Which Franklin county town for young family? (Worcester, Leominster: rent, co-op)
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We bought in Worcester 4 years ago before our oldest was born. We never intended this house to be our forever house and are trying to decide where we want to land in the next 2-3 years. My husband works in the Devens area and I don’t see that changing in the next few years... his job is very secure with room to grow.
His commute is currently almost an hour from where we are in the city (he works roughly 7am-8pm). We would like his commute to stay about an hour. So we are considering New Salem, Wendell, Warwick, Erving. Any others we should include?
While I am interested in decent schools... we do plan to homeschool so I’m interested in towns that have an active (hopefully secular) homeschool community around them.
We are hoping to buy a house with 5+ acres for around $350k. I know inventory is low but that seems reasonable for when things are on the market? Our current house is in a desirable area with the nicest yard in the neighborhood and zoned for a great elementary so I’m not worried about selling our house quickly.
I’ve been to all these towns before (we actually frequent Wendell State Forest pretty frequently). Hopefully next year once the pandemic calms down I hope to spend some more time driving around and stopping in the towns country/general stores so get a feel. Those places are usually the heart of the community.
New Salem and Wendell share the same elementary school, the Swift River School. It's a decent elementary school that you should have no concerns about. Massachusetts elementary schools are uniformly at a better standard than other states and regions of the country. It's at middle school/high school level where location and social expectations make a sometimes huge difference.
Socially, the two towns couldn't be more different. New Salem is more conservative redneck. Wendell is an old hippie town, maybe trust fund hippies these days, that tends to be liberal progressive, artsy, LGBT accepting, racially tolerant.
New Salem is sort of tied to Orange. You couldn't pay me to send a kid to the regional school there. Wendell people are more connected to the Amherst Northampton area socially. That's where the Hadley Whole Foods is located. Most of the people I knew in Wendell found a way to send their kids to the Amherst Regional schools, not Mahar in Orange.
Wendell has a town motto: " We're all here because we're not all there." If Orange had a motto it would be along the lines of how to cook road kill.
Warwick is okay. There's absolutely nothing there. I did hear something years ago about a pagan cult. Erving I never found attractive but you can get free photocopies at the library and you're close enough to enjoy what's left of the Wendell Country Store scene. The owner Vince died, Patty I think retired.
You can do pretty good for $350k in Franklin county but with that much to spend I'd be looking at better towns.
New Salem and Wendell share the same elementary school, the Swift River School. It's a decent elementary school that you should have no concerns about. Massachusetts elementary schools are uniformly at a better standard than other states and regions of the country. It's at middle school/high school level where location and social expectations make a sometimes huge difference.
Socially, the two towns couldn't be more different. New Salem is more conservative redneck. Wendell is an old hippie town, maybe trust fund hippies these days, that tends to be liberal progressive, artsy, LGBT accepting, racially tolerant.
New Salem is sort of tied to Orange. You couldn't pay me to send a kid to the regional school there. Wendell people are more connected to the Amherst Northampton area socially. That's where the Hadley Whole Foods is located. Most of the people I knew in Wendell found a way to send their kids to the Amherst Regional schools, not Mahar in Orange.
Wendell has a town motto: " We're all here because we're not all there." If Orange had a motto it would be along the lines of how to cook road kill.
Warwick is okay. There's absolutely nothing there. I did hear something years ago about a pagan cult. Erving I never found attractive but you can get free photocopies at the library and you're close enough to enjoy what's left of the Wendell Country Store scene. The owner Vince died, Patty I think retired.
You can do pretty good for $350k in Franklin county but with that much to spend I'd be looking at better towns.
I did have Wendell fairly high on my list so I’m kind of glad of everything you said there. I do like the Amherst/Northampton scene.
And now I’m really interested in learning about this pagan cult in Warwick for my own random interest. Haha
Search Full Moon Coffee house in Wendell and the Wendell Reggae festival. I don't know what if anything is still open.
