Long shot: Vent your workday stress on the driving range at St. Charles' White Plains Golf Course.
St. Charles, in Charles County, Md., is a very attractive planned community that has a rather poignant catchphrase: “A Place Whose Time Has Come.” Makes you think of heaven, Atlantis or something from Aldous Huxley. Nah, they’re just talking about the great amenities and location of St. Charles.
On the St. Charles website, it prominently mentions that the city is located just 11 miles from the I-495 Capital Beltway and 22 miles from downtown Washington, D.C. (my measurements placed it a little farther from the capital), so the apartment renter is near the city and a way to get there.
Zoned for 24,730 housing units in five villages, St. Charles has a population of 37,489 (according to the 2006-08 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimate).
A gander at the website also reveals that the potential renter can choose from 14 different communities to live in, from garden-style walk-ups to mid-rise luxury apartments. Let’s see what else the lucky renter gets in St. Charles: miles of wooded hiking and biking trails, an 18-hole golf course, eight community centers replete with tennis courts, swimming pools and playgrounds for the kids. According to the town’s website, there are “myriad” community events, including concerts, outdoor movies and a weekly farmer’s market.
You can shop at the St. Charles Towne Center, which is anchored by Macy’s, JCPenney and Sears, and there are supermarkets nearby as well, including two Safeways, two Food Lions and a Shoppers Food & Pharmacy. There are also quite a few restaurants in the area, from regional bistros like Mexico Restaurant, to national chains like Chili’s and Olive Garden. (If you’re doing further research, bear in mind that, technically, everything here has a Waldorf address.)
[ Related: For the Renter, Waldorf's Appeal is Difficult to Overlook ]
St. Charles also has what the town calls its “Green Initiative,” where efficiency standards for new residential and commercial development have been raised. This also means the city works with existing homeowners, apartment residents and businesses to help them improve their energy efficiency, too.
But there is one thing that sets St. Charles apart from any planned community I’ve seen, and it has to do with America’s pastime. No, not “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol,” as sad as it is that they’d be so considered, and no, I’m not talking about tooling around on the Internet. I mean the erstwhile national pastime of baseball. Yeah, that one. St. Charles has its own professional baseball team, and an aptly named one at that: the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
