any crunchy, liberal towns near Charlotte?

[kashimama]

Hi Mamas,
We are thinking of relocating and are thinking of North Carolina, specifically being within about 40 minutes of the Charlotte airport. I have researched the Carrboro and Asheville areas and like them but they are too far for us. Are there any towns around Charlotte that have similar qualities to Carrboro and Asheville? (Farmer's Market, co-op, liberal, kid-friendly, BF-friendly, good quality schools, good midwives, good birthing community). I come from a town that has all those qualities but it is in New England and we are DONE with the cold weather.
I eagerly await your thoughts or suggestions.
Thank you!!

[beanma]

Wondering what you need the Charlotte airport for that RDU doesn't suit for?

Davidson maybe? I'm not in that neck of the woods so maybe someone else in the Queen City vicinity could chime in, but that's what springs to mind. College town, but couldn't tell you how crunchy. Very small prestigious liberal arts college. DH went there, but many many years ago. I haven't been there in a long time. It's a pretty small small town if I recall correctly.

ETA: It also gets cold here, but it just doesn't stay. It snowed Monday and was 72 today.

[WuWei]

We have over 200 holistic, AP/NFL mamas on the "Exploring Holistic Alternatives" Charlotte group. Hope you'll join us! http://xploringholisticalternatives.ning.com/

There are a bunch of homebirthing, EC, EBF, baby-wearing, co-sleeping, homeschooling, organic-obsessed mamas in the Charlotte region. We are not the majority in Charlotte, by any means. As there are 1.75 million people in the region.

We have a bunch of Farmer's Markets, and some co-ops in the north and south part of the city. We buy local, 100% grass-fed beef, local pork, chicken and eggs and raw milk close by. You can check "Local Harvest" for our area: http://www.localharvest.org/search.j...&nm=&zip=28299

We are three hours to the highest mountains east of the Mississippi River, three hours to the ocean. There are major league football, basketball, hockey and baseball teams. The weather is seasonal, we get about an inch of snow, on average each winter. The average winter temperature is 40 degrees. The average summer temperature is about 88 degrees, and not very humid. We start planting our garden in mid-April. Average last frost is Nov. 1st.

Intown, is probably most conservative (and most expensive), and nothing is within walking distance. So, you'll need to drive to get wherever you are going. NC is in the Bible Belt and there is a church on every corner. But, in the past 10 years, we've had a huge influx of liberals from up north. The economy is better than most places, I believe.

Hope that helps. We LOVE Charlotte.

The schools here are about the same as anywhere. We unschool.

Charlotte ain't Asheville.

Pat

[songbh]

Originally Posted by kashimama

Are there any towns around Charlotte that have similar qualities to Carrboro and Asheville? (Farmer's Market, co-op, liberal, kid-friendly, BF-friendly, good quality schools, good midwives, good birthing community).

I recommend Davidson for most of what you're describing. There is a new but thriving Saturday-morning farmer's market plus several other sources of local/mostly-local food, excellent public, charter, and private schools, a solid core of politically-liberal and active citizens, all the cultural offerings you'd expect from one of the nation's top ten small liberal arts colleges, and a fabulous non-chain local coffee shop. Not to mention a really rockin' LLL Group.

I can't speak to the midwives/birthing community issue so directly but could help to connect you with local mothers who know more about it. Feel free to PM me for more info.

I hasten to echo the PP's statement: this ain't Asheville. I'm not familiar with Carrboro so can't speak to that comparison.

[dinahx]

I wasn't looking for liberal so much as farmy with lots of trees, so what I would recommend is Matthews for really near CLT, Plaza Midwood & NoDA for some really in town action, and Dallas/Mt. Holly for some land.

Plaza Midwood would probably be the least conservative of these three options. But yk, even the conservative types around here pretty much know where it is at. Hope you enjoy CLT. It ain't Asheville but it has its perks. We visit Asheville a lot.

[WuWei]

Dallas/Mt. Holly is very conservative Christian, from what I hear from my friends who are not.

I agree that Davidson is probably the most liberal crunchy in the area! Although, it is getting expensive, as is in town. I wanted land too. And we are in Union County. SW Charlotte is less pricey than the Matthews/SE Charlotte area, and growing by leaps and bounds. The University area in the NE is more eclectic, younger families, probably. The Mint Hill area is gorgeous, growing and affordable, imo.

