Aiken- overall good place to live
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2/22/2006
I was born in Aiken and lived there only until I was 10. I enjoyed Aiken very much as a child. Playing in the woods and making stuff out of clay directly from the earth were two of my favorite activities. My parents retired there a little over two years ago, and are once again enjoying residing there. Aiken has a historical southern charm to it. Aiken is known for its Thoroughbred racing and Polo and is home to the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. It was a vacation getaway for Franklin Roosevelt. It has always been a popular retirement location. It proudly boasts great scenery, golf courses and it's own wildlife/forest preserve- Hitchcock woods, with its great many acres of thick trees. Hitchcock woods also contains a geological rarity referred to as a sand river. Hitchcock Woods is a great place to take kids (they can look for kaolinite deposits which are found in milkshakes, medicines and cosmetics) or just take a romantic hike with your loved one. Another romantic spot is the Hopeland Gardens, full of magnolia trees and ponds swimming with tadpoles. Aiken, unlike many other small southern towns, has changed with the times, and has in fact changed a lot since I left it. It now has a Starbucks and an Applebees and is striving for downtown renovation. Unfortunately, the two downsides to Aiken are that there is not great diversity in either the races or religions found there and that the largest nearby metropolis (where one can usually find great museums, symphonies and culture) Atlanta is over 4 hours away.
Starr | Kalamazoo, MI