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Sorry I can't answer for Elizabethtown as posted above...
I wanted to know - what are some great "locations", or streets/regions to avoid in Hempfield, Manheim Township, Penn Manor or Warwick - as in, good/bad locations for traffic, shopping, schools, noise, parks etc. For example, I live on the south side of a Lancaster size city - we have the mall and a Lowe's equivalent just a minute up the road, and are on a bike lane up the river (great location), but there's talk of the railway widening in the future (not so great) - anyone have this type of info. for areas like Landisville, Mountville, Millersville, Lititz, East Petersburg...and anywhere in between?? What towns border on rural areas, but are still within 10-15 minutes of shopping...? Thanks!
I agree with the post below. Can others out there we currently live in Lancaster county or those who know the area well please respond with any helpful info possible?
I wanted to know - what are some great "locations", or streets/regions to avoid in Hempfield, Manheim Township, Penn Manor or Warwick - as in, good/bad locations for traffic, shopping, schools, noise, parks etc. For example, I live on the south side of a Lancaster size city - we have the mall and a Lowe's equivalent just a minute up the road, and are on a bike lane up the river (great location), but there's talk of the railway widening in the future (not so great) - anyone have this type of info. for areas like Landisville, Mountville, Millersville, Lititz, East Petersburg...and anywhere in between?? What towns border on rural areas, but are still within 10-15 minutes of shopping...? Thanks![/quote]
Wow, it's very interesting to read all these posts about folks wondering about Lancaster County. Also interesting how many are (or were) from Long Island. I am also from LI (Wading River - out east) and moved to Lancaster in 2003 from Orange County, CA. I met my wife out west and we had 2 boys and did NOT want to raise them in the LA area. She is a Lancaster native and has lots of family here, and of course my folks had long since retired to Florida...so we decided to raise our family here. #3 is on the way next month (girl). We ended up buying a home in East Petersburg. Interestingly, I ended starting my own real estate business here so I know a lot about the micro-areas surrounding East Petersburg, Lititz, Ephrata, Elizabethtown and of course, Lancaster City (which I love). I'm into historic homes and there are a LOT of them here, as it's the oldest inland city in the US. Even the congree met here during the Rev.war!
Yes, development is pretty active here and the influx of families from NY, NJ, MD and other areas is continuous. I write about this on my blog, http://www.lancastercountyblog.com. As far as a locals backlash, I can't say that's a factor because so many families are now here that most neigborhoods are mixed. I happen to interact with "locals" via my wife's family and let me tell you, they are a very giving, neighborly people group. Often I think it's our big-city attitudes that get in the way, not closedness from the families who are generations old here. They were immigrants too and know it. I know that in LA we hardly ever talked to our neighbors - it just wasn't done unless necessary. Here, people will bring you dinner if your kid is sick, and the churches do a lot of charitable work to feed the hungry and help families in need. Pretty impressive, at least to me the impartial outsider.
Crime is a non-issue. Here in East Petersburg we leave our doors open at times with no trouble. It's a little strange at first - I have seller clients who just leave the door open for buyers to stop by. Coming from a "lock-it" culture, I have to laugh at the openness of it all. Obviously there are crimes that come up, even big-news ones like Nickel Mines, but the day-to-day is very calm.
Many towns like Lititz, Strasburg and to some extent Lancaster City have historic ordinances in place which keep the homes looking like they did when they were built, making those locations popular tourist destinations with lots of shops and street walking. I'm a councilman in East Petersburg and we are working on a similar plan. It all helps the historic, traditional feel of the towns around Lancaster County.
As far as Lancaster County PA real estate, I'm a proponent of it (for obvious reasons). Home values are steady and climbing, even in this middle market nationally. Unemployment is one of the lowest in PA, and lots of big-name firms have offices or plants in Lancaster County. Armstrong, Auntie Annes and other major companies started here.
As far a schools, your best bet is to go with Greatschools.net. That's where I send my buyer clients, especially my clients relocating here from outside the area. You'll get a good indicator of the relative health of the district from the scores. The feedback I get is that the scores worked out in the end. Other than that, where you want to go will determine the best area in the county to buy. Access to Philly, Harrisburg or MD, for example. I know all the developments and towns but it did take a few years to learn it all. Driving around all day showing houses didn't hurt, either!
