[KH02]

I agree with 7 wishes she will likely make the same if not less here in CT at least starting out.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

It sounds like to the West of Hartford then?

Oh, absolutely NOT.

In fact, after reading more of your posts, I think the town of Bolton would be perfect for you.

It's a 20-25 minute, uncongested ride into Hartford, a small town with access to all Manchester has for retail etc in 5-10 minutes, rural, historic, rolling hills topography with some active small farms still in the area (With farm stands, on your honor dairy farm shop etc)

You will get a LOT more money in Bolton and East of the river then you will in the Farmington River Valley. I was just trying to keep you close to UCONN law as possible.

http://bolton.govoffice.com

[Slipperman]

"It sounds like to the West of Hartford then?"
not necessarily.. there are beautiful towns south of Hartford off I91 - Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Middletown - all within 15-20 minutes of Hartford. maybe a bit further to W Hartford. also there's less traffic congestion on 91 at rush hour than say I84 or Rt 2. just something else to keep in mind.

[getmeoutofhere]

I'm open.

I know when my wife thinks of her ideal place to live, she pictures a Gilmore Girls kind of town. Small, a bit more rural, that kind of thing.

I've been in the 5th largest metropolitan area for almost 30 years and I am tired of being surrounded by 6.5 million people every day. Of seeing nothing but flat, open land and the hot sun almost every day.

I don't care if the town shuts down at 9:00 at night, that's fine by me.

[Lowerdeck]

If you don't mind the drive, there's east of the river yes. Anything after say Vernon and it drops off to very rural in a hurry. So Bolton, Tolland, Ellington, Willington, Andover, that general area. Still not too far from Manchester and Hartford.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by Lowerdeck

If you don't mind the drive, there's east of the river yes. Anything after say Vernon and it drops off to very rural in a hurry. So Bolton, Tolland, Ellington, Willington, Andover, that general area. Still not too far from Manchester and Hartford.

Also, the commute in from I-84 east of the river is surprisingly good compared to from the rest of the area. My temporary digs when I was up there was on the Manchester/Vernon border and the only traffic I had was very briefly right in downtown Hartford. One of the better friends I made when up there lives in Ellington, it's a very nice town.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

I'm open.

I know when my wife thinks of her ideal place to live, she pictures a Gilmore Girls kind of town. Small, a bit more rural, that kind of thing.

I've been in the 5th largest metropolitan area for almost 30 years and I am tired of being surrounded by 6.5 million people every day. Of seeing nothing but flat, open land and the hot sun almost every day.

I don't care if the town shuts down at 9:00 at night, that's fine by me.

There are many nice smal towns east and west of the river. A lot would depend on where your wife finds a position though. I would not recommend living west of Hartford if her job is east of it or vise versa. Commuting through Hartford is not fun. I think many suggested west of Hartford because that is where UConn Law School is. This might be best temporarily and then consider moving to a better place once you are more established. Jay

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

I'm open.

I know when my wife thinks of her ideal place to live, she pictures a Gilmore Girls kind of town. Small, a bit more rural, that kind of thing.

I've been in the 5th largest metropolitan area for almost 30 years and I am tired of being surrounded by 6.5 million people every day. Of seeing nothing but flat, open land and the hot sun almost every day.

I don't care if the town shuts down at 9:00 at night, that's fine by me.

Then West Hartford would not be your cup-of-tea. It is not a small Gilmore-style town. It is more of a 2nd-tier urban environment. A diverse, convenient place to live but quite crowded with quite a bit of traffic traversing its arteries. It has a great "traditional retail" center with neat shops and restaurants as well as a new up-scale walkable retail area (Blue Back Square) but it is not exactly quaint.

One of the biggest considerations in choosing a place to live in CT usually involves whether or not you have or anticipate having children that will be attending public school.

Simsbury is 20 minutes from West Hartford and has more of that small-town feel with less traffic.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by getmeoutofhere

I'm open.

I know when my wife thinks of her ideal place to live, she pictures a Gilmore Girls kind of town. Small, a bit more rural, that kind of thing.

I've been in the 5th largest metropolitan area for almost 30 years and I am tired of being surrounded by 6.5 million people every day. Of seeing nothing but flat, open land and the hot sun almost every day.

I don't care if the town shuts down at 9:00 at night, that's fine by me.

I hear you, trust me. I spent 7 years of my life in similar Southern cities wishing the same thing. I almost felt claustrophobic at times sitting on a crowded blvd with light after light after light after light...ugh! Then a nice drive out into the "country" was mostly blighted poor trash type environment. It may not be that way outside of Dallas, but where I was that was the deal. I felt like I lived on a congested island.

The areas surrounding Hartford can more be thought of as "English Countryside". We are made up of 169 individual towns, most with their own town hall, white steepled church, town green and in the case of the larger towns and cities, a main street with varied architecture.

You don't hit the "zone" of nowhere. You hop from one quaint town to another all the while going by colonial farm houses, smattered development, rolling hills, meadows etc with hamlets and villages inside of towns at times. This is simply because it's very old and established, and frankly I think New England best resembles the old England vs other "old and established" areas in the U.S. such as Williamsburg etc. I think Eastern PA and Northern DE would be two exceptions IMO and experience.

So that's the best way I can describe it. There is not really a "so it's West of Hartford then because East just sucks" environment. The entire region is the way I described above. From there you split hairs about school systems, taxes, and which town has a certain "feel" over the others.

To give you an idea of how compact this all is:

Dallas to Ft Worth via I30 is 35 miles. Springfield MASS is only 26 miles from Hartford! 35 miles from DT Hartford would take you to Holyoke MA to the North, New Haven CT (On the ocean) to the South, Norwich to the East/Southeast, Litchfield to the West.

In other words, the Dallas/FT Worth "megaplex" just about covers our entire state! It's a very dense, yet "private" feeling area here in CT.

You can literally drive 15 minutes out of Hartford to say Exit 5 off I384 and be on a 1000 foot high ridge, shopping at a family dairy farm store (Pictures) over looking colonial style farm fields.

I get off that very exit almost every day heading back to my workshop. Here is a real time view of the drive from DT Hartford to that exit taken from the driver seat of my work truck during the "height" of rush hour:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/4164166-post17.html

There is a little secret here East of the River and that is Interstate 384. It gets you into Hartford with virtually NO traffic, and connects you to towns like Glastonbury, Bolton, Coventry, Hebron and Eastern Manchester from Downtown Hartford in a breeze.

Hartford is not Dallas, but it does have a lot to offer for a mid sized city.

Here is a picture thread to give you a "feel" of the city and some of the areas outside of it.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/conne...to-thread.html

Oh and another town you may want to consider is Colchester. Great small town with all the necessities there, and about 20 minutes to Hartford via RT2.

[Silli]

The nice thing about the Hartford region is that its city and suburbs, for the most part, are not part of a "soulless metroplex" so it's not necessarily to seek out a small town to find nice community. Lots of UConn law students live in Hartford's West End or West Hartford. If you really want a small town experience, check out Collinsville (part of Canton). If you live there, you will face a 20-30 minute drive each way to campus which I wouldn't want to have to do in the winter, but lots of people aren't bothered by it.