Henniker/ Antrim - Pro's and Cons (Manchester, Nashua: appliances, house prices, school district)

[dzmjp]

Hello everyone! We've just come back from our first trip from NH and checked out MANY Towns to possibly move to...(Now of course, the economy will decide for us when....) Henniker and Antrim are some of our top picks. Does anyone have any information on the schools, job availability -or the local news paper links? Any thing misc. would def. be appreciated too!!

Also, our concern with Henniker -are the tourists a bad thing or a benefit to the town? What about it being a college town - pro's and cons?

We really did Antrim because it seemed like Henniker minus the college and tourists - any feedback?

[JCPTNH08]

As always, it really depends on where you will be working. I looked at some of your older posts and it looks as though you'd have a commute to Bedford. Is that still the case? I don't know Henniker well but I did live in Antrim years ago and I think that would be a not so great commute.

Personally, I was not crazy about Antrim while I lived there. I lived most of my life in NH and know the area well and found it to be...for lack of a better term...rednecky. I don't mean that to sound horrible, but if you live there you'll know what I mean (even the local bar is called Rednecks). I had neighbors with yards full of appliances, trash and broken down cars and campers and neighbors getting repeatedly arrested for drunken brawls at their homes, and that was on what as first appeared to be a nice quiet little street. There are obviously many nice families there and I know some that enjoy the town, but of all places in the Conval school district, it's one of the less desirable. Schools are okay, probably not much for jobs unless you want to commute to Peterborough, Keene, Hillsborough or Concord. The local paper is the Ledger Transcript, which you can see online at ledgertranscript dot com

good luck

[dzmjp]

I'm not so sure about the job in Bedford anymore. That job was for Sept. 08, but we had an unfortunate family situation and had to stay back here in WA. The employer was understanding, but I'm leaving job prospects open. Thank you so much for your take on Antrim, that is what we need. Do you have any experience with the local areas around Antrim at all? We're open to anything that we may have missed while passing through or having a cup of coffee while walking through town.

[JCPTNH08]

What is your 'dream town' like? Do you like small rural towns with just a few local businesses or are you looking for something bigger? Do you have kids that will attend the local schools? Bottom line again is where you will be working. You don't want to have to commute too far, or at least not on a windy, hilly back road to get to work during the winter months.

[dzmjp]

We are honestly looking for a small rural town that has a grocery store, gas, and good school systems. We have 1 daughter, 2 years old, and will have more in a couple of years, so the school system is important to us. I am a teacher and my husband can basically do any job that is put infront of him... he is currently an auto body painter/body worker. We are looking more for a blue collar town than a business town.

We are okay traveling for jobs, and I did notice that Antrim was only 8 miles from Hillsboro and 11 from Peterbourough (?). Out where we are now, we've traveled 40 miles each way to work on windy, mountain and sometimes very snowy roads.

We also did like Sutton A LOT, but had the feeling that it costs quite a bit to live there - or is that just around the lake?

I hope I've given you something to work off of and thank you for your responses !!! I appreciate your thoughts and time.

[JCPTNH08]

Well, Antrim certainly fits the bill of what you are looking for in terms of a small rural town. There are some in the area and in the same school district (Conval) that are a bit nicer IMO. Greenfield will bring you closer to jobs in the Milford, Nashua and Manchester direction, and it's a bit closer to Peterborough as well. In terms of house prices I think it's about the same or slightly more than Antrim. Hancock is pricier but is a nice small town. I found that people get into each others business a bit there, but what do you expect in such a small town! It's a great town for families with a town beach and a good preschool program. Both of these have small restaurants and stores for conveniences.

If you really want rural, Stoddard sits between Hillsborough and Keene and I think it's a part of the Keene school district. There isn't much there, but there is a lake and the taxes are low. There is a big custom flooring manufacturer there called Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring that is a nice place to work, but you can easily commute to Hillsborough or Keene for more work options.

NH is full of the small rural towns you describe, so finding the right one shouldn't be difficult!

[dzmjp]

JCPTNH08 - thank you so much for your constant responses! We did check out both Hancock and Stoddard We felt that Stoddard was a little too small and not too family friendly - maybe that is wrong, but that was our impression that we got. :/

Before going on our trip, I heard the same about Hancock... When we did our drive through, we just did not feel like that was a town for us. We did not, however, check out Greenfield... I know that we are looking for some nice views, where we live in WA is absolutely amazing views of 3 - 6,000 ft mountians, (I know we won't get that there and that is okay, we are doing this move to be closer to our family.)
Does Greenfield have any views?

Thank you again! And I will def. do some research on Greenfield and thank you again for your honest opinion of Antrim. Do you feel that that is the whole town or just sections that we should stay away from if we still do consider it later on?