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I have a job interview in Cumberland,MD.
Can anyone please tell me a little something about this town.
Cost of living,things to do,econemy,safe town or not?
Geez, I wish I could get a job in Cumberland.
Allagany County, Md is beautiful. I bike up there regularly and visit the canal and square. We have friends who teach at Frostburg State University up the road. The are involved in the arts council and take advantage of the bike trails parks, historic sites, and blossoming downtown in Cumberland. It is a work in progress. They love their quality of life.
Good luck and enjoy! Just so you know a county or two down the schools are known as so so and the kids are doing a lot of great things. There is a niche for everyone. I do agree, there are some good private schools to investigate, like Bishop Walsh Catholic School. Like any town, there are sections more supportive of family life.The West and South side are where I have friends and they are quite happy. Every town can be welcoming, there are pockets of old and new attitudes anywhere. I have found the closer I am to the hub of the main town is where I have found a broader appeal.
Ideally, we would of liked to live in Allagany or Garrett County. We live an hour down form Cumberland. After six months, my family and I had a good idea where our comfort zone was. We enjoyed the charm of the area and also learned to handle the challenges. We have found a good niche in our community. We were newcomers to Maryland. The pace is different in Western Maryland, that is the appeal. While we are not that far West, we had to adjust and get comfortable. It is a beautiful area.
My husband has finally officially taken the job in Cumberland after a couple of months and we will be moving very quickly. We took a trip there the first week of December and loved Cumberland. The scenery is breathtaking and it's historic preservation really astonished me. Downtown was definitely a trip into a postcard, as far as anything I've ever seen! The people we encountered were very welcoming and informative and we feel like we could definitely make it home. Mark's Daily Grind quickly became my favorite place and I could do some serious financial damage at Monkey Business boutique. We walked all around the Washington Street area and loved watching the Western Maryland Scenic Rail come in town. None of the tons of pictures we took do it any justice. There is nothing like this place anywhere near where we've ever lived and we are looking forward to all the outdoor activities the area has to offer, especially the ski resorts, and seeing all the places relatively nearby, like DC and New York. We were accommodated at the Rocky Gap Lodge and it was warm and beautiful, especially with a fresh snow on the ground. Thanks to GPS we found our way around pretty well.
We are truly excited about it and are desperately looking for a place to live. We would like to avoid a second move after renting and go ahead and buy a place, but can't seem to decide whether to buy something a few minutes out on a little more land or to buy a larger historical home on the west side not far from downtown (my hope, anyway) Any advice is clearly appreciated. We love the home for sale on Saratoga (any opinions?) Or maybe one on Iron's Mountain Road?, possibly Ridgeway Terrace although we didn't make it up that street while we were there?? We loved an old farmhouse set back off Bedford Rd NE where it splits and leads to 220, but not sure the sound of 220 would be an issue?
Hope to meet some of you when we get settled in.
My husband has finally officially taken the job in Cumberland after a couple of months and we will be moving very quickly. We took a trip there the first week of December and loved Cumberland. The scenery is breathtaking and it's historic preservation really astonished me. Downtown was definitely a trip into a postcard, as far as anything I've ever seen! The people we encountered were very welcoming and informative and we feel like we could definitely make it home. Mark's Daily Grind quickly became my favorite place and I could do some serious financial damage at Monkey Business boutique. We walked all around the Washington Street area and loved watching the Western Maryland Scenic Rail come in town. None of the tons of pictures we took do it any justice. There is nothing like this place anywhere near where we've ever lived and we are looking forward to all the outdoor activities the area has to offer, especially the ski resorts, and seeing all the places relatively nearby, like DC and New York. We were accommodated at the Rocky Gap Lodge and it was warm and beautiful, especially with a fresh snow on the ground. Thanks to GPS we found our way around pretty well.
We are truly excited about it and are desperately looking for a place to live. We would like to avoid a second move after renting and go ahead and buy a place, but can't seem to decide whether to buy something a few minutes out on a little more land or to buy a larger historical home on the west side not far from downtown (my hope, anyway) Any advice is clearly appreciated. We love the home for sale on Saratoga (any opinions?) Or maybe one on Iron's Mountain Road?, possibly Ridgeway Terrace although we didn't make it up that street while we were there?? We loved an old farmhouse set back off Bedford Rd NE where it splits and leads to 220, but not sure the sound of 220 would be an issue?
Hope to meet some of you when we get settled in.
Wow, congratulations! My wife and I are trying to move to Cumberland as well, but finding a job has been the hard part.
I can't speak for what you and your husband are looking for, but one of the things that attracted us to Cumberland was the chance to live in a compact, walkable city that's actually safe to walk around in. So if I was making the choice, I would say stay in the city.
Congrats girl-on-the-go. I am glad you liked the area. I think any of your housing options will work out well. Just take some time figuring out what you want, and then some time researching what ever neighborhood/area you decide on. Feel free to ask me any questions you have.
