[lukedaddy]

What's the low down on Barre, VT? How are the schools?

[VTeratheart]

Yuck. Barre schools are not great, and the town/city is riddled with drugs and lote of other crimes. There's a reason the real estate is cheap...do not move to Barre.

[lukedaddy]

Wow. What about Montpelier?

[chaz longue]

...Montpelier on the other hand, is quite charming. A bit small a town for me personally, but a very nice one.

The only State Capitol in the nation without a McDonalds, it has a nice downtown with various businesses restaurants and shops. The folks in town for the part time "citizen legislature", and the people who work in town and live there, make for a nice mix. There are several nice places to have coffee, and/or eat a nice meal fairly inexpensively. There's also a terrific little art house cinema which people visit from miles around, and another little movie house, which shows typical fare.

There are several good reasons to VISIT Barre - and it's right down the road from Montpelier, a town I'd find it much more attractive to live in.

You've seen this, right, Lukedaddy?
http://crs.uvm.edu
http://crs.uvm.edu/schlrpt/

[VTeratheart]

Sorry, that was a little harsh about Barre, but I wanted to make sure you knew about some of its problems. A little background~my FIL grew up in Barre and has old friends and family there. He also owns a thriving business there and his customers like the hometown feel of one of their own running such a great business. Anyway, while we visit fairly often (they don't live in Barre, just his shop is there) we would never live there. Barre town is a bit nicer than the city, but it's just not very nice overall. Montpelier is cute, though, but expensive. Most of the little shops and boutiques are unique and therefore expensive. Real estate is pricey, too, schools are good.

[chaz longue]

There are presently 9 single family home and condos on the market in Montpelier offered for $215,000 or less. One of them's a fixer upper offered for $130,000 with more than 1800 sq ft. One (a 4 day old listing) is a 3 br 2 ba 1498 sq ft Condo with a garage, private garden, etc on a cul de sac, which the LA says is in "meticulous" condition. This is fun - One of the listings has an aerial photo right in the MLS. I love Montpelier...

[New in Vermont]

Could someone who lives/has lived in Barre give me the scoop here? I've lived here 2 months and hear lots of negatives, but when I ask for more info it turns out the person doesn't and has never lived in Barre! It's much nicer here than where I moved from, and most of my neighbors are friendly. What advice does a hometown person have for a new resident?

[MRVphotog]

I don't live in Barre but I lived in Montpelier and still live nearby. As others have pointed out it is a blue collar economically depressed city built on the granite industry. The city and it's residents are working hard to improve things regarding the downtown area.

I think the granite industry is fascinating. It attracted amazng sculptors from Italy and other places to shape the stone so the city has a rich and diverse community. Due to some of the other big companies downsizing, Bombardier, for example, Barre is currently economically depressed. As it was pointed out it's housing is on the low end as far as value when compared to some of the other cities of it's size. I know plenty of people that have high hopes for Barre and like living there.

The way the community supports the About The Vermont Frost Heaves, American Basketball Association, ABA, Barre, Vermont shows that Barre community spirit does exist, at least in my mind.

I have subscribed to the Barre/Montpelier paper for years and read often positive things about Barre.

Don't put alot of weight what people's opinion is, whether they live there or not. You live there.....what has been your experience so far?

[68vette]

I don't live in Barre myself, but my children go to school there. The elementary and middle school are not that bad, but there are big issues with the high school. I have several friends who went to school there as well and it hasn't improved over the years. My ex wife lives in Barre now, but will be moving soon so our children won't have to go to high school there. People seem friendly enough and I have never had any issues with anyone when I have been there. It's a working class town as mentioned previous.

If you don't have kids then I feel it's a good town to live in if that's what you can afford. If you have children I would choose another place to live.

[New in Vermont]

Thank you for the input. My husband and I have no children, so schools were not a consideration for us. We've lived in large metropolitan areas (with violent crime) and a medium sized college town (with plenty of petty crime), and Barre has been a nice change.

We're close to downtown and bought a beautiful big Victorian that we could not have afforded anyplace else. It's nice to be able to walk to shops and restaurants. I only wish there were more jobs available in town! Being huge basketball fans (lived in the midwest for 20 years), we are looking forward to watching the Frost Heaves this winter!