By 1998, Fredericksburg and suburban Stafford officially had gotten swallowed up by the Washington metropolitan area. Sprawl moving south had met sprawl moving north. Musing on Fredericksburg's loss of micro status, I decided to take a look at Morgantown, allegedly the new third-best little city in America. In my own subjective opinion, it's a great little place. Morgantown is largely a self-contained economic community that isn't a bedroom for commuters.
People live and work locally.
Thousands of Fredericksburg-area residents commute 50 miles one way to work at jobs in Washington or Northern Virginia. A lot of green space is stretched out between the two cities. I don't think this area is going to grow much. That's not what people want. People around here like to hunt and fish.