I don’t hear much about Lexington, VA, but it looks like it would be a nice area… It has the Lexington Horse Park, mountains, grass, four seasons but a milder winter than New England, and seems to have some affordable (compared to the Northeast) farms. Any thoughts? Would need good trainers but not necessarily big name trainers, good farriers, good vets, prefer to be near a university for culture and for student labor, etc.
Winters may be milder and shorter than in the NE, but they’re not mild - lots of cold wind off the mountains and more snow/ice than you might expect. Lex is about 90 min from VA Tech so great vet resources nearby-ish. William and Mary and VA Military Institute are in Lexington so it’s a college town but not on the scale of Charlottesville or Blacksburg, though W&M and VMI aren’t known for equestrian communities like Sweet Briar or VA Tech, for example. It’s a rural-feeling area and plenty of horses around. You’ll get used to hauling up and down hills in that area and up and down I-81! Lots of NoVa folks travel down to the eq center for rated shows. As long as you have a good sense of your job opportunities, sounds like you might enjoy the area!
1 Like
Washington & Lee University, not William & Mary. 
I went to college at the aforementioned Sweet Briar and spent many weekends making the gnarly trek across 60 to go to parties and events at the Lexington colleges. While my experience is dated, I always found it to be a good area for horses and riding. There are definitely worse places to end up!!!
4 Likes
I agree. Funny, I went to Hollins - south of Lexington, near Roanoke. I also spent (too much) time up in Lexington going to parties and events. Lexington had a lot of horse people before the big horse park was built (several years after I graduated). Hunter/Jumper and Fox Hunting primarily. Beautiful area.
OP, you probably don’t hear about it as much as it remains fairly small and rural compared to Norfolk, Richmond, Charlottesville, Roanoke, etc. The only drawbacks I can see are close access to a large airport if one travels for business/pleasure and large/major (human) hospital. But Roanoke is barley an hour away one direction and a little over an hour to Charlottesville in the other direction.
I also agree that winters are shorter in Lexington, but not necessarily milder than the NE (having also lived in CT). You’ll have no lack of students in Lexington with W&L and VMI there. W&L still has a riding team I believe, but their program isn’t as large as Hollins or Sweet Briar. Anyway, it’s a lovely area with lots of horsey resources.
Washington and Lee is a great college. But heart-stoppingly expensive! Lexington is a lovely area and does have a college town feel thanks to Hollins. The horse center is very nice and attracts big name events (Joe Fargis took a bad fall there a few years ago) It’s rural, but an easy enough drive to places like Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.
Hollins is in Roanoke.
VMI and W&L are in Lexington.
Well altho I told you to avoid nw Georgia on your other thread I feel I need to speak to va where I matriculated way back in the dark ages when Mary Baldwin was an all women’s college and Uva and w&l and vmi were all male as was vpi
Buy as close to c’ville as you can afford. I dated over at uva and have always said if I won the lotto I’d Buy a farm like Lewisfield Arabians was back then
Or go visit Athens ga or Fulton county just north of Atlanta
Do not buy in too rural area
1 Like
And remember that all of us who went to women’s colleges in VA with our heated sidewalks and maintenance staff who brushed all the snow off our sports cars each morning are a little biased
my PE courses were riding back then at Weyers cave at Theodora spitzer’s riding academy which bridgewater bought
I would buy in that area in a hearbeat. The VA Horse Center is one of the best facilities around. You are also close to LOTS of shows and events. Charlottesville is about an hour and 15 minutes away, Richmond is an hour and 30 minutes and you can go up 81 to the west side of all the No VA shows and down 81 towards Aiken. If you want to event or do hunters or jumpers, you are in a great spot.
C &C, What??? 
I went to a revered women’s college, and sidewalks were not heated and no one brushed snow or chipped ice off our cars… Maybe that’s why I’m no longer die-hard about staying in the northeast?
What are the hazards of “too rural” an area? I mean, I’m sure I can think of some (mostly the culture shock and difficulty getting a vet and farrier out to a small farm), but, what are you thinking of?
Here is today’s property that breaks my heart (because it is very “me” but we won’t be moving for another 5 years or so), though it’s more expensive than I had in mind… Still, in any decent area of Massachusetts, this place would be at least $3 million.
https://virginiaestates.com/properties/73880-2767-PLANK-RD-NATURAL-BRIDGE-Virginia-24578/
Or this one:
https://virginiaestates.com/properties/2391-3097-S-LEE-HIGHWAY-GLASGOW-Virginia-24555/
Or this one:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/993-Saddlebrook-Rd-Lexington-VA-24450/108040493_zpid/
And there were others, too! I want an older, fine or once-fine-and-could-be-again home, with enough property to generously accommodate 5-10 aged unicorns.
Alright, this Internet window shopping is tortuous. I am going to go drive 30 minutes to see fella and shovel his poop in the below-freezing cold dark night, and get over myself.
Unless the area’s built up, Roanoke’s the nearest “big city.” Shopping in Lex isn’t terrible, but things like hospitals…we called the local “Stonehenge Jackson.” They basically had to transport if you had anything more serious than a broken leg. Depends on your tolerance for being out in the boonies. I loved it, but I loved it more once I got a car senior year! (W&L Class of '00 so I actually lived in town, and I rode IHSA and volunteered at a therapeutic program, too.)
For horse stuff, omg, it’s gorgeous around there. Lots of great horse properties. The one thing weather-wise: no, it’s not as bad as the northeast or the midwest, but not unrelatedly the road clearing when it does get bad isn’t always fast out in the county, and the mountain roads, especially west of town, can be nasty even if it’s just icy.
