I said in the begining, Asheville would probably do it for you. I can totally understand how he disliked Raleigh.

In Winston-Salem, besides Wake Forest, the N.C. School of the Arts has cultural events. Near WS are several state parks with hiking trails. Also has historic Old Salem.

Most larger cities in NC (relative term compared to Chicago!) aren't set up for walking. Most require you to drive to everything. My guess is you will have to live in an older community to walk to amenities. Most 'newer' neighborhoods (built within the last 25 years) are on the surburan spwarl plan with homes nowhere near stores or workplaces.
Charlotte and Raliegh are the only cities with professional level sports, but most of the cities you mentioned have minor league baseball and/or college sports. If you move to NC, you've got to learn to put up with basketball. It's required. People here love to talk about basketball.

Raleigh has a professional sports team? Ha ha!

Sorry, farm league baseball doesn't count.

NHL Carolina Hurricanes are based in Raleigh. There were in the Stanley Cup finals in June. Raleigh doesn't have a baseball team. You either have to go see the Durham Bulls (AAA league winners this season) or the Carolina Mudcats in Zebulon (AA league).

X, please learn your teams before slamming the area.

In my second response, the second sentence should have been "They were . . ." not "There were . . ." My apologies to the grammar police, not to X.

X, Stacey and her husband are yankess, they might like hockey in response to your "And what southerner follows hockey?" question.

And I did mention the love of basketball in my first response.

Stacey, not all southeners are as closed mined as X. Just as long as you don't say "Back home we did . . . ." Most of us will respond "Then go back home."

Stacey, let us know what your husband thinks of Asheville. One other thing to consider about Asheville and is that Atlanta is only 3.5 hours away. You can shop and eat to your heart's content there. As lovely as Asheville is, I think you might experience a bit of culture shock coming from Chicago. As to Winston-Salem, a friend from Atlanta transferred to her firm's office in Winston-Salem and just didn't like it at all. I think that Charlotte is your best bet. Keep us posted.

NCgirl, you send pretty harsh yourself. Calling northerners yankees and then telling them to go back home? Very nice.

What are yankess?

HI Stacy, we moved from PRov RI to Charlotte in 1999 because of my husband's job. I was in culture shock for a year or so. It is very different from the older cities of the north. There are some very nice areas as mentioned.. Dillworth, Queen's Blvd but unless you can afford $400 K or so for a house you will end up in a new development... again not bad but lots of sameness and few trees. We lived in University area... I thought it was ok but no real soul or personality... lots of retail.. big box stores. Downtown is fairly attractive with some big buildings but no one seems to go there. Of course, then we moved to Raleigh Durham... I like it better here.. more personality but there is really no city in either place... Providence is like Paris compared to these cities... they are trying to rebuild and rehab but not there yet. I do think the Triangle has a bit more going on with Duke and UNC Chapel Hill etc.. By the way, during our recent 7 day power failure we spent the weekend in Winston Salem and I thought parts of that were really cute.. older , established neighborhoods.

Hope this helps... write with more questions.. I can help compare

Collette, thanks for an honest opinion.

Alright... I can't help myself. I admit to beign a hopeless goob when it comes to fashion, and I've even been known to stoop so low as to buy my clothing from JC Penney (much gasping and swooning from the audience)...

So what is considered good clothes shopping, and why doesn't anyone think such a thing exists in Asheville? Contrary to what another poster once said, Ann Taylor and Banana Republic aren't the only "trendy" stores in this city. We've even got an Abercrombie and Fitch, if you can imagine!

But seriously... What is Asheville lacking? I've never heard anything but raves over it -- and I work in a hotel where it seems every other guest is someone killing time until they can move into the house they bought. I always hear how pleasantly surprised people are at the great shopping, especially when it comes to things that your typical mall store doesn't import (handmade Italian shoes), or that you can't buy anywhere else (such as the goods at Bellagio: Art to Wear).

Austin -

Shopping for anything except clothes IS great in Asheville. Used books & CDs, art, food, kitchen wares, wine, bike stuff, etc. But one Ann Taylor does not make a good clothes-shopping town (although it's a good start). All the clothes stores downtown are either too "hippie" or "elderly" for my taste (one exception across from Malaprop's which I can't afford).

Stacey - To walk to amenities you would need to live in a downtown loft...which sounds pretty fabulous to me!

Danna,

Well, as I said, I wouldn't know decent clothes shopping if it jumped up and bit me. It was another poster, by the way, who said that having an Ann Taylor helped to partially save Asheville from complete and utter goobism, but I was looking through a brochure and saw, in addition to Ann Taylor and Banana Republic, the rest of the "trendy" stores one would expect... Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostale, Wilson's Leather, American Eagle, Structure, Eddie Bauer... and the rest of the usual suspects.

I guess department store shopping may be somewhat lacking, but I think we're covered. Belk is upper-scale, Dillard's is upper mid-scale, JC Penny is mid-scale, and Target and the other discounters are lower-scale (although gawd knows that Target is just so hip it could squeak).

Had you heard though, that what's purported to be an excellent women's clothing store has recently opened on Lexington?

Stacey, I hope you love living in NC. Of the around 11 million people in the state, only x has a gripe with me on this board.

Yes, yankess is spelled wrong. So was spwarl.

If anyone has a critical comment on New York City, at least 15 people will post defending their city. X was critical of my home state, and I defended it to all. Maybe not the best defense job, but it seems I'm one of the few who is defending her own state. Maybe I should work for the state tourism department, maybe I should learn to not fight with fools.

Stacey, you sound like a good person, NC will be a great place for you. I'm glad your husband is looking a different places and trying to find the right fit.

If anyone here remembers Lewis Grizzard (newspaper columnist for the Atlanta Constitution, who died 5-8 years ago). He commented on the newcomers coming to the area and then saying how much better it was 'back home'. Grizzard's comment was "I-85 does head north." I'm sure those of us who live in sprawling (yes, I can type most of the time) areas get tired of people telling us how wonderful everything was 'back home.' After a while you get tired of the behavior and just warn the newcomers to not gush over their former hometowns. It was a bad attempt at humor. I'll learn to leave it to prize winning columnists.