Fort Stewart

ktbernie414

We are heading to Fort Stewart at the beginning of the year from Fort Bragg. What can you tell me about housing for an E5 (we have 2 boys, at arrival they will be almost 2.5 and 9 months) and the surrounding areas? How are the activities for kids on post? Any information would be great, thanks!

amandajeannine

My sister's husband is stationed at Fort Stewart. The area is nice, but there's not much to do. Savannah is about 45 minutes away or so and there's also a beach town (Tybee Island- if you've seen The Last Song it was filmed there) that is about the same distance. Downtown Savannah is gorgeous and has a lot of stuff to do.

As far as areas to live- she has lived in Richmond Hill (which is the nicer area, but a bit farther from base) and Hinesville. She just purchased a townhouse in Governor's Quarters. Here's a link: https://www.independence-community.com/governors-quarters.html It's a cute little neighborhood right outside one of the gates so it takes her husband about 5 minutes to get on post. They have a pool, playground and volleyball court. I've only seen officer housing on post (GORGEOUS!!) but I haven't seen housing for E-5.

On post has a bunch of playgrounds and they just opened a water park sort of thing on base. I think it's a few dollars to get in or $30 for a pass. Something like that- don't hold me to anything though because I'm not entirely positive on prices. 

Here's a website with everything to do: https://www.stewartmwr.com/index.php/recreation/recreation_facilities/corkan_family_recreation_area/springs_at_cypress_creek_water_park/

My sister's husband is an E-5 and they have a 2.5 year old (boy) and 6 month old (girl) Aside from not having much to do there (the closest Walmart from her is a good 15-20 minutes) she seems to really like it!

Hope that helped!

iluvmytxrgr

Ft Stewart isn't bad.  They have made great improvements over the last few years and are continuing to improve.  There is a lot of new housing on post.  Because there isn't much in Hinesville, I would recomend looking into off post housing.  I recomend areas in Richmond Hill, Pooler and Bloomingdale.  Each of those towns are with in a 20-30 min commute.  You can easily find something with in the BAH rate. 

The Ft Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield MWR has a FB page that lists many upcoming events.  It's a great page to follow to find things to do with your kids.  There are also a ton of things to do with your kids in RH, Pooler and the Savannah area.  There are museums, tons of parks, water parks, festivals all year long, the beach and more. 

If your oldest child will be starting school while you are stationed here, you will want to take that into account, too.  The schools around Ft Stewart aren't great.  RH Elementary and West Chatham are really good schools. Both of them have great programs for children of soldiers, especially durring deployments. 

Let me know if you have any other questions about the area. 

SweetHurricane

We've been here since October and we love the area.

Base housing for enlisted is just okay. It is recently renovated, but the curb appeal leaves much to be desired. I'm no housing expert, but from talking to other wives I believe you would only qualify for a 2 bedroom house. Your LOs have to be either opposite genders, or 4 years (not sure if it's 4 years apart in age or 4 years old) in order to get a 3rd bedroom.

We live in Pooler, which is about 45 minutes away and plan on moving either on base, or closer to the base as soon as our lease it up. If you want to live off base, but away from Hinesville, Pembroke and Ludowici are fairly close (20 mins).

ac5008

We just PCS?d to Stewart at few months ago. Depending on where you?re coming from it may be a huge change for you - we came from Lewis which is a real ?city? post, so being in such a small town has been an adjustment for us!

We chose to purchase a home here (the market for rentals is great, so we plan on renting it out once we PCS somewhere different) in Ludowici. It takes my husband 20 minutes from our door to his company door to get to work - its all back road and then the ?main" road, so he doesnt have to worry much about traffic or anything like that. Its really country in Ludowici, but weve grown to love it because most houses are brand new, and you are able to let your kids play outside and keep your doors unlocked. Its definitely the sort of town that people wave at you as you drive by, and the telephone man will invite you to his church ... weve grown to love that part of it too.

Hinesville isnt terrible, but there isnt a lot to do. You learn to make your own fun, by taking day trips to the beach, or going to the Jesup drive in, or having BBQ?s with friends. Post has lots for kids, there is an indoor playground for the littles (called the treehouse), they have a few pools, a splash park, lazer tag, bowling, ect. I personally would only live on post if it is a money/transport issue (one car, gas prices, ect). My husband is an E-5, I am a SAHM, and we more than make it on our BAH .... but we did have to trade in our big SUV for a small car because gas prices have gone through the roof (though thats happened pretty much everywhere). Post housing doesnt have a great reputation for a lot of the housing areas, and because almost all the options are apartment or row house style you REALLY are on top of your neighbors. 

 Savannah is amazing, and depending where you live its not a hard drive. The beaches are awesome to have, the city is full of history, and you can make a whole day of just walking and seeing the sites. Florida is a close drive, and once summer is over its beautiful 8 months out of the year (we are from GA originally).  

 All in all, this place is definitely different than any post weve been to yet, but there are some really great parts about it as well!   

autumn283428@yahoo.com

I'm so jealous! ) My husband and I just left Ft. Stewart in Feb. and we're not at Ft. Sill(ugh). The area is so beautiful! There isn't much in Hinesville, but Savannah is really close, and it's an awesome place to visit. Also, Tybee Island isn't too far away. It's a really nice beach town. That could be fun when it gets warm enough.

runxc31

We live in Richmond Hill, and we are both at Stewart. We love living out here! We can get away from work and the drama by not living on post. If you do not get the brand new townhouses they built(which take ALL your BAH) the housing is terrible for families!very old, Kids have gotten sick there and everything. Richmond hill is right between savannah and stewart, Hinesville is getting more dangerous every year. Very skecthy for a small town.Unless you live in ludowici, on post, pooler or RH, you still have chances of petty crimes like break ins and such. Stewart has the playgrounds, treehouse, splashpark, and pools for the summer. You can make a day trip to several beaches in the area. Savannah is a wonderful city and you must go downtown sometime to check it out for the day! Jacksonville is also an hour and a half away. If you can afford to live off post, do it! it will be worth it, if you will be here for a couple years! I do not reccomend Pooler only because of the commute! It is about 45min. there are also a lot of soldiers here for this post and it wasn't build big enough, so traffic can get pretty crazy! This place is definitely smaller than bragg, and can take anywhere from 10-30min to get across it. The commisary is also an older one here.