Moving to Keene, NH area (Manchester, Nashua: apartments, rentals, Home Depot)

[ribby84]

Hi, I just wanted to give input into The Surry Village Charter School, a K-8 charter school in Surry emphasising new engalnd traditions - maple sugaring etc. As a charter school you can live anywhere in NH and attend or free. It is a very hands on creative school with strong backing from Antioch College. Too far for my husband to get into Boston on a regular basis. Ii is a great school though.

[jaxandcoop]

Hi all!
My husband accepted a position in Keene as well. We will be moving in late July from Kansas City, Mo. I have 2 young boys--3 and 10 months, and am also looking for fun moms to get to know and kiddos for my boys to play with. It will be a big move for us, as my whole family is here in KC, so whatever makes the move easier for my children is high on my list.
For all those moving to Keene this summer...where are you looking for a home? I have been looking online at homes and have actually been to Keene with my husband to look at some homes. where are the good areas to live in Keene?
mom's clubs??

[Smuttynose]

The Keene area and Cheshire County is one of the nicest areas of the state, and I do think you'll like it. The one problem is that it can feel a bit isolated, but if you pick the right spot you should be fine.

Keene - The hub of the region. Keene (pop. 23,000) has a great assortment of restaurants and shops. A very attractive and bustling downtown. Remember "Jumangi" it was filmed here. There is no mall which can be a problem, but a Target, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, and Home Depot will help get you through until the big mall trips. Home to Keene State College, which adds vitality to the city, but you will have to negotiate all those college kids.

Surrounding Towns: Peterborough (pop. 6,000) is a very pretty town, and gets you closer to the Nashua-Manchester area. A few good restaurants and shops. Great school system, but 20-25 minutes away from Keene.
Walpole (pop. 3,500) is a postcard. One of the prettiest towns in the state. But a bit isolated.
Swanzey (pop. 6,500) is close to Keene and very convenient. Four covered bridges!
Marlborough and Winchester, NH are somewhat run-down and have been the butt of some jokes. Marlborough is certainly improving, but it might be best to avoid these two.

[mrschandler]

Hello! I am moving to Keene as well. I will be taking a professorship in August. Where are the best areas in Keene to raise two young children-- ages 5 and 2? Does anyone have any advice as to what the best daycares are? It seems like Wheelock and Franklin may be the best elementary schools, according to greatschools.net, but I really need an insider's advice. Thanks so much!

[jaxandcoop]

Where is your professorship? My husband just accepted a professorship at KSC. What is your area??

[30apples]

hi all. I'm interested in retiring to Keene. Does anyone know what the real estate taxe rates are for the retired? Is Keene a walkable town, even in the winter? How cold is the winter and how much snow do you get? I'm familiar w/ Long Island and the Poughkeepsie area of NY. Thanks

[tracyh903]

Originally Posted by Tarastomsgirl

Oh I wanted to add, my husband got some nice advice from his fellow police officers out there and they said, although the taxes are higher in keene if you live in say swanzey you can't get things like highspeed internet because it is more remote, I dunno if this is true and perhaps someone here could verify for sure. But they said in the end you're better off living actually in keene and paying the higher tax .. That could be politics speaking though. I'll have to talk to my husband and see exactly what they said as I can't remember word for word.. But either way, anywhere surrounding keene looks beautiful and a great place to raise a family

I can't speak for every part of Swanzey, but in East Swanzey we have plenty of options for cable, and internet. Myself, I use Road Runner through Time Warner Cable. THere didn't used to be DSL and such available but times change, technology advances and woohoo! We have it all now! LOL
I love Swanzey. It's more rural than Keene, but only takes me 10 minutes to get to everything in Keene. As for Education, in my experience here it depends on the teachers. There are actualy 2 elementary schools in Swanzey, one is grades k-3, MT. Caesar - the second is grades4-6. Cutler. I have had both good and not so good experience with Mt. Caesar. Swanzey is a beautiful place to live.
Somethign to note, if you are checking High Schools and looking for a town that goes to Keene High, (there are many).. Winchester now goes to KHS as well.
Good luck and Welcome to the area.

[beccaoco]

hello, i was reading the posts on keene area. my family is also considering a move that way. my husband was offered a job at the hospital in brattleboro.

i was wondering how you liked the area after a couple years? i have two small boys, 2.5 year old and an 11 month old.

are you finding you enjoy the area, is it family friendly? have you found schools that you like?

we are hoping to move closer to keene rather than brattleboro- maybe chesterfield area. i am a stay at home mom, but enjoy getting out and about with the kids and getting them involved with activities. i noticed online a few lakes/ponds to swim and do the beach thing? have you been? have you been to or noticed the bike trails? are they family friendly?

i am extrememly nervous and excited about the move. i guess i'm trying to get some feedback from another mom. my sister visited the town of keene this past weekend and said it was lovely, nice restaurants and shops, good sidewalks, nice neighborhoods.

i would like to live in keene, but i'm fairly sure the farthest we can live from the bratt hospital is as far as chesterfield....any comments on the area?

any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, i hope to hear back from you or someone reading this thread!

Originally Posted by Wabash

DATMMAP,

Thanks so much for your response. Your information and suggestions are extremely helpful. This is our first long-distance move as a family so you can understand that I am excited but also a little nervous about moving to a new area I've already been in touch with another mom with young kids from this loop who may be moving to the Keene area this summer as well... it's great to get a little network going.

Do you live in Westmoreland or Chesterfield? And from where did you move, if I may ask?

I encourage others who live in the Keene area to respond with their input/advice. I've seen lots of questions about Keene on this forum but not a whole lot of replies. We look forward to hearing from you!

Wabash

[dubthang]

I grew up in Keene, went to Wheelock, then Keene Middle, and finally Keene High. They were great when I was there, but they are very different now. They are bigger, teach different things, etc. I couldn't tell you if they are still great, but I assume that they aren't bad. My gf's daughter went to elementary school in Swanzey and Marlborough. She is behind in her math skills.

[nhrocky]

I live in West Chesterfield, right across the river from Brattleboro. My daughter just started attending Chesterfield Elementary (5th) this year after going to St.Michael's School in Brattleboro for 7 yrs. She had absolutely no problem fitting into her class. The kids there were very welcoming. Most of the grades have 2 classes, it goes through 8th grade and then onto Keene High. The elementary school is next to the library, post office(also 1 in West Chesterfield), fire station and town offices. Nice playground, good programs, computer labs, school library,sports. My daughter rides the bus to school. We just voted through a school budget of over $8 million last week, so it's well funded and of course taxes will be going up again. All properties in town were reappraised last year. Tax basis went down, but the assessments went up considerably. Chesterfield covers quite a bit of land. There's Spofford Lake for swimming in the summer, Pisgagh State Park and of course for a real hike you can climb Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey outside of Keene. We have a hiking trail right at the end of our road that goes along the CT River.

As we are so close to Brattleboro and own businesses in Bratt, we tend to do all our shopping, banking etc right in Brattleboro. Keene is only 20 minutes away for me.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Cheste...Hampshire.html