What is Wildwood like?
 

I've heard that it's a place to be avoided.

Hmmm.....kinda...well, you know, not wonderful.
 

I asked Sweetie how he would answer "What is Wildwood like" and he said...kinda crummy.

He also added "Very high unemployment".

Every Visitor Has a Memory ...
 

Of the first time they drove through Wildwood on their way to The Villages.

My thought, "what have I done." If this reflects The Villages, we're out of here. But when we finally turned onto 466, all my concerns melted away.

In retrospect, I believe Wildwood is struggling to improve. In time with the advent of Brownwood, this town/city will dramatically improve and force many old term residents to move on. Hopefully, the crime, drugs, etc. will move also.

An Over Reaction
 

I'm not sure why you'd want to "avoid" it. Like much of the state, it is economically depressed. But I don't think you need to fear it, if that's why you're thinking of avoiding it.

The Sumter County Office Annex is there - where you can get your driver's license and auto registration. There is an attractive looking furniture store there called the Veranda (I've not gone in, but pass it often). There's a Beef O'Brady's there, gas stations, the blinds place lot's of people rave about (Pink house on 301 & 466A). There's a few stores in the strip mall with the county offices. And some small shops on the west side of 301 as well.

It's not a tourist mecca by any stretch, but it is on the way in and out of TV when you take either the turnpike or get off I-75 at exit 329. So getting gas there or picking something up at the store can be convenient as well.

I'll bet that once TV build out is complete and the Brownwood town square is up and running, it'll be a thriving area. Possibly a good place to invest if you can stand the wait.

Unfortunately most from TV only know what they hear 3rd+++
 

hand from others. And the rest only know Wildwood from driving 301 South to get on the turnpike or to 44 to 75 south.

Too many from TV look down their nose at Wildwood just because it is not where they would live...as best they know. To get a real answer you need to ask Wildwood natives.....there is no way to get a truthful/real answer from the transplants from Elsewhere, USA.

Wildwood's stated reputation (without authority) is about as valid as the reputation of TV for being a center for STD and promiscuity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

btk

Well put
 

As with any state in the grand USA there may be some spots to stay away from. I went there for my drivers liscense, I've gone to the Dollar store, O' gradys is a good little resteraunt. We've driven thru there both daylight and at night. Also very early in AM on a recent trip home. I didn't notice people lurking on the side of the road as I have in my old home town on Long Island. Besides after lining in TV just about anyplace looks so so. Just my opinion!!

So, we are crummy, and several
 

other not so nice comments. I have lived in Wildwood since 1979, so not a native, but long enough to raise two now college educated children who both went to Wildwood Schools. My wife and I both worked in WW and are now retired and still enjoy the area. Has it been all wonderful, or course not but from what I read on the web site, your side of the tracks has it share of problems. Wildwood has a proud history, maybe you should get to know us better, if you dare to leave the reservation.

Gee, by some of the comments I am reading about Wildwood sounds a little like the town I was born & raised in. But guess what, it was my hometown. Were there better places to live? I am sure there must have been but better to whose eye? Funny how the world has so many experts in it who can place judgement by looks & impressions.
Recently we had a WONDERFUL dinner at the Cotillion in Wildwood.....loved the dining experience and definetly will be returning.
Buddy's was one of our favorite spots.....still miss it.
Hopefully our Wildwood TOTV members don't take offense. How many times have we all said " we have EVERY walk of life amongst us"? And BTW, I am not implying that in a negative way.

It is appropriately named. My experience with Wildwood only goes back to 1958, however.

We attend The Assembly church in Wildwood, and the people are wonderful! Friendly, loving and caring people who are willing to accept us into their lives without hesitation. We should all aspire to be that wonderful.

Wildwood
 

I have been going to the Wildwood farmer's market on Saturday morning and found it a great source of plants and produce as well as crafts and baked goods. It is fun. The Ace hardware store is very well stocked and employs very friendly and helpful people. The Cotillion is a wonderful restaurant, the
Red Door and Decades shops are unique and the St Vincent thrift shop all are reasons to visit Main Street. There is also a garden shop on the way into Wildwood from 466A that has some things of interest besides the plants. I plan on going to the plaza on the way out of town in the future as I want to see what the Veranda is about and then possibly down to Traditions antique mall, I need to spend more time on the golf courses....

Hey, should we resemble some of the Wildwood remarks?
 

We bought a ranch home (now rented out) with 6 acres on 462 in WW a year ago just before our two in TV. (is that dual citizenship?)

Nice people down yonder. There are some nice developments and seven figure places as well as the lower scale, too, even a few homes obviously built by Villages builders.

