Hello all, your resident weather hokie here. Im headed back to the east coast and mrs eshiben got a job in newport news. I will be attending Hampton university to begin work on my phd and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on where to live?
Obviously ghent is out of the question due to bridge traffic on 64 and weve been told to avoid the shipyards but i was just wondering if anyone had any tips for us?
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Poquoson?
Great place for people with school age kids, probably less so for younger people without them
ABSOLUTELY!! Poquoson aka Bull Island or the Tabb area of neighboring York County is the place to be for schools, safety and general quality of life. You can take that to the bank. I live in Tabb and work in Poquoson so I know both places very well. I would be happy to tell you anything and everything you might want to know about those areas .
Ehh...
Depends on how you feel about your house flooding.
I spent my summers in Poquoson when I was a child and I can now say that I am immuned to mosquito bites.
I recommend Blacksburg instead.
Renting an apartment, buying a house, etc?
How long-term? Will you eventually be raising kids there? Hint: public schools in Hampton and NN pretty much suck.
Good one!
WELP lol
That one looks like it could be Bad Newz.
HHHHNNNNNGGGGG
right click
"search google for image"
...
were looking for an apartment, will probably be there for 3-4 years until i wrap up the phd
I work in Newport News and live in Norfolk. Usually don't have an issue with the HRBT (Caveat: I work 6 - 2:30 pm which I understand does help). I occasionally wait in traffic 5-10 minutes on the way back home and no real issue headed to work. IMO living on that side of the water is worth the extra few minutes in traffic.
I would recommend Williamsburg or Yorktown over Newport News but if you insist on Newport News/Hampton there are some nicer, newer apartments around Kiln Creek and around the Coliseum.
I have a couple friends who live in Kiln Creek in Newport News. Seems like a pretty nice community and its right off of 64. Looks like there are places to rent and buy.
https://www.trulia.com/VA/Newport_News,17959,Kiln_Creek/
http://www.apartmentguide.com/neighborhoods/Virginia/Newport-News/Kiln-C...
Find a place near CNU. I'm currently staying in that area and really like it.
I have a sister that lives in Suffolk, her husband was at the Naval base. They like that area.
As far from there as you are willing to commute
I'd recommend looking closer to the York County side of Newport News, or inside York County itself. Second the recommendation for the Kiln creek area - I have family that's lived there for decades; it's pretty peaceful. Proximity to 64 is a plus.
Poquoson is pretty quiet, more of your typical family/suburb area, but lots of places there flood a lot from what I remember (very close to, if not below sea level).
Hampton has a few nice spots around the Farmington communities and Fox Hill, but I lived there for my entire childhood and was glad to leave. Hate that I have family still living there, at least in the areas that they live in. Most Hamptonians are better able to tell you the places to avoid, rather than where to live haha.
Edit: The Southside is the better place to live (Chesapeake, Suffolk, etc.), but the bridge-tunnel commute can be unpredictable at best, god-awful terrible at its worst.
One of my best friends grew up in poquoson. His dad had an older Corvette sitting in the garage that he was going to give him when he turned 18. A hurricane came through, the garage flooded, and the corvette was totaled...
commute from st augustine
I'm trying to.
yeah, i was thinking about you. if you make the move at least you'll know where the flood line is!
in 2012, my builder thought I was crazy when I told him how high to build the slab...I went 4 feet above code. we were 4.5 feet above the surge during Matthew...which also hit right at high tide.
if you make the move, the county has easily accessible imaps. the contours are very accurate, as were the surge projections (which follow the contours). the 100 year flood lines, at least in my neighborhood, do not and need to be redrawn.
9' is code in St Johns Co. I wouldn't buy/build under 11'. We built at 13' and there are days when I wish I'd gone up 1 more round of blocks.
Grew up in Hampton, would recommend to look in Smithfield or suffolk, commute would be less than 30 mins and areas are much safer, newer, better neighborhoods. York county may have some upscale apts but avoid Newport News. James river bridge is preferable to Hampton roads bridge tunnel as a regular commute
what are you looking for? shopping, bars, food, peace and quiet, schools, etc?
what part of nn is she working in?
Not sure what kind of work your PhD will require, but if it's a lot of time on campus with a lot of long hours/early mornings/late nights, you're gonna wanna be as close as possible.
planetary sciences (space weather...google it its a thing) wife is going to be a teacher in newport news. i plan on being on her schedule (7-4 kinda deal) and working remotely when need be
Awesome. I had a very different experience with chemistry at VT and could tell you that if I had to drive 30+ minutes each way (or even from Christiansburg, lol) it would have been so bad for me. Best of luck on the journey to becoming dr. eshiben
As a guy that used to work satellite operations I can confirm space weather is a very real and challenging thing from time to time. As many have said, I would recommend Poquoson, Tabb, York, Grafton areas. All very quiet but close enough to anything you could want and all have about 3 or 4 different options to get to HU if any one of them is jammed up. Hope y'all have a blast back there and good luck on the PhD!
EDIT: Never mind, that was a retirement home.
I live in the northern part of suffolk just south of the mm tunnel. Love the area now that we have a little land and youngin. The wife and I lived in ghent and Larchmont while she was in grad school at odu. While tunnel traffic sucks at times, I'd still recommend living in Norfolk in your 20's. There's so much to do all within walking or biking distance. I commuted to nn from norfolk for 6 years and it was more than worth it.
I remember when north Suffolk we're fields ... ahh the good old days before traffic.
Wife and I just bought a house in the Hilton Village part of NN. Older homes but by and large they are well taken care of/updated. The elementary school for that neighborhood is one of the highest rated in the area. We initially looked around Yorktown/Poquoson but because of the demand in the area, the prices of some houses there are much higher than many of them are worth.
BTW, if you need a home inspector, I know a guy or two.
I'm in Carrollton, just a hop skip and a big bridge jump from you. I love the houses in Hilton village.
Hilton Village is such a neat looking area too. I enjoy driving through on Warwick in the mornings on my way to work.
Hey Elliot glad to hear things are going well with you and you're coming back from WI. I'm from Newport News originally and everyone here is giving good advice. Hampton University is the first exit off the HRBT so you could look at living across the water but if not I'd look into uptown Newport News, Yorktown, or some of the areas by CNU are starting to get a lot nicer. Kiln Creek is really nice and right near an interstate exit and mall as well.
CJ (from lifeguarding and stuff)
my covers blown! hope lifes treating you well! thanks for the tips its looking like kiln creek might be the way to go
noted.
HU is right off Interstate 64, so convenience for you won't be an issue.
However, Newport News is a very long (north-to-south) city, and so for example if you end up living near Fort Eustis but she's teaching at Heritage High, she's gonna have a bad time.
I went to CNU for a year and hated the area, so I would say as far as you enjoy your commute to work/school.