[sweetpea3]

Originally Posted by SmurfOnABoat

Algonac, well I am sure I am going to offed some people here, but its kind of Hillbilly. Most anyone in the surround communities will tell you that. For those of you that do live in Algonac, don't take what I said the wrong way, there is nothing at all wrong with algonac, but people do want a true opinion from people, my personal opinion is that Algonac is a little bit like Taylor, but on a MUCH smaller scale.

Thank you very much. I do appreciate this information even at the risk of offending someone. I am familiar with Taylor and even have friends that live there. While there is nothing wrong it and there are nice people there... it's just not the community we're looking for.

Can you make any comparisons to the "vibe" or the community in the other nearby towns? If Algonac is like Taylor, are the other nearby towns like Wyandotte, Monroe etc? We're originally from Livonia and Plymouth area, also very familiar with small towns in lower Western Michigan (Three Oaks, New Buffalo, Grand Haven) and Northern MI (Cadilac area). We're looking for the right fit and need to try to get it right on the first try.

We are looking for a medium size town, preferably with a "downtown" area or town center/main street that people can gravitate to, bring the community together, walk for an ice cream or something. A tiny bit of vibrancy would be nice! But I don't know if we'll find that. A town that is welcoming to newcomers and is family friendly - the more kids running around the better! Looks like the furthest West we could go in order to keep my husband's commute under 40 minutes would be Macomb or Chesterfield Twp. Any recommendations?

[SmurfOnABoat]

Honestly everything you just listed that your looking for, I still put St. Clair on that list. Little further drive than your looking for, but it is a nice small community, with an EXCELLENT downtown setting. Downtown is on one side of m29 and the other side is the riverfront boardwalk. There are several community events there each year. Art fairs, Offshore boat races (Ms Geico and others) and several other events.

City of Saint Clair - Pure Michigan Travel

[belleislerunner]

St Clair also boasts the world's longest freshwater boardwalk...

St. Clair, Michigan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ram2]

Originally Posted by CowanStern

I really like them. I use the ferries to go to Canada, and often stop for lunch in Marine City. They seem like very nice towns. They've been there for a long time, and have a fairly vivid history quite different from that of Michigan farm towns.

Isn't that where liquor was smuggled in from Canada during Prohibition?

[SmurfOnABoat]

Originally Posted by ram2

Isn't that where liquor was smuggled in from Canada during Prohibition?

A lot of places along both the St Clair river and Detroit river played host to Alcohol smuggling. Bigger in Detroit I believe, because of notorious mobs such as the Purple Gang.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by SmurfOnABoat

A lot of places along both the St Clair river and Detroit river played host to Alcohol smuggling. Bigger in Detroit I believe, because of notorious mobs such as the Purple Gang.

Sam Bernstein's grandfather was head of the Purple Gang.

[RiverGazer]

Port Huron, Marysville, St Clair, Marine City, Algonac and New Baltmore are all on M-29. I-94 begins in Port Huron and skirts Marysville, St Clair and Marine City to the West. I-94 continues West through Detroit and turns West around Ypsilanti and coninues to Chicago where it turns North to Manitowoc WI and then turns West to pass Minneapolis/ St Paul and continue West.

Port Huron is the eastern terminus for two Interstate highways: I-94 and I-69.

[us66]

I'll second, third, fourth, whatever that St. Clair is the nicest town by far of the places mentioned. If it were more conveniently located, I'd consider living there. New Baltimore is nothing special, just suburbia for the most part, as its close enough to employment centers, though not a nice drive to them. (People do commute from the towns further north, too.) NB's got a lousy little downtown that is nowhere near up to its potential. There is also a small sand beach on the bay. Algonac feels like small town America to me, never heard anything terrible about it, there's some popular swamp/marsh areas there. (Harsens Island's ferryboat is nearby, too. Been there once and didn't care for it, but a lot of people seem to love it.) Marine City feels a bit creepy and I don't know why. It feels stuck in time. St. Clair is the best of the bunch. Then you have Marysville (nothing special, maybe a bit downmarket) and then southern Port Huron, which is quite scummy in spots.

[sweetpea3]

Thank you everyone for the info - even the info about liquor smuggling was quite interesting ; )

We're still waiting to hear if we'll get the transfer. I've been doing some more thorough digging recently and I was quite surprised to learn about Chemical Valley. Growing up in Michigan, I never knew about it. It led me to articles about air and water pollution in the areas we're talking about and some even say it's a known cancer cluster. I also found posts from a few locals who complained about gasoline smells from the burning off/release of gas from fracking and that they aren't able to sell their homes because of it. It's hard to know what is accurate and what is exaggerated. Any thoughts or opinions about this? What the hell has happened to my state? This is so disappointing to learn Michigan has it's very own Love Canal like NY. : (

[belleislerunner]

Any thoughts or opinions about this?
Don't believe everything you read on the internet. It doesn't cross anyone's mind who lives in the Macomb/St. Clair county area.