OT: Huntsville, AL/other?

[AlSwearengen]

Anyone live/lived in Huntsville? How did you like it? Good outdoor activities, restaurants, grocery stores?

I would like to consider Charleston, S.C. or maybe north georgia but I'm not sure that I can get that far away from MS.

 

[57stratdawg]

I live in Huntsville, and I enjoy it.

Good hiking in Monte Sano, Blevins Gap, and Walls of Jerico (about 30 minutes away). Lake Guntersville is beautiful, really the TN River in general. There is Kayak and Canoe rentals in Hampton Cove (suburb of Huntsville).

Plenty of good restaurants and breweries in town.

Cotton Row - $$$$
Pane-Vino - $$$
Mezza Luna - $$$
Connor's - $$$
Commerce Kitchen - $$$
PO Boy Factory - $$
Moes BBQ - $$
Ted's BBQ - $$
Rosie's Cantina - $$
Phil Sandoval's - $$

That's not including the chains: Bonefish, Cantina Loreado, Ruth's Chris, PF Changs, Melting Pot, etc. Also, I believe there is a Texas De Brazil opening soon.

There are Cabella's and Bass Pro Shops opening in the area in the next year, as well as a large high-end retail/residential development (open air mall) coming to Jones Valley.

Huntsville-Decatur is the 2nd largest metro area in Alabama now passing Mobile in the last Census, and it's growing. 4.5% population growth from 2010 to 2013.

 

[mgbdawg]

North Alabama has great outdoors

Anyone live/lived in Huntsville? How did you like it? Good outdoor activities, restaurants, grocery stores?

I would like to consider Charleston, S.C. or maybe north georgia but I'm not sure that I can get that far away from MS.

In addition to what stratdawg said, I would add the Sipsey Wilderness, High Falls, Warrior River, and Little River Canyon to great outdoors close by. We also really like Huntsville's close proximity to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia.

The City of Huntsville is really making an effort to liven the downtown as well. Goods bars/restaurants, live music, festivals, parades.

 

[RocketDawg]

Huntsville is a great place to live ... it's a much more progressive area than any other in Alabama (and Mississippi too best I can tell). It's not exactly a Southern town. Size ... larger than Jackson, pretty much the same as Lexington, KY.

Plenty of grocery stores. Plenty of restaurants. Pretty much plenty of everything except decent road layouts, which leads to moderate traffic problems (but nothing like Atlanta). It's totally different than Charleston.

 

[57stratdawg]

There are a hell of a lot of grocery stores. There are countless Publix, but we really use Fresh Market for meats and veggies. Also, they're about to start building a Whole Foods down South Parkway.

 

[notthisshitagain]

Huntsville is a great place to live, but it can be a bit of a culture shock when coming from most southern towns. I think of Huntsville as a "Nerd Town" and a "Transplant Town" with respect to the people who live here. HSV does not have the rich culture and history that most southern cities/towns have, but rather has it's own unique history with NASA, the military, German rocket scientists, and science/engineering/technology. The city is progressive in areas that help attract businesses and top workforce talent, yet still remains politically conservative with it's military and southern base.

The beer and food truck scenes in Huntsville are exploding. The recent addition of food truck rallies downtown have drawn thousands of people, as well as the other downtown festivals like Rocket City BrewFest and the WhistleStop BBQ Weekend. The hiking, caving, & kayaking are fantastic in north Alabama and within a 3-hr radius around Huntsville. Lots of state parks, greenways, and hiking/biking trails. The cool thing is that Asheville NC is just a close to HSV as the AL/FL beaches. So you can take quick (or longer) drive and be in the mountains, but you are still less than a day from the beach.

Folks in HSV seem to REALLY like their chain restaurants. It can be a bit of work to find the really good places to eat for such a big town, but there are some fantastic restaurants. 57stratdawg has already named some of the better places (although I would argue with him over including Ted's BBQ and Po Boy Factory, but who am I to judge). Plenty of good BBQ around HSV, and lots of terrible BBQ as well.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I live in Huntsville, and I enjoy it.

Good hiking in Monte Sano, Blevins Gap, and Walls of Jerico (about 30 minutes away). Lake Guntersville is beautiful, really the TN River in general. There is Kayak and Canoe rentals in Hampton Cove (suburb of Huntsville).

Plenty of good restaurants and breweries in town.

Cotton Row - $$$$
Pane-Vino - $$$
Mezza Luna - $$$
Connor's - $$$
Commerce Kitchen - $$$
PO Boy Factory - $$
Moes BBQ - $$
Ted's BBQ - $$
Rosie's Cantina - $$
Phil Sandoval's - $$

That's not including the chains: Bonefish, Cantina Loreado, Ruth's Chris, PF Changs, Melting Pot, etc. Also, I believe there is a Texas De Brazil opening soon.

