Old Hippie New to Forum with Questions

[Florida]

Oh my god that sounds wonderful.

Hills there----are we talking 10-story hills? I'm trying to picture elevation in terms of hills. If I read it correctly, the capitol building is perched on the highest hill in Tallahassee.

Not the highest hill in the entire city, but one of the highest in the downtown area. Florida A&M may have some elevation that tops that of the Capitol building. There is also elevation east of the city, far from the downtown, that said to be the highest hill around. Either way you'll enjoy biking them all.

[BHCav]

If you are coming here from Colorado, don't get your hopes to high on the hills.

[poonther]

If you are coming here from Colorado, don't get your hopes to high on the hills.

No pun intended there BCH?

"Tally escape the Peninsula" to me means that Tally and the Panhandle area of FL are different than the Peninsula. IMO we have more natural beauty or less destroyed natural beauty, a less hectic life, folks tend to be more friendly and our density is nothing like it is in South FL. I enjoy our quality of life more than I did when I was living in the Peninsula. Of course "your individual mileage my vary."

[ghostOFtheSuwanee]

Hi Folks--I was reading your forum last night and thought I would take a shot at asking questions about Tallahassee. I'm a 40ish single mom returning to grad school in Tallahassee and will be moving there from Colorado in the next couple of months. I'd like to know which part of town is considered "alternative," and if that section is "old town." I"m looking to buy a house soon after arrival, and will be enrolling my girl in the Arts and Sciences Charter School. Ay insight or advice is greatly appreciated.

First off, welcome. You're coming to a pretty wonderful place on the planet. You've already gotten the details on some of the city neighborhoods. Indianhead (or as most local folks say, the "ne-ne's", Meyers Park, Lafayette Park, Park Avenue near Franklin, the area between Miccosukee and Mahan close to the schools are all nice places to live and you'll find good neighbors and good neighborhood associations.

If you want to go a little more alternative, Leon and the surrounding counties are the home to a number of more cooperative/progressive oriented self-developed intentional communites. There's the Wetumka community (did I spell it right?) in Gadsen, the Peckerwood community in Jefferson, the Riverdale community in Wakulla, etc. In Leon there's Sprial Garden, Stargazer, Sunrise, the NWK, a cohousing project that I forget the name of, and of course the Land Co-op that has been the model for so many communities in this area and elsewhere. I'm sure I've left a bunch of them out but for the conservative south, this area is pretty well represented in the intentional community movement.

The residents of the intentional communities tend to be pretty long term and finding a house to buy in one of them is pretty difficult. I hear that there are over 75 names on the waiting list for the Land Co-op and only one house (out of 100 or so) has sold in the last 12 months. Still, considering your interests, it would be worth your while to check out what's currently available.

[DaiDreamer5]

If you are coming here from Colorado, don't get your hopes to high on the hills.

Though to me Tallahassee is quite hilly (I'm from south Florida), but I have heard Tallahassee called "flat" by some people.

[WBgrail]

All good points, and worth checking out. There was a clip on NPR the other morning about such alternative/cooperative ocmmunities throughout the country. An interesting alternative, pardon the pun. I think I'll fly out in a couple of weeks and check the place out, find a place to buy, etc. What are the temperatures like right now? You guys are not on the news for fall-over-backwards heat, yet....

[Glenn]

We haven't had any of the "fall over backwards heat" yet although some of us probably feel that way some days. Right now our daytime temps are in the low to mid 90's. The humidity here is what makes such a huge difference in how hot it feels. Some areas are getting almost daily rain showers and/or thunderstorms every afternoon which is typical for us in July & August but it really helps to cool it off.

When you fly here, check rates for making your connecting flight in Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati or Charlotte rather than only checking rates going through Atlanta. You might save some $$$ & not have near the delays as you might experience going through ATL.

As far as hills go, there are no mountains here but some areas are pretty hilly whereas South Florida is all flat. Tallahassee actually was originally built on top of One of Seven hills in the area so you may have heard or read that Tallahassee is sometimes referred to as the Seven Hills region. The Cody Scarp also runs along Tallahassee's Southern side & the elevation runs upward from there as you go further North.

You will find Tallahassee to be more like South Georgia rather than South Florida. It's definitely a great place to live & raise a family. Everyone here is so friendly & I think you will really enjoy living here!