Looking for a community - like new england?

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Lyons and Berthoud look more "New England" than Morrison and the I-70 towns.

Minus the trees, 'greenery', ocean, and architecture, I suppose it sort of is a 'western' version of small towns in N.E...the thing both have in common is aggro drivers...

[GraniteStater]

In terms of northwoods like vegetation and a colder climate I would have to say Gunnison. However, the climate there and town really have little in common with New England. After all it is Colorado.
Colorado depends on winter snowfall for soil moisture, and the warmer months tend to be drier with a decline in soil moisture. New England has precipitation in all seasons and hardly ever has to worry about drought or the threat of forest fires.

[Sters]

Originally Posted by denverian

I never understood why people do this - move to a completely different part of the country, looking for exactly what they left. I worked with several people who moved to Orange County from Massachusetts and most of them were looking for "colonial architecture, quaintness, no palm trees, etc." just like they left in New England. Of course they couldn't reproduce New England in SoCal. If I moved from California to Vermont, I wouldn't be trying to find a Spanish style home with ocean views and palm trees.

I guess I just try to embrace wherever I live, not recreate someplace else.

Let me take a stab at this....have you ever fallen in love with a feature on your car? Maybe you never gave it a thought, but it came in a bundle or maybe you thought it would be fun to try and then when you got it...WOW!...not you can't live without it? Recently, for me, this has been heated seats. Now, when the car lease is up, sure I'll embrace the special features of a new car, but I'm looking for those darned heated seats because they've moved up on my list from "want to have" to "got to have." There would have to be a LOT of special features to offset "sacrificing" something that's made my "Got to have list."

Same thing's true of neighborhoods. Perhaps the OP was born and raised in the New England town neighborhood she describes or maybe, like me, she moved into one (albeit, in New Jersey) as an adult and WOW! Being able to walk to places like the coffee shop, restaurants, schools, parks, libraries, train station, doctors, even a reliable local car mechanic, being able to hop a train to Philly, being able to greet your neighbors walkiing their dogs and pushing strollers or sitting on their front porch being a Friend to Man, being able to walk to the pond with your fishing pole...it's priceless. "Sacrificing" that very special feature means finding a whole lot of OTHER speical features to offeset the balance sheet. Going back to a car-dependent life....it's a big sacrifice, paricularly if you didn't choose to move or if you have a low risk tolerance.

Looking for that same warm and cozy neighorhood feature is hardly, in my mind at least, a rejection of a new place or an attempt to clone it. We, too, were searching for that small town feel near Denver....still searching in fact. Where we live now...our neighborhood was settled in the 1600's and is strongly colonial/victorian in architecture with a top-ranked school distict it is small and close-knit. Could I find something sort of the same near Denver, only with a Western motif? Trade in the gorgeous tress for mouintain views? See..not a duplication, just similar in feeling. So far, the answer is...sadly...no. I really wanted to like Golden, but it wasn't as walkable as I'd hoped for and the souless sprawl of the newer developments bring to mind the Stepford Wives.

The OP may want to check out the Stapleton development that someone here mentioned, it was probably the closest thing I saw that was striving for a small town and was close (in fact, right inside) Denver. Yes, yes, it's new construction, but it is being built in a way that FEELS established. I'ts not a beige, cookie-cutter neighborhood at ALL and did a great job I thought in mixing a town center/shops/condos with single family, parks etc. Finally, a place to walk to for coffee! And it's not Starbucks! What scared me off was the schools. With my eastern bias, I am nervous about urban school systems and driving in through the blight surrounding Stapleton was a concern to me, too. I'm not going to take the chance. But there is highly probably that the surrounding areas will get nicer over time and if so, I can't help but feel that Stapleton will be a great investment.

Good luck in your search and let me know if you find it!

[Rumblebelly]

I totally agree. I don't think the OP is trying to duplicate New England in Colo. They just want access to a small community with a downtown. When I was dating my wife, she lived in a rental close to Old Town in Fort Collins. Let me tell you, it was very cool. Then we moved in together and lived in the burbs, but it was less than two miles from downtown. Still cool but it lacked that "feeling" of being a part of a community. Aesthetically, the neighborhood looked awful to us even though it was a good neighboorhood.

Now we live in a small New England town in an old colonial cottage built before Fort Collins was even a military outpost. It's kinda like living close to downtown Fort Collins (without the college kids and the variety of live music). We are within walking distance of a downtown, there's a creek the size of the Poudre River flowing through the middle of the village, a nice coffee shop, 3 or 4 decent bars, and we feel like we are part of a community again. However, you usually have to commute to a larger community for employment.

