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I don't live in town but I have lived in the area for 15 years. I'm not active in the community and do not have firsthand experience with the schools. However, all of our friends' kids attended Ned schools, some friends are/were teachers. I've not heard any complaints.
Many of our neighbors telecommute -- my husband did for 8 years. We're all on wireless in our area except for those who went to the expense of getting a T1 line. Nednet is very reliable. We get 7-10 Mbps.
To the Long Island posters (I'm a former Islander as well) -- not sure if you are still considering your move to Boulder/Nederland, but another possibility for you might be the areas of Southwest Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, or up Ute Pass. I moved to Southwest Co. Springs a year ago, and although Co. Springs itself has a reputation of being a highly religious and conservative small city, I find there are plenty of niches for liberals and 'hippie types' as well. Manitou Springs is especially similar to Nederland and is called "Little Boulder". Housing prices are fairly high there and there is not much land--but the nearby areas up Ute Pass (Cascade, Chipita Park) offer a lot more. The Broadmoor area may be more your taste coming from Long Island and your wife liking tennis and all. What I like about it here is that we are right IN the mountains. A short drive away is Pikes Peak, hiking trails, etc. and the mountain scenery is everywhere. I don't think I would want to live in or near Boulder... too crowded, too expensive, and just not very authentic. I have come to really appreciate living here and do think it's one of the best kept secrets...
I lived in Nederland for a year while in college to see if I'd like to buy there and yes the winds are terrible, plus the weather is more severe than in Boulder. I went to school to be a teacher and think the Boulder school system is pretty good. That's how it goes, the best teachers get to teach in the best areas and since the kids aren't all traumatized they respond to the new teaching methods. The parents in Boulder do a good job raising their kids, they are polite and well spoken, you just have to watch out for the drug culture which is idealized there because of the hippy past. There's an area north of town near the mountains that's beautiful. Google map it, it's very woodsy and their seemed to be houses needing work, a lot of people keep them as vacation homes. Good luck
We lived in Nederland back in 1961-62, in a small stone house about a mile outside of town on what is now route 72/119. At the time, it was just a tiny town in the mountains, population about 360, with a number of refugees from Hungary as the most recent residents. Horses and cattle used to pass through it in September on their way down from the high meadows where they spent the summer, and there were corrals and holding pens for them down by the reservoir. Eldora was essentially a ghost town with a few artsy folks living there in the summer. I don't think the road was even plowed in the winter.
I was only 11-12 at the time, but still have very good memories of the place. I heard that it became something of a counterculture haven in the late '60s and 70s. So what is the town like these days?
My apologies for reviving an old thread, but a mod moved my question here, not me. Most forums I visit disapprove of necro threads. I wasn't aware that it's ok here.
Hi Coaster. I've lived in the area for 15 years. Ned has had a reputation as a "hippie" enclave but that is not so much the vibe these days.
Some consider it a mountain "suburb" of Boulder. Many Boulder residents moved up here to escape the "Californication" of Boulder. It is an easy commute for those who work there. Many people telecommute. We moved here to be closer to the skiing and hiking that we do every weekend.
The population in town is around 1500 and the surrounding areas have another estimated 4,000 residents. I think you would be very surprised to see how much of the area has been built up. (You can go on Google Earth and see for yourself.)
If you were to come this weekend during the Frozen Dead Guy festival you'd see the town swell to (an estimated) 10,000 people.
The Nederland website will give you a look into how the town presents itself: Living in Nederland There are 2 gas stations, a grocery store and co-op, a beautiful new library, a few coffee shops, several good restaurants and bars and a wonderful restored carousel. And there are sidewalks along part of busy 72/119!
The town itself has some crazy politics and nonsense that often makes the news. It has become a stopover for people on their way to Rocky Mountain National Park or the casinos in Black Hawk/Central City. In the fall, the Peak to Peak Hwy can often be jammed with cars for a very popular leaf peeping drive.
No more horses or cattle passing through town but we do have moose and elk that occasionally make an appearance.
From a local's viewpoint, it is still a very nice place to live.
We lived in Nederland back in 1961-62, in a small stone house about a mile outside of town on what is now route 72/119. At the time, it was just a tiny town in the mountains, population about 360, with a number of refugees from Hungary as the most recent residents. Horses and cattle used to pass through it in September on their way down from the high meadows where they spent the summer, and there were corrals and holding pens for them down by the reservoir. Eldora was essentially a ghost town with a few artsy folks living there in the summer. I don't think the road was even plowed in the winter.
I was only 11-12 at the time, but still have very good memories of the place. I heard that it became something of a counterculture haven in the late '60s and 70s. So what is the town like these days?
What a cool post. I am very thankful you stopped by and gave some insight into what Ned used to be.
Neditate, thanks a ton for your up-to-date info as well.
I don't live in ned but I like it and visit every weekend. I decided not to live there because I don't like the drive in the winter. I feel like I'm hanging on for dear life sliding down a mountain in the snow...even in a Subaru with an experienced driver.
