Pisgah Forest and Brevard Focus:…read more Largest draw to the area is the White Squirrel Festival and Pisgah National Forest with other festivals scheduled dead in the heat of the summer. Small town Feel: You will know everyone if your kid is in school. Yes, long-timers will make it known that they do not like "outsiders" but only on social media. Most people are friendly. Many family-friendly activities. The library runs events/activities for kids. There are two skate parks, a kids-based ninja park, a community recreation center (mainly for sports), a few dance schools, community sports (kids), art classes, etc., Brevard Music Center, small farmers market on Saturdays, PARI. This is not a college town and really is not geared to this demographic. Town management is trying to improve and grow the area, however, some of the plans are seemingly misguided and are more focused on bringing in money as opposed to focusing on the residents and those needs. While improvements do bring in new residents and taxes, etc. it seems as though the current needs are on the back burner. Downtown Brevard: This is a hilly area so the elderly may have issues with walking around - there are benches. Parking can be difficult. It is small and filled with stores that rely heavily on tourism dollars and would do better to permanently close off the area creating a walkable, paved area and re-routing traffic around this section to increase foot traffic. The emergency department is downtown. It gets very loud with the emergency sirens, motorcycles, truck engines from semis (including logging). Keep this in mind when deciding where to live. Pisgah Forest - Gun use (all kinds) on personal property is legal - as in you think you are in a normal neighborhood and 30 feet away your neighbor can target practice. Other considerations - crowing roosters and whatever you like. Private Roads: Lots of them and if an accident happens on one, you seemingly have no recourse. Apartment and Home Rentals: Even within normal economic times it is very difficult to find a place to rent - average recorded rental rates on the internet are patently wrong, double anything you see. Make sure you do a sex offender search. Apartment Complexes: Broad River Terrace (income restricted), Mountain Glen Apartments (1 bed/1 bath), Morgan Manor (multiple buildings owned by different owners - difficult to locate a management company), Laurel Villages (persons with disabilities and low income), Cedar Hill Apartments (small and located against the hospital), Collwell Drive Commons (next to a busy road, and against a gas station). We used a local real-estate company who took our money, had one property available, and then told us that they had to give the property to the other applicant "because they had applied a long a while ago..." Real Estate: The average home was built somewhere from 1910-1970s. New homes are rare and those that have been built are higher in the hills and exorbitantly expensive. There is an excessive amount of Airbnb and Vrbos in the area, to the detriment of residents. When purchasing land "the steeper, the cheaper." Can you afford to pump water uphill? Mobile/manufactured homes are not unusual. Super Fund site: Former Ecusta Paper Mill site close to forest. Developers are trying to build homes and businesses on the outer edge... Summers: Large increase in tourism and camp kids whose peak entertainment is being loud inside Walmart and Ingles Road Quality: The state will not pave the main highway through town (the most used road in the area); therefore cracks, faded lines, potholes, especially in front of the Food Lion plaza. However, millions were spent an unnecessary round about. There is a deathtrap intersection coming off of S Broad Street, S Caldwell St, and 64. Schools: Pisgah Forest (title one), Brevard Elementary, Brevard Middle School and Brevard High School, Davidson River School (troubled students), Mountain Sun School (private with outdoor learning aspect), numerous private religious schools, Brevard College, Transylvania Community College. Can choose where your child attends school in NC, so you are not stuck to a district. Daycare: Pisgah Collective (expensive outdoor daycare that is affected by weather for closures), Nanna's and Mommy's, etc. Flooding: Is a prevalent issue in this rainforest-type area. Pools: Two public in Franklin Park and Rosman. Community Garden: In a neighborhood near Caldwell - homeless encampment is also there. Water: Is highly chlorinated. Library - Well stocked, neat and clean, semi-annual books sale event, bookstore upstairs. Check out of puzzles and activities available. Grocery stores: Grocers Outlet (scratch-n-dent/discontinued food), Food Matters (organics/wellness), Aldi, Ingles (higher prices), Food Lion, Sav-More (part of Ingles, not really cheaper) Restaurants: There are no chain sit-down restaurants here, plenty of fast food. Rosman is more of a lower income area.

