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Good point, for those in the prized affluent CT suburbs who once stood on a balcony over the Sunset Strip and proclaimed themselves a golden god with outstretched arms, the none of the above option is the only option. These are all well beneath their standards.
(he knows what I'm talking about )
That has to be the worst You Tube Channel in history, not just this CT episode. What a mess.
Where is Fairfield, Greenwich, and West Hartford? They're 60K+ pop among CT's largest, bigger than most on the list.
CT's mid tiers (the 50-100K pop range) are Nation Class. I'll put them up against all other state comers. All day every day. There is no doubt about it.
Let's be real here, unless you're going full nerd on CT, no one is going to most on that list. Even if you're nerding CT, you're still not going to Winsted, Meriden, New Britain, Bristol, Norwich, Shelton, Ansonia, Derby, Waterbury, Torrington, and so on.
My picks
100K+ - New Haven
50-100K - Norwalk
going away, no contest both categories
Got it, amateur rankings and just another "listicle". If I'm being real, I'd need very compelling reasons to go to cities like Ansonia, Danbury, or Meriden. I was aware New Haven likely had the most appeal for urban exploration for a city in Connecticut and I intend to dig into that. But I was curious about other larger cities in general and some of the smaller ones in Eastern CT. I've explored touristy towns like Essex, East Haddam, Old Saybrook, & Mystic and they're quite lovely. I know there are several nice towns worth exploring, but I'm looking for more info on the cities and good urban downtowns and neighborhoods Wasn't sure if places like Norwich were worth exploring, it's got some cool legacy architecture. Middletown also piques my interest.
Anyway, my husband is being recruited for a position offered in Groton. This is being met with some resistance on my end as we manage a multi family property here in Vermont and I have some other ties to the area. But we are weighing options out and I'm open minded to change as it's still New England so it wouldn't be a culture shock for me. Southeastern Connecticut is my favorite part of the state since it's not a big commuter area saturated with traffic and it is very scenic. I love the food down there, certainly moreso than in Vermont and sometimes I wish I was closer to the coast. We got time to mull this over but I need to explore the area more to see if it suits us and our pups.
I'm familiar with some of the towns, but I haven't spent a lot of time in the cities other than Hartford, New London, and Waterbury so I was curious on how people state feel about their cities and just getting a feel for what there is to do in the state.
There are many great places to live near Groton. It depends what’s most important to you. Do you need or want good schools? How long of a commute can your husband tolerate? What’s your budget and what do you expect to get for it? What type of community (urban, rural or suburban) do you like? These answers will help us help you to find the best place to settle if he takes the job. Jay
That has to be the worst You Tube Channel in history, not just this CT episode. What a mess.
Where is Fairfield, Greenwich, and West Hartford? They're 60K+ pop among CT's largest, bigger than most on the list.
CT's mid tiers (the 50-100K pop range) are Nation Class. I'll put them up against all other state comers. All day every day. There is no doubt about it.
Let's be real here, unless you're going full nerd on CT, no one is going to most on that list. Even if you're nerding CT, you're still not going to Winsted, Meriden, New Britain, Bristol, Norwich, Shelton, Ansonia, Derby, Waterbury, Torrington, and so on.
My picks
100K+ - New Haven
50-100K - Norwalk
going away, no contest both categories
Agreed. SoNO collection and SoNo, Maritime, + NH is NH period. Pizza, Louis Lunch, IKEA (no Swedish restaurants nearby) Long Wharf tacos galore (although the tacos are quite like anything I'd find here in my hometown). Though haven't been too much of the state. Hartford thrice on school field trips... but never explored, Bristol just cause, Mystic, skipped NL to Groton for the museum. Other than that only Fairfield and NH counties, but based on that yes, NH and NWK (how would that be abbreviated?). And yes, then Stamford, Hartford, Bridgeport.... Waterbury to visit, or no. Stamford is nice... but Bridgeport still at least has a zoo, two museums and whatnot. Yet Stamford has a downtown mall, charming beaches, a trolley I've yet to visit...
architecture wise...
Hartford
New Haven
Bridgeport
Mystic
Waterbury
Norwalk
New Britain
Danbury
Stamford
I'm not really aware of the others, never stepped foot
Edit: He did specifically choose cities. Incorporated cities, legally charted as such by the state. His videos are divided like that... best towns in X state, best downtowns in New England, best villages in NY, best boroughs in PA, not really by population, cause yeah those towns are in the top 10, yet Greenwich borders Stamford (both being NYC burbs), Fairfield borders Bridgeport (a city where the population mostly relocated to that and other towns) and West Hartford (same). The three best suburbs of our major cities have grown so much.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,757 posts, read 23,855,144 times
Reputation: 14671
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayCT
There are many great places to live near Groton. It depends what’s most important to you. Do you need or want good schools? How long of a commute can your husband tolerate? What’s your budget and what do you expect to get for it? What type of community (urban, rural or suburban) do you like? These answers will help us help you to find the best place to settle if he takes the job. Jay
I was going to do a separate thread to cover these bases on personal preferences. This thread topic, though unfortunately with bad youtube video context came from a general curiosity on cities in Connecticut. And as a previous poster pointed out, those municipalities that are actually chartered as cities and not towns. West Hartford is technically a town even though it has a large population and I know that it's considered the bees knees as far as suburbs go. It goes without saying most of Connecticut's cities are undervalued and it shows here in this thread. It is what it is, as it's the rule rather than exception in most states unless you're in a large prosperous metro of 2 million + in population or for small cities normally a tourist destination like Burlington, VT and Portland, ME. I guess New London doesn't fit that criteria.