There are Cabella's and Bass Pro Shops opening in the area in the next year, as well as a large high-end retail/residential development (open air mall) coming to Jones Valley.

Huntsville-Decatur is the 2nd largest metro area in Alabama now passing Mobile in the last Census, and it's growing. 4.5% population growth from 2010 to 2013.

You forgot Mojo's.***

 

[Hypnodawg]

We've been in Huntsville about 8 months. I find it interesting that my two biggest gripes have already been brought up (chain restaurants and traffic). Lunch prices are a bit steep. Between the mountains and the arsenal, traffic doesn't flow well. We need a better road system from here to Starkville.

We went Kayaking this weekend, very enjoyable. Lots of water around if you like boating/fishing. Cathedral Caverns isn't far away, definitely worth seeing. The housing market is strange here. You can basically build a nice luxury house for about the same price per square foot as an old unrenovated house. School ratings vary wildly, so if you have kids that can play a factor in where you want to live. If I were single or married without kids, I'd go for a condo downtown. Lots of local breweries.

 

[Dawgzilla]

You can't really get to Mississippi from Huntsville, anyway. Tough drive just to get to Starkville. I had a client in Huntsville who was having to spend a lot of time travelling to Jackson to open a branch office, and he got so tired of that drive that he just got his pilot's license and started flying.

 

[WrapItDog]

Do they still have the Big Spring Jam in the Fall?

 

[msu4life07]

Huntsville is a great place to live ... it's a much more progressive area than any other in Alabama (and Mississippi too best I can tell). It's not exactly a Southern town. Size ... larger than Jackson, pretty much the same as Lexington, KY.

Plenty of grocery stores. Plenty of restaurants. Pretty much plenty of everything except decent road layouts, which leads to moderate traffic problems (but nothing like Atlanta). It's totally different than Charleston.

Slightly wrong on the population. Yes, the city of Huntsville is marginally bigger than Jackson (185,000 to 175,000) but the Jackson metro is still a good bit bigger than the Huntsville-Decatur metro (575,000 to 435,000). As for Lexington, KY, they have over 300,000 and not much more in the metro.

With that said, HSV still has more to offer than Jackson, no doubt.

 

[57stratdawg]

I noticed the 575,000 for Jackson Metro Area (on Wikipedia, I assume?) includes Vicksburg, Brookhaven, and everything else in between. That's a pretty large net to cast for metro Jackson.

 

[NTDawg]

Sorry for hijacking your thread but how is UA at Huntsville and particularly how is there engineering school? My son interested in an Engineering degree but he still wants to play baseball. It is hard to find a good fit for both at a school that he could play,

 

[maroonmania]

Do they still have the Big Spring Jam in the Fall?

No, it bit the dust 3 or 4 years ago. Still miffed about it too because it was BY FAR the best entertainment event for the money anywhere in the area.

 

[57stratdawg]

If he's interested in aerospace engineering, it's one of the best not named Stanford, MIT, etc.

 

[coach66]

Charleston, you can thank me later. Huntsville and Decatur are great too.

goodchoicesku

 

[NTDawg]

I'm not sure which area of Engineering he interested in. What about the the other engineering departments at UofA Huntsville?

 

[DawgInThe256]

I've lived in the area (specifically Madison) for 25 years. My general impression is that it's a good place to raise a family (affordable housing, good schools if you look for them).

When I was single here (early 90's) there wasn't much of a bar/nightlife scene. Huntsville has recently added an entertainment district downtown, which seems to have improved this. Personally, the only thing really missing for me is big name concerts. But we're within manageable driving distance to Nashville, Birmingham, and even the Bonnaroo Festival.

Also, there's a reasonably large alumni group, so we get the occasional visit from the Road Dawgs Tour.

 

[RocketDawg]

Actually, the 435K is for the Huntsville metro as it is defined ... just Madison and Limestone Counties. The Huntsville-Decatur CSA, which is really more accurate, is those two counties plus Morgan and Lawrence. The total of the CSA is near 600K. And the CSA now is known as Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, so that would add another 95K. So the total would be close to 700K. Personally, I think that Albertville is too far away, but that's what it's called. The only reason Decatur has its own metro is because it's a city >50K. The real metro should be Morgan, Madison, and Limestone. I think the new definition of the Jackson metro even includes Vicksburg, 50 miles away. That's a bit liberal.

 

[RocketDawg]

I've lived in the area (specifically Madison) for 25 years. My general impression is that it's a good place to raise a family (affordable housing, good schools if you look for them).

When I was single here (early 90's) there wasn't much of a bar/nightlife scene. Huntsville has recently added an entertainment district downtown, which seems to have improved this. Personally, the only thing really missing for me is big name concerts. But we're within manageable driving distance to Nashville, Birmingham, and even the Bonnaroo Festival.

