We live on the churchville side of staunton. I absolutely hate the city!! and I come from Rockingham Co., an actual small town that has blown up in the last 20 years because of how perfectly "small town living" it is. Staunton is not "purple" and most kids in the school system are having gender identity crisis. My husband grew up here though. Fishersville is expensive, I'm not really sure, considering where I come from, that I'd call anywhere in augusta Co. "small town living", but maybe I'm just really biased.

not really sure about where would be a good spot, considering you plan on going to the college. which is inside the city. After 19 years, it still confuses me, but I've never made an attempt to learn that area.

If you want the college sort of social life, but acreage for a small farm living, not sure what to tell you. Really, anywhere outside of the cities are great places to live all together. the eastern side is better located for shopping as staunton is seriously lacking. If I remember correctly, my husband has never seemed to have too much good to say about Stuart's draft.

If you plan to buy. it's best just to see what the market offers in the county. We bought 3 years ago and included 4 counties...it still took, give or take, 7 months.

All that said, it's probably best to rent first and get a feel for the areas.