Since you brought up preferences, it's hard to pinpoint at this time without being more familiar with the area and I will be visiting SE Connecticut in a couple weeks to scout it out. I know I can't replicate what I have here in Vermont so I'll need some new perspective, and then I'd probably start a thread if we want to commit to relocating.
To give you the basics we're DINKs (Dual income no kids). I don't need to be walking distance to a brewery or anywhere eclectic, but we have two dogs that I walk and exercise with often so a neighborhood with sidewalks and parks nearby would be important. Commute can be up to 30 minutes. Home price range $350-$400k. Groton itself seems to cover a lot of ground between urban, suburban, and even a bit of small town and village. Looking at a map it covers a large area and I assume it's a very mixed income kind of place. I guess my preferences are leaning suburban here, which in that part of the state I could handle. I dislike rat racey cookie cutter strip mally suburbs full of traffic and endless traffic lights.
For perspective on where I'm coming from, I'm currently in St. Albans, VT about 30 minutes north of Burlington. It's quite small, chartered as a city of 6K (St. Albans town/city combined about 14k). It's in a rural county, but the town is very walkable (its a railroad town) with a charming downtown and very nice parks, which I like. Burlington and Montreal are close enough to pick up the slack if I'm craving a visit to the city, which I do from time to time. That made me think of this thread topic.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 01-14-2023 at 08:16 PM..
Agreed. SoNO collection and SoNo, Maritime, + NH is NH period. Pizza, Louis Lunch, IKEA (no Swedish restaurants nearby) Long Wharf tacos galore (although the tacos are quite like anything I'd find here in my hometown). Though haven't been too much of the state. Hartford thrice on school field trips... but never explored, Bristol just cause, Mystic, skipped NL to Groton for the museum. Other than that only Fairfield and NH counties, but based on that yes, NH and NWK (how would that be abbreviated?). And yes, then Stamford, Hartford, Bridgeport.... Waterbury to visit, or no. Stamford is nice... but Bridgeport still at least has a zoo, two museums and whatnot. Yet Stamford has a downtown mall, charming beaches, a trolley I've yet to visit...
architecture wise...
Hartford
New Haven
Bridgeport
Mystic
Waterbury
Norwalk
New Britain
Danbury
Stamford
I'm not really aware of the others, never stepped foot
Edit: He did specifically choose cities. Incorporated cities, legally charted as such by the state. His videos are divided like that... best towns in X state, best downtowns in New England, best villages in NY, best boroughs in PA, not really by population, cause yeah those towns are in the top 10, yet Greenwich borders Stamford (both being NYC burbs), Fairfield borders Bridgeport (a city where the population mostly relocated to that and other towns) and West Hartford (same). The three best suburbs of our major cities have grown so much.
If you’re just going by a list of legally chartered then you’re doing the state a disservice. You’re not capturing the full story of what CT is. A good and informed You Tuber would know this.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,757 posts, read 23,855,144 times
Reputation: 14671
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveM85
Stay away from the coast then. That’s CT US1 and 95 along the entire coast. Greenwich to New Haven full time and eastern CT shoreline in summer.
All the best
I'll take this with a grain of salt. I'm not looking for crowded towns/cities in Fairfield and New Haven counties to live in (though I'd visit once in a while). If I lived somewhere like Groton or Stonington, I'm sure as a local I'd find ways around route 1. I know the shore gets lots of tourists in the summer, I can deal with that. I spent several weeks on Cape Cod at my family's residence the past couple years. We timed our drives and meals out accordingly, and knew the back roads to the beaches without having dodge crowds and traffic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveM85
If you’re just going by a list of legally chartered then you’re doing the state a disservice. You’re not capturing the full story of what CT is. A good and informed You Tuber would know this.
Everybody knows Connecticut has some very desirable suburbs, and I'm sure a youtube search on the topic would provide plenty of content. What if somebody wanted to know more about Hartford, Bridgeport, New London or other actual cities for points of interest or explore older urban areas? Oh forget it, just go have lunch in Fairfield or West Hartford instead, the actual nearby cities are disposable and unworthy. That seems to be the narrative I'm getting. To a casual thread dweller not familiar with New England that's interested in urban areas, it says just skip Connecticut and move on to Providence or Boston. I have a genuine curiosity on places like New London and Norwich, but the conversation shifts to Greenwich and Darien instead. Those aren't cities.
Anyway, I'm picking up that small cities like Norwalk and Middletown are pretty attractive and interesting and worthy of having a look around. For larger cities, seems New Haven is the go to for that and probably the best option for food and walking around the downtown core. Is New London declining? Seems hard to get a read on that city.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 01-15-2023 at 05:31 AM..
It declined decades ago and hasn't come back. There's really nothing there of interest. It's a small, impoverished community of 27,000 people with all that comes with that, Ocean Beach is nice, but there are other beaches in the state that are better..
Mostly agree with what you're all saying here, but two comments/questions:
1) Waterbury - does the Timex museum still exists (I'm pretty sure Timex is no longer HQ'd there)
2) Bridgeport - also the underrated Discovery Science Museum. Could be better, but surprised it's not heard of more.
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