Family from Bay Area needs a great town! (Boston, Cambridge: middle-class, houses)

[Elaveo]

Hi and thanks in advance...
We're a family of five potentially moving to the Boston area in a few months for work. We absolutely love where we live now but are excited to try something new and feel like Boston and it's surroundings could offer some amazing life experiences for our 9, 5 and 2 year old. We want a very walkable lifestyle with good public schools but more importantly we want to be surrounded by an open-minded, cultured community. I've researched a few towns that would be close to my husbands new job but not too far lost in suburbia;
Arlington-seems very similar to our neighborhood in Oakland with good food!
Winchester-schools look nice but are there any young hip parents living there?
Melrose-are the middle schools great but just have lower scores?
Wakefield-too far from city? too suburban?

Looks like Winchester has top-notch schools and as much as that is important on paper, We're more focused on the quality of the community. We're looking for people who are kind, smart, creative, love their families but have other interests as well.

Also, we love to bike ride as a family are there paths in each of these towns?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

[ogre]

Wakefield is a nice middle-class town, but very suburban. There is a good chance that it's not the town you want if you're trying to avoid towns with a classically suburban character.

Winchester is quite upscale, but also on the suburban side. The question I have, though, is what kind of character you are seeking in a town. If you want something that is a bit city-ish, then Winchester may not be the right place, but if you basically just want a solid downtown and a decent variety of local shopping, Winchester could work.

I'm unfamiliar with the schools in Melrose, so I can't answer that question. Melrose is more or less in the transitional zone between urban and suburban, so in terms of the town's general feel, it could work for you if you want a town that's not purely suburban, has some local shopping and a hint of a city feel, but is still not really in the heart of the urban core adjacent to Boston.

If what I just described about Melrose appeals to you, Arlington may be the best choice of those towns you're asking about. Arlington has a similar urban/suburban, in-between mix, with the bonus that it puts you fairly close to a variety of interesting small restaurants in Cambridge.

It's difficult to know for sure without some additional info, and even more difficult to suggest other possibilities. Some additional info which could give a feel for the place you're seeking:

Housing budget;

Approx. location of your husband's work, preferred commuting time, preferences on mode of transportation (as in whether you want public transit for your husband's commute or for family trips into town);

How far out from the city you consider too far;

Any specific activities you'd like to find locally;

Whether you want a setting that is fairly urban, or just something that is not very, very suburban, coffee shops, hip crowd or not, etc.

Depending on your answers to these questions, I might suggest Cambridge (though I don't know a lot about the schools there), Newton, or Brookline as other possibilities, though these suggestions are very tentative, as additional info from you could make it more clear how well any of these places might fit your needs.

[brightdoglover]

The bike path through Arlington is part of the Rails to Trails program which extends through several towns. The Arlington part, among other places, goes around Spy Pond (lovely).
I think there are a lot of people with younger kids who moved to Arlington from Cambridge when they wanted kids and/or couldn't afford Cambridge, although there's a nice mix of working-class people who owned houses before the various booms.
My co-workers love Melrose, but I think it's viewed as the top place to move up in the world if you're from Malden and Medford. Nothing wrong with that, and it's a very nice community, but I think it's not that cosmopolitan. Certainly nothing like Arlington.

[susanewood]

Wish I could help, but my area is 45 min - 1 hour sw of Boston.

[Elaveo]

Thanks for the advice so far...
Ogre- believe it or not the Boston area is a bit more affordable than Oakland(where the schools aren't as good) so we want to spend up to 800k but that being said under 650/700k would be ideal. The job is in N. Andover and I think a commute of 30mins. and under is where we're aiming. Our proximity to the city isn't as important but "my theory" was that if we were somewhat close it would feel less suburban...maybe that's crazy
As far as town feel...I don't need to have the coolest, hippest coffee shop to walk to but wouldn't mind some decent food BUT the people are definitely the most important factor. I've had people from CA describe Massachusetts folk as "very different from here-very old school conservative".

Many of my friends have suggested Brookline but it seems too far from work...

[ogre]

I think you're right that Brookline would be outside your commuting range. I was also thinking of possibly recommending Newton, though this too would put you more than half an hour from N. Andover. So now I'm wondering generally what kind of people you'd like to have around you. Varied enthnicities? Any particular political views? Do you really prefer something kind of urban, or would suburban truly work fine as long as there were some good local eating places? This may seem like a lot of questions, but it's a bit difficult to pin down the best possibilities without a lot of detail about what you're looking for. This is especially true since you're looking more at areas north and northwest of Boston. A lot of towns in that direction are either not likely to meet your need for the best schools you can find along with some activity in the community, or are very suburban.

I'm thinking that maybe Arlington still sounds like a good choice if you want a place that is not purely suburban. You may also want to consider Belmont if you want a nice town that has a hint of the city. One thing I'm wondering about regarding your friend's description of MA people is whether you'd want to embrace or avoid that description, or find something more moderate.

Given your new info about being more concerned with having some activity right in your local town than having a city feel, I might also recommend Lexington, IF you really can be comfortable with a suburban character as long as there are some things to do right in town (Lexington has a decent-sized downtown for the size of the town, but the town is very suburban), and IF you would prefer or be comfortable in a town which is the polar opposite of "old-school conservative" (talking here about a town which the more conservative of Boston's two main newspapers might very well jab at by referring to it as The People's Republic of . . .). Another consideration in Lexington would be any desire you would have for public transit, since Lexington has some bus service but overall is not especially well served by public transit.

[gf2020]

If I was working in North Andover and wanted to have a 30 minute commute and I wanted a town with a very walkable lifestyle with good public schools and an open-minded, cultured community.

I would look at the following towns:

• Andover
• Reading
• Newburyport

Arlington, Winchester and Melrose will fall outside of your 30 minute commute requirement. Wakefield is ok and has a decent downtown that is walkable but if you can afford $700K+ I would go with one of the towns I have mentioned above.

[Elaveo]

I guess coming from the Berkeley area I'd feel more comfortable in a town like Lexington...I'd consider myself a liberal even here so on the east coast I may be considered uber-liberal
I do love how diverse it is here...but if I have to give some of that up I'd still like to be around people who respect diversity.

Even though It's within a 30 minute commute, what do you think of Marblehead? Beach life really appeals to us too(though it's not always beach weather)!

thanks again-

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by Elaveo

...what do you think of Marblehead? Beach life really appeals to us too(though it's not always beach weather)!

My sister-in-law lives in Marblehead and I know the town quite well. I also lived in Swampscott previously.

Marblehead could be a good choice, but depending on where you are in Marblehead (there are only 2 ways in to and out of the town) it could take considerably longer than 30 minutes to reach some of the North Andover office parks. Where is your husband's new job located?

Honestly, I think Andover is your best choice.

[Valerie C]

Andover would be a great and super-easy commute, and there are walking trails, etc at Harold Parker State Forest. Lots of boutique shopping, restaurants, etc. Walkable downtown, etc. Newburyport would *probably* be within 30 minutes, or just a couple minutes over. Another town to consider is Amesbury, with a walkable downtown that just keeps getting better. Both Amesbury and Newburyport have excellent proximity to the coast. If you're into boating, there are marinas and a state boat launch for easy access to the ocean. Or fishing trips/whale watches, trips to the Isle of Shoals, etc. And for what it's worth, if you live near the coast, it's ALWAYS beach weather. We probably spend just as much, if not more time on the beach from Sept. to April so that we can let the dogs run and play on the beach. Some Sunday's it's like a giant dog (and horse!) park