Hope this too-long post helps everybody. Let me know any specific q's you have on areas, etc. Thanks,
Jeff
(717) 581-2467
I've lived in Lancaster pretty much my whole life. We're also planning on moving to a new house in this general area soon, though, so I am trying to find information on which schools are the best. I was talking about this to my aunt who has taught in many of the local schools. She immediately stated that she wouldn't send her kids to Hempfield or Manheim Township. It's not that they aren't good schools - they're just about the best academically. Her experience was that the kids tend to be rich and materialistic. Her example was that your child comes home and wants you to buy them whatever new thing is in fashion at the moment or wants you to send them on a month-long trip to Europe because that's the kind of stuff that their friends' parents do for their children. She liked Conestoga Valley (where her children went and where I went) and Lampeter-Strasburg. She thought that there was a better atmosphere among the children in those two districts and less financial pressure.
As for my opinion... The only school I can speak for is Conestoga Valley. I still have to research other schools in the area. I think that CV was a wonderful school if your child is college-bound and wants to take AP classes. Those were the classes that I took in school. To be honest, though, I went through high school with a group of the same 30 or so students in almost all of my classes and hardly saw anything at all of the rest of the student body. The classes prepared me well for college and were often somewhat above the level of our introductory college classes. It's not that I went to an easy college, either. I went to a school which was notorious for would-be scientists suddenly deciding that they couldn't handle the science classes and deciding to take child education classes instead. I went through almost the entire first year of chemistry in college mostly just reviewing material which I already knew from high school. Unfortunately, other than my participation in peer-tutoring other students I saw little of the school outside of the top students, so I'm not exactly qualified to speak for the quality of the school if your child needs special attention.
"Township" schools got a blacken eye this year with the Haines family murders and of course the kid who did it is from Manhiem Tw HS. It's sad but should not be a reflection on that school as a whole.
Yes the materialistic attitude of kids in those schools is not good, but I have a feeling as a kid who grew up in a "rich kids" public school your child's end values are more basied on your parenting and not what schools they went to.
You need to hold your ground as a parent and stick to what you think is right for your kids, and not give in to the " all my friends got this . . . " attitude.
I hope this advice works for you, Let me know what you think?
Okay, so I have never been on this thing til now, but I typed in Lancaster County and came across these message "boreds". After hearing all these people saying negative stuff about Lancaster, I knew I had to stick up for my people. So here is the reliable yet biased opinion on the outsiders negative comments.
Is Lancaster County a good place to live?
Yes, it's a wholesome county with friendly people and a laidback place to grow up. It can be boring if you are coming from a high paced area like NY or Philly. It's very Christian and conservative. The city is very poor and uneducated unfortunately. The education system is very good, but like anywhere could always improve, especially in the city. Property is hot here. Good luck finding a home in Millersville. It's expensive and hard to get. My friend moved to York though and with housing development you can find a place easy.
Is Lancaster diverse?
Most of Lancaster County is Pennsylvania German. Some are Amish, some are Mennonite, and some are me (an average American). The city is predominantly Latino. There are some African Americans as well. As far as racist (what people really want to know when they ask about diversity), Lancastrians are not racist for the most part. We are very ignorant and sometimes prejudice to other cultures though, so don't expect to have a conversation on Chilean wine or chapatis (Yeah, google that one). One thing that always confused me growing up was the popularity of the Rebel flag with the hicks. The KKK doesn't live here so don't worry about anything like that. There's a difference between being racist and just not having any concept of other cultures. We're friendly to everyone, but we just don't know what the difference is between a Mexican and a Puerto Rican.
Are Lancastrians unwelcoming to outsiders? (The Big Question)
Generally no. We aren't going to send you to the back of the bus if we find out your not from the area. We have a very distinct culture that makes it obvious who is an "outsider" (a term no Lancastrian has ever used). What we hate are New Yorkers and Jersey folk who come in just to see the leaves change and snap pictures of the Amish and then leave, yet have no concept or respect for our real local culture. To all you New Yorkers out there, how stupid are those tourists who come to New York snapping pictures and actually wearing an "I Heart New York" shirt? You know what I'm talkin' about. Also, please pronounce Lancaster as "Lank-ister". I don't know why we care, but we really care!
When you're a conservative white Christian from the country you are automatically branded backwards and racist. We're not going to apologize for being traditional, for going to church, for being German, or for being from an area that feeds America! The issue is that our farmlands are continously being turned into ugly developments or business districts. It's so sad as a local to say "That used to be a farm". Not to mention that so much crime is coming from people who moved to Lancaster City from Brooklyn or Philly. Sorry, but it's true.