New Salem is better if you think it's important to be able to shoot in your yard.
If you're planning to homeschool be aware that large swathes of Western Mass do not have adequate internet. It's a potential problem every town you mentioned.
In Wendell I've always liked the New Salem Rd area which becomes Wendell Rd when you cross the town line. Also off the center where Cooleyville Rd goes down the hill. Be aware of the "school" on the left after you go through the center, I think it's called Eagle Brook, different people have different feelings about it or are resigned to living with it.
If you want to stay close to Rte 2 to get to Devens you might look at Shutesberry and Pelham, which are Amherst Regional, up 202 through Orange to Rte 2, but I'm not fond of the Lake Wyola area in Shutes. Nothing wrong really just too lake community for me. Leverett can get you there but is pricier.
The difficulty you'll have is these are small towns ​with little turnover and you almost have to know someone to get a house someplace like Wendell. If you can stretch the commute to Devens a little further you can do very well on $350k in Greenfield or maybe Millers Falls and be right on Rte 2.
Search Full Moon Coffee house in Wendell and the Wendell Reggae festival. I don't know what if anything is still open.
New Salem is better if you think it's important to be able to shoot in your yard.
If you're planning to homeschool be aware that large swathes of Western Mass do not have adequate internet. It's a potential problem every town you mentioned.
In Wendell I've always liked the New Salem Rd area which becomes Wendell Rd when you cross the town line. Also off the center where Cooleyville Rd goes down the hill. Be aware of the "school" on the left after you go through the center, I think it's called Eagle Brook, different people have different feelings about it or are resigned to living with it.
If you want to stay close to Rte 2 to get to Devens you might look at Shutesberry and Pelham, which are Amherst Regional, up 202 through Orange to Rte 2, but I'm not fond of the Lake Wyola area in Shutes. Nothing wrong really just too lake community for me. Leverett can get you there but is pricier.
The difficulty you'll have is these are small towns ​with little turnover and you almost have to know someone to get a house someplace like Wendell. If you can stretch the commute to Devens a little further you can do very well on $350k in Greenfield or maybe Millers Falls and be right on Rte 2.
Thank you... I did notice that several listings I browsed at made it a point to say that they had internet or that the owner had been able to work from home for whatever amount of years (I assumed to mean because they had internet). I’ll look at Greenfield and Shutesbury.
Search Full Moon Coffee house in Wendell and the Wendell Reggae festival. I don't know what if anything is still open.
New Salem is better if you think it's important to be able to shoot in your yard.
If you're planning to homeschool be aware that large swathes of Western Mass do not have adequate internet. It's a potential problem every town you mentioned.
In Wendell I've always liked the New Salem Rd area which becomes Wendell Rd when you cross the town line. Also off the center where Cooleyville Rd goes down the hill. Be aware of the "school" on the left after you go through the center, I think it's called Eagle Brook, different people have different feelings about it or are resigned to living with it.
If you want to stay close to Rte 2 to get to Devens you might look at Shutesberry and Pelham, which are Amherst Regional, up 202 through Orange to Rte 2, but I'm not fond of the Lake Wyola area in Shutes. Nothing wrong really just too lake community for me. Leverett can get you there but is pricier.
The difficulty you'll have is these are small towns ​with little turnover and you almost have to know someone to get a house someplace like Wendell. If you can stretch the commute to Devens a little further you can do very well on $350k in Greenfield or maybe Millers Falls and be right on Rte 2.
I couldn’t find anything about that school on a quick google search but I’ll need to look more into that because now I’m curious.
I couldn’t find anything about that school on a quick google search but I’ll need to look more into that because now I’m curious.
Lake Grove on Farley Rd. It's not a town school or public school. I was in error when I said Eagle Rock off the top of my head.
Lake Wyola is a state park now. It's a decent family swimming beach with parking and toilets. No permit or needed. Ice fishing in winter.
