Need help with book research - small rural NY towns! (New York: rent, homes)

[Texaswritergal]

I am in the process of writing a book, and one of my main characters travels from Texas to upstate New York and lives in her family's old farm/homestead in a small farming community. It's integral to the story that she lives anywhere from 2-4 hours away from Manhattan for the story line to make sense. I'm from a small town in Texas, but of course it's a completely different world in Texas as it is in upstate New York. I've lived in Manhattan and have a decent good feel for the city, but I have no idea what upstate New York is like; to be honest, I've never ventured beyond New Jersey. Thus, I'm taking a trip to NY later in the month to get a feel for what the small towns are like - what the people do, what the farms look like, what the culture is, what they grow in the fields and how they adapt to the cold weather, etc. I was going to fly to Albany and just rent a car, canvassing the countryside and staying wherever the wind took me, but I'm now wondering if that's the best place to fly into. I really want a small, rural, farming town that is anywhere from 2-4 hours from the city. Any ideas of where I should visit while I'm there, aimlessly wandering around the state doing research for my novel?

[ki0eh]

Take a look at the country around Greenwich NY (check the pronunciation guide in this forum first!) and around Schoharie NY as well. (Northeast and west of Albany respectively)

[proulxfamily]

I would use the Fabius-Pompey and/or Tully, NY areas... they're neighbouring villages on Route 80, just off Interstate 81 (about 20 minutes south of Syracuse.) It takes me just under 4 hours to drive from there to Ronkonkoma so maybe 3 hours and change to get to NYC. Here are some pictures I took about 2 weeks ago, on the way home from Ithaca.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by proulxfamily

I would use the Fabius-Pompey and/or Tully, NY areas... they're neighbouring villages on Route 80, just off Interstate 81 (about 20 minutes south of Syracuse.) It takes me just under 4 hours to drive from there to Ronkonkoma so maybe 3 hours and change to get to NYC. Here are some pictures I took about 2 weeks ago, on the way home from Ithaca.

Nice pics and good choices....

[ss58yy]

I'd second the Schoharie valley, west of Albany.

[NJ Bear]

Maybe Delaware COunty in the western Catskills, which is a significant dairying region but also more moutainous/hilly than most farm areas... or the Leatherstocking or Suquehanna Valley regions just west of there? If your book is set in any kind of "modern" context there is not much in the way of true rural, authentic "farm country" less than 2 hrs from the city, but that 2-4 hr radius includes plenty so you're off to a good start.

As previously recommended, the area around Washington County NE of Albany is very nice as well, "Grandma Moses" country (literally!). My uncle had a dairy farm there. Right in th foothills nestled between the Adirondacks, Berkshires, TAconics, and the Green Mountains of VT.