MOVING SOON TO NC - NEED A CRUNCHY TOWN NEAR FAYETTEVILLE

[MTwolfgirl]

I just got a job in Fayetteville, NC and am moving at the end of January with my 2-year-old, mother and dog.  My dream place would be a town like Asheville.  Any ideas north of Fayetteville that have a crunchy feel? Any help would be so appreciated!

[Imakcerka]

NOOOOOOOOO not Fayetenam!   I can't think of a crunchy place near there that you will be comfortable at.  You're going to have to do some digging.  Good luck.  Honestly don't live in Fayetteville.  Stay outside of the place. 

[MTwolfgirl]

What do you know about Fuquay-Varina?

[Imakcerka]

not much but it's kind of a drive.  Most of my time spent around that area is the Dunn/Erwin area.  Very small very backwards.  I haven't been in the area in three years on purpose.  Doesn't mean you can't find a good place around there though.  

[myangelbaby]

Southern Pines is about 35 minutes away from Fayetteville....and is turning into a bit of a "crunchy" town (especially downtown)!

[MTwolfgirl]

I was trying to get a bit closer to Raleigh. My mom is used to New York and southern Connecticut. I'll definitely check out Southern Pines. Thanks.

[beanma]

Fayetteville is definitely not crunchy. Are you going to be working at Ft Bragg? There's definitely not a crunchy town anywhere near Fayetteville, either.

Southern Pines and Pinehurst are resorty and have some very nice areas and the kind of crunch that appeals to wealthy people, but not Asheville kind of crunch. The crunchiest places "nearby" are Chapel Hill/Carrboro, Durham, Pittsboro, but you're looking at 1.5 hr commute one way with those. Maybe 1.25 from Pittsboro. Raleigh is big and has pockets of crunch. There are quite a few folks who work at Bragg who live in Sanford, about 30 min north, but it's not crunchy at all either. Fuquay is about an hour northeast of Ft Bragg, a little further from Fayetteville proper. 

[34me]

Maybe we can start a neighborhood.  We are moving from one of the crunchier parts of the country in June.  My dh is being transferred in 2 weeks and we are waiting for graduation.  The town he is going to be working in is aaaaarrrrggggh!  We are constrained by HS sports, so we will be living at least an hour away.  I found a Whole Foods and a Yarn Store on the outskirts of Raleigh when I was out in October...

ETA:  We are NOT Moving!  yeah for staying in CO!

Edited by 34me - 3/10/12 at 4:26pm

[myangelbaby]

I feel like it used to be that way.....but there has been a lot of change in the last three years....and it has some Asheville "crunchy" here. :)

[vanessapdx]

Fayetteville is slowly but surely getting crunchy! Just in time, too. I have a four month old son, and wouldn't you know it, a cloth diaper service *just* opened! Fayette-Nam may not be crunchy in and of itself, but there are enough transplants here to make up for it!

~V

Former Oregonian

[preciouspkgs]

I agree with the others, in the 6 years I have lived here in Fayetteville, it has gotten much crunchier than when we first got here! There is a Cloth Diaper store downtown now, a diaper service, there is a baby wearing group, a cloth diaper group, natural parenting group; a large CNM homebirth practice, stroller strides, prenatal/postparum yoga and pilates (we had neither when I first got here!)....we are here, you just have to find us! :-)

Fuquay Varina is a good 40 to 60 minute drive to Fayetteville depending on where you are working in town. 

[milk_maker]

I've lived in Fayetteville since 2001 with a 3 year break in there (Hawaii baby!) and this town has made some serious strides.  There really isn't much "crunchy" factors but we do have a decent health food store and there is a coop called Carolina Grown that services our area.  They have all kinds of veggies, fruits, meat, eggs, etc...and they deliver to your front door.  There is also a farmer's market on the weekends and Wednesday (it's closed for the season) though it's kind of hit or miss.  It's a great place to get tomatoes when they're in season though.

If you have the money, definitely look into living in the Haymont district.  That's the historic area and there are a lot of really nice houses and a few parks scattered throughout.  Parks are really hard to come by here and most of them are in bad neighborhoods.  I have a friend who was robbed at one park by some high schoolers. 

One thing that's weird about this town is that you'll have one street that's nice, houses are well kept and then the next street over there are boarded up houses, a drug dealer, and dogs chained in the yard.  It's really hit or miss here unless you're able to spend around $200K for a house in a brand new neighborhood.

A lot of people are moving out to Harnett County.  Cameron is really starting to mushroom but there really isn't much out that way except for a Food Lion and a McDonald's.  Plus with traffic (you have to drive down Bragg Blvd to get into town and go through base which means military crawl hour) it takes about 30-45 minutes to get into town.