What I'm saying is that maybe they should consider trying to live in an older neighborhood in places such as Longmont, Castle Rock, Loveland, or even Fort Collins (more expensive and that would be quite a drive if they work in Denver). Granted, it's not quite the same as living in a small town but it's still a nice way to live.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Sters

Let me take a stab at this....have you ever fallen in love with a feature on your car? Maybe you never gave it a thought, but it came in a bundle or maybe you thought it would be fun to try and then when you got it...WOW!...not you can't live without it? Recently, for me, this has been heated seats. Now, when the car lease is up, sure I'll embrace the special features of a new car, but I'm looking for those darned heated seats because they've moved up on my list from "want to have" to "got to have." There would have to be a LOT of special features to offset "sacrificing" something that's made my "Got to have list."

Same thing's true of neighborhoods. Perhaps the OP was born and raised in the New England town neighborhood she describes or maybe, like me, she moved into one (albeit, in New Jersey) as an adult and WOW! Being able to walk to places like the coffee shop, restaurants, schools, parks, libraries, train station, doctors, even a reliable local car mechanic, being able to hop a train to Philly, being able to greet your neighbors walkiing their dogs and pushing strollers or sitting on their front porch being a Friend to Man, being able to walk to the pond with your fishing pole...it's priceless. "Sacrificing" that very special feature means finding a whole lot of OTHER speical features to offeset the balance sheet. Going back to a car-dependent life....it's a big sacrifice, paricularly if you didn't choose to move or if you have a low risk tolerance.

Looking for that same warm and cozy neighorhood feature is hardly, in my mind at least, a rejection of a new place or an attempt to clone it. We, too, were searching for that small town feel near Denver....still searching in fact. Where we live now...our neighborhood was settled in the 1600's and is strongly colonial/victorian in architecture with a top-ranked school distict it is small and close-knit. Could I find something sort of the same near Denver, only with a Western motif? Trade in the gorgeous tress for mouintain views? See..not a duplication, just similar in feeling. So far, the answer is...sadly...no. I really wanted to like Golden, but it wasn't as walkable as I'd hoped for and the souless sprawl of the newer developments bring to mind the Stepford Wives.

The OP may want to check out the Stapleton development that someone here mentioned, it was probably the closest thing I saw that was striving for a small town and was close (in fact, right inside) Denver. Yes, yes, it's new construction, but it is being built in a way that FEELS established. I'ts not a beige, cookie-cutter neighborhood at ALL and did a great job I thought in mixing a town center/shops/condos with single family, parks etc. Finally, a place to walk to for coffee! And it's not Starbucks! What scared me off was the schools. With my eastern bias, I am nervous about urban school systems and driving in through the blight surrounding Stapleton was a concern to me, too. I'm not going to take the chance. But there is highly probably that the surrounding areas will get nicer over time and if so, I can't help but feel that Stapleton will be a great investment.

Good luck in your search and let me know if you find it!

Understood. The OP didn't really mention exactly what about small New England towns he or she was looking for. If it's a walkable area with friendly neighbors, yes, you could find that within Denver. Even Park Hill might do.

I live in Stapleton and I love the walkability and sense of community. BTW, Stapleton has its own schools and they're top notch. A high school will be built soon (not much need yet as most kids here are grade school age) so I feel comfortable having my kids grow up here and attend DPS schools. Stapleton will only get better as it's built out - and the trees grow!

[SheridanL]

I was thinking Golden or Applewood. They are very close to Denver so, the commute would be easy. I think you could find other places but, you'd be way too far!! That is, if you plan on still working in Denver.

[Katarina Witt]

We haven't heard from the OP for a while. Maybe we scared her off! I hope not.

[newlymoved]

thanks for all of the responses!! i will have to reread a few more times and make note of the suggestions

thank you to everyone who read my post without becoming offended. I know, there's not much worse than a newcomer arriving and complaining about everything - and that was certainly not my intent. I am enjoying colorado so far, and i'm not looking to duplicate where i came from, but there are of course things that i enjoyed about new england and was hoping to find here.

Mostly, the feel of being part of a community, of having a walkable neighborhood where i could feel i would like to belong, and to perhaps have more individual stores as opposed to the chain store types. I'm just trying to find somewhere to belong, and feel connected.

thanks for those who gave some welcoming neighborly advice that i was hoping for