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Hello all. My husband just accepted a position up in Keene, NH. We are both pleased with this decision and are looking forward to relocating where we will be closer to my family, have a lower cost of living, and have a shorter commute for my husband (we currently live in Ellicott City, MD and his commute is an hour each way into the DC area).
I have several questions. First, I am a stay-at-home mom with two young children and I've been spoiled by numerous mom's clubs and groups for stay at home parents here in Howard County. Does anyone know of any such groups in the Keene area and how I can get in touch with these groups?
My other major question is about schools in and around Keene. My son will be entering Kindergarten in the fall and we are wondering how the elementary schools in Keene compare to the ones in some of the surrounding towns such as Swanzey, Marlborough, Chesterfield or Westmoreland.
Also, what kinds of kid-friendly activities are there to do in the area?
And finally, where do people in the area like to go for some heavy duty mall-type shopping? I realize that my choices will be somewhat more limited than they are in suburban Maryland, at least in terms of the distance needed to travel to such places...
Hi there I just wanted to say congrats on your move. My husband and I are also moving to the Keene area from South West Florida. He accepted a job as a police officer in the area. I've talked to many people in Keene and i've always heard wonderful feedback. It was also voted best town to raise a family in so I'm sure there are plenty of activities to do for you and your children. That was a concern of mine too as my husband and I would like to have some of our own in the near future.. I hope you enjoy it up there! Try here for some info http://www.ci.keene.nh.us/
Hello,
Mu family and I moved to the Keene area in November of last year. I am an at home Mom with young children. This place is great. There is low crime and a family atmosphere. There are some great playgrounds and parks. We have even found that a short drive from here you can find some children's museums and Boston is two hours away.
Before we moved I checked all the stats on the schools and the taxes. The engineer side of me came out. I found that if you are going to send your child to public schools. Start with the high schools and work backwards. Keene has a great high school, so does Peterborough. Peterborough is nice because it is closer to Nashua and bigger cities but you will have a bit of a drive to work. Keene has a great high school but in the city there are higher taxes. If you live in Keene there are great bike paths and lots of side walks to walk everywhere. So if you like the small city feel it is a great place. We were looking for lower taxes and we did not need to live in Keene. So we looked at Westmoreland and Chesterfield which have strong smaller elementary schools and feed into the Keene High School. But these are smaller towns and are more rural. In these towns you can be anywhere from 10-20 minutes from Keene. As a note you can also pop over to Brattleboro VT and take advantage of what it has to offer. The short drive to Keene does not bother me at all. I can be at the grocery store and other stores in 10 minutes or less.
In Keene you can find lots of chain type stores. Target, Borders, Home Depot, Walmart, KB Toys, Sears, JC Penney, Olive Garden, 99, Pizza Uno... But there are also lots of great little specailty stores and an old mill that has been restored. Walking downtown is also great. Don't forget there is a college here so you can some neat little places to eat downtown. I recommend checking these places out.
For the winter the rec center in Keene is open, I did not go there this year but I have been told it is good to blow some steam off. The Keene library is great and it has lots of options for story time. There are a couple nice beaches and lots of activites, we are looking forward to this summer.
In general the area is great and there is lots to do, you just need to look like everywhere else. I have also been told that different towns run activites on there greens (center of town). I am lookinginto that right now.
Maybe I will see you at a playground this summer! Good Luck with your move!
Thanks so much for your response. Your information and suggestions are extremely helpful. This is our first long-distance move as a family so you can understand that I am excited but also a little nervous about moving to a new area I've already been in touch with another mom with young kids from this loop who may be moving to the Keene area this summer as well... it's great to get a little network going.
Do you live in Westmoreland or Chesterfield? And from where did you move, if I may ask?
I encourage others who live in the Keene area to respond with their input/advice. I've seen lots of questions about Keene on this forum but not a whole lot of replies. We look forward to hearing from you!
Oh I wanted to add, my husband got some nice advice from his fellow police officers out there and they said, although the taxes are higher in keene if you live in say swanzey you can't get things like highspeed internet because it is more remote, I dunno if this is true and perhaps someone here could verify for sure. But they said in the end you're better off living actually in keene and paying the higher tax .. That could be politics speaking though. I'll have to talk to my husband and see exactly what they said as I can't remember word for word.. But either way, anywhere surrounding keene looks beautiful and a great place to raise a family
In these towns you can be anywhere from 10-20 minutes from Keene.
It's funny because I live in a city of about 2 million people, and 10 - 20 minutes is 'just down the street'...... hehehe.... Man I can hardly wait to get to New Hampshire!
It's funny because I live in a city of about 2 million people, and 10 - 20 minutes is 'just down the street'...... hehehe.... Man I can hardly wait to get to New Hampshire!
LOL We Just moved from Manchester NH, to Lancaster NH. and My better half said the same thing. LOL 45 min to Cross town, and can take 1.5 hrs during rush hr. This is a city of only 120,000 people. Now I travel 30 miles to work in 1/2 hr. The guys I work with think it is a far travel. Little do they know it used to take me an hr to get to work with stop, and go traffic.
I'm the same way lol I live in a city of about 1 million in season 500,000 off and for us 10 mins is barely down the road.. Funny how being in the country changes everything. And yes I consider a town of 22,00 or so country..
My apologies I should have told you before.. We moved from CT to NH and as I mentioned before we just moved here in November, but I researched the area for a few months.
I live in Westmoreland not too far from the Keene townline. Where I live I can get DSL but there is no cable service (we just have satelite). Different parts of these towns have different services it is something to ask when you are looking at houses. I know there are some developments in Chesterfield/Spofford (a village of Spofford) that have more services. I am not too sure on all of Swanzey. I have a freind there who has roadrunner and cable. I was not too impressed with the Swanzey and Marlborough schools so we did not look there. (It does not mean they are all bad though, I looked at test scores, rankings and things like do they have music, art, sports...) I may have mentioned before my oldest is starting school in Sept so I was focussed on schools.
As far as traffic goes, other than the day the college kids come back and the pumpkin festival, I never hit traffic. My husband has told me that on his way to work sometimes he has to sit at a light for a few minutes but the times of the day I go into town there is nothing.
When you get to town please let me know. I can do what I can to help out and show you what I have learned about the area so far...
Just a quick note...
Sophia's Hearth Family center offers wonderful mom-child playgroups for infants up to age 3. Check out their website.
Also, if you are interested in a private school option, the Monadnock Waldorf School is a wonderful Waldorf school right in Keene. (There is also Montossori Kindergartens in Keene... I am not familiar, but you could check them out.)
Also, we recently moved from a small out of town location (Chesterfield) to being right in Keene. I am so happy to be in town! That has really worked for us. Before we had a lovely spot with acreage... what I thought I always wanted...but I felt rather isolated with my two little ones. Being in town has been a blessing for us. (But being out of town works for many folks as well.)
There is a dance/creative movement place "MOCO" that offers classes. Also, American school of Gymnastics. Red Cross offers great swim classes in the summer at the nearby lakes. Plenty more options. I hope you love it. Be well and good luck. (I am open to dicuss more...)
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I've already been in touch with another mom with young kids from this loop who may be moving to the Keene area this summer as well... it's great to get a little network going.
and My better half said the same thing. LOL 45 min to Cross town, and can take 1.5 hrs during rush hr.
This is a city of only 120,000 people. Now I travel 30 miles to work in 1/2 hr.
