Moving to Harrisonburg. What should I know? [View all]

[OnionPatch]

I moved to the northern Virginia DC burbs two years ago for work but am now free to work remotely permanently. I’ve been wanting to get back to a more rural life and I love Virginia, especially since it’s become a blue state so I want to move to the mountains west of here somewhere.

Being a mapper, I’ve checked the election results over the state and there’s a bit of area snaking from Harrisonburg over to Charlottesville that trends more blue than the rest of the mountain area. My daughter, who lives with me, wants to attend JMU so we’ve decided to look into Harrisonburg. We’ve only been through the area a few times so we’d love to know more about it and the areas within driving distance from JMU. Can anyone offer me any advice or any helpful info about the area, including the political atmosphere? I don’t mind a mixed or purple area, but I also don’t want to be totally surrounded by Trumpers and confederate flags and people who ostracize us for being liberal.

I’d love to hear any likes and dislikes anyone has about the area from DUers since we share similar social and political views. I’m a widow and will be retiring soon so will probably want to get involved with local environmental groups etc. that relate to my interests. Thanks in advance for any insight/info!