I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in about Cumberland. I lived there for a year because I was completing an internship in the schools. Cumberland is a nice, small town. It just depends on what you like to do. Shopping isn't that great, but Altoona PA, Hagerstown MD, and Morgantown WV all have some decent shopping and they're each about an hour away. I actually rented a house on Saratoga St. We loved living on that street. It was quiet and the neighbors were nice. There was a house up for sale on that street when we left in August, so if it's the same one you're talking about, it looked really nice from the outside. Saratoga is a nice street and a nice part of town. It's on the westside of Cumberland. The only slight issue we had with Saratoga St. is that one of the high schools is basically right up the street and when there were events or football games, we'd have a hard time finding a place to park (we had on-street parking). But it wasn't a major problem. In the mornings and in the afternoons there was more traffic than usual due to school letting in and out. Other than that, we had no problems on Saratoga. By the way, real estate is cheap there. We rented a 3 BR, 1.5 bath house for $450/month! Now we live south of DC and are paying $1500/month...so it's a huge adjustment! Good luck with the house hunt and move!
I've found this thread helpful. My wife and I lived out in Oregon and Colorado for many years and moved back to our native central PA some time ago and have been itching to leave ever since. The lack of culture and things to do as well as the depressed economy sucks the life out of artistic entrepreneurs such as us. It's time to roll.....
So, we've searched and searched and really like what we see in Cumberland. We'll be making a trip to check it out in person soon.
I'm curious about the seasons. I'm an avid gardener and very much despise the short growing season up north. When do people start planting down there and about when do the gardens start to die in the fall?
Also, the arts scene is very important to us. We both played in a progressive funk band and were involved in festival and live music promotion in Oregon and CO. Are there such opportunities to get involved there? Is there original music or is it all "cover bands" like we have up here in PA.
I'd about kill to see a great funky jazz combo and slam down some real high-tension coffee drinks now and then up here. If it's not Skynard or Def Leppard these folks have no interest!
Lastly, we're both entrepreneurs. My wife is a recently - graduated Licensed Massage Therapist and is quite talented. Myself, I'm a multimedia fellow. I make documentary films, TV shows, educate young people on new media technologies such as digital video making, DVD, and web authoring and I also have a career education program and website project too. I do marketing, tourism, economic development, education... you name it.
I was looking online and couldn't find any massage therapist or professional video production businesses which could be good or bad. It could mean that maybe someone simply hasn't filled the hole in these fields yet, or it could mean that the community simply won't sustain such a business.
Your thoughts on this and the general business climate for folks like us would be most helpful.
And renting a nice old home is our speed, no doubt. We don't want to mess with buying until we're settled in. Where would one look to browse for rental properties and is it common to find a nice old house for rent out in the country side? I LOVE to garden, remember???
Any advice and thoughts you can offer on my long-winded post would be most appreciated.
1. Gardening season all has to do with elevation. If you live up in Frostburg or on a ridge top you will have a short growing season. If you live in Cumberland or in some other valley your season will be longer.
2. Job prosects. There certainly are massage therapists in Cumberland. I wouldn't say anybody is getting rich off of it, but there are some private practioners and some employed at gyms or in the Rocky Gap Lodge. As for the Multi-media stuff, there isn't very much business or job openings around town. If you are willing to work from home and seek cliants from the metro areas you can do OK, or wait for a job with the newpaper or some small private firm comes open.
3. The arts scene. Cumberland does have a downtown art season. Some bands, some art galleries, some artsy type people, etc. I wouldn't go so far to compare it to anywhere in the West. Most of the people in Cumberland are rather conservative, blue collar people.
Visit and see what you think. I would probably say Cumberland is similar to Altoona and Johnstown in your state, but with more investment from metro areas.
I've found this thread helpful. My wife and I lived out in Oregon and Colorado for many years and moved back to our native central PA some time ago and have been itching to leave ever since. The lack of culture and things to do as well as the depressed economy sucks the life out of artistic entrepreneurs such as us. It's time to roll.....
So, we've searched and searched and really like what we see in Cumberland. We'll be making a trip to check it out in person soon.
I'm curious about the seasons. I'm an avid gardener and very much despise the short growing season up north. When do people start planting down there and about when do the gardens start to die in the fall?
Also, the arts scene is very important to us. We both played in a progressive funk band and were involved in festival and live music promotion in Oregon and CO. Are there such opportunities to get involved there? Is there original music or is it all "cover bands" like we have up here in PA.
I'd about kill to see a great funky jazz combo and slam down some real high-tension coffee drinks now and then up here. If it's not Skynard or Def Leppard these folks have no interest!
Lastly, we're both entrepreneurs. My wife is a recently - graduated Licensed Massage Therapist and is quite talented. Myself, I'm a multimedia fellow. I make documentary films, TV shows, educate young people on new media technologies such as digital video making, DVD, and web authoring and I also have a career education program and website project too. I do marketing, tourism, economic development, education... you name it.
I was looking online and couldn't find any massage therapist or professional video production businesses which could be good or bad. It could mean that maybe someone simply hasn't filled the hole in these fields yet, or it could mean that the community simply won't sustain such a business.
