Spartanburg.... (Columbia, Charleston, Greenville: school districts, university, place to live)

[leoboy]

I am again requesting some comments on this area from residents. Someone must have something to say about this area. Thanks

[Weloveantiques]

I bumped your reques up last time..I am also interested in hearing about this area and Gaffney. Maybe some kind soul from Greenville or Simpsonville will give us some info.

[anonymous]

leoboy, I'll try to help, but I don't know much about Spatanburg. I've only been there a few times.

It seems like a nice town - it's pretty much grown into Greenville, and people refer to it as the "Greenville-Spartanburg area" - which is roughly the same size as the Columbia-Lexington-Irmo area, and the Charleston-N.Charleston-Summerville area. It's not a very 'hip' town, it's not touristy, and there probably isn't very much to do. Wofford College is a popular private school there - sort of the preppy capital of South Carolina. BMW USA is located on I-85 right between Greenville and Spatanburg, they're a big employer of the area.

I think the schools are pretty good. Dorman High has an enormous new campus (aka Dorman University), but Spartanburg High is probably a better school. I've been up to the country club there, and it is very nice. Anyway, that's about all I know a/b Spartanburg. I'm under the impression it would be a clean, not exciting place to live.

[southernnative]

Spartanburg is basically divided into two parts - the East Side and the West Side. The East Side is the old part of town - slower pace and older families. The West Side is where most of the new development is - and also the worst of the traffic.

Dorman, the high school for District 6, which is part of the West Side, is huge. That can be good or bad. The good part is that there are lots of opportunities for things such as AP classes. The bad is that it's easy for an unmotivated student to fall through the cracks.

School districts are very important to housing prices. District 7 (Spartan High, on the East Side) used to be the best, but District 6 (Dorman) caught up several years ago. District 5 (Byrnes High School) has also made great strides toward excellence.

[leoboy]

Thanks for the replies. We are interested in one of the "lake communities". This move will be relative to retirement. Therefor, a slower pace is good!. More info please.... Thanks again.

[southernnative]

Lake Bowen is about 15 miles north of Spartanburg, but is becoming very crowded. There are some nice developments in the Lake Adger area. It's about 30 miles north of Spartanburg. For more information, see the "Pollution in SC" thread of this forum.