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A recent thread (Is Princeton a real college town?), in which younger (I assume) persons found Princeton to be lacking as a party town, has whetted this graying baby boomer's interest in Princeton as a place to live his latter years. I have no connection to the University but, on paper, it seems the presence of the University with its museums, libraries, artistic and cultural opportunities, sporting events, lecture series, etc. -- should make for an exceptional community.
I realize that Princeton is a prosperous community and that real estate prices are exorbitant. That is okay with me as long as it's not accompanied by vulgar displays of materialism or pretentiousness.
So is Princeton a good place to live?
Last edited by Wallop the Spot; 05-30-2010 at 07:02 AM..
If you can afford it, you are spot on about it's being an exceptional community. The closer you are to campus (walkable to downtown) the less ostentatious (more old, traditional colonial type homes) you'll find. Many college towns meet this criteria; culture, lecture, museums, libraries, sports, arts, events, etc. Just curious as to why Princeton?
If you can afford the real estate and the taxes in Princeton why not? I like Princeton because you can pick up the Delaware and Raritan canal bike trail right beside the lake in Princeton and bike all the way to New Brunswick. I am sure there are much better reasons to live in Princeton but since I don't live there at least I can bike there without have to traverse the public roads.
Not too bad a university located there also.
But are there any college towns the size of Princeton that meet those criteria as well as Princeton does? I just find it odd that Princeton, given the greatness of its university, is never recommended to people interested in retiring to an academic community.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal bike path sounds like a great reason to live in Princeton. I love to bike!
There are probably college towns in the New England area that meet this criteria~Bennington comes to mind, as does Burlington, VT. Michigan State University and U of M have great little neighborhoods near the downtown area that aren't populated by students. St. Augustine and Flagler have a great atmosphere and the weather is wonderful. Newark DE and University of Delaware is another good example. All depends on what you're looking for and what you are willing to pay. I think a college town has much to offer the close to and active retirees.
Princeton has been recognized as a good place to retire-http://www.topretirements.com/reviews/New_Jersey/Princeton.html
The boro is small (one square mile, including the campus), for the most part the boro homes are older and not pretentious.
Princeton covets it's history, arts culture, architecture and the University, so they might be guilty of that pretentiousness (if that is pretentious).
Hiking and biking are a big in Princeton-http://www.go-new-jersey.com/Princeton/Biking/
I live 5 minutes outside of Princeton. Hiking and biking are good, obviously more in the spring/summer. The canal paths get muddy and fairly impassible when it rains a lot. The town itself is actually fairly limited. Couple of bookstores, lots of mid/upscale clothing outlets (JCrew, Coach), jewelry stores, a few restaurants and a couple of ice cream shops. Also has 2 whole food stores in town and a Whole Foods on route 1. The center of town has an earthy academic feel but there IS quite a bit of pretentious consumption. Lots of older homes being torn down and McMansions being built in their place, pretty depressing in that regard. Princeton isn't a solitary little town, there are suburbs and developments butting up against it on all sides and plenty of traffic.
Obviously there is a lot of history there and the University campus is lovely. The McCarter Theater is nice and there is a little movie house in town. It is very walkable. There are retirees there, usually executive types.
As mentioned, the price of housing, both to purchase and to rent, is very high, as are the property taxes - $15-20,000 a year is common. Because of the name cache, almost every surrounding town has a section listed as "Princeton", by zip codes, but they actually aren't part of the town. The walkable part is listed as Princeton Boro.
"Bookstores (are they locals, not chains?), ice-cream stores, and green-grocers": sounds like heaven to me! (Downtown D.C. used to have a number of independent bookstores, but they are all gone now and we're left with just Borders and Barnes & Noble.)
In my neck of the woods, Charlottesville is often mentioned as a top retirement spot. I've often seen Ann Arbor recommended, too. (Funny, I grew up in Michigan, but never visited Ann Arbor). Princeton seems like a good location, mid-way between NYC and Philly. Princeton University seems to be reasonably open to the community; I understand that residents can audit university courses and get library borrowing privileges. (The writer John McPhee said (in a Paris Review interview) that he lives in Princeton not because he was grew up there but so that he can go to Firestone Library).