1 Like
Not pretending to be an expert on Lexington (despite now commenting on this thread 3 times!). But with my college experience in the area, plus the facts that my in-laws are from truly “too rural” VA, I wanted to offer some risks to consider:
-Medical care (as mentioned by @danceronice ) Lexington has a hospital, but a lot of hospitals in rural areas everywhere are becoming glorified ERs. You don’t get the best and brightest offering of doctors and medicine is becoming so specialized. You’re going to find yourself driving to major medical hubs for any serious care.
-Also mentioned by dancer, the VA mountains get a fair amount of snow that is not handled well. It’s not a lot of snow by northeast standards, but enough to be cumbersome, especially on those mountain roads. They have that southern way about them of being completely unable to deal with it.
-Sluggish real estate market. Prices are comparatively low because the demand is low. Great if you’re buying, terrible if you need to move. If you make a lot of improvements to your home, don’t expect a big return on investment if you ever sell.
-Jobs-- there aren’t many. It doesn’t sound like you’re asking about jobs, so it may not be a concern to you, but it affects the area’s economy and culture.
-Services in general can be limited. This can include everything from utilities and repairs to things like internet service providers. The mountains don’t help.
-That part of VA is just rural in general. Charlottesville and Roanoke have built up a lot, but they’re still small cities. If they don’t offer what you need, then you have quite a hike to Richmond or DC.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble with farriers and vets in Lex. so long as you don’t purchase too far out in the boonies. Most of my vets and farriers from the other side of the mountain also serviced the Lexington area, and I always had plenty available. I can’t imagine that has changed much.
1 Like
Here is today’s property that breaks my heart (because it is very “me” but we won’t be moving for another 5 years or so), though it’s more expensive than I had in mind… Still, in any decent area of Massachusetts, this place would be at least $3 million.
https://virginiaestates.com/properti…irginia-24578/
Or this one:
https://virginiaestates.com/properti…irginia-24555/
Or this one:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9…08040493_zpid/
first one… is that a pipeline right of way to the right of the property?
second one appears to back up to the interstate highway
third one, appears to have been on the market for over 500 days… to me there is something going on there… my son just bought a place in Pennsylvania that had been on the market a similar length of time, problem was the farm had access only by easement
Our oldest daughter went college in Lynchburg, the road system in western Virginia isn’t the best. The TV series The Waltons seemed to depict the isolation pretty good
1 Like
Honestly as I sit here while 8" of lake-effect snow piles on 8" of blizzard system snow I’m struggling to remember the real down side of that (and I will say I can compare, and people are far less likely to lose their minds over snow in Lex the way they do in DC. Seriously, two inches forecast in NoVa and there’s a riot at Harris Teeter over the last gallon of milk.)
One thing that you will have in Lexington that you do NOT get in some of the other small towns is even compared to the other colleges, W&L is very wealthy and has more cultural offerings like theater, music, and visiting performers than you would expect given the size. Dining is pretty good overall, too, as again they’ve got two colleges to satisfy, especially come Parents’ Weekend. If it’s just occasional entertainment rather than bustling nightlife you want, it’s better than you’d expect given the location and size.
And if you do want to go to DC or somewhere, it’s not difficult. Especially DC, you basically get on the freeway going north and turn right somewhere around Front Royal. There’s also US-50 which IIRC runs through a lot of the much much more expensive horsey country.
What I loved about snow in Staunton was that we’d have a 21 inch blizzard and then a few days later it would be gone and grass would be sprouting. But you need to be near a little culture and therefore western va is not as cool as c’ville and east of c’ville. Health care and culture and grocery stores and restaurants are c’ville and east.
Btw with heated sidewalks they weren’t even wet in snow really. Spoiled us for life in the real world. No crime no locked doors at college. I was shocked a few years ago when the coed was raped and murdered over in c’ville Crime arrived in c’ville. I’d still buy a horse farm there if I won the lotto. Lots to do there and music and all.
For the second one – that is one way to get enough land for horses in our area (I also live in MA and know OP IRL). If the land can’t be subdivided because of the freeway, it’s cheaper. If the land can be divided for anything, it’s going to be expensive.
Two of the places I looked at when I thought I’d have to retire my mare a few years back were right by an interstate. There’s good fencing (heavy duty chain link) between private properties and the freeway, plus each farm had its own perimeter fence. I know of 4 or 5 other barns in my area that are right by an interstate.
Clanter, you have got to come with me when I go house-shopping. Your real-estate savvy will get them to lower the price by 25%. I’ll be keeping in touch……
the third one…it is On the interstate… back a private road/driveway from Saddlebrook Road… look at the overhead photo included in the lsiting then Google the address… the house on the street is not the listing but go south toward the interstate about 850 feet…there is the house for sale…then go another 300 feet that is interstate 64
UVA has a Level 1 Trauma Center. My Bff is a nurse there Roanoke does, too. You’re closer to those ERs from Lexington than I am to Fairfax from my home in Loudoun County. I’m not trying to be contrarian but I honest-to-goodness can’t think of anything you would have to go to Richmond or DC for that you couldn’t get in Charlottesville except an International airport. I live close enough to DC that many neighbors commute there to work. And I haven’t had a reason to go there myself in 5 years! The whole area around Lexington is rapidly becoming gentrified with breweries and wineries an agrotourism. I went to JMU and I’m always shocked at how much more built up the formerly podunk Harrisonburg has become every time I pass through (1-2 x a year) .
1 Like
Go spend a week or so in c’ville and a week or so in north Fulton aka north Atlanta and Athens and do visit the vet school at UGA and compare.
