Possible move to Hershey area and looking for good neighborhood fits for our family (Reading: homes)

[joyfulgirl13]

My husband has recently gotten a job lead in Hershey which is looking pretty promising. We currently live in Providence, RI and we're not familiar with the PA so, when looking at places to live, we have no idea where to start! We are a small family of 3. My husband is 47, our daughter is 4 and I'm 44. We currently live in a great little family friendly neighborhood just over the line from Providence. We are looking for a location that is family friendly, has good "walkability", has some uniqueness and charm with older, pre-war homes with garages and good sized yards. The area we currently live in has a cute little area with shops and restaurants that we can walk to which is something that we really like. We definitely don't want to live in an area that is "cookie cutter" (in it's homes or people!) and we prefer an area that has unique stores and restaurants rather than chain restaurants. We definitely aren't big on suburbs where there are "cookie cutter" homes, chain restaurants, and malls! It's important that there be a good public school system and/or some good private schools to choose from within a 20-30 minute drive. (We prefer private schools that are co-ed and not Catholic.) And finally, we really appreciate good racial and ethnic diversity. We are caucasian and are raising our daughter Jewish (reform) so it would be important to have a JCC and temples nearby, as well as some racial diversity. My husband is willing to commute up to 45 minutes in any direction. Any thoughts on which neighborhoods would be fitting for us? We'd love any and all input! Thanks so much!

[ki0eh]

Susquehanna Township just north of Harrisburg would be a fit for proximity to the JCC Harrisburg Jewish Community Online and housing styles and 30-45 min normal one way commute time to most of the Hershey employment centers. Compared to New England lot sizes tend to be smaller in this area of PA. Social and political views prevailing in Harrisburg area tend to be more conservative than coastal areas

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Susquehanna Township just north of Harrisburg would be a fit for proximity to the JCC Harrisburg Jewish Community Online and housing styles and 30-45 min normal one way commute time to most of the Hershey employment centers. Compared to New England lot sizes tend to be smaller in this area of PA. Social and political views prevailing in Harrisburg area tend to be more conservative than coastal areas

Since you won't be utilizing the public schools, agreed on Susquehanna Township, which is around 7-10% Jewish. Neighboring Lower Paxton is in the 3-5% range. There are still some Jews (mainly Orthodox) in Uptown (once the hub of Harrisburg's Jewish community) but that's probably not the kind of place you're looking for (although it's the only walkable, prewar area of the three). Other than that, Harrisburg's Jewish presence is extremely spread out. Basically, if you want to be around a lot (relatively speaking) of secular/Reform/"Low" Conservative Jews, you'll have to settle for sprawl.

If you're really brave, you can commute from Wyomissing, a charming, walkable suburb of Reading that's about an hour away from Hershey and has a Jewish population somewhere in the 5-7% range (there's a Reform Temple in town).

[thunderkat59]

Lititz?
I remember Lititz as having a quaint downtown and lot of cool festivals and community things like that.
Within the 45 minute travel time requirement.

I spent a great deal of time in Hershey during the 90's and early 2000's and a few things I remember were how clean the town was and if you are a walker like I am, you spot gnomes everywhere! Really, I think it was a secret town tradition to hide gnome statues in your yard in weird places.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by thunderkat59

Lititz?
I remember Lititz as having a quaint downtown and lot of cool festivals and community things like that.
Within the 45 minute travel time requirement.

I spent a great deal of time in Hershey during the 90's and early 2000's and a few things I remember were how clean the town was and if you are a walker like I am, you spot gnomes everywhere! Really, I think it was a secret town tradition to hide gnome statues in your yard in weird places.

I doubt any more than a fraction of a percent of Lititz residents are Jewish. There's a smattering of Jews in Hersey, but not enough to have much of a perceptible community.