Derry vs. Londonderry? (Manchester, Concord, Portsmouth: houses, neighborhoods, preschool)

[DMickey28]

Can you give me a rundown on the differences?

Schools?
General Community feel?
Rec activities for kids?
Shopping?
Housing?

Thanks!!

[SFT]

I'm from the area and to be honest I never knew the borders of Derry and Londonderry and almost consider them to be the same town in terms of shopping, what's located there, etc.

From my understanding, to the east of 93 at exit 4 and 5 is Derry, or near the border of Derry and the west is Londonderry. In general, there are plenty of stores for just about anything you should need.

I know Pinkerton Academy (Derry) is supposed to be really good. Not really too familiar with Londonderry schools. Housing is pretty similar, there are neighborhoods with smaller lots that the houses are close together (relatively speaking, not like the city) as well as areas that have more spread out developments with more land and more woods/privacy.

I live nearby, but visit frequently and I personally like both Londonderry and Derry. They are also close to Manchester, and fairly close to both Concord and Portsmouth, as well as Boston.

Hopefully someone from one of these towns can better answer your questions.

[maestramommy]

The main thing I know about the two towns is that Derry doesn't have its own public HS so all the Derry kids go to Pinkerton Academy. I talked to someone who used to live in Derry, and he had two sons at Pinkerton. His assessment was that it's a great school if you're really smart, or you're really slow. If you're really smart they'll bend over backwards to help you achieve. If you're really slow, they'll literally drag you through to graduation. But if you're average, you get overlooked. He had a really smart son, and a son that on a good day was a B student. This son had a lot more trouble making it. I think the school was just too big. He needed tutoring in Chem, but it took two weeks to determine that they didn't have enough tutors to spare. Recently this gentleman has moved to Bow, where the school is a fraction of the size, and his son is getting what he needs.

Now Londonderry is supposed to be a top notch district. The music program at the HS (something I always look at) seems not only comprehensive in scope but stellar in quality. They also have a district preschool that mixes average children with those that have special needs, something we were looking at closely when we first moved to NH. It's too bad we didn't find a house in Londonderry, because I felt a little more confidence about it's school system being more established. The other thing is that Londonderry was a little farther south on the 93, so it would've been a shorter (or more direct) drive to family in MA.

One downside to Londonderry is that it doesn't have public playgrounds. I believe it was Valerie C who told me this, but hopefully she will see this thread and elaborate a bit more. We do occasionally go there to go to Discovery Stop, an indoor playground/play facility for young kids. It's a fantastic place, and great for a rainy/snowy day.

We looked at houses in Bedford and Londonderry, and the prices for what you could get seemed to be about the same. Bow was more expensive. But I would think that's a bit too far north for you.

[GregW]

Londonderry has a public playground. It is well hidden at the end of the same road as the American Legion post. It can be reached by a small trail through the woods from the library/town hall parking lot.

[Aptor hours]

Londonderry is very nice. Londonderry and Derry two separate towns for sure