North shore town for a young family (Boston, Lynn: oceanfront, house)

[JuneM]

Thinking about moving our family with two young kids to the north shore. Would love to hear advice on the following towns for raising kids. Hamilton, Manchester, Ipswich, Beverly and Swampscott. Priorities are public schools, commute to Boston and Burlington, friendly community, and some walkability - doesn’t have to be much- the library, the elementary school and a cafe or restaurant would make us happy. Also we love to be outdoors as a family.
Thank you

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by JuneM

Thinking about moving our family with two young kids to the north shore. Would love to hear advice on the following towns for raising kids. Hamilton, Manchester, Ipswich, Beverly and Swampscott. Priorities are public schools, commute to Boston and Burlington, friendly community, and some walkability - doesn’t have to be much- the library, the elementary school and a cafe or restaurant would make us happy. Also we love to be outdoors as a family.
Thank you

Budget?

Commute down 95/128 to Burlington can be harsh.

Are you dedicated to the north shore because you want to be on the water?

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by JuneM

Thinking about moving our family with two young kids to the north shore. Would love to hear advice on the following towns for raising kids. Hamilton, Manchester, Ipswich, Beverly and Swampscott. Priorities are public schools, commute to Boston and Burlington, friendly community, and some walkability - doesn’t have to be much- the library, the elementary school and a cafe or restaurant would make us happy. Also we love to be outdoors as a family.
Thank you

I'm a bit partial to Beverly ... grew up there, families are still there, just returned from a vacation there.

Walkability varies depending upon what type of neighborhood you prefer. Downtown is very walkable with loads of restaurants. The library is downtown, too. It's a short walk from downtown to Dane Street Beach. Not far to its north is Lynch Park, to its south Quincy Park (which may be called something else these days). All three have beaches and green space with Lynch Park being the biggest of the three with a lot of activities and events. The city has a lot of parks throughout, and those three beaches are not the only ones. There are few nature preserves with trails - two I can think of are Phillips in North Beverly and Sally Milligan in the Cove neighborhood. Within a short drive to neighboring communities you would find a huge amount of places to go - more parks, preserves, beaches.

Beverly is "divided" into areas with each having its own flavor ... along with the above mentioned two there are Ryal Side, Goat Hill, Centerville, Montserrat, Prides Crossing, Beverly Farms and more. I do consider Beverly to be a friendly city.

Commuting is easy with three commuter rail stations and easy access to 128.

Walkability to school would vary depending upon where you lived and to which school your kids would be assigned. Generally I would say walking to school would be a rarity, but not always.

[JuneM]

Budget is 1.6 max but would be nice to spend less. Looking for 4br plus an office. Yes the ocean is the draw. Also love exploring trails together and bird watching. With work from home about two days a week it has become less intimidating to house search further out.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by JuneM

Budget is 1.6 max but would be nice to spend less. Looking for 4br plus an office. Yes the ocean is the draw. Also love exploring trails together and bird watching. With work from home about two days a week it has become less intimidating to house search further out.

I don’t know if you’re from Greater Boston, but if so, you likely know about Newburyport. I wish it was close enough to Burlington, but it’s really not. That commute would be too much for most.

Marblehead, which would be my second choice, is too much of a commute as well. The drive to get to 95/128 is a bear.

I think Beverly is the best play. Hard to beat Beverly’s combination of downtown, oceanfront, and mix of neighborhoods. As a general rule, north and east make up a majority of Beverly’s nicest neighborhoods. It gets a bit more appealing to me the closer you get to Prides Crossing and into Beverly farms. That would give you some walkability, as it has a little stretch with a few coffee shops / restaraunts / grocery store as well as easy access to West Beach. That general area isn’t cheap, but things pop up within your budget for sure.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...5_M43046-85269

[sparklingforest]

I'm in Manchester with a child in the school system and a husband who works in Burlington. The commute isn't horrible if you don't go every day and have flexible hours. With young children it works best if the other parent is WFH or works near home. Pre-pandemic my husband went into Boston once or twice a month. He either took the train from Manchester (3 minute drive) or if it was past rush hour, drove to Wonderland for the T.

Manchester is still a bit of an idyllic small town. Downtown has the Library, Town Hall, Police station, Fire Station, Allen's Pharmacy (which carries everything), Crosby's grocery store, a couple of gas stations, a half a dozen restaurants, a variety store, a few clothing stores, the commuter rail, a park by the harbor with a playground and bandstand, and the Post Office. Plus it's only a 10 minute walk to Singing Beach or if you are a resident you can buy a $35 yearly parking pass and park right next to the beach. You can walk to Downtown from both the Elementary School and the Middle School/ High School. You will see kids walking to the Library afterschool and on half days they walk around the downtown in small groups. Much of the housing is with in walking distance to both downtown and the schools. Groups of kids meet up to ride their bikes to school.

My child has been through both the elementary school and the middle school. We found the administration cooperative and worked with us on issues we had. It's a real benefit being in a small school district that there are no set in stone rules. Your child will not be prevented from taking an advanced class because they did not score high enough on a test or were not recommended by their teacher. The schools take a holistic approach to education and stress emotional development. Of course like all schools now days they are forced to teach for the MCAS but they don't put pressure on the students nor do the parents. Most (but not as many as I would have thought) of the parents have high academic expectations for their children but it's not a pressure cooker environment at all.

With your budget I think Manchester is a great choice as long as you are comfortable with the commute. Your biggest problem will be lack of housing inventory. As small as Manchester is with only 5,000 residents, housing selection is always limited. Rising prices actually promoted more people to put their house on the market but they go quickly. If you decide on Manchester don't expect to find the perfect home.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by mwj119

I don’t know if you’re from Greater Boston, but if so, you likely know about Newburyport. I wish it was close enough to Burlington, but it’s really not. That commute would be too much for most.

Marblehead, which would be my second choice, is too much of a commute as well. The drive to get to 95/128 is a bear.

I think Beverly is the best play. Hard to beat Beverly’s combination of downtown, oceanfront, and mix of neighborhoods. As a general rule, north and east make up a majority of Beverly’s nicest neighborhoods. It gets a bit more appealing to me the closer you get to Prides Crossing and into Beverly farms. That would give you some walkability, as it has a little stretch with a few coffee shops / restaraunts / grocery store as well as easy access to West Beach. That general area isn’t cheap, but things pop up within your budget for sure.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...5_M43046-85269

Agree with just about everything you said :-). Newburyport is great, but it's not a great commute, and especially for jobs that are well around the beltway. Beverly is probably the best compromise in a coastal community offering a decent commute and a good quality of life at home too, and the Beverly Farms/Prides Crossing neighborhoods are really nice and they're close to the water.

[sparklingforest]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Agree with just about everything you said :-). Newburyport is great, but it's not a great commute, and especially for jobs that are well around the beltway. Beverly is probably the best compromise in a coastal community offering a decent commute and a good quality of life at home too, and the Beverly Farms/Prides Crossing neighborhoods are really nice and they're close to the water.

If you going to look at Beverly Farms, you might as well go to Manchester, as it's a mere 2.5 miles north. Beverly Farms has a cute downtown with Library and Commuter Rail but the schools are not close by. Most of the families in the Farms send their children to private schools. I like Beverly but with a budget up to 1.6m, it should be a second choice.

[JuneM]

Thank you everyone. I appreciate all your replies. Yes I love Newburyport but agree it is too far to commute. I’ll plan to spend some time getting to know Beverly and Manchester more. Is there anyone with kids in Beverly public schools who can tell me about their experience?

[gf2020]

Lynnfield doesn't check all your boxes but it has the top school system north of Winchester and easy highway access to everything you could want.