[daveycrockett31]

Hello-

My wife has a job in Purchase, NY while I am considering a position in Hartford, CT.

We currently live in Manhattan and my wife has a pretty long commute out to Purchase (45 min out - 1-1.25 hours in), so a one hour commute is ok for her. I have a much shorter commute but that's because the job is in Manhattan.

Here is what I am trying to figure out:

1. Is there a town in CT that would give both of us roughly a one hour commute to our jobs? I am asking about a realistic, literally door-to-door commute via car. (note that my wife leaves the house at 6am in the morning currently)

2. Assuming (1) is realistic, is there a town that has a reasonable amount of good restaurants and shops? We like culture, but we are not the types to want to live in Greenwich.

3. Much less importantly, is the town appropriate for raising a family, assuming we had one which we don't?

Thank you very much for your help.

[brasscitybluenwhite]

You may want to look into Southbury, CT but it depends on wut ur lookin for specifically. Especially when u say "culture".

[jdhall1]

Greater Danbury would be a great spot for you.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by brasscitybluenwhite

You may want to look into Southbury, CT but it depends on wut ur lookin for specifically. Especially when u say "culture".

My thoughts exactly. Southbury sounds about perfect for the OP. Great schools, cheaper homes than Fairfield/Westchester County and decent culture. It's rural yet suburban and has excellent schools.

It is about 50 miles to Purchase and 42 to Hartford. Other towns to check out are Newtown and Bethel.

[MikefromCT]

Hamden might suit your needs. Just north of New Haven. It's just under an hour to Hartford, just over an hour to Westchester. You might want to check it out, they have a smallish downtown area with storefronts with some restaurants and stores. There's a bit of a college scene there with Quinnipiac Univeristy in town (where I did some grad work a few years back) but I wouldn't call it a college town. It's a decent town if you ever have kids. But it's a big town, very suburban, well-developed, lots of houses from the postwar era (1945 thru the 70s) if that's an issue. But what's nice about this is both I-91 (which leads into Hartford) and the Merritt Pkwy (which takes you to Westchester) are in this town. You might want to give it a look.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by MikefromCT

Hamden might suit your needs. Just north of New Haven. It's just under an hour to Hartford, just over an hour to Westchester. You might want to check it out, they have a smallish downtown area with storefronts with some restaurants and stores. There's a bit of a college scene there with Quinnipiac Univeristy in town (where I did some grad work a few years back) but I wouldn't call it a college town. It's a decent town if you ever have kids. But it's a big town, very suburban, well-developed, lots of houses from the postwar era (1945 thru the 70s) if that's an issue. But what's nice about this is both I-91 (which leads into Hartford) and the Merritt Pkwy (which takes you to Westchester) are in this town. You might want to give it a look.

I'd suggest Hamden if it weren't for the commute down the Merritt. It would be nothing short of a nightmare. 684 wouldn't be great either but it's better than the parkway IMO.

[daveycrockett31]

Thank you for your help.

Southbury looks like it is perfect. Can anyone give me some scoop on the town? Does it have a good downtown, I don't know anything about it.

Fyi, when I am talking about culture, I just mean some good restaurants which are diverse in choices (ie, not just italian or french or whatever...) and interesting (at least for my wife) shops. So you should surmise that we are yuppies. BUT we are not into scenes, or Chanel, or Gucci, etc., etc. I guess that I am asking for the probably impossible request of a reasonably upscale town that is not snobby and wouldn't pollute children with snobbiness (again, that is not the big consideration, we can always move).

Thanks again.

[JayCT]

Purchase is about 90 miles from Hartford. Halfway would be around Southbury which is a great small town with a lot of nice homes, stores and restaurants. It is a bit rural in character though so be prepred for a big change from Manhattan or even Greenwich.

You might also consider neighboring Woodbury, Middlebury and Newtown. All have very good schools and would be a great place to raise a family. The link below will give you information on schools. Generally I look for a town that performs above the state average on the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance tests and the has class sizes around 20 students or less. You do not mention price or what you would be looking for in size. that may help narrow down your choices though the towns mentioned above are not too expensive by New York standards. I hope this helps. Jay

[JayCT]

Forgot to add the links:

Strategic School Profiles by District

Strategic School Profiles by School

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by daveycrockett31

Thank you for your help.

Southbury looks like it is perfect. Can anyone give me some scoop on the town? Does it have a good downtown, I don't know anything about it.

Fyi, when I am talking about culture, I just mean some good restaurants which are diverse in choices (ie, not just italian or french or whatever...) and interesting (at least for my wife) shops. So you should surmise that we are yuppies. BUT we are not into scenes, or Chanel, or Gucci, etc., etc. I guess that I am asking for the probably impossible request of a reasonably upscale town that is not snobby and wouldn't pollute children with snobbiness (again, that is not the big consideration, we can always move).

Thanks again.

Southbury doesn't have the traditional downtown that many, more urbanized CT towns have. It is a suburban downtown with plazas, but it is walkable with sidewalks, even though it's over 2 miles long. There are grocery stores, banks, drugstores, clothing stores (mostly upscale), schools, town services, restaurants and a big Kmart - one of the few that haven't closed.

Southbury can be yuppie, but not snobby. People there are down to earth and don't hold that Fairfield County elitism that many areas have. Basically in Fairfield County, you pay for the zip code. In towns like Southbury, you pay for relaxation. I'd call Southbury a preppy town.

As for restaurants, there are Italian (try DePalmas), Mexican (try Senor Panchos), Chinese (try Empire Sezchuan or Main Moon), burger joints (Denmos has awesome American food), bagel/coffee shops (try the European Shoppe), etc. Not many chains, either.

I've always found Southbury to have a remote feel, while being so close to everything. Closest big box shopping is in Danbury at Exit 7 or in Waterbury.

Also take the school rankings with a grain of salt. Standardized testing is only a fraction of what a good school district is all about. Region 15 (Southbury/Middlebury) is excellent, btw.