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Hi,
We have two kids (3 and 5) and recently moved from Brooklyn, NY to Guilford in search of good schools, community and accessible nature. We are currently renting and have been very happy with Guilford, but are considering buying a home in Old Lyme. Good schools are very important to us, as is a friendly, progressive community. Commuting is not a consideration right now, my husband and I both work from home. From everything that I have researched online so far the Lyme/Old Lyme schools look very strong, and not too huge, which could also be nice. Attention to music, art, language etc, are also very important to us. Curious how you think it compares to the education and community in Guilford. We feel very lucky to have ended up in Guilford so far. Not sure if we would be making a mistake to leave! Thanks so much.
Old Lyme is a much smaller town and lacks a lot of the amenities you get in Guilford beyond a Big Y Grocery store, a Rite Aid pharmacy, a few strip malls and a few restaurants. Overall, it's a lovely town with a lot of nice, unique homes. There is a pretty good arts and museum scene for such a small town. And, I remember looking at a home several years back in Old Lyme that has a hidden area in the basement where escaped slaves would hide along the Underground Railroad, which I thought was pretty cool.
The schools perform well, but may lack the breadth of the curriculum you'll find in Guilford, Madison or nearby East Lyme - for example, Old Lyme offers 14 AP classes at the high school level, while next door, East Lyme offers 24 and Guilford offers 19. (East Lyme also has a higher AP test pass rate than Old Lyme or Guilford.) While your kids are not high school age yet, you'll get more choices at most levels of school in a larger town: East Lyme starts French & Spanish in Grade 5, while it is Grade 6 in Lyme/Old Lyme, and I believe they also start strings a year or two earlier as well (violin, viola, etc) Guilford also starts Spanish in Grade 5, but not French. Not sure about the music programs.
That said, you can't go wrong with Guilford or Old Lyme.
In terms of politics, I can't really speak to Guilford, but I believe Old Lyme typically elects Republicans to their Town Council, but most CT Republicans tend to be much more moderate than national Republicans.
Both towns will likely give you Oil heat, well water and septic sewage systems. Though, you can get some homes in Guilford that offer public water and/or sewers and they have a few areas with natural gas for heat.
Last edited by NewJeffCT; 03-05-2016 at 06:31 AM..
It should be noted that Old Lyme is immediately adjacent to Old Saybrook which has many of the amenities you'll need. I live in the area in I'm in Old Saybrook several times a week for dry cleaning, shopping, etc. The shoreline area is exceedingly nice. If you follow the Connecticut River upwards towards Essex, Haddam and Lyme it looks and feels like Vermont to me.
Guilford is also really nice and nearer large shopping areas the New Haven transportation hub, etc.
NewJeffCT said it right-- You really can't go wrong!
One thing to keep in mind is that Old Lyme has a lot of summer homes so expect more people there during the warmer months. This can make living there a bit difficult with traffic and crowded stores and restaurants. Guilford is more suburban with few summer homes so the population and crowds do not change a lot in the warmer months. Jay
Thank you so much! This is all very very helpful. Maybe we should look into East Lyme too... Really appreciate your help.
It also depends on what you are looking for in a town - Old Lyme is mostly a white collar town, with a small amount of blue collar and some retirees. East Lyme has more of a mix - a good amount of white collar, but definitely more of a blue collar presence in town and more racial (more Asians and African Americans in town)and economic diversity than Old Lyme. Madison is mostly a white collar town. Guilford is also primarily white collar, but does have more blue collar residents than Madison, but not as much as East Lyme.
Guilford does have a very nice village green/center and Madison has a nice Main Street area with a lot of shops and restaurants and the largest independent bookstore in southern New England in RJ Julia that does get a pretty good amount of celebrity authors there - since you're from NYC, Mariano Rivera did a book signing there not long after he retired, and I remember the Diary of the Wimpy Kid author and Marie Lu there (popular young adult author), and before that, they had Hillary Clinton. The Niantic section of East Lyme has a nice downtown area, too, and is right on the water, which is nice. (That said, the main road leading to Main Street is Flanders Rd and is not the most attractive of streets, with several strip malls scattered about and some not so attractive homes.)
Hi,
We are considering a move with our young family from Brooklyn, NY to southeastern CT. We really like Guilford and Old Lyme. Any thoughts now that I assume you’ve made the move?
Hi,
We are considering a move with our young family from Brooklyn, NY to southeastern CT. We really like Guilford and Old Lyme. Any thoughts now that I assume you’ve made the move?
This is an older thread and they only posted twice, both here. I just sent them a message. Maybe they'll follow up! Lots of CT savvy people here.
This is an older thread and they only posted twice, both here. I just sent them a message. Maybe they'll follow up! Lots of CT savvy people here.
That is correct. The OP has not been back here since their original posts almost two years ago. I agree that BK can still get a lot of good information from others here though. Jay
I think there would be more for the kids to choose from in Guilford -- in the town itself and in additional options a quick drive away in Branford and New Haven. The Guilford community programs are fairly comprehensive. Old Lyme is about half the size in square miles and one third in population.
The budgets seem pretty proportional to population, but you might find additional insights if you look carefully at the numbers.
Guilford would be my choice... but I have lived there before, and not in Old Lyme, which I have only visited.
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