Anyone live in/visited Wilmington, NC? Have a job offer there & would like to know what I'm getting into since I may not have time to really explore the city before accepting/declining.
I've visited.
The university is known for partying, although I've never been. The downtown is really interesting - cool ancient colonial houses slowly being gentrified by rich white people whose great-great-grandfathers probably owned the block once.
Outside of the historical area, its dirty and downtrodden. Probably has a high crime rate, although I haven't lived there long enough to notice. Outside of Wilmington are lots of beach towns - nice neighborhoods, but probably expensive.
Feels kind of like the grime of NY with the colonial background of DC.
It's a nice town from my experience. some shit parts, but that's more or less anywhere. traffic can suck, too. it's basically any mid-sized city with suburban hellscapes and whatnot.
I live hear. What kind of work?
>>1051437
I lived in the area most of my life. Moved away in June.
>>1051437
Where are you moving from?
>>1051467
Easy then, Wilmington is smaller Jacksonville, with arguably worse traffic.
>>1051468
The traffic is the worst I have ever experienced.
>>1051468
>>1051473
Yeah, I keep hearing about the traffic. That's kind of a bummer (I guess since it doesn't have proper freeways running through it?). Traffic here Jax, while a giant city, really isn't bad at all. It's just the city is super spread out. How's cycling around there? Maybe it'll help with traffic if I could just bike to some places.
I don't mind that Wilmington is smaller though. Seems like it has some big city amenities.
Wilmington is an awesome place. There's a pretty laid back beachy atmosphere while the downtown scene can get pretty wild. In fact, it's easy to take things too far in Wilmington. The city culture here is very enabling. Cannabis is rampant and harder drugs are not hard to find. Coke and Herion specifically.
Also, there's some serious hood surrounding the central hub of downtown. In fact, I would not recommend living downtown. You'd be better off living somewhere around the campus or near Wrightsville.
Other than that, the place is really great. There are numerous events throughout the year.
For example, the annual Cucalorus film fest just ended last weekend. It's sort of a wannabe South by Southwest but at a drastically smaller scale.
There's a ton of family activities too, if that's what you're into. Multiple parks throughout the city are connected by a "cross city trail" which leads all the way to Wrightsville beach. During Uni I would bike to the beach every other day.
Let me know if you want to know any more specifics. I've lived here about 6 years.
>>1051477
Michael Strahan's ex wife and kids live in Wilmington, and these are people that lived in NY forever. Wilmington is one of the transplant hot spots for NC, behind the Triangle and Charlotte, but for Wilmington's case, a large portion of that is retirees moving to Brunswick County south of the city.
>>1051473
I been to SoCal, and live in the DC area, so I've experienced worse.
>>1051477
Wilmington itself, at least the areas you'd frequent regularly, are pretty compact, but the traffic makes short distances longer than they have any right to be. Traffic is more frustrating than time consuming, over all. Biking would not be beneficial over driving, it's just that it's all stop and go. 140 and 40 can help you avoid traffic, depending on where you are and where you are trying to get to.
>>1051479
I forgot to mention the traffic.
The traffic is terribad.
It's best to stay off the main roads as they are almost always packed as hell. Also, there are a ton of accidents. In fact, Wilmington has the highest collision rate in NC. I think it's because we get so many tourists. Everyone drives differently.
Anyway, learn the back roads and you'll be fine. Also, cycling is pretty big in Wilmy as well as many other fitness activities.
>>1051479
>>1051481
Thanks. Great info. How are people's overall attitudes? Jax is pretty laid back, which I dig, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Which is the opposite of where we moved from (DC). DC is a great city (if you're loaded), but being from the south originally I wanted to smack people on a daily basis it seemed.
So the influx of northerners to Wilmington has me a bit worried (no offense to anyone). Plus the tourists.
I live here in Wilmington! The other guy was right about downtown. It can get kinda rowdy and dangerous at night because of the surrounding ghettos but overall it's not that bad. Better off living near the beach or if you have the money maybe the Forest Hills neighborhood area or around the hospital. They are relatively central areas. There is also Mayfaire which is like a relatively new shopping area that is pretty clean and near the beach. Realize that this is a drinking city/town and most people do it I dont know why it's so popular here and glamorized compared to other places. We are always expanding and have local events happening a lot like the cucalorus film festival that the other guy mentioned.
>>1051486
Relaxed, like any beach town. That's one complaint of said northerner transplants. A lot of these retirees and transplants are half-backs as well. These are people who moved to Florida, felt it was too far from the BE and came to Carolina. Like I said before, a smaller Jacksonville.
Here is an excellent relocation forum. I used to post there all the time giving advice on NC before I moved from the area. http://www.city-data.com/forum/coastal-north-carolina/
>>1051495
>Realize that this is a drinking city/town and most people do it I dont know why it's so popular here and glamorized compared to other places. We are always expanding and have local events happening a lot like the cucalorus film festival that the other guy mentioned.
Learn the history of boot legging in NC, especially coastal NC and it will become more clear. Coupled with the general laid back coastal living and it's what you get.
