Athens, GA?

[thelocknestmother]

We are contemplating moving to Athens, GA...Anyone have some insight?  We are hoping it will be a more liberal than the South in general...What about homebirth, nursing in public, homeschooling, chickens, walking neighborhoods, bike-friendly?

[mytwomonkies]

I don't really have any input on the area as we don't live there but I can recommend a good holistic pediatrician. We were driving an hour and a half to see but then my husband decided we needed one closer :( Her name is Dr. Dana Hogan with Sunshine Pediatrics in Watkinsville (Which is just right outside Athens). She's just a regular pediatrician that's open to a more natural approach. She's pro vax but supportive of the decision not to or to be selective. I would say it probably is one of the more liberal areas though, Atlanta is also pretty liberal for the South.

[mama*pisces]

Originally Posted by thelocknestmother 

We are contemplating moving to Athens, GA...Anyone have some insight?  We are hoping it will be a more liberal than the South in general...What about homebirth, nursing in public, homeschooling, chickens, walking neighborhoods, bike-friendly?

I <3 Athens!! It is way more liberal than the rest of the South in general(at least, I think). I nurse in public all the time there and nobody has even batted an eyelash, there are a bunch of home schoolers, I know a few different people that have chickens, the neighborhoods look really nice and I'm pretty sure they are bike-friendly. I would personally love to live there.

[hildare]

Originally Posted by thelocknestmother 

We are contemplating moving to Athens, GA...Anyone have some insight?  We are hoping it will be a more liberal than the South in general...What about homebirth, nursing in public, homeschooling, chickens, walking neighborhoods, bike-friendly?

howdy!  we moved to outside of athens but did live in town and our friends all live there.

pm me if you want. 

athens is a great place.  some folks do homebirth, but there is a midwives clinic that operates within Athens Regional and it's pretty fantastic.  there are hb midwives that will work in athens.  i personally use an ob but can recommend the hb midwife i had found.

we have an osteopathic pediatrician who is ok with nonvaxxing.  not happy, but not critical.  i interviewed her (Dr Blum on Hawthorne) and two others (one is Dr. Payton) who were also ok with nonvaxxing. 

there are issues with chickens.  depends upon where you are you can possibly get away with it but it doesn't have legislative approval.  there's a vocal community of people who are driving around with "prochicken" bumper stickers right now. 

i always NIP.  nobody cares. 

our library just absolutely rocks rocks rocks. 

there is a homeschool community, lots of opportunity for exploration, some of the parks and science ed places have homeschool based classes. 

when we lived in town we walked and biked everywhere.  it's a pretty bikey bike town for the most part. 

check out:

full bloom

flagpole (local music/news/art paper)  hmm.. open it with chrome if you can, i think google just said the site was possibly compromised?  never usually happens, i always read online.

uga, the main employer and educator for local folks seems to attract not-so-liberal students but the faculty, staff, and locals are awesome, and you will find some great peeps. 

there's lots of art, music, and all kinds of fun stuff, including a trapeeze studio.  it's a great place, but again, pm me and i'll be happy to provide info on neighborhoods and whatever. 

<3 

[mama*pisces]

Originally Posted by hildare 

there is a homeschool community, lots of opportunity for exploration, some of the parks and science ed places have homeschool based classes. 

Thanks for that link, Hildare!

[thelocknestmother]

Thanks everyone...DH talked to someone about a possible job today, might fly down in August for a quick weekend to check it out...If so, Hildare I will PM you...thanks for the offer.  

[hildare]

Originally Posted by mama*pisces 

Thanks for that link, Hildare!

 :)

[Keakie]

We're moving to this area in a couple of weeks, so this has been helpful. :) Outside of the fact that it's a college town, I don't know a whole lot about it but it seems nice. I'm looking forward to checking out the farmer's market.

[thelocknestmother]

Well DH has an interview in two weeks!  We are all flying done to spend the weekend before his Monday interview...How should we spend the weekend to get a sense of the town?  And most importantly...where should we EAT?  :)  Thanks

And great Keakie!

[hildare]

people love the national (but we don't go there much b/c it is expennive and dh is um, frugal)

if you are vegetarian or kinda veg, the grit is fantastic.  it's a local legend of sorts. 

ike and jane for donuts/cupcakes

big city bread for casual lunch

flagpole does a yearly guide to athens, too, and it just came out in time for all the students...  their regular weekly rag lists all the goings on in town pretty well. 

there's a farmer's market on saturday mornings that people love to go to, that might be fun.  they have baked goods and stuff.  it's at bishop park, but they have a website too. 

