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All of those towns are a hike from Plainfield, honestly. I would look into North Stonington or Montville. Maybe even Preston.
The OP wants to live near the shore. North Stonington, Montville and Preston are not near the coast. Also the OP brought up Niantic which is a section of East Lyme. East Lyme is about 30 miles straight down I-385 from Plainfield so the commute would not be more than say 35 to 40 minutes. That is a lot closer than the other towns the OP mentioned (Old Saybrook and Essex). Jay
Hi,
My family and I are from Canton, CT. We recently moved to Naples, FL and LOVE it. But we might have to come back to CT for my husband's job. We are considering the shoreline since we have fallen in love with being near the ocean. If we have to come back to the snow and cold, at least we will be near the water. We liked the small town feel of Canton and running into people you know everywhere. The schools are excellent and we have lots for friends there. However, we would like to be close to the ocean, and have a little more to do and be closer to things. Traveling anywhere from Canton is a hike. The taxes have also skyrocketed and you do not get much in return.
We are considering Essex, Madison, Guilford, and Old Saybrook. I am not familiar at all with this area and we are trying to figure out the difference between the towns. Schools are the largest factor as we have a second grader. We also would like a place with a neighborhood feel and easy to meet other families similar to us, in our 40's, down to earth, family oriented, take pride in their homes, but not focused on keeping up with the Jone's and too materialistic. We also would like to live in place with a variety of things to do.
Does anyone have any information on the differences between these towns? Any suggestions/recommendations?
I would suggest Guilford for you. Madison can be pretentious and is somewhat far from amenities. Old Saybrook, while nice, is also far from amenities and is a big "second home" town, so the population swells in the summer. Essex is a gorgeous little town but is not on the sound - it's on the CT River.
Guilford has great schools and a nice downtown area. It's fairly close to amenities in Branford, East Haven, New Haven and North Haven.
I would suggest Guilford for you. Madison can be pretentious and is somewhat far from amenities. Old Saybrook, while nice, is also far from amenities and is a big "second home" town, so the population swells in the summer. Essex is a gorgeous little town but is not on the sound - it's on the CT River.
Guilford has great schools and a nice downtown area. It's fairly close to amenities in Branford, East Haven, New Haven and North Haven.
Old Saybrook is full of big box stores (Staples, Wal-Mart, Sleepy's, Kohl's, Marshall's, Home Goods, Ocean State Job Lot, as well as a Stop & Shop and Big Y) and has some pretty good local restaurants, and is also nicely placed between the outlet malls in Westbrook and Clinton and the other big box stores in Waterford. They do have a nice Main Street there.
Agree that Guilford would be a great choice.
I go to Madison fairly regularly and almost bought a home there 2 1/2 years ago and have never found it pretentious. I also like their Main Street quite a bit as well - very walkable with a lot of shops. I'd rate the Main Street in Madison and the green area of Guilford as a step up from Old Saybrook's Main Street.
In terms of schools & test scores, Madison & Guilford come out ahead of Old Saybrook and Essex. Though, Essex and Old Saybrook are good as well.
Essex, Chester & Deep River are all very nice towns that share a school system. However, as kidyankee said, they're not on Sound, but on the River. (A short trip to the Sound...)
Old Saybrook is full of big box stores (Staples, Wal-Mart, Sleepy's, Kohl's, Marshall's, Home Goods, Ocean State Job Lot, as well as a Stop & Shop and Big Y) and has some pretty good local restaurants, and is also nicely placed between the outlet malls in Westbrook and Clinton and the other big box stores in Waterford.
Other than a Home Depot or Lowe's, there really is not much lacking in Old Saybrook when you talk amenities unless you're talking about chain restaurants like Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, etc?
Plus, they have one of the lowest mill rates in the state.
Other than a Home Depot or Lowe's, there really is not much lacking in Old Saybrook when you talk amenities unless you're talking about chain restaurants like Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, etc?
Plus, they have one of the lowest mill rates in the state.
I would agree with the Guilford recommendation. It has an amazingly charming green/center, beautiful coast, but still feels like a really small New England town. It's also a short drive to Branford and New Haven for much more amenities and things to do.
The one area that Madison beats Guilford is beaches. It just has bigger/sandier beaches in comparison. Guilford's coast is more like Maine, lots of inlets and coves and a bit rockier.
what do you mean by amenities then? shopping? restaurants? beaches? family activities? pharmacies? good schools? walkable downtown? something else?
Variety of shopping. Sure, you can name a bunch of things Old Saybrook has, but you're pretty much limited to that unless you decide to drive several towns away for more. Where I currently live, I can take advantage of what Danbury and Norwalk have, and if I wanted to drive 30 minutes, that opens up Waterbury, Shelton, and the entire stretch from Bridgeport to Stamford.
Now that I've explained myself, can we agree to disagree?
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