We will be visiting Williamsburg early next year, and trying to get an idea of any other towns within driving distance we should visit.

We are on a "retirement" hunt. Looking for a smallish city, I guess - 20K - 40K ideally, but would consider other sizes. Historic arhcitecture, older homes with character near town, bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, waterfront (the town) an added bonus. Walkable, with a community feel, safe, and lots going on.

Would any of these be worth seeing - Norfolk, Newport News, Manassas, Hampton, Portsmouth?

We are not looking for a "retirement community" just a nice place to retire to!

We vacationed in Williamsburg in the fall and drove through Norfolk on the way to the shore. We "stumbled upon" the Coastal Living magazine show house and it was in the cutest waterfront development. Don't know prices, but if you are looking in these areas already, surely it is in your realm of possibility. Hope you find this helpful. Norfolk seemed like a neat city.

Hampton was a nice place to visit. I enjoyed some time there with friends who lived there. They sent me to Buckroe Beach one day while they were at work, and I loved the small intimate beach, not crowded with people and the fishing peer where I had a great Ham BBQ.

Fredericksburg is a lovely small city. There is lots of history, a small university (my alma mater, Mary Washington), good medical care and much more. You'll be close to DC, but not too close.

We loved living there and would return, but I don't do winter anymore.

I hope someone who lives in this area can expound on the crime.

The statistics are WAY above the national average....

How "safe" is this area??

Coming from an area where the crime index is 93.7 and the national average is 329.7, and Norfolk is 453.4 gives us pause....

I don't live there now, but we did live in Virginia Beach. Our son and my husband's parents lived in Va. Beach more recently and his sister still lives there. I was never inspired by the area and had no desire to live in Norfolk.

We have friends who very happily live in the Ghent area of Norfolk, but I don't see what they see there.

The Norfolk-Va. Beach area would seem to be larger than you want. It is a sprawled area.

We are a Navy family, but I was only VERY eager to leave that area. We moved from there to Fredericksburg which seems to have more of what you say you are looking for.

That's my opinion, of course, and others could well give you a better perspective.

I would not recommend VA Beach, nor would I recommend Manassas as a place with "character." IMO Leesburg has more character than Mansassas and is approximately the same distance from DC.

What about Annapolis, MD? Charlottesville, VA? Whenever I think of bookstores, coffee shops, etc...I think of university towns.

We checked out Charlottesville this Spring and found it very busy - constant traffic, and other than the pedestrian mall which we loved, not a real downtown area with pharmacies, etc.

It also seemed sprawling to us outside of the immediate downtown with a real mix of housing styles - i.e. a nice house next to a house with a chain link fence - didn't seem to have any areas where there were historic older homes all together.

I visited Anapolis ages ago and really liked it, however, it is out of our price range now, and I think I've read crime is pretty high there.

We will check out Fredericksburg. Is that driveable from Williamsburg?

Are Hampton and Portsmouth not worth looking at?

Fredericksburg is about 1 1/2 hours from Williamsburg. It's about halfway between Richmond and DC.

It's on the Rappahannock River. There are suburbs and sprawl, but the historic district and closeby areas are not to busy.

Winchester

If you can skip the waterfront, Staunton is a WONDERFUL town. It is in the western part of the state with a nice restaurant called the Pullman, great park, the city practically is built along a hill. It has Mary Baldwin College there, but the traffic is not bad at all. If you really want the eastern part of the state, check into the Grafton/Yorktown area.