Eastern West Virginia (panhandle) Slowtwitchers, I have a job offer to relocate from Alaska to work in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The web is an okay source and I plan to fly down to check it out, but first-hand experience is better. My wife and I are mid-40s, tired of 6-months of winter every year, no kids to worry about and have two main questions:
Is it possible to live within a 30-minute drive of Martinsburg, in a safe neighborhood, in a newer home (2000 sf) on at least 1 acre (prefer more), with front door access to good biking and running, for under $250K? Any words on real estate would be helpful.
How is the weather?
How is the riding?
Any other thoughts on the area are welcomed. Thanks.
my family has a cabin up at mt. storm (about 90 miles by road directly west of martinsburg) and i go up there nearly every summer. the riding around mt. storm seems to be pretty good from the little bit that i’ve done. that whole area is big-time coal mining so the coal trucks can cause some pretty good gusts going by but i’ve never had any problems with them crowding me. i usually ended up with a good bit of coal dust on me and in my teeth which made me look really tough to all the couch potato family members. i always go up there at the end of july and the weather is incredible for the summer. cool enough at night to wear long sleeves and pants and the days are warm enough to work up a good sweat without dying of heat (at least compared to the temps from the south). hope this helps a little
p.s. get ready for the west virginia inbred hillbilly jokes…they’re inevitable
Lived in Martinburg about 10 years ago for work. Worked in Shepherdstown. It was okay. The C&O canal trail is nearby to ride(mt bike) and run on. Tons of Civil War history. Well, just tons of history in general. Shepherdstown is a college town that is pretty neat but was hard to find a place to live for renting. Not far from DC area. IN fact I think it’s considered a bedroom community to DC. There’s a train that goes in everyday. There was plenty of land when I lived there. Nothing to do for a 28 year old single woman. Went in to DC to see friends a bunch. Worked a bunch because there was nothing else to do. But, I wasn’t into all the tri stuff then. Now I would kill to have the C&O as close as it was then. It would be interesting to see what 10 years has brought to the town. I had to go to MD to see a movie.
I liked Charles Town also. Go over into MD to Hagerstown.
The weather is nothing like you are used to but since I’m from SC and coastal VA it was cold and snowy in the winter. The summers are cool compared to most of the south. Still warmer than what you would be used to.
You need to check out the C&O canal trail. It goes from DC to somewhere in MD. It’s dirt but pretty cool. I didn’t own a mt bike when I lived there and should have. Other than that I have no idea how riding the roads would be. Hilly! It is WV.
ANd do prepare for the WV jokes even if you aren’t from there!
Eastern West Virginia is becoming Metro DC so I bet the prices are going up. I still think you can get a decent place for $250K. As for the weather, plan on about 40 inches of rain, and about 15-30 inches of snow. Winter temps, highs in the upper 30’s, lower 40’s; summer temps highs in the mid 80’s.