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Founded: 09/29/2007

For military personnel and their families relocating to Fort Bragg or Hope Mills, the City of Fayetteville serves as their hub for shops, restaurants, services, lodging, health care and entertainment. The area including the bases has a population of just over 300,000, and Fayetteville, which is the county seat for Cumberland County, has around 113,000 residents. Fayetteville is a dynamic city with a thriving retail economy and big-city shopping, dining, and entertainment, with over 1,500 retail shops, 400 restaurants, and a host of bars, clubs, and music venues. Its low unemployment rate and educated workforce make it attractive to new businesses and enable non-military family members to find employment easily. Relocating families are given all necessary assistance to find suitable accommodations quickly. Both Fort Bragg and Hope Mills have a specialist staff available to assist and advise relocating new residents to the area, and local realtors are familiar with the unique needs of military families. Schooling is available on the bases, and many older students enter the excellent Cumberland County School system from 9th Grade upwards. Details of schools and services can be found HERE. Other useful information on local schools and on the extensive home-schooling options available in Cumberland County is found at Discover Lafayetteville, and a list of private, mostly Christian schools also found at Discover Lafayette Webster University campuses in North Carolina offer extensive under-graduate and post-graduate programs exclusively to military personnel and their dependents. College-level liberal arts education is also offered at Shaw University, a Methodist College that is the oldest historically black college in the South, located in Fayetteville. Cumberland County abounds in sporting and recreational opportunities. In Fayetteville the new Crown Coliseum, with seating for 13,500, hosts major musical and sporting events, theater productions and special events. For outdoor recreation there are more than 20 golf courses within an hour's drive of Fayetteville, and numerous wonderful parks and reserves offer opportunities for picnics, hiking, biking, camping, and kayaking. In winter, skiing opportunities are not too far away. The area is famous for its hunting and fishing too.