Rural Living in Putnam/Duchess/Orange County (Warwick, New Windsor: buying, subdivisions)

[bluecountry]

I was curious...if I wanted to live within the defined NY metro region...would I be able to do so yet enjoy rural beauty?

I know Ulster County is rural..but what about others
Putnam/Duchess/Orange?

1) Are they rural?
-If so, what parts, and where does rural NY begin?
-Is this area under development pressure?

I'd like to know if there is a nice rural area..not about to be paved...but not 100 miles from NYC.
I'd think Orange County and Duchess would be rural given how far away from NYC they are, along with the hilly terrain.
I went on wikipedia...the population and density seemed to be more suburban..but again both counties have rather large sq mileage.

Thanks.

[bluecountry]

Goshen/Warwich??

[tambre]

Hi Blue,

Not exactly sure what you mean by rural, but there are working farms scattered throughout Orange County. There are some in Goshen, Montgomery, Warwick, Pine Island, Chester (black dirt region), Pine Bush, Circleville, Bullville, Marlboro, Cornwall, to name a few. These large tracks of land give the immediate surrounding areas a rural feel. Most towns in Orange County have their share of strip malls, subdivisions, or a town center, with shopping, banks, etc. Best advice would be to come up and drive around, and take a look. If you have the $, you can still find a decent sized piece of property, to give you the rural feel.

[bluecountry]

I mean rural...not being developed for strip malls...mcmansions...but country...like Northern Duchess county/Ulster County...not suburbia as in Rockland.

[tambre]

Hey Blue,

There are shrinking pockets of rural land scattered throughout Orange County. It seems that with the economy now slowing, the growth of housing development in Orange County is slowing as well. Near where I live, there is the Stewart Airport Buffer zone, which is a few thousand acres of undeveloped land in New Windsor. There is an organization called SPARC that has fought legal battles to keep this land vacant. So far, they have been fairly successful. There is seasonal hunting in the buffer land property, and it also has roads, bike trails, horseback riding trails, hiking trails and snowmobile trails. Stewart Airport is being developed as an alternative to the overcrowded city airports. It has a long runway, and the C5 cargo planes fly in and out of there. They are quite impressive!

In Cornwall there is Blackrock Forest, and the Shunnemunk Mountain area which I believe are not going to ever be developed. Maybe others in Orange County can speak of green space in their towns. You could probably get a rural feel, but would need to protect that feel by buying a large tract of land and not developing it. I would surmise that part of the problem is that farmers can make a whole lot of money selling their land to developers, whereas farming the land may not be as lucrative.

Hope this helps. Are you able to come up and drive around the area to take a look? That would probably be the best way to decide if it is rural enough for your liking.