Great shop full of beautiful prints. The prices are very affordable, and have original art on…read moreeverything from stickers and shirts to prints for your walls. The staff is very friendly and helpful. I'm so happy that I came across this lovely shop.

From the owner: Your source for beautifully curated original art and gifts, Starfangled Press represents a growing…read morelist of exceptional women artists working with woodcut, etching, screenprint, lithography, and letterpress.

* This review may change as the year progresses…read more What to expect: Supplies list: My husband went to the school and picked one up because nothing was listed on the website...There will eventually be lists posted near the school supplies section at Walmart. Ultimately, we spent $25 on supplies (including paper towels, tissues, baggies, and extras) for one child. Where is the bus stop?: You won't find out until the day/night before school starts! You got me. You won't find out ANYTHING until you physically go to the school in the middle of a workweek from 4 pm (or so) - 6 pm. It is all a mystery, especially for parents new to the school. It's quite underwhelming and frustrating. Never mind the website... You will herd up with the rest of the families waiting to get in the locked front doors. Well, we stayed in our air-conditioned car. I didn't understand the crush of people until we went to the library. You will bring in at least two bags of supplies to take to your child's room. The room numbers and teachers are listed on sheets of papers in the hallways. There are numerous locations of these lists but they could be spread out a bit better and more clearly marked. It's a crush of people all going to the closest list. None of this is well thought out. You will search for your child's bus stop information and it will be in a random room where you will speak to someone who will look up your address. You will go to the library out of sheer curiosity of a caring and interested parent. It is a nicely appointed library with a wilderness theme since your school mascot is a trash panda (I say that with sheer affection). This is when you will witness the disorderly chaos that comes with free school supplies. I think trash pandas may leave things in a better condition than the parents and their children who blow through this area. Once in your child's classroom, you will fill out paperwork and verify the information that you previously provided when you registered your kid for school. Review it! Within a day or two, you will receive all the information you wanted and needed PRIOR to starting school in a folder with a deluge of papers to sign, including contracts to make your kid sign...does no one watch "Judge Judy?" You can't make a contract with a child. Thanks for the extra paper and overload of excessive information. If my child gets in trouble do you pull out this null and void contract and shake it in their face? Can we stop pretending? PTA: Calling it this would be easy so let's call it ROPE instead... Sketchy things: The USDA has "partnered" with whomever in the district (assume the superintendent) to "offer" ice cream EVERY stinkin' Friday to your child for a mere $0.60 a week for the year. You can prepay or pay as you go. The dairy industry working on the "Get 'em early" agenda and dumping their overproduction. When my child went for their check-up (that you must pay for before entering the school system), the same one they will be getting later in the year for free, "hearing, sight, BMI," the physician told us that they offer blood screenings because many of the children in the area are obese. Good one on the weekly artery-clogging dairy and sugar soft-serve. The lunch menu is pretty much pizza and meat your kid doesn't want to eat. And if your kid doesn't want fruit they have access to fruit juice (e.g. sugar water) instead...There is just as much sugar in fruit juices as there are in a can of soda! Take a look while you are at the store. While you can opt-out of letting your child participate in the ice cream "program", we all know what it is to be a child that feels left out. Nice manipulation. This is repugnant. Ice cream should NOT be offered at the end of every Friday. Period. * Researched and the ice cream program and it is used to prop up the lunch program due to perceived low use...The government contracts with the agricultural complex (while also providing subsidies to them) and dumps dairy and meat on the school systems but does not do the same for fruit and vegetables. "This has nothing to do with the health of the children and all to do with the financial health of big agri. industries." - Dr. Neal Barnard.

Horrible teachers, Horrible school. My granddaughter is miserable at this school. She did have a…read moregood teacher last year but it's been one of the few. Teachers are bullies and have no compassion.