Also, there's a reasonably large alumni group, so we get the occasional visit from the Road Dawgs Tour.

For whatever reason, country music seems to have most of the concerts. It didn't used to be that way. But actually, we have about as good a concerts as Birmingham with an occasional exception. You really need to go to Nashville and/or Atlanta, but both are fairly close so it's not a big deal. Atlanta's a bit tougher to get to but worth the trip.

 

[57stratdawg]

I would probably move to Charleston too given the option between the two areas.

 

[57stratdawg]

Widespread Panic is playing here October 10th. What else do you need?

 

[bear fan]

Out of the three places you listed, Charleston hands down. Charleston is a party town and rivals just about anywhere in the country I've visited as far as quality of life.

Others have covered Huntsville. N GA has the mountains and all that that brings and is a cool area to spend a few days, but there's not a whole lot going on up there. I couldn't imagine living there full time unless getting away from everything was your goal.

 

[Cancellerius]

They are all really good. I work with numerous, very good, Chemical and Mechanical engineers from UAH. As for engineering and baseball, my son did both, receiving his mechanical engineering degree in 2012. Baseball team has been very competitive recently in Div II, making NCAA regionals two of last three years and improving on-campus facilities. Up until 2011, they played their home games at Joe Davis Stadium, home to the AA Stars (until they move to Biloxi). Would be happy to give you any more info, just let me know.

 

[msuJD164]

I live in Hampton Cove

which is just on outskirts and annexed into Huntsville. Our elementary and middle schools feed into Huntsville High. Our elementary school has been awarded as one of the best public schools in the nation. Just a 5 minute drive over the mountain is Jones Valley, which is about to really boom with high end shopping and restaurants. They are currently developing high end condos that will be walking distance to everything there. Has your basics right now, Target, Dicks, Mellow Mushroom, Carmike, etc.......will be interested what the proposed "high end" shopping will be. Have heard rumors of a few. Hampton Cove is also minutes from downtown, mall, etc. We have a gold course that is part of RTJ Trail and awesome mountain views.

 

[Bucky Dog]

Anyone live/lived in Huntsville? How did you like it? Good outdoor activities, restaurants, grocery stores?

I would like to consider Charleston, S.C. or maybe north georgia but I'm not sure that I can get that far away from MS.

Where are you moving from? Where is the majority of your family? How important is it to you to be close to Starkville and said family?

 

[AlSwearengen]

Where are you moving from? Where is the majority of your family? How important is it to you to be close to Starkville and said family?

Thinking of leaving Hattiesburg. My biggest issue is getting too far away from aging parents.

 

[DerHntr]

Thinking of leaving Hattiesburg. My biggest issue is getting too far away from aging parents.

I understand that completely about your parents. Just remember that at some point they won't be driving X number of hours on the highway to see you. I am not there yet but it will happen. 11 hours from my family and 14 from my wife's. I think we have maybe three guaranteed years left before we see them only when we travel. That will reduce it to only twice a year and I think the wife will beat the "move home" drum very loudly at that time.

Moving out of state has been one of the best experiences of my life though. Broadening your perspective of living situations is an important step in knowing what you truly value.

 

[RocketCityDawg]

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te_...y_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

 

[RocketDawg]

Thinking of leaving Hattiesburg. My biggest issue is getting too far away from aging parents.

It doesn't take all that long to get to Hattiesburg from here. 65 South to B'ham, 20/59 to Meridian, 59 to Hattiesburg. Takes something over 4 hours for the entire trip if you don't stop. When I was a co-op in Huntsville before the interstates were completed, it took me well over 5 hours just to get to Meridian.

 

[Hammer Down]

Anyone live/lived in Huntsville? How did you like it? Good outdoor activities, restaurants, grocery stores?

I would like to consider Charleston, S.C. or maybe north georgia but I'm not sure that I can get that far away from MS.

I have lived in Huntsville back in the day. Huntsville is what you make it, just like anywhere else. It's definitely growing, and probably will grow more once a Republican revives NASA and all that other stuff they have going on at Redstone Arsenal. They have an organized MSU Alumni Association too. At this point, I'd probably have to get a high paying government job with tenure to ever move back there. It's very livable, just boring. Be ready for that.

What age are you? Do you have children? If you do, be very careful if you decide to live in the city limits, they are very screwy about zoning and creating equality. If I moved back, I'd go to Madison first, South Huntsville second. Madison is sort of the melting pot of everywhere, and it's easier to fit in. Huntsville locals definitely have a crony system going on, no way around that.

As for being close to MSU, it should be about 3 and a half hours whenever that bypass around Red Bay is finally finished. I have no clue what the status is. That's about as quick as you'll make it to Starkville, no matter what route you take, at least from downtown Huntsville.