Nice Towns that are not Family-Oriented

[DailyJournalist]

How about Ambler?

Ambler - live | Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia

[Sassygirl18]

Thank you, Daily Journalist. We took a quick drive through Ambler recently and I put it on my places to check out again.

We liked Fort Washington a lot which is right next to Ambler. Do you have any thoughts about Fort Washington?

[subwayfan]

Originally Posted by Sassygirl18

I appreciate that you were not referring to me, and I agree that TracySam's tone was a bit provocative.

I am not looking for a place that's free of children. In fact, I like children. But I am hoping to find a town where EVERYTHING doesn't revolve around kids and "families" (although I consider my hubby, me and 3 cats a family, others don't). In other words, a town with a a nice mixture of different types of households - families with kids, seniors, singles, couples without kids, old and young. Where I am NOT looking to live is a place where 95% of the population is married couples with kids and only 5% is everyone else.

For example, I live in Cherry Hill, and Cherry Hill is all about families. Hey everyone on this board....if you have kids and want to live someplace with good schools that's all about families, move to Cherry Hill. As an example, the parks and rec brochure comes out every year in the spring, advertising all the town events and let me tell you that there is pretty much nothing in that brochure that is not geared toward kids, families with kids or seniors. Everyone else is pretty much ignored as though we don't exist.

I realize the best place for us in this regard would be to live in the city, but we're just not into city living. We like working there, we like hanging out there for dinner, live music, shows and other things, but living IN a city is just not really our style. We like to have space, cars, grass, trees, quiet, safety, windows on all sides of our house, etc.

And one final note...I don't subscribe to the idea that everyone should be childfree, and I respect each person's personal choice on how they want to live their life. But the fact is, our world is overpopulated, overheated, overpolluted and likely teetering on the egde of extinction, and most of this can be directly linked to too many people having too many kids, so I don't share the idea that we are all meant to reproduce. I think it's something that should be done thoughtfully and with restraint, and it should be looked at as something one chooses to do, but unfortunately that is not the case here in America as well as in the rest of the world. In most cases it's done reflexivly because it's what one is taught they are "supposed to do".

Just a question - do you live on the east side of town or west side?

The west side of town has a number of retail, dining (from chain to Indian, Malaysian) and entertainment options, including Cherry Hill Mall, AMC-Loews 24, Garden State Park, an excellent public library facility, and Cooper River is nearby as well. Also its minutes from Center City Philadelphia, and walkable Haddonfield. I could see one saying the east side of town, with bigger house lots which spread out more, being all about the schools, families, suburbia more.

[Sassygirl18]

I live on the west side. There's plenty to do in the area where I live and I actually LOVE where we live. We have an awesome house in a beautiful neighborhood. We're moving to escape the property taxes. If it wasn't for the taxes, we'd stay put. Having said that, even the west side of CH is too family-oriented for our tastes. Pretty much every single household is a married couple with kids and every community activity revolves around children or families with children. If I CAN find a place that has more diversity of household types (and more activities for a variety of types of households) I would prefer that.

[LauraMMaurer]

Sorry, Sassy - but it's been too long for me to recommend much. There's a real mix of home styles up around the hospital. Everything from little cape cods to lovely old brick singles...good luck!

[Sassygirl18]

Thanks Laura!

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by Sassygirl18

Thank you, Daily Journalist. We took a quick drive through Ambler recently and I put it on my places to check out again.

We liked Fort Washington a lot which is right next to Ambler. Do you have any thoughts about Fort Washington?

Fort Washington is nice, and pretty quiet. There's not much of a town at all, although as you know Ambler is nearby. So is Flourtown, and Chestnut Hill is close. The one thing that's weird about FW is that when you get off the Turnpike, there's really not much there. It could and should be more of a gateway-type area, but it's more of a hodge-podge of random businesses (banks, BMW dealership, 70's looking hotel and office buildings, etc.). Still, it sits in the Upper Dublin SD and has a relatively diverse (Jewish and Asian) population. It's also close to things, relatively speaking, without having all of the traffic and headaches right there.

[Sassygirl18]

BPP, we LOVE Fort Washington. What a beautiful area. I used to think of FW as a business area only but the residential sections are just beautiful.

[dancingbear]

Originally Posted by Sassygirl18

TracySam
I didn't choose not to have kids for the global warming/overpopulation reason either. I stated that fact because I think the idea that we are "meant to" reproduce is very dangerous as evidenced by the resulting damage to our planet. Maybe at one time it was important for every person to reproduce, but at this point in history, I think it would serve us all well if people scaled back a little.

As much as I like to dream, I have little faith in the human race to unite together for such an honorable cause. How depressing.

[bluemonday]

Originally Posted by LauraMMaurer

I lived in WC in the early to mid 80's and it was starting to experience a bit of a "comeback." It definitely has a small town vibe, is walkable, is a county seat and college town, so there is a good bit of activity and even some culture. Also, lots of different neighborhoods, so you have choices.

I have to agree....look into West Chester and Exton. Lots of adult-oriented activity here! Umm...that came out wrong, didn't it???