Nice Towns for a “crunchy granola” single female within 1 hour commute to Boston (Newton: section 8)

[QuietGal]

I’m a 49 years old “crunchy granola” gal, with a disability. Looking to move from Boston, prefer a small town feel, less hustle-bustle, preferably cleaner air. I have a section 8 voucher for a 2 Bedroom, and I prefer a single family, a cottage, duplex or 2-family, since I have chemical sensitivity.

Any towns you can recommend that have:

- Nice places to walk – parks or walking trails or by water, such as rivers/lakes/ocean.
- Easy access to a natural foods grocery store, like a Whole Foods
- Open to outsiders
- has some diversity or open to other cultures/people of color
- Things to do nearby to meet others (I like yoga/meditation/the arts/walking/healthy restaurants)
- Accessible to the ADA Ride service to visit Boston, I prefer if it’s accessible to public transportation so I’m not reliant on the Ride to get around town and to go to Boston.
- I would like to run errands/shop and not have to walk down a highway or go to a mall.
- I prefer that it be within 1 hour or about 1 hour commute into Boston

So far, I will start looking in Waltham and Newton. Beverly seems nice. Any suggestions or input. Thanks in advance for your help! I’m having hand pain & pc problems.

QuietGal

[Gilly13]

Salem

[ogre]

Agree with Gilly13. Salem is the first town I thought of that might have some significant crunchy population within an hour of Boston. These places may be pushing the limits on your preferred travel time to Boston, but you might also check out Rockport and Newburyport. Just be aware that I'm not highly familiar with either town, so I don't know how well either would fit with all the details of what you're looking for. I'm thinking of both towns' general reputations--for example, Rockport is known to have some artsy types among the populace--and thinking that they could be places where a granola sort of gal might be comfortable with the vibe. That's tricky, though, because the places in MA that come to mind first when I think "crunchy" are well outside the Boston metro area, such as in the Northampton area in western MA.

Regarding Waltham and Newton, since you said you're looking at those towns, how good a fit either would be may depend in part on how much you'd really like to have a noticeably crunchy, artist, Mother Earth, etc., kind of vibe where you'd live, as opposed to emphasizing your more practical kinds of preferences, like public transit, natural foods stores, and the like. I'm not sure about what either Waltham or Newton has in the way of natural foods stores, but either one could work in terms of public transit (though in Waltham most of the convenient public transit options are in or near downtown, much less so in outlying neighborhoods), some degree of ethnic mix, and ability to get to places locally by walking (though in Waltham, again, you'd want to look mostly in the vicinity of downtown). You may find some individuals in either town who would be on the same granola wavelength as yourself, but neither town's overall feel leans that way. Again, though, towns that really stand out as "crunchy" are going to be few and far between right in the Boston metro area.

One piece of information that you might want to add here is your housing budget. That is key in helping narrow down the possibilities.

[QuietGal]

Thanks for mentioning Salem, i've heard this may be a good option. i'm still considering Northampton, but i don't have a car, so would be challenging to visit area to check out places. there are folks in newton who are on the same "granola wavelength", at least waltham is close to nwton & boston. i know a raw foodist in waltham, and i have a "crunchy" friend, a hiker, in newton. rockport & newburyport are not in the ADA Ride area to visit boston.

[ogre]

I agree with your point about Northampton without a car. It's possible to live in that area without a car, and be reasonably comfortable about meeting everyday needs, if you hand pick housing in a spot where stores that sell the basics are within walking distance, but you definitely would have to do some hand picking to come up with the right place. And getting around the wider local area would be a challenge to say the least, if you wanted to go anywhere other than the vicinities of the several colleges served by the local bus transit.

[konfetka]

There is a Whole Foods in Swampscott, which is close to Salem. There is a Trader Joes on Peabody/Danvers line on 114. Beverly has Organic Rainbow - small organic food store, that carries raw milk and fresh eggs from Appleton Farms in Ipswich, and Organic Cafe. Green Meadows farm in Hamilton is organic. There is a raw milk dairy farm in Rowley. There is a fresh seafood market in Beverly and you can get off the boat fish in Gloucester. There are CSA farms around Beverly, Hamilton and Ipswich. Every town in the area has farmers markets, and Salem has a winter farmers market as well.

Salem would have more rental options, and more things to do, followed by Beverly. Salem has a few parks by the water, as well as Beverly. Beverly has a good inventory of open space with walking trails. Salem is more diverse. Gloucester is also pretty diverse, with a beautiful coastline/harbor/beaches.

Beverly has Monseratt College of Art and Endicott College, which always have something going on, plus a small movie theater (first annual Beverly Movie Festival is coming up), North Shore Music Theater, and artist studios. (They just had the Beverly Art Walk yesterday.)

Salem has Salem Theater Company and no shortage of museums and historic houses. Gloucester has the Rocky Neck artist colony, many of which have galleries in Rockport.

As far as running errands by foot Salem will be the most walkable, followed by Gloucester, and Beverly. I don't know if Rockport would have enough of necessities, because it's so small.

Train to Boston: Salem - 30 minutes; Beverly 35-40 minutes; Gloucester - 1 hour