My Aiken warning
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1/24/2018
I moved to the Aiken area specifically Warrenville. (this review will cover both) I moved to South Carolina to get away from the cold weather and high high property tax and rising violent crime in York PA. I chose SC because it was the complete opposite, warm weather, cheap property tax, lower violence. I chose the Aiken area because the beach areas and Greenville were too expensive for my budget and youtube videos and a short 2 day visit in march all made it seem nice enough. I choose Warrenville because it was cheaper still outside the city and I thought living on a country road would be peaceful and nice. WRONG WRONG WRONG. I do not even know where to start. I guess I will do a good bad kind of thing.
the good: OK trying to be positive as best as I can
its inexpensive to live around there, the houses are cheap and the property tax is extremely low.
A good percent of the people I met were nice and friendly
Odell weeks park and Hopeland gardens are nice to walk around as is downtown Aiken and Graniteville cemetery
Between oct-early march the weather is much better than up north.
its easy to learn your way around.
there are a lot of Horse activities and horse specific areas so if you are rich and own horses this is a really good place to live but in my opinion would still only be good as a second home so if you are rich enough for that have at it
the bad:
The weather is way way way too hot and humid, summer especially is unbelivably unbearable (think heat index close to 120)
trying to get anything done is a major struggle especially in the Warrenville and smaller town areas surrounding Aiken, stores will be closed randomly even though their business hours are clearly stated, like they will close 4 hours early because its slow, if you go to the post office in Warrenville be prepared to wait 10 minutes before anyone even comes out of the back room, or stand in line behind someone talking to the clerk for 20 minutes about patti's operation while they completely ignore the fact there's 4 people waiting to mail something.
DOGS: people in the areas surrounding Aiken have no idea how to take care of dogs, dogs are chained up in yards never played with and are left to bark and annoy you for hours on end (and all hours of the night)with no one coming to tend to them and quiet them up. they frequently break loose (and who can blame them) and end up on your property while you call the dog control officer Mr Miller who is probably the busiest guy in Aiken county, he deserves an award.
NOISE: you would think the country would be quiet but noooo it seems the goal out in those parts is to make as much noise as is humanly possible, you have gun shooting, fireworks going off at all hours, loud booming car stereos, barking dogs, drunk people arguing in the road, non existent mufflers on huge 4x4's everywhere
LITTER: if you love picking up litter up and down your street every 2 days then this is the area for you Aiken city is not that bad because they probably have laws about it but in the country parts they seem to litter as a national pastime, I would normally have to fill a large 33 gallon trash bag every week (I picked up probably 300 feet of roadway)
SRS: there is a huge nuclear waste facility really close nearby which may or may not contribute to poor health of the area. I suggest you look into this separately
Warrenville specific: extremely boring place with nothing at all to do except go to the gas station or church, massive litter, extremely slow to get anything done people, loose annoying dogs, redneck activities.
I do not recommend to anyone
Aiken Specific: Aiken is much better than Warrenville and its other surrounding areas however it is only good for 2 types of people, Rich horse people, and retired people and not just normal retired people but boring retired people who don't want to do anything.
the people in the area: theres 4 types of people I have noticed, rich horse people, older retired people, loud rednecks, and native southern people who are very friendly but their conversations always take a sad or disturbing turn out of the blue.
It is by far the most aggravating while also being the most boring place I have ever lived, I give it one star overall because it would be a good place for a few very specific types of people but for the general public please do yourself a favor and avoid moving there,
Lona | Warrenville, SC