Thanks, everyone, for your replies; I'm always amazed and grateful that complete strangers will take the time to answer my questions.
Last edited by Wallop the Spot; 05-31-2010 at 07:28 AM..
"Bookstores (are they locals, not chains?), ice-cream stores, and green-grocers": sounds like heaven to me! (Downtown D.C. used to have a number of independent bookstores, but they are all gone now and we're left with just Borders and Barnes & Noble.)
In my neck of the woods, Charlottesville is often mentioned as a top retirement spot. I've often seen Ann Arbor recommended, too. (Funny, I grew up in Michigan, but never visited Ann Arbor). Princeton seems like a good location, mid-way between NYC and Philly. Princeton University seems to be reasonably open to the community; I understand that residents can audit university courses and get library borrowing privileges. (The writer John McPhee said (in a Paris Review interview) that he lives in Princeton not because he was grew up there but so that he can go to Firestone Library).
Thanks, everyone, for your replies; I'm always amazed and grateful that complete strangers will take the time to answer my questions.
Local bookstores that focus on required books. Residents of the area (not just the town) can sit in lectures but not participate in seminars, labs or class discussions. Numbers are limited to 10% of the class.
UPenn and Cornell offer something similar. You might want to look into Ithaca too, where Cornell is located. VERY crunchy granola/bookstore/outdoorsey sort of town. Probably even more so than Princeton which tends to some executive/materialistic excess due to the big businesses located in the area.
Location: Splitting time between Dayton, NJ and Needmore, PA
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Just keep in mind what jerseyj said, "The boro is small (one square mile, including the campus)."
However, the name "Princeton" and the associated ZIP code (08540) has become quite spread out. To get a sense of how wide an area it is, check out Google Maps. "Princeton" encompasses an area from the top of Carnegie Lake on the border with Kingston, NJ, all the way south to Province Line Road. From the west, look for Georgetown Franklin Pike, then head east to the James Forestal Campus Center on the other side of Route 1. All of this area is using the Princeton address, but only that 1 sq. mi. area by the university is actually "Princeton."
As for the area itself, the pretentiousness is few and far between. You will find a wide range of people walking Nassau Street and the surrounding blocks on any given day. There are a number of Germans, French, and Scandinavians in the area, but they are not necessarily associated with the university. Many are here on work visas for Novo Nordisk (the US headquarters is located up by Forestal Village). You will inevitably see students around the area during the semesters.
Cloak & Dagger Books which seems to be closed more than it is open
Chicklet Books and Glen Echo Books which are in two different locations, but owned by the same group.
I would actually suggest checking out the public library as well. They recently revamped the interior in such a way that it similar to a bookstore and they hold a number of talks and musical events each month.
As others have said, you will find a number of up-scale stores in the area as well. Two that I appreciate are Landau's and Hamilton Jewelers.
One of the upsides I think of with Princeton is that you have egress routes from the area which can get you to other parts of the state relatively quickly if there are other events or places you want to see. Public transit includes the Suburban/Coach USA line that starts along Nassau Street and will get you into NYC. NJ Transit also has buses that will take you to various shopping centers within the region such as Nassau Park (for places like Wegman's, Kohl's, Home Depot, and Sam's Club) as well as the Princeton Shopping Center for smaller boutique stores and McCafferty's, a Princeton-based grocery store. You also have the Dinghy that you can take from Princeton Station to Princeton Junction where you can get an NJ Transit train to NYC or Philadelphia or Newark Airport. Amtrak also stops there, but usually at odd hours.
For cars, you have Routes 206, 27 and US Route 1 that all run North-South. West-East routes are mostly local roads like Province Line Road, Alexander Road, Washington Street, etc.
As a Rutgers grad, I prefer New Brunswick, mainly for the accessibility of faculty and the nightlife, but that's just me.
Hope this helps a bit.
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