Considering moving to Maryland from Israel

[seethelight]

Originally Posted by yaya_mama

I grew up in Bethesda, but married here in Israel and have three Israeli kids. We're thinking of moving back to the states to MD to be near my family, but we are looking for something less urban, smaller and less... gentrified... than the DC suburbs I'm familiar with. Something with more of a mid-sized town feel. At the same time, we speak Hebrew and would like to live somewhere somewhat heterogeneous, where we won't stick out like so many sore thumbs. If we could find somewhere with a slight bohemian / counter-cultural vibe, all the better (I spent many years in Berkeley, CA.)

If it helps any, I'm an artist and my husband's a chef. So restaurants are good. I'd love to have a yoga studio around. And while we'd like something on a smaller scale than DC-metro, we'd still love somewhere with a "town," where you can walk around.

Any ideas? TIA.

I would recommend Frederick, MD. I grew up in D.C. and Bethesda but would never live in either place again. I also worked in Netanya, Israel. Frederick is a lovely town that I feel has the vibe we were looking for, and feel very comfortable here. The downtown is great, a lot of restaurants and there are yoga studios, and the stores opening in downtown Frederick seem to be more progressive than the reputation Frederick used to have a long time ago.

We live in Baker Park, which many people, including myself, think is the best part of Frederick. It's less than a mile to the heart of downtown and has a wonderful lake with plentiful ducks, and great walking trails. Some people think it's very expensive, but there are deals to be had, especially if you want to buy a house at a very reasonable price and fix it up, which is what we did.

Of course there are many towns surrounding Frederick that have larger houses with land at reasonable prices, depending what your price range is.

I have found the people of Frederick, by and large to be very friendly, much more so than in D.C. and Bethesda.

[heather3]

I second Frederick County/ Frederick, MD. You are close enough to DC and Baltimore (less than an hours drive to each) yet have an eclectic group of people here that you can connect with. The schools are great, also. Check out: GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community to help you with your school selection!