(my goodness i really love making linky posts way more than i should.  i should get out more)

[thelocknestmother]

Thank you thank you thank you Hildare!  AND so excited a student who lived with us as some point now lives in Atlanta and is going to come up and show us around as her BF attends law school at UGA.  :)

[jk13]

Hi there! My family and I lived in Athens for almost 7 years (2001-2007) and my son was born at Athens Regional using the midwifery there. They are all wonderful! Athens is a very liberal town in my experience (due to UGA I assume). I am a yankee and when we relocated to the South this was not at all what I had expected. It is a wonderful town with a diverse popultaion (well at least when UGA is out in spring). A lot of quirky little locally owned restaurants, just a nice place. Be sure to choose which side of town to live on---we lived on thw West side. It was safe when we moved there, but then earlier this year when that guy had shot those 2 police officers we saw our old place on tv! So I would look into the East side. If you want/need any more info, feel free to PM me.

[hildare]

yeah.. but... shootings are pretty isolated incidents here.  break-ins are the main problem everywhere.

if you're interested in crimes etc, you can find info here   and scroll down to crime maps.  there's a crime map and a criminal housing map there. 

also, schools have to release info related to crimes on campus which may include SOME but not all of town here.

here's some gbi statistics by county (you'd look for clarke) but only through 2008. 

east side is nice, west side is too, but we lived pretty much downtown in an area called "newtown" that's not called that on any of the maps.  if you're wanting to be close in for biking/walking, normaltown is pretty much a good area (as is newtown), right off prince.  east and west sides are too far out for walking/biking to much, though eastside's getting lots of new developments.  <3

[julietd]

We are also seriously considering Athens (Asheville is on our list as well). We have been there numerous times and love the community. Every place else we have lived (Myrtle Beach currently <shudder>) we have felt like fish out of water, but Athens definitely has a much more open liberal community for the south. Now for the jobs part...

[julietd]

We are also seriously considering Athens (Asheville is on our list as well). We have been there numerous times and love the community. Every place else we have lived (Myrtle Beach currently <shudder>) we have felt like fish out of water, but Athens definitely has a much more open liberal community for the south. Now for the jobs part...

[julietd]

We have decided to go ahead and move to Athens by the end of the month. I have been applying/interviewing for jobs there and will hopefully hear something soon. We homeschool our two children ages 9 and 12 and are looking forward to meeting up with others who do as well. We are about as non-traditional as it gets- vegan, environmental, I do reiki,  I work outside the home as well, my husband stays home with the children and does music and art. Actually we are both artists. We cook almost everything from scratch shop at thrift stores, farmers markets,co-ops and locally owned stores. We are familiar with Athens and have friends there so hopefully this transition is a smooth one. We are coming into town next week to try and find a place to rent as well. We have felt a draw there for some time and after I left my recent job decided it was time to take the leap of faith. Any insight and advice is awesome and the post with all the info was great!

:o)

[hildare]

julietd, feel free to pm me with any questions you have.  our kids aren't close to the same ages for a playgroup or anything but i love to be helpful about anything i can :)  i am one of those really rare people who actually have lived in athens or the athens area all of my life (except college) - as far back as my great grandmothe, our  family lived in athens... 

[julietd]

Thanks! We do art (etsy.com/shop/j8j8) and part of us want to be downtown near the action but part of us wants to be outside of town in the woods. Really depends on what we find I guess! I will PM you hildare

[illiterati]

We moved to Watkinsville, just south of Athens, about a year and a half ago.  We love our sweet little rural spot and also that we're a relatively short, but still a bit guilt-ridden, drive to awesome Athens attractions (especially The Grit- I can't get enough of that place).  In our short time here I grew and birthed our son and was followed by the ARMC Midwives. I can't rave about them enough, and I have to say I was even pleased with our hospital birth. They were very respectful of our choices and not the least bit pushy. We also use Dr. Blum (mentioned upthread) and are very happy- although we do vax on a traditional schedule.  The other thing I highly endorse is http://athens.locallygrown.net/  we are able to get almost all of our produce and dairy locally and it's sooooo convenient if you don't feel like/ aren't able to make it to the market.  And I'll second the Fullbloom recc, they have been like a second home since the babe's arrival.  Good luck with your move!

Freedom To Grow Unschool

www.freedomtogrowunschool.com/  

 

Also,this (above) might also be of interest to you. Our munchkin's still way too young but I hope to look into this when he's closer to school age. They have an option to supplement homeschooling I think.

[julietd]

11 days til we get there. We are pretty stoked! Thanks for the unschooling link as I think that is the direction we are moving in. Our children are brilliant:o) and pretty driven self learners. Being raised vegan they have learned to question everything! I LOVE The Grit and we have gone everytime we have been in town. Still haven't found a job but luckily have a decent supplemental income and live super thriftly. Our children are 12 and 9 (can't figure out how to update my signature) and are really happy we are moving to Athens.