Moving to Madison From Massachusetts (Fitchburg, Middleton: car insurance, houses, school district)

[florida_sassy]

I don't know if you ever got your info on Mt. Horeb or not... but I live there. We moved here by choice from Florida and love it. I do have to say this winter has been cold but this is not normal.

What I love about Mt. Horeb is that the kids can still walk to school. The middle school, high school and elementary are all all on the same street and the kids can either walk to school or ride the bus together ... all kids from all schools... it is so neat.

Send me a note if you have not moved yet and are still looking... I am not a Real Estate agent so don't be worried... I am not trying to sell you anything.

Take Care!

[noniwilli]

Hi Florida,

Wow, what a change from FL! I have to say, at least we are moving from the cold, so the climate won't bother us...I a originally from Maine, where the winters were very harsh.

We are still looking, Mt. Horeb is on the list, and will be getting out there the end of March to look at the neighborhoods. It seems that Mt. Horeb would be the best fit in terms of the drive both to Dodgeville and Madison....what about hospitals and doctors? Is shopping accessible? And you like the schools? I have a middle-schooler & 2 elementary children. Yikes, the decisions to make!

Thanks for all of your info!

[drewk2nel]

oregon is its own town, not a bad town. great schools. and the bergamont area is nice, i do masonry work and have worked a few homes in bergamont. i would think the quality of the homes are up to standards, i haven;t heard of to many problems anyways. oregon is good, i see someone else suggested new glarus, which is a great little town...

[rpaulson]

Thanks for posting that this winter has been unusually bad. I was hoping very much that this is not the norm. My husband and I just moved to Madison from Minneapolis and I am horribly depressed (relatively speaking)! We have no friends nor family here, and have NO idea where to move. We are renting in Fitchburg and it just doesn't feel like "home" to me. I don't work and we haven't decided to have kids or not yet... so I'd like to try to find a neighborhood that has a "community" that I can get involved in.

Unfortunately, since we have no friends here yet, I have no one to ask about this. Thanks!

[mawipafl]

In 1997, I moved from a small city in MA to Mount Horeb with our 3rd grader - zero regrets whatsoever. Loved the village - still do - major regret that we had to leave (job transfer). The schools were over the top; shopping wasn't all that far away; adored riding bikes on the bike path from home to the library and to downtown; the camaraderie of the volunteer fire department was something I had never experienced before (and I think the black firetrucks are so, so neat!); we fell in love with the wooden trolls all over the place; the people were very friendly, but admittedly it did take some time to "break into" the small-town clique.

Mount Horeb was a good fit for us also because of location ... 18/151 west to Dodgeville or east to the Beltline; S towards Madison; 78 northward towards the Dells or 14 west towards Spring Green.

aw rubbish -- feeling homesick now for the Troll Capital :-)

[Mysweetdreamsbaby]

If it was me I would choose Mt. Horeb. I have tons of friends who live out there and love it! And it is the shortest drive. It really is a nice little town. We live in Verona and absolutely LOVE it! Not a thing bad to say about this place. Really though the whole Madison area is fantastic-free zoo, lots of family acitivities, great libraries, etc. Oh, Verona schools are supposed to be really good (my oldest is 4 so we haven't done school yet). Good luck!

[noniwilli]

Wow! Thanks for all of the info. Mt. Horeb seems like the place we should check out! Online, it does seem to have an adorable downtown...the trolls are funny! I think the kids would get a kick out of them....I am worried about "fitting in" and making friends, hoping it isn't too hard to do so. One worry is this - I don't want to buy a home near the highway, and they all seem to be near one....or am I wrong? Any info on the neighborhoods would help, as well.

I have heard a lot that this is a bad winter, which makes me feel better - the last time I was out, there were -30 wind chill factors. Yikes! Hoping by next weekend when I come out again there will be less snow ???? and warmer temps!!!!!

[mawipafl]

I wish I had insight to today's neighborhoods in Mount Horeb. I've heard through the grapevine that the cow pasture behind our house (Daniel Pass) is now a new subdivision (although neither google maps nor live.com's maps shows it).

We made friends by getting out and doing things in the community - attending events (Christmas Parade and party at the firehouse, etc), the muster, eating frequently in local restaurants and shopping locally as much as possible (um wonder if World of Variety is still there?), spending time in the parks and at the library, getting involved in school activities.

As for the weather, in "normal" years, I found it not to be much different than MA. Generally, the 'harsher' winter weather swung north of us because the Blue Mountains were a sort of 'barrier'. Be prepared for some spectacular thunder storms though :-)

[noniwilli]

Mawi,
Thanks for the info! When did you move? I agree about the weather being similar to here, although I am on the "South Shore" and it is actually warmer here in general. I will look on google maps for the area that you lived in...there are a few homes for sale, and some lots...not looking to build!

[mawipafl]

noniwilli - we moved from the North Shore (Beverly) in 1997 to Mount Horeb -- drastic and traumatic since we had lived in Beverly forever (grads of BHS) and our families were there (and still are). But it was a fantastic job offer that we had to consider, and truly it was a no-brainer to make the move.

I made two trips out there pre-move: one to househunt and one when we sat at the closing table. Our househunting was concentrated around Verona since that's where the new office was. Choices were slim because inventory was low - back in 1997 the housing market was quite different than today's and it was a seller's market.

On my second trip, to make the actual purchase, I didn't have much to do while my husband was working, so I grabbed a book and planned to sit and read at a sidewalk cafe in downtown Mount Horeb. I never got to crack open the book -- I must have looked like a fish out of water because so many people walking by stopped to say hello and to extend a genuine welcome to the community.

Being from the South Shore, you will find the Madison area winters a bit colder and snowier than what you're used to, but it's seriously not to an extreme (in normal years). Length of seasons is about the same - winter will seem long, summer will seem short. Summer can have its periods of hot-n-humid. What was neat was that it got darker later - I can remember sitting out on our deck at 9 pm and it was still dusk.

As I mentioned before, thunderstorms can be spectacular as the storms roll in from the plains, and that's because the sky is so huge -- the topography is one of the things I miss the most.

Wherever you land, things not to be missed: Henry Villas Zoo (and yes, as a poster said, it's free), Field of Dreams (Dyersville Iowa, not far west of Dodgeville - it's the baseball field from the movie), Peck's Farm Market in Spring Green (great farmers' market and a free petting zoo), House on the Rock in Spring Green, New Glarus (how to visit Switzerland without leaving the USA), Mustard Museum (downtown Mount Horeb), Cave of the Mounds, Little Norway, and if you like to ski, Tyrol Basin is great. The Dane County Farmers Market in downtown Madison is worth it, too.

Further away is Wisconsin Dells, Mall of America (Minneapolis/St Paul), and within a long day's drive you can reach Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Milwaukee has the Circus Parade in August (wow - what a parade!), Green Bay and Stevens Point are great places to visit. Chicago is a couple of hours south.

Sadly we were only there for three short years, but what an impression life in Mount Horeb and the midwest had on us.