Most vibrant walkable town center? Melrose, Wakefield, Reading, etc.?

[unit731]

Melrose does not have any highways cutting through the town.
The others do.

[Shizim]

Originally Posted by unit731

Melrose does not have any highways cutting through the town.
The others do.

was this meant in terms of easy highway access? if so yes. they have easy highway access. they do not however, have highways cutting through the town. reading is framed by 93 and 128 on the west and south. Wakefield is bordered by 128 to the north.

Medford would be an example of a town that has a highway (93) cutting right through it. The ones mentioned here do not.

[luvmyhoss]

Reading or Wakefield good choices.
Reading more rural

[oceansloveandNewengland]

Originally Posted by Nobodybody

Our criteria was shockingly identical to yours when we moved back to the area about a year ago. Long story short, we found Natick to be the ideal match, and we haven't regretted our decision.

Thanks so much for the info about natick. Natick would be great but i think its too far west for us. Anything west of 93 probably wont work for commuting reasons.

[oceansloveandNewengland]

Originally Posted by alidmc

I would encourage you to hit a few open houses and check out the downtowns of each of these towns. Visit some shops and get a feel for the vibe yourself. I have been recommending some of these towns to posters on this forum and when they check it out, it is totally not what they are looking for. Keep in mind that you may not be in walking distance to the downtown area itself. The downtown areas in all of these towns are fairly small.
My brief summary of the towns:
Walkable town center - vibrant, non-chain restaurants, mom and pop stores, organic food and farmer's market options, arts, museums, etc. -All have walkable town centers. Melrose and Reading have more mom and pops and organic food options. Melrose and Wakefield have farmers markets (not too sure about Reading). None have museums or art galleries. Melrose would probably be the "artsiest" of the three with the Beebe Estate hosting art shows occasionally and a city orchestra. If you want real culture, you will have to go into the city.
Train to Boston - Melrose has the most transportation options with the orange line, buses, and three commuter rail stops. Wakefield has two commuter rail stops and a bus that goes to Oak Grove. Reading has one commuter rail stop and a bus that goes to Oak Grove.
A range of socioeconomic statuses and welcoming to everyone- Reading will be the least economically diverse, followed by Wakefield with Melrose having the most economic diversity. Based on my experiences with these towns/city, I would be very surprised if you found any of them to be unwelcoming.
Access to nature- Any town North of Boston will put you in short driving distance of nature galore. Wakefield has Breakheart and a small town forest. Reading has a town forest and Melrose has the Fells. IMO these are OK, but a short drive away will get you to the mountains of NH, the coast of Maine and beautiful spots in Mass like Plum Island, Cape Ann and Portsmouth.
Family friendly- All of these towns are family friendly. Reading has a great recreation program with a Town Faire in the fall and lots of events in the downtown. Wakefield has the lake, which serves as the epicenter of the town and many family events, and Melrose has many events downtown, including the Victorian Fair in the Fall.
Hope this is helpful and good luck!

Thanks this is really helpful and we hope to have time to check out some open houses and the area, its just hard to get the time, so we're trying to narrow down first!

[alidmc]

Originally Posted by oceansloveandNewengland

Thanks this is really helpful and we hope to have time to check out some open houses and the area, its just hard to get the time, so we're trying to narrow down first!

I think they are all worth looking into. They are all also in very close proximity to each other, so you can hit open houses in all of them in a day. Or skip the one houses for now and just visit the towns. Start out early, hit Coffee, Tea, and Me in Melrose on Main St. Walk around Main St.. Drive over to Wakefield heading North on Main St. drive/walk around the Lake and the center of town. Grab lunch in Reading at Biltmore and Main or Portland Pie. Easy peasy! I joke, of course, but hopefully you can squeeze a visit in. Experiencing the towns firsthand will be a huge help in narrowing down which towns work for you.

[Beantown_mama]

If you could find a house in Melrose for your price range you should grab it because I think it has all the things you are looking for - walkable town center (there are coffee shopts, restaurants, drug stores, hardware stores, the library, the YMCA and Shaw's all in the town center you could walk to if you live close to town); train to Boston (3 commuter rail stations and the Oak Grove T stop); range of socioeconomic classes (it has been traditionally not as expensive as bordering towns like Winchester which gives you a better range of socioeconomic classes - although the housing prices have been rising so fast lately it may be getting less and less so); access to nature (right next to the Middlesex Fells Reservation, also has Pine Banks, Breakhart Reservation and Mount Hood which are nice open spaces) and Family Friendly (check out the website for info for young families: Melrose Birth to Five - City of Melrose Massachusetts)

But I think you'll have a tough time finding houses in any of those towns for your price range. You may also want to look at Stoneham as it is a less expensive town, has some but maybe not all of your criteria, but iscloser to the highway for commuting so may be a good choice.