Relocating To Chesapeake

It's come as a bit of a shock. You're fresh from booking your wedding rental, Brantford reception hall, and GTA bridal salon and all of a sudden your company has you transferred to Chesapeake, Virginia! You have no experience with the area and you have no idea what to expect in terms of the character of the city and what you'll be able to do there. Where should you even live? What are the best areas of the city? In a panic, you stumbled upon this article, and it's a good thing, too. It can tell you everything you'll need to know before you move to Chesapeake.

City Character

Chesapeake is one of the seven cities of Hampton Roads, which means it is heavily overrepresented in the areas of shipping, manufacturing, and industry. While you will find some offices and financial institutions, don't expect a setup like you had in Toronto where you could live at 18 Yorkville and work a few blocks away at a huge office. The majority of jobs are blue collar and industrial, which means fewer young urban professionals and more hands-on work. The city also doesn't have much of a cohesive feel, as it was cobbled together out of disparate communities by a political decision.

Parkland

While your Toronto executive recruiting firm may have led you to expect the same well-manicured parks you had near your old place in Toronto, lots of green space doesn't necessarily translate into developed parks. Chesapeake's green spaces are acres upon acres of protected forests and marshland that form part of the Great Dismal Swamp. While the wildlife refuge does offer residents the chance to go hiking, boating, and fishing the parkland is mostly allowed to grow wild and unrestrained, which is not something a lot of people from cities with 'civilized' greenery are used to. Especially not the part where you could run into wild bears.

Connection to History

Virginia was settled by the British, the same as most of Canada was, but that's where the historical similarities end. The Revolutionary War has imbued Americans with a sort of contempt for the more British parts of their history, so you'll find the emphasis is more on Revolutionary War and Civil War history. In fact, some Americans have such a rabid hysteria over Civil War history, especially in Virginia, which was part of the Confederacy that you might feel like you need MRI Shielding to keep from catching the disease of battle reenactments every weekend. However, you'll find that re-enacting old battles can be good, wholesome fun for the whole family, whether you participate or watch.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Like any city, Chesapeake has desirable areas and not so desirable areas. The difference with Chesapeake is that since it used to be a collection of independent boroughs, these neighborhoods are often repeated between the six different areas. Generally speaking, though, the neighborhoods bordering the Great Dismal Swamp protected area have a rural character while Eva Gardens has resorted to action plans to try and save the neighborhood from drugs and crime. Great Bridge has some very nice suburbs close to big box malls and the area around the Greenbriar Country Club can be very desirable.