Anyway, if it wasn't for the intimidating drives I'd live there. In my experience, rich is the vibe of Ned, not alternative anymore. Sorry to be so blunt, but there are very, very few people who are anything even remotely close to hippies in Nederland. Fewer still subscribe to a low key, anti-consumer lifestyle. Most people in town seem to have upper middle class type AWD vehicles and very fancy "mountain" clothing.
In my experience, it's a lot of incredible independent wealth, lotta trust fund kids, some "normal" people with "normal jobs (in my experience these residents tend to be left of center and politically active, but not hippies or anti-consumerism or anything close).
If my posts give a vibe of minor disappointment, that would be a fair reflection. I still love Ned but it's not what it was even five years ago culturally in my experience.
The only thing I sorta don't agree with (but kinda do still heh) in neditates post is her assertion that many Nederland residents left for the mountains to escape California-related issues in Boulder. From my perspective, I associate the "California invasion" with consumerism to the point where it rivals LA, all wrapped up in this fake, pseudo hipster/intellectual trust fund character. Rich trust fund kids with no job (or even family trust fund people with no job), in my experience, seems to be much more prevalent in Ned than in Boulder.
Last edited by boulderduder; 03-01-2012 at 06:11 PM..
The only thing I sorta don't agree with (but kinda do still heh) in neditates post is her assertion that many Nederland residents left for the mountains to escape California-related issues in Boulder. From my perspective, I associate the "California invasion" with consumerism to the point where it rivals LA, all wrapped up in this fake, pseudo hipster/intellectual trust fund character. Rich trust fund kids with no job (or even family trust fund people with no job), in my experience, seems to be much more prevalent in Ned than in Boulder.
You have a very different perspective as a visitor than I do as a resident. No doubt there are some wealthy folks around here. But to assert that the rich trust fund kids are more prevalent here is ... "Rich is the vibe of Ned" did make me laugh out loud.
Where do you meet these people?
My "assertion" comes from living here for 15 years, meeting hundreds of people and learning about how and why they came to live here. Quite a few of them are former Boulder residents. Some are Californians who did not desire the Boulder lifestyle, and had no interest in bringing their California way of life here. Many of them have lived here 25+ years.
I certainly can't claim to have met every person who lives here but all of the people I know work very hard for a living and are just trying to make ends meet. The one very wealthy person I know keeps a low profile, drives a beat up truck and dresses like a cowboy. You'd never know.
If you check out the parking lot at the B&F most of the cars are old Subarus and trucks. They are the residents. I drive a 10 year old Jeep, I go to the post office and store in my sweats and most of my friends and neighbors do the same.
I would venture a guess that the "upper middle class type AWD vehicles and very fancy 'mountain clothing"' you describe are visitors/people passing through on their way to somewhere else. Shiny clean expensive cars and expensive clothing SCREAM tourist to me. I've had to "coach" friends and family from other parts of the country that makeup, heels and "fancy" clothes are entirely inappropriate here.
Thank you all for the information. I saw on Google Earth that there are a LOT more roads and streets around Nederland than when I lived there, especially above the reservoir on the south side. That was all undeveloped timberland when I was there. There was a swimming hole on the road along the reservoir, opposite the reservoir itself, where all the local kids would go swimming. Gerhardt Ryplewski and Timmy Geatske and I would ride our bikes down there almost every day in the summer. (I'm sure I've misspelled their names. My apologies if they read this.)
We used to go up into the higher elevations in the fall and "kick stumps" to use as firewood for our fireplace. The trees had been cut many years before, I assume by logging companies, and the old stumps could be kicked out of the thin soil and collected for firewood. We moved there on September 1, 1961, and got our first six inches of snow on September 3. It all melted by the time school started on September 5. I still remember clear sunny days when we would get two or three inches of snow that would blow off the high peaks -- the Arapahos, I think we called them.
We lived just before the turnoff for Eldora, about 100 feet inside the 1-mile line, so we had to walk to school every day. Some days I went in on skis. As I recall, my 6th grade teacher was named Mrs. Tanner. In the spring the chinook winds roared down the mountains hard enough to blow you over if you weren't careful.
My father worked at Ball Brothers down in Boulder in their shipping and receiving department. They built satellites, as I recall. One Saturday he took me down with him and showed me a satellite that was being built inside a "clean room." He said he could shift into neutral at the reservoir and coast all the way down the canyon into Boulder.
There was a tiny community of small houses at the foot of the dam. I can't remember what it was called now, but it was named after a mineral that was mined up there for a while.
Thanks for returning and reminiscing about the "old days". It is fun to read. The area south of the reservoir is known as Big Springs. The community at the foot of the dam was Tungsten, a "ghost town" now: Tungsten - Colorado Ghost Town
There are remnants of the Tungstenmill of the WolfTongueMiningCo. in town.
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What is Nederland like these days?
It has become a stopover for people on their way to Rocky Mountain National Park or the casinos in Black Hawk/Central City. In the fall, the Peak to Peak Hwy can often be jammed with cars for a very popular leaf peeping drive.
"Rich is the vibe of Ned" did make me laugh out loud.
