Moving to Roanoke Virginia Area

Hoping to get some imput from the Roanoke area ATS members. I am moving there from Atlanta and had a bunch of questions:

Best Areas to live?
Things to do?
Any tips and tricks?

Well anyone from the Western VA area?

Help ME! LOL I have to move in 120 days!

I live in the region.

I couldn't tell you much on the best area thing, but I can give you some info on just the area in general. This applies to Roanoke County, City, Bedford, Botetourt, Salem, and all the counties around Roanoke City I guess. I live in Botetourt.

Roanoke is one of the most digital cities in the world, and has won 1st place in the Digital Cities Survey (a national thing) four times as of 2005, out of five years of the survey.

The local paper, The Roanoke Times, is pretty popular too, and I think there's a higher percentage of adults that read it than any other local paper anywhere else in the country.


As far as things to do...

Downtown there's the Roanoke Civic Center, which is where you'll most likely go to catch any concerts that come through. Motley Crue was there recently, or maybe are going to be there; I'm not keeping up. I think it's undergoing some renovations right now. The local symphony, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, plays there, too. And I think most major plays or etc. dramas that come through usually try for the Civic Center over other local venues as well.

Towers Mall is near the Civic Center, which is more dated than some other malls around here (like the Tanglewood Mall, which is also in near the downtown area), but has some interesting shops and more cultural things than the newer malls.

If you need music supplies, Ridenhour Music is at Tower's, and that's where you'll probably want to go if you don't order things off the internet. There was another store around here called Noteworthy, but I think it went out of business. Also, there's a bread store called Heartland Bakery down at Tower's. I'm only mentioning these guys because their bread is AWESOME. They make everything themselves from scratch right there in the bakery at Tower's.

Also downtown there's a place called Center in the Square, and there's a multi-story science museum down there that you could check out some time, and across the street there's a two-story building packed full of food stalls, from Italian to seafood to candy and a lot more.

If you're into trains, Roanoke grew up on railroads and locomotives, so there's a train museum and a lot of train stuff in general around the area.

If you go downtown, you'll see this stuck on the side of a mountain:



That's the Roanoke Star, and if you head up there to check it out, there's a zoo up there (Mill Mountain Zoo). The Mill Mountain Theatre is up around there, too, if you're into drama.

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs through the area, and you should check that out if you haven't already. It's beautiful up there, especially during the fall in my opinion. I'm just an autumn kind of person I guess. There's a place called Peaks of Otter that you can hike to, and there are camp grounds around there if you're into camping or hiking or nature things in general.

I hope that helps some. If you want to know anything else you can ask, and if I can help I'll try.

[edit on 25-3-2006 by bsbray11]

As someone originating from the SW VA I'll tell you this:

Enjoy the nature that encompasses you or else be prepared to be bored. There's second rate versions of most things you'd find in a city in Roanoke, and there's A LOT of forest surrounding it.

Although try out The Homeplace in Catawba (15 minutes outside of Roanoke) the best food in the area!

Also, I hope you like the conservative movement, you'll be surrounded with GW stickers, flags and ribbons, and car magnets galor!

[edit on 1-4-2006 by Street Scholar]

Oh wow. I am so glad anyone even responded to this! LOL. Yeah I did see the Star. I took the family up there and we went over our map. Really helps being able to see the area you are going to view property at, from the air. One cool thing is that from the lookout point you can view the approach to the airport. I am a huge aviation buff so I found this very cool.

I was a big fan of the GOP....until GWB....not well let's say calling me a rabid Libertarian is a bit of an under statement. So Street Scholor are you saying my "Bush = 9-11" bumper sticker will not go over well! LOL j/k

Anyway thanks for the posts and we are looking at some property in the Salem area.

Oh wow. I am so glad anyone even responded to this! LOL. Yeah I did see the Star. I took the family up there and we went over our map. Really helps being able to see the area you are going to view property at, from the air. One cool thing is that from the lookout point you can view the approach to the airport. I am a huge aviation buff so I found this very cool.

I was a big fan of the GOP....until GWB....not well let's say calling me a rabid Libertarian is a bit of an under statement. So Street Scholor are you saying my "Bush = 9-11" bumper sticker will not go over well! LOL j/k

Anyway thanks for the posts and we are looking at some property in the Salem area.

Isn't this where like 116 colonists supposedly vanished in 1587?

And the only trace left of them was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post on their fort, and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree?

Creepy.

Originally posted by Bripe Klmun
Isn't this where like 116 colonists supposedly vanished in 1587?

And the only trace left of them was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post on their fort, and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree?

Creepy.

No that was the Colony of Roanoke. It was/is in present day North Carolina (Outer Banks). The city of Roanoke VA is in the western portion of VA.

You know glad you brought the Lost Colony up. I was just thinking, The story of the Lost Colony is the first Conspiracy theory in America! LOL

The Lost Colony-Wiki
Roanoke Virgina-Wiki

Ahhhh - I have become enlightened. Thanks!