As far as being unfriendly or as one doplic person termed us "white-washed sepulchres" (What an pretentious term to use!). It's not that we don't like outsiders, but we have our own culture that affects so much of our daily life. We eat pork and sauerkraut. We go to church. We buy food from the markets. We do not care that an Amish buggy just drove by. It's that mentality that as an "outsider" you won't understand. It's something that takes you to develop. Be who you are, because we are who we are and that ain't gonna change. Lancaster is not "Witness" and "Deliverance" rolled into one. The comments about us being nosey are beyond me. What I will admit to is that neighbors are not usually friends to us. I say that even though my best friends live across the street, my next door neighbor plows our snow, and my aunt lives a few houses down. There's a Lancaster community, but that doesn't mean my actual street hangs out with each other.
Who am I?
I'm a native from Lancaster. I am Pennsylvania German and proud of it. I was raised in Millersville, a college town outside the city. You probably are thinking that I'm some unfriendly redneck who couldn't locate Philly on a map, but the truth is that I'm a college graduate who went to Art school in Center City, Philadelphia. My best friends are Puerto Rican. My hobbies include international travel (21 countries total. Kenya, India, Greece, Costa Rica, Spain, Tanzania just to name a few). I'm currently packing my bags to teach English in Chile for four months. Yet somehow, I can be educated, multicultural, and worldly yet all the while I drive my truck to Green Dragon "chust" so I can get a Raub's sub from the Mennonite ladies and a pumpkin whoopie pie from the Amish while praising the Good Lord that I'm from Lancaster County!
Location: New Holland, PA (20 minutes from lancaster)
71 posts, read 353,930 times
Reputation: 32
i just graduated from Garden Spot High School last year so i am up to date on all the schools in the area. Columbia, Twin Valley, Donegal, McCaskey and Solanco aren't the best schools, mostly because of underfunding and overcrowding. Cocalico, Ephrata, Penn Manor, Hempfield, Lampeter Strasburg, East Petersburg and Manheim Central are average schools, but cocalico ephrata and hempfield have drug problems. Garden Spot, Warwick, Manheim Township, Lancaster Catholic, Lancaster Mennonite are the best public schools. catholic, mennonite and warwick have very high taxes. GSHS has the second lowest taxes in lanc. co. I have never heard of oral sex on a buses in lanc co and i have never heard of any shootings either. as for horse and buggies, eastern lancaster county has the most. western lancaster county has less. if people are unfriendly and you want to move. lititz, ephrata and the manheim TOWNSHIP area have the friendlist people. pump up my rep if this was helpful
Thanks for the info! So whats your opinion of the locals in Lancaster County accepting new comers , especially from places like NY or NJ? I personally have family who moved there from Long Island NY and they have the super heavy NY accent and all! They love it there and havent changed there ways to impress anybody. Now my family who did move there are very polite easy going people. They have said some locals were just plain out rude, worse then NY rude, but that could happen anywhere.
Just wondering how you see a New Yorker fitting in? Making friends and so on?
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhillyPhan
i just graduated from Garden Spot High School last year so i am up to date on all the schools in the area. Columbia, Twin Valley, Donegal, McCaskey and Solanco aren't the best schools, mostly because of underfunding and overcrowding. Cocalico, Ephrata, Penn Manor, Hempfield, Lampeter Strasburg, East Petersburg and Manheim Central are average schools, but cocalico ephrata and hempfield have drug problems. Garden Spot, Warwick, Manheim Township, Lancaster Catholic, Lancaster Mennonite are the best public schools. catholic, mennonite and warwick have very high taxes. GSHS has the second lowest taxes in lanc. co. I have never heard of oral sex on a buses in lanc co and i have never heard of any shootings either. as for horse and buggies, eastern lancaster county has the most. western lancaster county has less. if people are unfriendly and you want to move. lititz, ephrata and the manheim TOWNSHIP area have the friendlist people. pump up my rep if this was helpful
Thanks for that info! Lancaster County sounds like a nice place! How is the current real estate market doing there anyway? Sellers or buyers market?
Quote:
Originally Posted by LancasterCountyLocal
Okay, so I have never been on this thing til now, but I typed in Lancaster County and came across these message "boreds". After hearing all these people saying negative stuff about Lancaster, I knew I had to stick up for my people. So here is the reliable yet biased opinion on the outsiders negative comments.