TV club bike rides even take us to the 'other side of the tracks' and while it looks like the Appalachia where I attended college, the townies wave and are never rude.
Our real estate agent sold us and friends several $m, and he's a bumpkin from WW and has his offices there.
Many churches going in on 462 and WW will rise with the tide when the new town center materializes, or so we are hoping. 301 will get widened and they are doing some greening, 'scaping, and adding bike lanes.

Leesburg and Summerfield have some highs and lows too, but then so does our native DC, with some boarded up rowhomes in close proximity to the First House, the 'Casa Blanca' at 16th and PA, but that by no means makes our old hometown a place to be avoided. Well, maybe we will discuss THAT part in Political Talk!!
L&L

You forgot to mention Tin Can Pam's discount grocery store!

.

In addition to the Cotillion, lets not forget about Polly's Pantry which is a very nice little Restaurant on the Mail St of Wildwood just before Hwy 44.

Sorry to see some of my fellow Villagers dissing your town.

City of Wildwood
 

Official Web Site
http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/

Wildwood is a part of the "real" Florida. Yes, it is poor. Yes, there is crime. But unlike most of us in our beautiful bubble in TV, many inhabitants of Wildwood have never lived elsewhere.

We love Cotillion and one of the service stations removed our old license plates at no charge (it was corroded on) and put on the new ones. The people I have met there are warm and friendly.

I grew up in a depressed part of Mass - so I see a place where we can help by shopping, eating, attending church, volunteering.

drr47 - thanks for calling us out.

k

Wildwood-->real
The Villages-->fantasy

i agree

All of the pros and cons could pretty much be said about any town or city.

rshofer nails it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I suspect more of our generation have roots in towns and cities much more like Wildwood than TV-bubble....I betcha!!

btk

Yep - and he said exactly what I did with much greater efficiency!

BTK - I agree with you totally - and I did come from a small city much like Wildwood.

I was not very kind and certainly not sensitive.
 

Now I really feel bad. Especially to the folks who grew up in Wildwood. I am very sorry that I said it was kinda crummy.

It is all relative. The Villages is so pretty, and green and trimmed and new and flowered and pristine.....but, BUT there are a lot of old people walking and riding around...You notice that?????

I agree with all the comments on Wildwood depicting it as essentially a "slice of small town Florida life". For those of us who grew up or lived in small towns, there are always a few negatives but we are familiar with a lot of the positives. I'm heartened to see Villagers apologize for the dissing, and their acknowledgement of the nice things about Wildwood. I never knew Wildwood had a farmer's market, for example - worth checking out!

Wildwood
 

When we first visited TV about 10 years ago after some friends moved here, we drove through Wildwood. At that time, the Main street had an arts and crafts store and one or two artist type stores. There were a couple of small restaurants too.

On later visits, the town had declined, but as others have stated, so had their home towns back north.

With more folks moving into this area, and with patience and a better economy, I suspect Wildwood, Oxford and all the small towns around here will have a rebirth.

It's refreshing to see the growing sentiment for tolerance and diversity coming out in this topic. (Which emoticom is best for that?)
I'm reminded of my days at OU in Athens in the 70's.....most of the 17,000, especially us in Fine Arts, were from metropoli and civilizations like NJ, NY, DC, Cleveland, and Cinti.

It was fascinating travelling out into the surrounding 'developing' Appalachia on our bicycles, motorcycles, Corvairs, and VW buses to find subject matter for journalism and photography. Social landscapes were my specialty, and like the areas surrounding TV, Southeastern ohio and West Virginia were paradise.

Many of us were addicted to the abundance of thrift shops, rummage sales, carnivals, and country auctions as well. I collected thousands of old books and records for nickels and dimes.

People would often ask..."y'all from the city?"
We'd answer "Nossir, Athens"

They come back with "that's what I meant"

Just as many of us would like to have a friendly, accepting presence in our surrounds here in TV, we wanted the 'townies' to accept the long hair hippie freaks in the day. Most of us were fine folk and learned more about life outside the classroom than in.

Those that stayed in the campus bubble never knew.

Two of our off spring went to college deep in South Central LA - a great experience for two kids growing up in a rural Md county with little ethnic and social diversity.

Leaving our compound provides us with great therapy and fine shopping.

L&L

Let's

I do not live in TV, at this point, and I do not live in Wildwood. But I could write a dissertation on this general topic, as it applies everywhere.

But for today, no dissertation from me, but I would like to say that I was so glad to see so many positive comments about Wildwood.

And now I would like to add my own.....

