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If having to relocate to the north country from long island, which area is best for raising children with plans of attending college, great area for families and with great places for both children and parents. Graet schools, stores, doctors etc.
We moved to Malone a few years ago from Austin,TX. Living in the area I became somewhat familiar with Potsdam & Massena. I found the North Country in general to be a very secluded place. Massena & Malone are boring, dirty, small towns that are very depressing (as well as economically depressed). If not for my wife having an opportunity to get some valuable work experience I would have turned around & left the day I got there, the fact that I knew from the get go that we would only be staying for about 2 years is about the only thing that kept me sane. Potsdam is a much nicer looking town & because of the colleges in the area it seems to have a much better economy. Massena has the only mall in the area but a lot of the stores have left in recent years (it does have an ice rink inside of it though). For any other shopping outside of Wal Mart you will have to cross the border to Cornwall, Ontario (just across the river from Massena) or travel to Watertown, Plattsburgh or Ottawa, Ontario, all are over an hour away. As for schools I know Malone had a very good school district, I had heard Potsdam's was very good as well, not sure about Massena. The whole area has a lot of parks for younger kids but it didn't seem like there were a lot of activities/classes going on. We had our oldest daughter in dance classes but that was about it. I should mention that my daughters were very young when we lived there so I'm speaking from an under 5 y/o perspective, if you're kids are older there may be more for them to do?
While I can't speak to a k-12 education in the north country... I can tell you that unless you are 100% certain that country life is for you... you'll want to look elsewhere. I spent four years at college in Potsdam... and you couldn't pay me to go back. Potsdam, Massena, Canton, and Malone are all dumpy little towns.
The other problem you'll run into is the scarcity of jobs. If you think the economic/unemployment situation is bad in the rest of the country... just wait until you go north where the only companies supporting the economy are the colleges.
Is there a particular reason you're looking to move north?
If having to relocate to the north country from long island, which area is best for raising children with plans of attending college, great area for families and with great places for both children and parents. Graet schools, stores, doctors etc.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
If your coming from long island I doubt you'll be able to survive the winter up there or get a job unless you have one lined up.
those towns are even considered depressing to most people here........at least here you have Montreal and Burlington and Lake Placid for lots of things to do..........don't know what you'd do there???????
those towns are even considered depressing to most people here........at least here you have Montreal and Burlington and Lake Placid for lots of things to do..........don't know what you'd do there???????
I agree....If I lived in the North Country, it would probably be Plattsburgh or Watertown. Maybe Potsdam or Canton, because they are college towns, but that might be a stretch.
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I live in Plattsburgh and
