Sooo nervous moving to devens (Boston, Worcester: houses, neighborhoods, movie theater)

[GonnaMissCali]

My husband and i are both military and very young i am currently going to move to Devens where my new job will be. We have been in Southern Cali all of our whole life, i am in the army he is a marine. I am trying to find a place to live that is not far from Devens but close enough to commute daily and have a city feel to it... any suggestions. Right now i drive 30 miles to work every day so i do not think that is far. but i am certain that i do not want to live in a small area. I want to be close to food, movies, and shopping, mainly great food places though.

I am sooooo nervous, but where should i start?? any advice, oh and please do not say dont move here, i really don't have a choice

CiTy GiRl

[ogre]

The city feel is a bit of a tall order, because Devens is located in a somewhat rural area. Your readiness to commute some distance should help. One town sort of close to Devens you might want to take a look at is Maynard. Maynard is a small town with an industrial past, which now has seen some influx of professionals, so that now there is an interesting mix of professionals and a solid blue-collar base. The town has a somewhat gritty appearance, due to having a lot of older housing stock. It is fairly densely populated, and occupies a small land area, so it's possible to walk to downtown from many neighborhoods. This seems to be the reason that Maynard is attracting a certain number of professionals. There have been some new restaurants opening in the last few years and there is a movie theater, so that people are able to have a hint of that walkable city neighborhood feel that many young professionals are seeking today, while still living in a small town.

Make no mistake about it, though. Maynard is a small town. If you need more of a city, well, you're a good distance from Boston, which is the only large city anywhere nearby, but there are some small cities you might want to check out which are a longer distance than Maynard, but still within the limits of your possible commuting range. It is true, though, that you would be looking at a serious commute from any of these places. The cities that come to mind are Waltham, Lowell, and Worcester.

Waltham is a suburb of Boston, in the middle between the really inner suburbs and the low-density, really suburban suburbs. Some neighborhoods of Waltham are fairly urban, while others have a suburban feel. The area around Moody Street and the vicinity of downtown in general is a solid neighborhood of older houses that looks kind of like an outlying urban residential neighborhood. Generally, the areas south and southeast of downtown offer some of this same feel in decent neighborhoods. Waltham is known for having developed a pretty good restaurant scene in recent years, and there is a decent amount of local shopping.

Lowell is an old industrial city with somewhat of a faded feel overall, but it's showing some signs of making a resurgence. I'm not familiar enough with Lowell to recommend specific neighborhoods, but I can say that there are some nice areas and some not-so-nice areas, so a priority with Lowell is to look closely at the area you move to. Though it's a small city, Lowell is definitely like a small CITY, rather than a town.

The same is true of Worcester, which is a bit larger than Lowell. Like Lowell, Worcester has its good and bad areas, so you'd want to check closely on the neighborhood before moving in. Generally, I'd say Worcester has the most city feel of any place I've suggested. Besides being larger overall than Lowell or Waltham, Worcester has a couple of indoor arenas that are concert venues for the extended Boston area concert circuit.

By the way, if you would need the occasional big-city fix in addition to a local small-city feel, Waltham, Lowell, and Worcester are all on commuter rail lines connecting to Boston, and Maynard is next door to a town called Acton with commuter rail service.

Truth be told, you're not going to find a true city experience really close to Devens. The towns I've mentioned here might at least offer somewhat of a local urban feel within your preferred commuting range.

[brightdoglover]

I can't add anything to the previous post- I live maybe 8 miles from Devens and a city feel is hard to come by.
I second the motion about Maynard. There's a good little movie house, a walkable downtown, and some good restaurants.
If you look on a map, you might notice Fitchburg as a city west of Devens. Skip it.
Best wishes, and please try not to fear the move. It's a good place, and local communities are accustomed to military folks.

[DreamworksSKG]

I might suggest the Nashua or Lowell area if indeed you want a city
Nashua NH would be about 10 miles from Devens.. via back roads.
but you could still live in a more city area.-

Lowell is an interesting mill town with shops, museums, etc. I'd suggest living outside Lowell though unless you're used to the city and know how to stay safe, and such. Parts of lowell are slummy but other parts are nice.


You could try parts of Chelmsford or Billerica

if you dont mind a suburban community I'd suggest looking into
Concord...it'd be a reverse commute to devens in the morning on 2 so wouldn't be so bad methinks. and its a beautiful town with a nice center with shops and restaurants. commuter rail into the city and such

If you want the worcester area. I'd say look into Northborough, Westborough, or Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury is a particularly nice community

Hope this helps

[DreamworksSKG]

I should say Devens-Nashua would be more like 20 miles on back roads---a bit longer on the highways with more traffic. I'd suggest back -roads from Devens --Nashua if you choose to live in Nashua area.

[GonnaMissCali]

SO what type of weather expierences will i be facing, i think im going to try living in that city Worcester, so is that city divided into three areas??? another question is will i be against traffic since i will be working in devens and driving from the city.... when most people do the opposite?

[Lowerdeck]

Summers are mild and humid. It does not reach 90 too much, but the humidity is the big issue more than the heat itself. Early fall is pretty pleasant, later fall gets quite rainy. Winter has snow and cold, but it's not as brutal as people make it out to be... except for up in the hills. Down in the valleys or the coastal plain it's not as severe. Spring is the reverse of fall.

Snow is expected any time between about Thanksgiving to early April. But Oct/Nov/Mar/Apr is big nor'easter season, which is more often rain events.

As for traffic, depending on what part of Worcester you're in you should be fine. If you live on the south side of town and come up 290, you'll run into everyone trying to get off in downtown Worcester. If you're on the north side and jump on 190 without being on 290 first, you'll likely be ok.

The big bottleneck in Worcester is on 290, between 190 and 146

[ogre]

Judging by your first post, you're probably making a good choice. While not a giant metropolis, Worcester is the largest ciy anywhere fairly close to Devens. Lowerdeck covered your additional questions about the weather and the commute very well. I don't know enough about the neighborhoods in Worcester to make a recommendation about that. Mostly I just wanted to drop in again to add a word of thanks to you and your husband for your service to our country. Good luck with your move and getting settled in MA.

[GonnaMissCali]

Thanks! hmm so it looks like we will be moving to Lowell. Im waiting for a report of violence and stuff from the police department to see what the area is like so hopefully it turns out good. Id have to admit my biggest fear is moving in blind into the ghetto. And since i move in a few weeks and never even been to Massachusetts in my whole life im nervous as to what we are walking into. I know California like the back of my hand, i know what to wear how to handle weather and where everything is at. Hopefully this city works out.

[brightdoglover]

There isn't really a ghetto/war zone part of Lowell, although the area known as "the Acre" may properly be avoided.
Lowell has a lot going for it.