Pat

[BethandLC]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I agree that Davidson is probably the most liberal crunchy in the area! Although, it is getting expensive, as is in town. I wanted land too. And we are in Union County. SW Charlotte is less pricey than the Matthews/SE Charlotte area, and growing by leaps and bounds. The University area in the NE is more eclectic, younger families, probably. The Mint Hill area is gorgeous, growing and affordable, imo.

Pat

Definitely agree with this. We are also in Union County. This isn't Asheville or even Boone - but it works for us- we've found a niche here.

[loveandkindness]

If you're moving strictly for warmer weather -- I suggest you move a little further south than Charlotte! We moved here for warmer weather a year ago and regret not going further. (Yes, we did research, and visited in December, January, and February one year. But this winter stunk!!)

I know quite a few people who moved here from the north who are not happy with the winters. It can be 65 degrees one day, but 35 the next. It makes it hard to plan anything outdoors. And in my mind, even though 35 degrees is better than 15 degrees, if it's too cold to be outside than it doesn't really matter HOW cold it is!

Sorry to be negative -- feeling cranky today about the weather since it was 10 degrees warmer today in Chicago than it was in Charlotte!

And to echo the previous posters -- the Charlotte area is not that crunchy.

[WuWei]

We've been in Charlotte 21 years and I believe this has been the coldest and longest "winter" ever. :

I'm ready to move south too.


Pat

[songbh]

Originally Posted by WuWei

We've been in Charlotte 21 years and I believe this has been the coldest and longest "winter" ever. :

Yup. Three whole snow days this year. And school is canceled whenever it snows.

I confess my blood has thinned in the years I've lived here, and I too became extremely cranky about always walking the dog in what felt like awfully cold weather this winter. But there's no denying this is still a very mild climate compared to the Northeast or Midwest U.S.

[beanma]

Originally Posted by WuWei

We've been in Charlotte 21 years and I believe this has been the coldest and longest "winter" ever. :

Really? Did y'all not get the giant snow we got in the triangle about 8-10 yrs ago? The one where Raleigh got 22 inches? I'm in Chapel Hill and we didn't see that much, but it was well over a foot of snow. That was crazy, and I've lived in NC all my life.

Then there was the year we had the big ice storm in December about 7 yrs ago that knocked power out for a week. That was fun : !

This winter has been pretty great for us in the Triangle. We had two decent snows. The first one was enough to make a snowman/sled/snowballs, and second wasn't quite enough to sled, but you could scrape together enough for a snowball. They closed school for a couple of days, so that's always fun, but nobody's power went out and it all melted after 2 or 3 days. That's my idea of a perfect winter — no ice storm and one or two decent snows so the kids can go sledding and make a snowman, but then it all melts. The winters where we get no snow or ice just don't quite seem wintery and make me worry more than I already do about global warming.

I think the up and down temps can be rough on a person, though. We can have 70 degree days in January and then two weeks later have days where it doesn't get above freezing. It's hard to get acclimated. I'm glad the sun has decided to come back, though. That's the thing I find hardest about fall and winter is the gray rainy days. I need a lot of :.

OP: To make this post somewhat relevant to the topic at hand, have you checked out these links about Davidson, NC?
http://www.ci.davidson.nc.us/
http://bestrealestatelakenorman.com/...c-college-town

[WuWei]

Raleigh traditionally gets heavier snow, colder weather, more rain, more ice than we do in Charlotte, it seems. We have family there and they always get more weather than we do.

South of Charlotte and north of Charlotte get more than the city, it seems. There was a big snow, some years back. Might have been about 8 years ago. Union County received 12 inches of snow or something amazing like that!! And the first year we moved here, 1987, we got like 12 inches in the city. Closed the whole town down for 4-5 days.

The ice storm every year or so, here can be problematic, if you lose power. We had that happen back about 7 years ago. We stayed with friends across town for a couple of nights.

The snow is very exciting. We made snow balls from the one snow last year or the year before, and kept them in the freezer.


Pat

[Care Lee]

I moved from Massachusetts to NC. Now I live in Asheville. I lived in Boone for a long time and that was great, too. Carrboro is fairly cool.

I don't think I would personally live anywhere else in NC... unless it was in the area immediately surrounding Asheville or Boone. Just my opinion, no offense to other people living other places.