Wilmington, North Carolina. Great place. The mountains are a little further than a few hours, but not much. From Wilmington you can be on the Blue Ridge parkway in about 4-5 hours. But you do have some beautiful beaches and a great community!http://www.cape-fear.nc.us/?campaign=ppc��http://www.ci.wilmington.nc.us/http://www.wilmington.net/
If you want to consider the west coast, you might think about the towns surrounding Monterey Bay, CA. There are many quaint coastal towns (some are touristy, some are not) wedged between the bay and the forested coastal mountains (which are not huge mountains, more like 1200-2000 ). The ocean water is not very warm for swimming, but it is extremely popular with surfers. The beaches are nice in the summer and you can see migrating whales at certain times of the year. The area is about 30 miles to San Jose, which is part of the San Francisco Bay Area region. Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the high Sierra are about 5 hours away.
You want coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island or Connecticut. There are many nice seaside towns that aren t very suburb-ish (though they can be touristy) The Mountains of New England( white mOuntains, Green Mountains, Berkshires, Mount Holyoke Range)are a few hours drive away However, you don t the Cape, the drive is just too long from there to the mountains, or almost anyplace not on the Cape
Try Coastal Maryland or Virginia