Finger Lake town info/impressions (Buffalo, Rochester: houses, unemployment, good schools)

[homeward bound]

Hey all. Can anyone tell me what they know or think about the following towns? Penn Yann, Gorham, Varick, Pultney, Fayette, Dresden, Stanley/Seneca, and Honeoye Falls? We're (once again) town- & house-hunting up that way soon and would love to hear your take on any of these places. Also, anyone know anything about Schenevus, which is further south & east? Finally, someone around here recently told me that Geneva was getting "kinda rough." That's hard to imagine--any idea what he might have meant? Seems like a great town to me. Thanks!

[I'minformed2]

I'd imagine "kind ruff" in Geneve would mean that a five year old girl stole some bubble gum from the corner store lol. The finger lakes community I am most familiar with is Canandaigua, in Ontario county just 35 minutes from Rochester. It's right on Canandaigua Lake, one of the finger lakes, and is growing at a healthy (but not overbearing) ratE. It's a very beautiful town with many homes that pre-date the civil war. It's also very safe and family oriented.

[Phish Head]

Please stop talking about how beautiful the Finger Lakes are! I'm so envious of you upstaters! I'm going out of my mind here trying to get the heck out of here and up there!!!!

[I'minformed2]

Hey.... it should motivate you to get upstate even quicker!

[CutiePie]

I used to live in Geneva--two years--WHAT A DUMP!!!!!!!
closed down buildings, high welfare, no entertainment, but they did finally get their act together on the waterfront--which is nicer from Seneca Falls, Canandiagua or Auburn (LOVELY!!!) If you are not a wealthy snob student from Hobart and WIlliam SMith (3rd tier ivy league for wleahty kids not smart enough to cut it at the really good schools) there's no reason to be in Geneva....

[homeward bound]

Thanks for your take on Geneva, CutiePie. I'm a bit surprised at what you said since others have praised it--but then I looked at the unemployment percentage there. 7.9% IS way too high for the prosperous college town it's been portrayed to me as. (And your take on Buffalo vs. Amhert, East Aurora, etc., I know to be accurate from my own experience.) We're still going to check out Geneva, but now I'll be a bit more skeptical. You mentioned Canandaigua & Auburn as nice places--we're coming up to see them soon, too. What other areas of economically healthy--but even more important, UN-gloomy--quaint towns or (very) small cities in and around the Finger Lakes would you recommend to a family with young kids? What's Naples like, and/or any of the other towns I'd listed previously? Thanks for your input!! (By the way, did anyone else read that posting on Bath from last month or so? We did get a creepy feeling while looking it over last year. Was that posting accurate?)

[homeward bound]

Anyone know anything about Nunda? Or can tell me more about Canadaigua and Auburn? Thanks!

[I'minformed2]

Well I know that the most echomicially healthy city by far in the fingerlakes region is Ithaca, for obvious reasons. But, although it still has it's nice tree lined streets with beautiful old homes.... they are mostly inhabited by wealthy professors and not young familes. Canandaigua and Auburn fit quaint family friendly communites you are looking for, with Canandaigua being the better of the two echomicaly. However Auburn is more centrally located in the fingerlakes region. Those would be my top two recomendations, also check out Seneca Falls and Waterloo , an area steeped in American History where Memorial Day was first celebrated and where the suffragist movement began.

[Muggy]

I can't tell you anything about Nunda. I can tell you just about everything for Canandaigua and Auburn.

You need to be more specific about your preferences. Do you like to dine out? Will you have to commute to Roch/Syr? Do you want good schools? Are you a retiree? What is it that you are imagining and I'll point you in the right direction.

I have few reservations about leaving the Northeast. But I will always visit the Finger Lakes at least once a year. I have lived, partied, cruised, worked, vacationed, hiked, mountain biked, skiied, dined in just about every upstate town between Buf and Syr. When I was in College I used to just jump in the car with my buddies and we'd wander for the weekend throughout the region.

I will tell you this: if you are looking for anywhere, go for Skaneateles.

[homeward bound]

Hi, Muggy. Please do tell us all you can about Canandaigua & Auburn!

In terms of our preferences: Quaint/old houses & buildings over new.
Small (2,000-15,000 population) over big. Small-town/village feel over city/new suburb. We've got two little boys (2 years old & 2 months old), 2 teenage daughters (one's off to college in the Fall). Having a lot of night-life choices doesn't matter to us--we like walking the dog around a nice town, swimming in a natural lake, fishing, hiking, camping, gardening, playing sports, biking, summer festivals on the village green, etc. One or two good restaurants in town is fine--with the little ones, we don't eat out much anyway. A good tavern or pub is fine, too. A softball league. We're not lavish shoppers. I grew up in and around Buffalo, my wife in Colorado and North Dakota, so we actually miss getting a lot of snow. We wouldn't mind having to drive here and there to get to lakes, biking, etc.--the distances up there are much smaller than they are where we live now (southwest Virginia, a place much more barren than you might suppose). Thirty, forty miles is not a long trip for us to get to/do what we like. We love driving those county highways and learning the towns & lakes. We know & like Buffalo & Toronto, go to Ontario whenever possible, want to take the train to Boston or NYC now and again, explore the Adirondacks, be near the Great Lakes, love the northeast's/Great Lakes' state's history, etc. As teachers, we're guessing we'd have job options among the cities & their suburbs (Rochester, Syracuse, etc.) and in the smaller towns--we wouldn't mind driving a half hour or so to get to work. Two big aversions: 1) College students. Can't stand living among them anymore! Would rather watch the paint peel with the retirees than be in some "cool" college town or area. And 2) Too much ugly, isolating suburban/history-less development. We'd rather have stately-core-but-somewhat-run-down around-the-edges than ugly sprawl.

So, would kooks like us be a good match for Canandaigua, Auburn, or the other towns there?

Thanks for your feedback!