Is Lancaster County a good place to live?
Yes, it's a wholesome county with friendly people and a laidback place to grow up. It can be boring if you are coming from a high paced area like NY or Philly. It's very Christian and conservative. The city is very poor and uneducated unfortunately. The education system is very good, but like anywhere could always improve, especially in the city. Property is hot here. Good luck finding a home in Millersville. It's expensive and hard to get. My friend moved to York though and with housing development you can find a place easy.
Is Lancaster diverse?
Most of Lancaster County is Pennsylvania German. Some are Amish, some are Mennonite, and some are me (an average American). The city is predominantly Latino. There are some African Americans as well. As far as racist (what people really want to know when they ask about diversity), Lancastrians are not racist for the most part. We are very ignorant and sometimes prejudice to other cultures though, so don't expect to have a conversation on Chilean wine or chapatis (Yeah, google that one). One thing that always confused me growing up was the popularity of the Rebel flag with the hicks. The KKK doesn't live here so don't worry about anything like that. There's a difference between being racist and just not having any concept of other cultures. We're friendly to everyone, but we just don't know what the difference is between a Mexican and a Puerto Rican.
Are Lancastrians unwelcoming to outsiders? (The Big Question)
Generally no. We aren't going to send you to the back of the bus if we find out your not from the area. We have a very distinct culture that makes it obvious who is an "outsider" (a term no Lancastrian has ever used). What we hate are New Yorkers and Jersey folk who come in just to see the leaves change and snap pictures of the Amish and then leave, yet have no concept or respect for our real local culture. To all you New Yorkers out there, how stupid are those tourists who come to New York snapping pictures and actually wearing an "I Heart New York" shirt? You know what I'm talkin' about. Also, please pronounce Lancaster as "Lank-ister". I don't know why we care, but we really care!
When you're a conservative white Christian from the country you are automatically branded backwards and racist. We're not going to apologize for being traditional, for going to church, for being German, or for being from an area that feeds America! The issue is that our farmlands are continously being turned into ugly developments or business districts. It's so sad as a local to say "That used to be a farm". Not to mention that so much crime is coming from people who moved to Lancaster City from Brooklyn or Philly. Sorry, but it's true.
As far as being unfriendly or as one doplic person termed us "white-washed sepulchres" (What an pretentious term to use!). It's not that we don't like outsiders, but we have our own culture that affects so much of our daily life. We eat pork and sauerkraut. We go to church. We buy food from the markets. We do not care that an Amish buggy just drove by. It's that mentality that as an "outsider" you won't understand. It's something that takes you to develop. Be who you are, because we are who we are and that ain't gonna change. Lancaster is not "Witness" and "Deliverance" rolled into one. The comments about us being nosey are beyond me. What I will admit to is that neighbors are not usually friends to us. I say that even though my best friends live across the street, my next door neighbor plows our snow, and my aunt lives a few houses down. There's a Lancaster community, but that doesn't mean my actual street hangs out with each other.
Who am I?
I'm a native from Lancaster. I am Pennsylvania German and proud of it. I was raised in Millersville, a college town outside the city. You probably are thinking that I'm some unfriendly redneck who couldn't locate Philly on a map, but the truth is that I'm a college graduate who went to Art school in Center City, Philadelphia. My best friends are Puerto Rican. My hobbies include international travel (21 countries total. Kenya, India, Greece, Costa Rica, Spain, Tanzania just to name a few). I'm currently packing my bags to teach English in Chile for four months. Yet somehow, I can be educated, multicultural, and worldly yet all the while I drive my truck to Green Dragon "chust" so I can get a Raub's sub from the Mennonite ladies and a pumpkin whoopie pie from the Amish while praising the Good Lord that I'm from Lancaster County!
Totally buyers market. If you can laugh at your accent, and tell them that you'll teach them "city English" you'll make a friend for life. Most people will start out the conversation with "you're not from around here" generally wanting to find out how you arrived here and then how you like it. If you ask them where they get their hair cut, they'll give you a whole story and a slew of options for where to get a haircut. We are friendly, open and hospitable for the most part. We don't like pushy people, aggressiveness is looked upon as ignorant and rude, and you don't speed through developments or parking lots. Slow down and enjoy the pace...don't try to spook the horses, tailgate the geriatrics, or push your way to the front of the line.
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Lancaster we need more info- Please!
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