Where is HOME? finally~ (Plymouth, Falmouth: fit in, rental, crime)
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The airport in Manchester, NH, is also very good and parking the car is $10/day. I will never go to Logan again. Manchester is easy to get to from anywhere north/west of Boston as long as you don't go too far past central Mass.
Beachcomber - just wondering how fast you are traveling to make it from the Cape bridges to Southern NH in 50 minutes? Perhaps you mean in a small plane. lol
LOL. Never made that trek in less than 2 hours, on a good day. And I don'tstick to the posted speed limits, either on 128, 95 or 93. Oops! Did I say that out loud?
Beachcomber - just wondering how fast you are traveling to make it from the Cape bridges to Southern NH in 50 minutes? Perhaps you mean in a small plane. lol
Are you talking about this comment?
The closest ski slope (Blue Hills- a bunny hill really but it keeps my kids happy on weekends we can't get out to the Berkshires or southern NH) is 50 minutes from the bridge.
LOL. Never made that trek in less than 2 hours, on a good day. And I don'tstick to the posted speed limits, either on 128, 95 or 93. Oops! Did I say that out loud?
Come on Cathy, don't tell me you are one of those Cape Codders who thinks crossing the bridge is a trip "out of state." LOL.
Blue Hills is in Canton, Massachusetts not Southern NH.
The Quabbin Resevoir is in central Mass, and there are arty expensive towns in the Berkshires- lots of second homes and New Yorkers. Maybe a town next to, say, Lenox, or something?
How about something like Amherst/Northampton area?
What about work?
Still researching! what exactly would one consider the "berkshires"...which towns? Also, would love some info on Amherst/Northampton in regards to it being considered an artistic type town? i have been looking for articles referencing this without luck. What makes it artsy? Also, are there certain areas in particular in the Amhurst/Northampton area that are of interest? Where are the town centers and what do the consist of? are they 2 separate areas? if so how are they different? How far from this area to the coast? Any other selling points on this area? Is proximity to other states a +? Anyone from there that can give me a slice of life description? thanks all...this is all going a long way towards less time in the car for my 2 boys as we zig zag New England in search of a home..!
Lasttimewemove,
Do some research on the Portland, ME area. Specific towns you might like outside of Portland...North Yarmouth/Cumberland or Falmouth (both excellent school systems), Yarmouth, Freeport (home of LL Bean as well as many outlets), Cape Elizabeth (beautiful beaches, lighthouse...) all just minutes from Portland, small city (in comparison to other states, but it is the largest in Maine). You will find a great mix of arts, eco-friendly, etc... And you can find plenty of acreage. Be aware though, that Maine is a highly taxed state. My husband and I both grew up there, and we have lived here in Williamsburg, VA for 6 1/2 years. We both would LOVE to move back to southern Maine and enjoy that simpler life. Oh, and Portland has an international airport. Good Luck!
nene70, thank you. we actually have considered Portland. I think we ruled it out being too far north for the weather we prefer, and its proximity to a larger city. I agree with you, it is lovely. We have friends there that love it, and try to pursued all the time
Still researching! what exactly would one consider the "berkshires"...which towns? Also, would love some info on Amherst/Northampton in regards to it being considered an artistic type town? i have been looking for articles referencing this without luck. What makes it artsy? Also, are there certain areas in particular in the Amhurst/Northampton area that are of interest? Where are the town centers and what do the consist of? are they 2 separate areas? if so how are they different? How far from this area to the coast? Any other selling points on this area? Is proximity to other states a +? Anyone from there that can give me a slice of life description? thanks all...this is all going a long way towards less time in the car for my 2 boys as we zig zag New England in search of a home..!
Thoughts on several places you've discussed:
Re the quoted post, Amherst, Northampton: They are separate towns, about ten-plus miles apart by road. If I'm not mistaken, the official records show both towns having similar populations, but Amherst has quite a lot of rural territory within its official town limits, with a couple of small centers of population separated from the main town by open countryside. Northampton has its population all centered more in one area, with little rural area within the town limits. This means that in practical terms Northampton is the larger town. Northampton serves as more of a commercial center for the local area.
Both are college towns. Amherst is the site of the University of Mass. flagship campus, as well as Amherst College. There is also Hampshire College, which is technically in Amherst but is located in an outlying rural area, several miles south of the main town. With a large university like UMass present in town, Amherst is totally dominated by the presence of college students. Northampton has Smith College, which is a small liberal arts school and the only college in town, but the fact that Noho is the local area's commercial center makes it a draw for many students at the several colleges in the area, so the college presence is felt heavily in Northampton as well as Amherst. However, because of the difference in the effective size of the towns, Noho has more of a sense of having an existence beyond the presence of college students.
Because of the large presence of students in the area, both towns' downtowns are dominated by restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. More bars in Noho lean toward being small clubs, while bars in Amherst are a mix of restaurant/bar crosses (local versions of the same idea as TGIFriday's), a couple of small pubs, a brew-pub, and two or three grungy hole-in-the-wall places. Both towns have a few really basic stores, but Northampton has a greater number and variety of businesses outside of those catering mainly to college students.