[Rrrrrachel]

Pittsboro is awesome, that's where I live :). It is a bit of a hike, but people do it!

[Tenk]

I live in Clayton, it's east of Raleigh.  There's really nothing here, but there are more crunchy areas in Raleigh and the transplants (from up North/Northeast) live in Cary .... very crunchy little area but very pricy.  I agree, driving to Fayetteville every morning and then home again would definitely be a LONG drive.  My DH works on Ft. Bragg but does 24 hour shifts so only does it once a day.  It's also too far for us to drive to just "hang out" with a group or someone specific very often.

I personally do not like Fayetteville, at all.  I lived there for some time many years ago and would never go back.  As a matter of fact, we are trying to sell our home in Clayton and would want to live closer to DH's work (until he's gets a new job and we can relocate) but we still would not live in Fayetteville EVER.  It's very violent in a lot of areas and you really have to watch out for where you live/go/hang out.  Again, almost every where has an area like that, I just feel like Fayetteville has a lot more of them.

There's a crunchy lady on Facebook that lives there, she does prenatal massage, photos (maternity, birth, after etc) and is a doula.  She also does the massage at a local HB midwife office.  You can find her at Beyond Birth on FB.

[mrsmischief]

We moved to Fayetteville from Olympia, WA and the adjustment was brutal to say the least. Two years into our 'sentence' in F'ville and a small crunchy pocket of Fayetteville can indeed be be found.

A few hidden gems you might want to check out in town no matter where you choose to live: 

*The Cape Fear Botanical Garden is a lovely place to visit and they host a monthly class for children called 'Nature Tales' and a workshop for adults ranging from vermicomposting and terrarium making to natural holiday wreath crafting and herbal cooking classes. This year they will be hosting a spring concert series as well. We attend nearly activity at the garden and often go just to walk around and work on nature study. It's one of the places I'll most miss when the time comes to leave Fayettenam. http://www.capefearbg.org/

*Sustainable Sandhills hosts a monthly movie series at the Cameo Art House movie theater featuring films on a variety of cool topics. They occasionally host other activities too, including informative events on urban farming. http://www.sustainablesandhills.org/

*Sustainable Sandhills also offers a CSA and Carolina Grown is another resource for local foods in the area. Carolina Grown will be offering several farm tour opportinities this spring in different locations around Central NC. http://carolinagrown.org/

*A group has recently began hosting a monthly workshop on Sustainable Living at the Museum of the Cape Fear Complex in downtown. If anybody would like the director's contact info, please feel free to PM me and I'll pass it along. 

*The farmers market is a bit lackluster compared to what I was spoiled with out in WA but has improved since the first year we've arrived. They will be opening again in April. 

*In downtown there is a cool yarn store, Greg's Pottery, Cape Fear Studios, Arts Council, several locally owned restaurants my family enjoys, the Cameo Art House, and Rude Awakenings Coffee Shop.

*Fayetteville has a community garden located near the Haymount District.

*The Cape Fear River Trail, Lake Rim Park, Clark Nature Park, and the previously mentioned botanical garden are placed we depend on for outdoor fun.

*The Cumberland County Library system is decent. My family saves thousands of dollars every year thanks to inter-library loan, book sales, and participation in various library programs. 

We've met a LOT of great people simply by attending activities at all of these places, doing volunteer work for various community organizations as individuals and together as a family, and exchanging numbers, scheduling playdates and family BBQs, that sort of thing allowing for a little bit of crunchy goodness in a rather bleak area. I've also networked to find quite a few u-pick farms for purchase fruits & veggies for food preservation and farmers from whom to purchase such items as beeswax and pecans. 

Edited by mrsmischief - 1/16/12 at 12:07pm

[terifinn]

I'd like to chime in on this thread just to make my "announcement" of being a Fayetteville resident. The suggestions have been made already for the practically non-existent crunchiness but I suppose its all about finding your community of crunchies and starting there. Would love to meet more crunchies in the area!

[hdeering]

DH is USAF and applying for a special duty assignment at Pope AFB. So I guess that would be Fayetteville. Can one keep chickens in Fayetteville? Or is there a rural-ish area near enough to commute and keep chickens and such?

I'm glad to have found this thread!

[Radicalmom]

I lived there in 1996. My son's family is down there (they are Lumbee Indian so also have some connections to Pembroke, ect). They live on a horse farm but they are on the very edge of Fayetteville, almost Eliazbeth town. Chickens are common out there, but it's not crunchy. For crunch I would go to Chapel Hill, I'd say.

*I had a very hard time living in Fayetteville.