Trip to Philly for possible relo from CHarlotte NC (Philadelphia: school districts, income)

[JenT]

So our family is traveling to Philly tomorrow to make a decision on relocating from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia this summer. My husband will be working in Newtown Square.

I have 4 boys, aged 12, 10, and twin 6 year old. We have lived in Charlotte, NC for over 15 years. My husband needs to be in PA full time or we still live in Charlotte and he travels 100%. Which is not ideal!! Soooooo this trip is to get our kids and me on board with moving.

Can anyone recommend places to visit, eat, and see that would make us fall in love with Philly. We are staying in Devon for 2 nights to be close to Newtown Square and then in the City for Friday and Saturday. I would like places that are unique, family oriented, and anything that will make us say yes this is for us!

[eliza61nyc]

My new favorite is the Museum of the American Revolution
Homepage | Museum of the American Revolution

The museum is cool and you can walk around the area and get great food.

Now understand that it's the tourist area, so it's not going to be a representative of living here but a lot of cool stuff is nearby (liberty bell, Penns landing, South street)

If he's working in Devon, I'd probably look closer to Devon to live. Unfortunately Philadelphia's school system sucks. that's going to be important with 4 boys. I love Philly but we actually moved to Jersey to raise our kids because of the bad schools and then moved back. lol

[narb06]

I’ve had a blast ice skating at blue cross river rink with my kids of similar ages. They also have games and snacks.

[rowhomecity]

Out in the suburbs check out these places!!

West Chester, PA (fairly close to Newtown Square)
Wayne, PA
Ardmore, PA
Chesnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA
Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA
AND MEDIA, PA (I highly recommend checking out this town)

Within Center City
Boathouse Row
Art Museum/Rocky Steps
Reading Terminal Market
Liberty Bell
Society Hill
Mural Arts Tour
Franklin Institute (this will be a kids favorite for sure!)
Liberty Observation Tower (Amazing views!)
Dilworth Park (ice skating)
Rittenhouse Square
Please Touch Musuem


With that. Southeast Pennsylvania is truly one of the highest ranked in the nation in terms of character, history, natural beauty and quality of life. The cost of living is going to be higher than NC, but Southeast PA also has one of the highest concentrations of top performing public schools in the nation.

Honestly to get a feel for the area I would make a priority to check out some of the suburban towns, many are walkable, have shops, restaurants and family friendly amenities.

Your husband working in Newtown Square, would make any of the western suburbs desirable anywhere ranging from West Chester to the Main Line to Media. (it really all varies on your price range). Enjoy!

[kyb01]

OP, you will be driving(are you driving?) through some miserable weather tomorrow. Snow, ice and rain. Just be aware of it.

[thedirtypirate]

Kids usually enjoy the Franklin Institute a lot. There’s an observation deck in Two Liberty Place also. Idk what it’s like right now, but Longwood Gardens is one of the nicest botanical gardens in the world.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by eliza61nyc

Unfortunately Philadelphia's school system sucks. that's going to be important with 4 boys. I love Philly but we actually moved to Jersey to raise our kids because of the bad schools and then moved back. lol

I don’t want to derail the thread because if the OP is coming from Charlotte, I’m pretty sure they are thinking suburbs anyway, especially with the dad working there.

But that being said, while Philadelphia public schools in general aren’t good, there are options (and growing ones) for people who really want to stay. Parents in greater Center City have some reasonable public/charter choices and are really starting to fill up and overwhelm schools – bolstering good ones and lifting up mediocre ones. As an example, I doubt parents of the Meredith, McCall, and Greenfield would agree with your assessment and probably wouldn’t appreciate the way you have framed your statement.

Please don’t bother replying back why it wasn’t a good or reasonable choice for you to stay because that is beside the point. I think your choice of moving to the ‘burbs is a perfectly sound choice that many people make. I’m just not sure it’s necessary to present your choice as the only correct one and your suggestion that living in the City means sending kids to bad schools. lol

[tall oaks]

Realistically, you could live in the Newtown Square area and rarely, if ever, venture into Center City Philadelphia. You might want to spend time exploring the burbs to get a sense of where you will be actually living instead. It's a 35-45 minute drive from Newtown Square to Center City, so to equate it to Charlotte, it would be like living in Gastonia, Lake Norman or just over the border in SC. That being said, there are a lot of kid friendly things to see/do in Philly (definitely Franklin Museum), but it won't be representative of living here full time unless you plan on schlepping them in on the weekends frequently.

[JenT]

@kyb01. So we will be flying.....hopefully getting there by noon.

And yes we will want to live within 30 min commute of Newtown. So exploring any areas in the burbs will be priority. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of townships, great schools, and areas close to Newtown Square.

@rowhomecity What parts would be considered Southeast PA??

Any good local kid friendly restaurants in burbs????

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by JenT

And yes we will want to live within 30 min commute of Newtown. So exploring any areas in the burbs will be priority. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of townships, great schools, and areas close to Newtown Square.

@rowhomecity What parts would be considered Southeast PA??

Any good local kid friendly restaurants in burbs????

Well the great thing about Newtown Square is it is centrally located within the western suburbs of Philadelphia so you have a wide variety of options to choose.

Southeast Pennsylvania is comprised of:

The City of Philadelphia and its surrounding counties: which include:

Bucks
Montgomery
Delaware
Chester


The City of Philadelphia by the media in many ways gets a bad rap; but Southeast PA is one of the most prosperous metro regions in the nation; in terms of public education, median income, history, amenities, character, and quality of life.

The metro is large, so it is understandable how it all can feel overwhelming, especially adopting to Pennsylvania's townships, boroughs and school districts (all aligned differently).


A few things to note: On terms of public schools, on a whole the region is blessed within every county and nearly every area surrounding Philadelphia with excellent public school systems, so this should be little worry to you, especially the areas around Newtown Square.


Newtown Square is central to many great suburban areas:

The 3 most notable in no particular order:

West Chester, PA
Media & Swarthmore, PA
The Main Line


Each of these areas are absolutely beautiful and should offer you something at multiple price points, and given your time visiting in the suburbs is short, I would focus in on these areas.

Most specifically: I provided the link in blue for some more information.

1) West Chester West Chester - Towns of the Philadelphia Countryside — visitphilly.com
2) The Main Line (Wayne and Ardmore) Ardmore - Towns of the Philadelphia Countryside — visitphilly.com and Wayne - Towns of the Philadelphia Countryside — visitphilly.com
3) Media and Swarthmore Media - Towns of the Philadelphia Countryside — visitphilly.com

Each of these places offer quaint walkable downtowns, with many family friendly shops and amenities, it really is just down to personal taste as to which you prefer, but all are easily accessible to Newtown Square.

I would start with the visitphilly websites I forwarded.

As far as food I would highly encourage you to explore Wayne, Ardmore, West Chester and Media during your suburban stays. There are kid friendly amenities in all 4 towns.

For simplicity and a staple of the region I would check out Iron Hill Brewery. Family friendly and approachable menu to a wide range of taste with locations I believe in all the towns I listed.