Charleston, WV Reviews

We love our little city - 12/20/2013
Charleston has a lot going on for being a small city. Capitol Street has great restaurants and Taylor Books, and Capitol Market is one of the best year-round farmers markets in any city, large or small.

Appalachian Power Park is a great place to watch baseball and socialize at the same time. The Clay Center is an affordable and fun kids museum, Mountain Stage brings diverse live music to town every month. This is a wonderful and affordable place to live -- and within minutes of great hiking and Read More

A great little city - 12/20/2013
Charleston has a lot going on for being a small city. Capitol Street has great restaurants and Taylor Books, and Capitol Market is one of the best year-round farmers markets in any city, large or small.

Appalachian Power Park is a great place to watch baseball and socialize at the same time. The Clay Center is an affordable and fun kids museum, Mountain Stage brings diverse live music to town every month. This is a wonderful and affordable place to Read More

A great little city - 12/20/2013
Charleston has a lot going on for being a small city. Capitol Street has great restaurants and Taylor Books, and Capitol Market is one of the best year-round farmers markets in any city, large or small.

Appalachian Power Park is a great place to watch baseball and socialize at the same time. The Clay Center is an affordable and fun kids museum, Mountain Stage brings diverse live music to town every month. This is a wonderful and affordable place to Read More

Reconfirming another poster's views - 9/1/2012
Good stuff:
-nice countryside in the outskirts
-quiet and descent homes on the hill if you're a professional
-traffic not too bad, except at rush hour and when there's a wreck on one of the major highways
-nice symphony and concert hall, though they play too many of the overly worn works - Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc.
-Nice restaurants: Tidewater at the mall.
-Nice schools: GWHS

Bad stuff:
-Obesity rate is highest in country (for state). Lots of people sucking in tax dollars (via Medicaid) for diabetes and blood pressure medicine and healthcare, secondary to sedentary lifestyles, lazy and poor diets. The low percentage of fit or thin and attractive women influences those that are to be excessively picky.

-The average and median IQ is probably significantly less than the national average.

-The maturity level of the average uneducated person is around the junior high school level.  Read More

Crime at hospitals in Charleston CAMC Charleston G - 7/30/2010
I have lived many places but think of Charleston, W.Va. as being somewhere between Dueling Banjo country and a shadow state. At both hospitals in Charleston I was the victim of a violent crime as a visitor and patient. The first event occured when visiting my grandmother and we were held at gunpoint by a stranger. He was identified by an out of state federal law enforcement agency. On the second occassion I was attacked during my own medical diagnostic procedure. I believe these people accessed e-mail I sent to an elected official the person who received it found the information to present a lucrative opportunity. I have been asked by a politician here for money in exchange for providing information which was in the parameter of duties of his office, I have had police refuse to permit me to make an appointment with the Chief of Police. The police do not confer with prosecutors to determine if cases merit investigation, the police confer with a law firm. Unfortunately the uniformed Read More

Crime at hospitals in Charleston CAMC Charleston G - 7/30/2010
I have lived many places but think of Charleston, W.Va. as being somewhere between Dueling Banjo country and a shadow state. At both hospitals in Charleston I was the victim of a violent crime as a visitor and patient. The first event occured when visiting my grandmother and we were held at gunpoint by a stranger. He was identified by an out of state federal law enforcement agency. On the second occassion I was attacked during my own medical diagnostic procedure. I believe these people accessed e-mail I sent to an elected official the person who received it found the information to present a lucrative opportunity. I have been asked by a politician here for money in exchange for providing information which was in the parameter of duties of his office, I have had police refuse to permit me to make an appointment with the Chief of Police. The police do not confer with prosecutors to determine if cases merit investigation, the police confer with a law firm. Unfortunately the uniformed Read More

Charleston stinks - 6/17/2009
Charleston smells of chemicals from the numerous factories along the Kanawha River that extends some 25-30 miles from Belle to Nitro of companies like FMC and Union Carbide. The place literally stinks and is a health hazard. There are nice looking old houses in Charleston and Kanawha City, but this is the armpit of West Virginia. The worst smells are around South Charleston and Nitro, and especially at night when the factories are allowed to run at full speed. Ironically, the people there seem to think it is the greatest place on earth. It is one of the most provincial places I've ever been. Wheeling and Weirton in the norther panhandle are also very ugly places with the scars left by the steel factories along the Ohio River. Very sad Read More

Charleston stinks - 6/15/2009
There are many chemical factories in Charleston all along the Kanawha River. There air is pungent with the smell of plastics and chemicals. It is a health disaster waiting to happen to live there. Even a nice area like Kanawha City Read More

I live in Charleston for 6 years - 6/15/2009
Those were about the most hellish 6 years of my life. It is a rough, ugly life there. Charleston is a very polluted city. The air is literally pungent there. It stinks of plastics, chemicals, and has a sulphur-like smell. This City should have a failing grade for health. I would guess the water is just as contaminated as the air. The good thing about Charleston is that it is surrounded by the wild mountains of WV which are beautiful. You don't have to go far out of the city at all to find completely rustic, undeveloped places. I lived about 10 miles southwest of Charleston and enjoyed it. The people are generally down home and friendly, but many are backwards as well, and don't even care about the roads' being full of Read More

bad job market - 8/10/2007
Other then the bad job market , Charleston is a good place to live. There very few young people , because they have all left for work. I am looking to leave also , I will miss the mountains, 4 seasons , and the laid back life that is so accustomed to West Virginians. I tried to make it here after college , it's been 5years since I graduated , and I still make a real low salary. In my profession I can't make 10-20 thousands of dollars more working in towns where the cost of living is comparable to Charleston. So I guess i am going to say bye to the mountains, so I can become middle class instead of working poor. By the way , you will hear West Virginians say that 8-10 dollars an hour jobs are good paying. sad Read More