If you go past the beach, the road turns left to Wendell by the log cabin camp. But if you go straight through it's a back road to other parts of Wendell where you might find nicer older farm houses and a few new construction Victorian styles.
If you go the opposite way on the beach road, away from Wendell you go through the north Leverett horsey area and can get to the Leverett Co-op for a bite to eat.
Last edited by RBThescot; 06-22-2020 at 12:25 PM..
Montague could also work, especially in or near Millers Falls. It has the internet. Leverett also has the internet but it’s rather hard to get to and from Route 2.
Erving in its favor has one of the lowest property tax rates in the state, largely because Northfield Mountain reservoir is in town, part of a large hydroelectric facility.
Petersham is a beautiful town actually in Worcester County but may also fit your search profile and borders New Salem. Slightly closer to Devens but not so close that you’re immersed in a Gardner / Fitchburg / Leominster vibe. The internet is a little tenuous there. The schools are part of Mahar in Orange, but the elementary is in town and fine. Lots of parents choice their kids to Quabbin Regional in Barre for middle school and up.
Greenfield, Gill, and Northfield are all quite nice but are a full hour-plus drive to Devens.
I live in Orange and wish we didn’t, but at least have learned some excellent possum recipes in line with that motto per RBTheScot ;-).
Montague could also work, especially in or near Millers Falls. It has the internet. Leverett also has the internet but it’s rather hard to get to and from Route 2.
Erving in its favor has one of the lowest property tax rates in the state, largely because Northfield Mountain reservoir is in town, part of a large hydroelectric facility.
Petersham is a beautiful town actually in Worcester County but may also fit your search profile and borders New Salem. Slightly closer to Devens but not so close that you’re immersed in a Gardner / Fitchburg / Leominster vibe. The internet is a little tenuous there. The schools are part of Mahar in Orange, but the elementary is in town and fine. Lots of parents choice their kids to Quabbin Regional in Barre for middle school and up.
Greenfield, Gill, and Northfield are all quite nice but are a full hour-plus drive to Devens.
I live in Orange and wish we didn’t, but at least have learned some excellent possum recipes in line with that motto per RBTheScot ;-).
FCMA, I hear that porcupine is pretty tasty too, once you get past the quills.
I've always liked the Montague Bookmill area and the village. The OP might want to consider that a lot of these smaller towns​ are nice to look at but you have to also be tied to Amherst, Northampton, Greenfield, Orange for petrol, groceries, amenities and services. If you live in Wendell you spend a lot of time and energy commuting into the bigger towns for everything, especially in winter. It's also very hard to get contractors to go out there if you buy a fixer upper.
A realtor friend always tells me newcomers usually rent in Amherst for 4 or 5 years and get the feel of things before they migrate out to Buckland or Leverett, etc. Living as far out as Wendell is a lifestyle change.
Montague could also work, especially in or near Millers Falls. It has the internet. Leverett also has the internet but it’s rather hard to get to and from Route 2.
Erving in its favor has one of the lowest property tax rates in the state, largely because Northfield Mountain reservoir is in town, part of a large hydroelectric facility.
Petersham is a beautiful town actually in Worcester County but may also fit your search profile and borders New Salem. Slightly closer to Devens but not so close that you’re immersed in a Gardner / Fitchburg / Leominster vibe. The internet is a little tenuous there. The schools are part of Mahar in Orange, but the elementary is in town and fine. Lots of parents choice their kids to Quabbin Regional in Barre for middle school and up.
Greenfield, Gill, and Northfield are all quite nice but are a full hour-plus drive to Devens.
I live in Orange and wish we didn’t, but at least have learned some excellent possum recipes in line with that motto per RBTheScot ;-).
I’ve definitely considered Petersham (and Oakham) but for some reason my husband isn’t a fan of either of those. He might be willing to stretch the commute a little so I’ll look at those other towns you mentioned too. Thanks!
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