Both towns will be artsy in the sense that the colleges in the area will have various events on campus. I'm not sure about the presence of arts interest groups, as I'm not so interested in that scene that I checked it out when I lived in the area, but the local populace does seem like the kind of crowd that would support arts organizations.
The main body of water in the area is the Connecticut River, which is fairly wide and very scenic. There are also a few small ponds scattered around. That area in general has very attractive natural scenery--a wide flat valley surrounded by hills and small mountains.
As for any advantages in being close to other states, I don't see that the Am./No. area stands out in that regard. The airport for the area, Bradley Field, is located across the line in CT, and there are some nice places to visit in CT and up north in VT, with NYC a few hours away, but I don't see any advantage in the fact that these are located in other states. The state closest to MA which offers a particular advantage to MA residents is New Hampshire, which has no general sales tax, but NH is a bit far from Am./No. to travel there for everyday shopping.
Portland, ME: I second this recommendation when it comes to the local attractions there. Your concerns about the weather and the isolation from any larger cities would be the main drawbacks. It depends on how mild you want the weather to be, and how close to a major city you want to be. Close to the coast in southern Maine, the winters may be a bit milder than you might be imagining. Northern Maine, and interior sections of the state in general, can have some major-league winters, but along the southern coast the winters do tend to be a bit milder. There will still be more snowfall than you'll usually find in the Boston area, and the winters in Portland are several weeks longer than those in Boston, but there is usually not a huge difference in temperatures (some difference, but not night and day). As for proximity to a larger city, Portland is about a two-hour drive from Boston. Be aware that some of the other areas you've asked about will be nearly as far (Amherst/No.--about 1-1/2 hours from Boston) or farther (the Berkshires--two hours plus frome either Boston or NYC).
The other possible negative would be the high taxes Nene told you about. The tax situation is a bit tricky, not only because there are variations in the tax burden depending on individual situations, but also because the overall cost of living in Maine is enough below that in most of the Boston metro area that when comparing these two areas you still may come out ahead in Maine even with the high taxes. However, when compared to the national average the cost of living in Maine, especially in the vicinity of Portland, is a bit on the high side.
The Berkshires: The towns would pretty much be the towns in Berkshire County. Some of the larger or better known towns there are Pittsfield (and older blue-collar larger town or small city, rough around the edges but not run down or unsafe), North Adams (sort of like a smaller version of Pittsfield with some hints of potential gentrification), Williamstown (gorgeous college town with a classic quaint New England look, but maybe on the expensive side and has a reputation in the Berkshires for snootiness, which is just what I've heard here and there so take it with a grain of salt), Stockbridge and Lenox (rural, quaint, nice but maybe not a lot going on other than tourism and Tanglewood, the big music festival in Lenox each summer), and Great Barrington (nice small town with more in the way of a basic collection of stores downtown than Lenox and S'bridge, because GB is kind of the commercial center for the southern Berkshires). Lots of other little towns around the area. Basically, mountains and hills and picturesque, but quiet, villages.
If you're still with me in this long post, another suggestion I have is Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth is a somewhat of a smaller version of Portland--coastal (though Portsmouth is not right on the coast but a little way up a nice wide scenic river), kind of colonial looking, bunch of little stores and eateries, clean and safe. I think you mentioned Newburport in your opening post. You'd probably notice some similarities between P'mouth and N'port, though P'mouth is a bit larger.
Aside from Portsmouth itself, some towns in the area you might want to check out, depending on what you want in the immediate vicinity, would be Durham and Newington (college town vibe, with UNH in Durham and Newington right next door, quiet little towns as long as you're not around student housing, located along a wide tidal zone up the river from Portsmouth) and Dover (somewhat larger town with more stores, up and coming and now supposed to be a pretty nice town after going through a past time of being kind of drab).
NH has the advantage of having no general sales or earned income tax. The area is a bit over an hour's drive from Boston in light traffic, though it would take longer during hours of heavy traffic. A couple of towns nearby also have an Amtrak connection to Boston.
Phew. Okay, that's done. Just a few thoughts for you to chew on. Best of luck with your search.
Wow! Ogre, thanks for the mother lode of posts a lot of good info in there, thank you. After careful consideration, and a limited time to search, we have ruled out Berkshires and Amhurst/NA area even though i really would love to see Pelham and others. I managed to eek out an extra day off work, and that will help in the search. So far our tour de force is shaping up as follows. Day 1 Barnstable, focusing on Falmouth, Sandwich. Visit some schools to get a feeling for them. See houses with realtor to get a better idea of what our budget will buy there. Day 2: Scituate, Halifax, Hanson, Pembroke, and Hingham. Day 3: Head to sw CT. Day 4 CT river valley. Day 5: Buzzards bay area, Wareham etc... plus a wedding, bachelor party, showers, brunches etc...crazy. If anyone has suggestions of "places we just HAVE to stop" in any of these towns or on route..please share! Places to eat, things to see, great shops, interesting..anything! thank you! Ohh...parks along these routes so we can stop with the kids to provide a little relief for them. Feels great to have a direction, literally. Thank you everyone for your insight!
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