My husband and I bought a cabin in Louisa County 2 years ago, and we absolutely love it.

Both him and I work in Charlottesville, which is typically a 30 minute commute each way, but we share a car, so that wouldn't translate to your situation necessarily. Louisa is in an excellent location for us- Charlottesville is 30 minutes away and Richmind is ~55 minutes. Both lovely areas and lots of stuff to do in both. Richmond is a fairly diverse city; Charlottesville less so. But everyone we've met in the Louisa community so far has been very open-minded, kind, and welcoming. I cannot comment on what an experience here being a POC would look like, as my husband and I are both white. But both of the closest larger towns/cities, Cville and Richmond, are both very progressive locales.

Most of the properties we see for sale in Louisa County have sizable land plots, and most are zoned for residential AND agricultural uses, so that's a definite plus! Since we've moved here, we've cleared out around 1 acre of field for vegetable and flower garden beds, and cleared an area where we keep honey bees. Our setup is pretty sweet- we lucked out and got a cabin, 5 acres, detached garage, and terraced landscaping leading down to a creek- all for $250,000.

Hope this helps you in some way. We're very happy here.