Your thoughts on this and the general business climate for folks like us would be most helpful.
And renting a nice old home is our speed, no doubt. We don't want to mess with buying until we're settled in. Where would one look to browse for rental properties and is it common to find a nice old house for rent out in the country side? I LOVE to garden, remember???
Any advice and thoughts you can offer on my long-winded post would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
I, too want to move to Cumberland. As to gardening in the area, the best way to increase your gardening fun is to start plants indoors ahead of schedule. One of the main reasons I want to move back to the north is because the plants that grow there do not grow in the south and visa versa. I love lilacs and peonies and they do not grow in the south. Shrubbery with blooms have a stronger scent in areas where they are supported by a cold winter...well to me they do. I am currently growing a lilac bush in my apartment because it is March 6th and already nearly too hot to put it outside. It is full of lovely scented flower clusters already. I have 6 other types of flowers in their seedling stage. I wish I could get to Cumberland sooner but I have to wait for my portfolio to build more. Living in Charleston SC, I'd like to see what we have here...up there. Lots of window boxes packed with wave petunias, asparagus ferns and ivy. So, now I'm rambling. Good luck with your quest.
Several people have emailed me about our move to Cumberland so I thought I'd post some of my thoughts about it here...
We moved here to Cumberland back at the end of February. We lived at the Rocky Gap for almost 6 weeks while we looked for a house. We finally bought a house and we are really enjoying it here. We have met many great friendly people. Funny, we've met people from all over the place here, even Texas, and so many suprisingly have never lived outside of Cumberland. We love the small town atmosphere where life moves at a bit of a slower pace than it did in the big city, but not so slow that there's nothing to do. Cumberland has great arts and theater programs and there is always something interesting to see or do nearly every weekend. The art galleries often have great shows and the theater's have started their fall programs, "the Glass Menagerie" at the Cumberland Theatre was great! The summer was fun with their Friday after five program downtown, there were many great bands, definitely something for everyone. We have visited many surrounding areas and love that Cumberland is only 2 hours from so many great places when you need a big city fix, like Pittsburgh and DC. My only real complaint is the massive lack of shopping, but their are several great small boutiques and we did finally get the Khol's everyone talked about for months. I love the architecture here, the old houses have so much character and genuine charm, something we weren't used to in Texas, so that's been neat for us. I've met people that hate it here and people that love it, I think it just always depends on your perspective no matter where you live. We have moved a lot and this is definitely one of our favorite places, hopefully we'll settle here for awhile. If you're single, other than Red's Bar, the nightlife type atmosphere is terrible, but for us as a family with small children, we seem to fit well here. There are some great businesses downtown like the M&M bakery and Mark's Daily Grind's coffee is my favorite place to go; the downtown mall is great to check out when they have the Thursday farmer's markets and music on the weekends, of course things are kind of slowing down now that winter is coming and it's getting cold. It's funny, you definitely notice when it's cold out because all the people here kind of disappear, so don't be surprised if you visit sometime soon and it seems ghost-town like downtown. But we are all getting ready for some great fall and Halloween events going on, like the downtown costume parade and the first annual Halloween ball at the Windsor Hall. We love the bands that the Kaufman's bring in to the Windsor Hall. We always look forward to those events.
There are a few good places to eat but not many. we love City Lights downtown and Ginger's Asian Cafe in LaVale is our favorite by far. Cumberland definitely still shows signs of some economic depression, but that also depends on your personal situation and perspective. There are many poor areas and you definitely have to be careful where you buy a home and where you live. There are some scary areas but mostly great neighborhoods. You'll figure that out just by driving around town. We wanted to renovate one of the older homes and I couldn't stand the 1960's-70's style homes in some of the newer areas like LaVale and BelAir so we bought on the west side and love it, we have so many great neighbors and they seem to take better care of most the homes in that area. We always have some project going on in the house, but we love it enough to put the time, money and effort into it. It is beautiful here in the Appalachians and we can't wait to start ski season out at the Wisp Resort at Deep Creek about an hour from here. Deep Creek is one of our many favorite places to go, the lake is beautiful and the community has many things to do. Really, I think for a small town, Cumberland does a great job making Cumberland a great small town, of course, my husband has a great job here and obviously, you're experience of life anywhere is always going to be different depending on your financial situation. But most of the entertainment especially through the summer, was free to the public. And If you like to stay active outdoors, this is the place to be. The Allegany trail is always busy with bikers and walkers, I like to run and we love to go kayaking on the Potomac. You definitely must take a Western Maryland Scenic rail trip to Frostburg on the steam train while the leaves have changed colors, it is unbelievably beautiful right now and definitely nostalgic! Overall, we've had a great experience here.
If you have any other questions, I'd be glad to help if I can.
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Allagany County, Md is beautiful. I bike up there regularly and visit the canal and square. We have friends who teach at Frostburg State University up the road. The are involved in the arts council and take advantage of the bike trails parks, historic sites, and blossoming downtown in Cumberland. It is a work in progress. They love their quality of life.
finally moving
