Thinking of moving to Newburyport from the Boston area (Haverhill: appointed, houses)

[robr]

You're right in that there is no large whole food chain supermarket anywhere nearby, there is Tendercrop Farms in Newbury right on 1A which is a small whole foods supermarket. Good meats and produce, but not a whole lot more.

[SwiftCreek]

Thanks for that update Robr. I'll be heading up later today and i'll make a stop there. I love going to farm stores. A few people mentioned it to me but for some reason it never sunk in. I did check out Whole Foods website yesterday and their building a store in Lynnfield.

[robr]

Don't forget the route 1A bridge is out a few miles south of Tendercrop in case you planned on taking 1A north into NBPT.

[puffle]

What about Marblehead? I understand that they have the lowest property taxes of just about anywhere, but have good schools...the high school has completely been redone.

[robr]

Don't know much about Marblehead other than there's not much there and you can't easily get anywhere. That's the problem with all the towns on the coast down there, Marblehead, Nahant, Gloucester, Rockport... even Salem.... for being right outside Boston, they're a PITA to get to and from . I like Newburyport... Routes 95 and 495 are right here, commuter rail, everything is easy to get to... beach, mountains, city, shopping, good eats, bars.... and it doesn't close down in the winter.

[Valerie C]

robr, that was a great blog that you posted here a couple of weeks ago--I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the bloggers thoughts. After being in Newburyport last week (haven't been to the town since late March) I remember why I still love NBPT after all these years. I am amazed at how many more boat slips I'm seeing in the river! If I can find some pictures from even a few years ago, you'd be amazed at how busy the river has become. I don't know if you're into boating, but if you are, be careful heading out of the mouth of the Merrimack--can be VERY tricky, especially coming in late in the afternoon....

SwiftCreek, one of the best things about Newburyport for someone like yourself (you mentioned that you and your wife are yet to start a family) IS all the great things to do. Great bars, restaurants (have you been to the Grog for dinner, then downstairs to listen to the bands? Great entertainment, especially Sunday nights...) or even just hang out downtown and get an ice cream, stroll the dock. Tons of festivals in summer down by the water... A whole lot more going on there than Newbury, but of course that may work better for you.

Congrats on accepting that job (now hopefully your wife will decide that she wants to live SOMEWHERE nearby) I do want to caution you that Maudslay is FULL of ticks, so make sure you do tick checks every time you go there. It's especially beautiful at this time of year with all of the spring-flowering shrubs

[robr]

For natural foods, my wife just reminded me of this place as well:
Untitled Document

BTW, she was at Tendercrop yesterday and they gave her a schedule for all the produce and flowers they grow themselves and when it would be available.

[Newburyport???]

This has been a great conversation to read, thanks everyone!

To give an update regarding the beginning of this thread: Since my first post, my husband and I have decided to dive in headfirst and buy the house in Newburyport, so we will be moving sometime this summer. Despite the change it will bring, we are very excited.

All of the recommendations for restaurants and the good food places in this conversation are extremely helpful. If there are further comments like that on where to go, I would be interested to hear them. Also, more places to bike, hike and favorite beaches on Plum Island would be of great interest to me too.

I've heard that Newburyport has a farmers market that sets up downtown on the weekends, is this true?

Thanks again!

[jossstone]

I know I'm weighing in late here; but I wanted to add my two cents if you are still interested. We moved from NYC to Newburyport (via a year in Marblehead -- Marblehead is pretty but so quiet and not all that friendly. I have family who went to through the schools there and they are not great either). It took a bit of adjusting to life outside a big city (as you'll see), but I feel like NBPT is the next best thing. There's always something going on (year round, despite what the earlier poster said). We walk downtown every day. I may be the only person in town who likes the changes – but the town was a bit run down some years ago. It definitely has had a renaissance. I do believe Karp’s plans will enliven it further (I promise I don’t work for him!). We’ve looked in every town around here and there’s none quite like it. It’s a fun, beautiful place to be.

However, we've been struggling with whether to stay or go because of the schools -- but I think we'll end up driving to private schools and staying here because the town is great. I am not a suburb person. This was a nice compromise.

Good luck with your new house. What street did you end up buying on? Have fun!

[robr]

Originally Posted by Newburyport???

This has been a great conversation to read, thanks everyone!

To give an update regarding the beginning of this thread: Since my first post, my husband and I have decided to dive in headfirst and buy the house in Newburyport, so we will be moving sometime this summer. Despite the change it will bring, we are very excited.

All of the recommendations for restaurants and the good food places in this conversation are extremely helpful. If there are further comments like that on where to go, I would be interested to hear them. Also, more places to bike, hike and favorite beaches on Plum Island would be of great interest to me too.

I've heard that Newburyport has a farmers market that sets up downtown on the weekends, is this true?

Thanks again!

Welcome aboard .

In answer to your questions above:

- There is no farmer's market downtown.
- Plum Island is a place to visit for the beach, wildlife, walks/jogging, etc. There are no shops (other than a liquor store and convenient store). There are two restaurants and I honestly wouldn't recommend either of them, but others do seem to like Plum Island Grille and Mad Martha's. I was a big fan of The Beachcomber (restaurant/bar with board games), but it's gone now . The Beachcomber and PJs were bought by Jeanne & Julian Geiger, founder of Aeropostale, but she fell off the balcony of PJs while renovating it and died, so they sit vacant.

I just reread your post and noticed it said 'favorite beaches' on plum island, for some reason the first time around I thought it said favorite places. In any event......... for me, my favorite beach is the convenient one, which means with two toddlers and carrying all the crap necessary to support two toddlers, that means the beach must be close to the parking area. Typically I'll go all the way to the end (note that they cannot charge for admission either if you tell them you are going to the end), but if it's a busy summer weekend day, you probably won't get parking there (and the people at the booth won't even let you check for free if they think it's full). Much of the middle section between the first lot and last seems to be closed all the time because of nesting terns and piping plover protection areas. So on really busy days, we just park at a friend's house on PI and use his beach.