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Not really. South Shore is more Boston Irish white flight. Murphy, O'Connor, Sullivan. Not Sousa, Costa, Medeiros. That's South Coast, aka "West Portugal", my birthplace and where linguica is the most common pizza topping. Other than right on the coast where it's very affluent, the South Shore is Trump country. West, East, and Bridgewater, Whitman, Hanson, Hanover, Pembroke, Kingston, Plympton, Carver, Middleborough. As opposed to Hingham, Scituate, Duxbury on the coast.
So I agree that it depends on where on the South Shore. The coastal part is mostly affluent professional bedroom towns with a lot of Boston commuters. There are big chunks of the South Shore where you have the same house issues with well, septic, oil delivery. Radon issues are similar.
I lived in Portsmouth for a decade and worked a big chunk of my career in the NH border towns. I'm a bit fuzzy about what "Central New Hampshire" means. Concord and towns bordering or two towns away from Concord?
Thank you for your response! I will be sad to leave Linguicia Pizza behind, but I think I will live
You have us pegged pretty well. What is the culture like in Southern or Central NH opposed to where I am now?
Okay, you guys are correct. (And I almost said in my previous post, "you're not going to find linguica on pizza in most places, and many grocery stores don't carry it!" Ha ha.)
I grew up in Northern New England with parents from Mass. and all my extended family in Mass. - Irish from the North Shore, Portuguese from New Bedford area. Despite in my adult years spending a lot of time in what is apparently "officially" the South Shore (due to location of friends/family of significant others) I realize now that I have incorrectly considered pretty much the whole southern coastal area to be the "South Shore." I am familiar with the term "Irish Riviera" and it's true all the people I know in what I now understand to be truly South Shore are of Irish descent. I was adding in Fall River, New Bedford, etc..
In any case, I will amend my comment to say there will be cultural differences, whether it's lack of Irish prevalence or Portuguese. This was one of the biggest things I noticed when I first moved to NH over 11 years ago, although I'm used to it now. Yes, no linguica at my local Shaw's, and only one form of it at Hannaford. Market Basket still has it in many forms. And you just don't hear the Irish and Portuguese last names anywhere near as much as you do in various areas of Mass. and people seem less connected to their heritage, maybe because there are so many people of English descent. You don't see people walking around all over the place on Ash Wednesday with ash on their foreheads.
I guess that's really just a big difference between many regions of Mass. and most of NH.
Thanks for your response! I will have to get used to no linguicia but I will live. Is there anything else worth mentioning that will be different when the move happens or a bunch of little things perhaps?
This has been discussed a lot. It's really dependent on the town one selects, and one's personal financial situation.
Yep. I lived in Portsmouth NH for a decade. I did the retirement math and bought a summer house in South Dartmouth Ma. Housing prices are less than half Portsmouth and a $10 mill rate. Massachusetts doesn’t tax Social Security income. If I had 4x my net worth, I would have stayed in Portsmouth but I couldn’t have that much of my net worth tied up in my house and the property taxes weren’t affordable when I stopped working. If you want to live on salt water, New Hampshire is expensive. Everything is a trade off. I made the choice that worked best for me.
Thank you for your response! I will be sad to leave Linguicia Pizza behind, but I think I will live
You have us pegged pretty well. What is the culture like in Southern or Central NH opposed to where I am now?
I think that it depends on the zip code where you live now and the zip code where you're moving. It's still New England where everybody knows who Jerry Remy is and Tom Brady is a god. They're both lilly white places. Nobody goes to church beyond weddings and funerals so it's not like moving to the south. It's still Dunkin Donuts rather than Krispy Kreme.
As someone who made the move 7 years ago, I have grown to enjoy the laid-back environment. People are more polite here as well. When I go to Mass, I feel a sense of dread. The traffic, the constant rush, horrible drivers.... I don't miss it.
If you find yourself on well & septic that could be an issue if you are not familiar with it. I find it to be a PITA & have avoided dealing with it even though my place is in central NH. I made sure that I was on city water & sewer.
One thing I like about central NH is how light the off-season traffic is. It's still actually a pleasure to drive up here most of the year. I'm in Boston a lot these days because of work & the driving is brutal
Thank you for the heads up on Well and Septic! I have always had my own septic actually just my fiance would have to get used to that whole thing if we decide to go that route. I am looking forward to a little less traffic as we both work on the outskirts of the city and our commutes are absolutely horrible.
Thank you for the heads up on Well and Septic! I have always had my own septic actually just my fiance would have to get used to that whole thing if we decide to go that route. I am looking forward to a little less traffic as we both work on the outskirts of the city and our commutes are absolutely horrible.
In general, wells & septic work fine, but when they don't work there is nothing much worse that you can face as a homeowner.
My wife grew up in Weymouth MA and her relatives still live in the area - Hanover, Duxbury, Norwell... It is much easier to get around here in NH. Much less crowded - restaurants, movies, etc.
Do you have kids? Here in NH you can send your kids to public school (it does vary from town to town) while most of our relatives and friends in MA send their kids to private schools from 7th or 9th grade onwards. Mountains are nearby. There's a lot to do in the winter nearby.
Depending on where you live, it is about an hour to Boston (if no traffic), so a trip to see the Sox or go to the north end is not that bad.
As someone who made the move 7 years ago, I have grown to enjoy the laid-back environment. People are more polite here as well. When I go to Mass, I feel a sense of dread. The traffic, the constant rush, horrible drivers.... I don't miss it.
Yes to all that. I moved to the NH Seacoast in 2015, from one of those expensive towns 20 miles West of Boston, & it's generally more "laid back" here. People are even friendly, mostly, even to total strangers--it's a notable difference. (outside of some of the doctors & staff at Exeter Hospital, they can be dictatorial, but that's more of a Dr. thing I think). The traffic: once I get maybe 20 miles "South of the Border" on I-95 it is just bizarre, even tho I dealt with it for 30+ years.
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Originally Posted by Brave Stranger
In general, wells & septic work fine, but when they don't work there is nothing much worse that you can face as a homeowner.
Yeah. Town sewer & water for me, thank you. The cost of re-doing or replacing a septic system can be astounding.....
As someone who made the move 7 years ago, I have grown to enjoy the laid-back environment. People are more polite here as well. When I go to Mass, I feel a sense of dread. The traffic, the constant rush, horrible drivers.... I don't miss it.
Our family had a summer place in an old farming area (now a commuter suburb of Boston), not far from Exeter. Later, in retirement, may parents moved to New Castle. I haven't been back since 2012. But my experience back in my boyhood were the same as yours, today. Driving down to the North Shore and then to Boston and out to Southborough, MA were mind-boggling.
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Is there anything else worth mentioning that will be different when the move happens or a bunch of little things perhaps?