When we were in TV in early November, we made sure that we sought out Traditions, a new restaurant located in Wildwood, above a shop that I did not have time to visit, but I will next time. It looks like one of those places where you might find a little treasure.

On the day we went to Wildwood, we were on a mission to find some real Italian food and Traditions had been talked about in a thread here on TOTV, with many good comments.

So anyway, we went to Traditions for lunch. And although the lunch menu was mainly sandwiches and such, there was one wonderful pasta dish and also some delicious mushroom soup. The dinner menu is more extensive and although we wanted to return to try them again, we just ran out of time.

I like restaurants where there is somebody in the kitchen really cooking. And this is one of those restaurants. I hope they do well.

I found the original thread about Traditions and I am linking it here. When I read back through it, I noticed a couple of questions about the upstairs location of the restaurant. I asked them when I was there how they handled that for people who could not climb the stairs. They have some tables located downstairs for that reason.

Anyway, I hope Traditions is doing fine over there in Wildwood. I would call ahead for their hours. It seems like they may be open only at certain times. And my guess is that the dinner menu will still be the one with more choices of the real Italian food. The lunch offering of the real Italian was really good, and next time, we are in TV, we will go there for dinner.

So maybe take a break from the bubble and take a walk on the Wildwood side. And find some wonderful Italian food, and it sounds like lots of other good things, too.

Here's the link to the restaurant stuff:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ad.php?t=23450

Boomer

Great stories. Thanks for sharing!

Good Prices
 

I have my dry cleaning, nails and hair, massages, etc. in Wildwood because I find the prices better than in the Villages.

I think that is great Martha. In fact that is what 'surround' cities/towns need. I would think the rent or lease is much smaller in Wildwood for a new business and if they can capitalize on the 100K people in TV then they might be able to make a go of it.

My husband and I often remark how pretty the surrounding area is and how you can be "in the country" within just a couple miles of TV. We find Wildwood and the other small towns an interesting change from the vista of roofs in TV.

If we ever move our retail business to the area, we would go on the WW side, probably in the 301 corridor.
Because the property can be owned and because there is no overrage (percentage of your gross) that TV gets from the 'on campus' sites, it makes sense for the business people, and for those of us that would pass some of the savings to the customers, it makes sense for shoppers too.

We did purchase a parcel and home in WW and might very well live there when we make the longer-term move, keeping our places in TV too for the 'belonging' and amenities.

These areas have character.

We took a slow guided bike tour last Saturday night sponsored by a Leesburg shop that took us by some wonderful decorations on homes and Venetian Gardens. The guides included the Police and fire personnel and some great local folk full of knowledge.

While the historic district of Leesburg is trying to actively revamp the downtown, we also appreciate the character of neighborhoods in the not-so-upscale areas.

L&L

We bought our home in The Villages three years ago. I am currently teaching 6th Grade Math and Reading in Ohio. I would like to teach in Wildwood after retiring from Ohio Schools instead of The Villages schools.

"Avoid Wildwood", why?

I don't know why
 

one would avoid Wildwood, only that I've heard same from others,. That's why I asked the question. From the comments posted, it sounds like an interesting place that has some businesses that I will patronize.

I do not get the impression from the above posts that Wildwood should be avoided.

Always the voice of reason.:agree:

The Right Kind of People
 

Reading this thread brings back memories of a once favorite poem I had nearly forgotten. It's by Edwin Markham.

The Right Kind of People

Gone is the city, gone the day,
Yet still the story and the meaning stay:
Once where a prophet in the palm shade basked
A traveler chanced at noon to rest his mules.
"What sort of people may they be," he asked,
"In this proud city on the plains o'erspread?"
"Well, friend, what sort of people whence you came?"
"What sort?" the packman scowled; "why, knaves and fools."
"You'll find the people here the same," the wise man said.

Another stranger in the dusk drew near,
And pausing, cried, "What sort of people here
In your bright city where yon towers arise?"
"Well, friend, what sort of people whence you came?"
"What sort?" the pilgrim smiled with lifted head;
"Good, true, and wise."
"You'll find the people here the same,"
The wise man said.

Ahhhh lovely.

And very wise.

Methinks another English Major.

But certainly someone with a kind heart!:)

Wildwood is a great small town. It has lots of things that I use. So funvillagecpl take a hike and try some of them. Cotillion Café has the best lunch around. The Ace Hardware is much better then the one on 466 and easier access then to us folks in the South. The antique mall on main street has some neat stuff. Traditions Café has some decent Italian dinners. The deli by the train tracks on main street has the best sandwiches around. I like Wildwood and will continue to go there. Nice change of pace from the sterile environment around here.