wolfeboro sunapee keene-pros/cons (Nashua, Meredith: home, job market, high school)

[ssrhb]

First of all, thank you for the great info from everyone on this forum. We've learned alot already just from poking around on this site.

We're planning a move up there and will be doing our recon mission next week. Like many, we're looking for the magical combo of affordable home lower taxes and good schools. Based solely on research at this point, we've narrowed it down to Wolfeboro, Sunapee, or Keene(outlying areas).

Can anyone give more of a comparison of these areas? We'd like a few acres and love both mountains and water. The big question is the "feel" of the area. We'll only have a week to explore and would appreciate any input. Differences in the people, weather, schools (other than test scores!)...things that can't be found on a website.

Thanks again!

[Brave Stranger]

[quote=ssrhb;5699698]First of all, thank you for the great info from everyone on this forum. We've learned alot already just from poking around on this site.

We're planning a move up there and will be doing our recon mission next week. Like many, we're looking for the magical combo of affordable home lower taxes and good schools. Based solely on research at this point, we've narrowed it down to Wolfeboro, Sunapee, or Keene(outlying areas).

Can anyone give more of a comparison of these areas? We'd like a few acres and love both mountains and water. The big question is the "feel" of the area. We'll only have a week to explore and would appreciate any input. Differences in the people, weather, schools (other than test scores!)...things that can't be found on a website.

Check out Meredith. Very low property taxes, great schools, amazing New England downtown which sits right on the lake. It's close to Wolfeboro.

[dubthang]

Meredith in nice. There are some tiny towns around Sunapee that are nice too.

I'd suggest the Dublin, Harrisville, Peterborough area for being near Keene. There are plenty of ponds and lakes, it's not to far from shopping, and Mt. Monadnock is in your backyard. I used to climb that thing almost daily, and barefoot to boot.

[NH2008]

Wolfeboro is great. I can't imagine a prettier setting. The lake is beautiful and it's surrounded by mountains (the best of both worlds!) The town itself is cute. It's definitely an upscale summer person town though, with high prices. It can get crowded in summer. It's famous for antique wooden motorboats. There is a nice library, a WWII museum, a boat museum, and a boarding school (Brewster Academy.) I do think it could be a little odd living in a town whose population is so seasonal, but that's true of a lot of towns here.

One town you might consider that would have lower prices and whose schools have the best reputation in the area is Moultonborough. It's probably about 30 minutes away. Sandwich is also beautiful.

Good luck!

[nhrocky]

We live in West Chesterfield, about 15 min west of Keene. I've always lived in New England, either VT or NH, so I have a biased view of the area, lol. We enjoy living here and feel that there's plenty to do if you look for it. It all depends on your needs and hobbies, I guess. We're self-employed, so not sure what the regular job market is like, but I do know that my sister, who lives in Brattleboro is having a difficult time finding an office job involving bookkeeping/clerical.

My DD just started at Chesterfield Central School, K-8, although we've lived in W.Chesterfield for 7 yrs. She went to a Catholic school in Brattleboro previously. So far, she's doing well and seems to like it. The kids in her class were very accepting of a new student. One major difference is the size of the classes. We're used to very small classes, under 15-20 and most of the classes there are at least 20,and there's 2 classes of each grade!. Good computer labs for the upper classes, large library with computers available for lower classes, mostly long-term teachers. Large school grounds with a nice playground and it's right next to the police station, town library and fire station. Students 9-12 go Keene High School.

For more information on NH schools, check out the NH Dept of Education and the NECAP schools for the schools.

Main page:
http://http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/NECAP/2007/ResultsofNECAPScience2008.htm

If you click on the 1st link under NECAP test Results & interpretation Materials and then click on NECAP Science: School & District & State Level Reports enter, the school you want and then you can click on the Report Card tab for the school for the 2007-2008 (and previous yrs) testing results.

[buck naked]

I love Sunapee the best of the three mentioned in the OP - but I'm a skier! the lake is very beautiful as well.

my only problem with Wolfeboro is it's a tourist town, and traffic doesn't move during the summer months. Prices are higher as well in the grocery store. It's an affluent town and the services reflect that.

[buck naked]

Keene is a college town. It's fairly isolated from the rest of the state.

[ssrhb]

Thanks everyone, just the kind of info we were looking for..keep'em comin'!

Brave-Good to know-we are actually staying in Meredith.

Nhrocky- Great info -Chesterfield is definitely an area we plan on checking out. Do you feel it is more of a suburb of Keene or does it have it's own community feel. And about Keene, everyone says it's a college town, but what else could you say about it? In our experience we've enjoyed college towns, as they seem to have more going on. What would you see as a downside?

Buck/NH2008- Would you say Sunapee is affluent like Wolfeboro, and are you referring to the tourists or year-round residents? Wealthy tourists are great for commerce, but we'd prefer down-to-earth people for neighbors.
Moultonborough and Sandwich-are they still tourist-based, but not as busy?

We're looking for a good mix-definitely not city, but also not, how shall I put it, podunk? We want a community feel, but not so small that everyone's in your business. Most of what we like to do involves the outdoors, but it is nice not having to drive an hour to get milk or go out to eat once in a while.

Any more input is greatly appreciated!

[buck naked]

Sunapee doesn't compare to Wolfeboro IMO... I am referring to year round residents.

Moultonboro and Sandwich are not tourist based. Good small towns.

Keene is located only 20 miles from the nuclear power plant in VT. It's roughly an hour to the nearest city - Nashua. There is a medical center in town on Court St., but the nearest hospital is in Brattleboro, VT (25 miles) or Peterborough (24 miles).

[CaseyB]

Keene has a hospital, it's Cheshire Medical Center: Cheshire Medical Center / Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinic - Home