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Old 12-07-2010, 11:56 PM
 
Location: Allentown, PA
14 posts, read 21,727 times
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I'm moving to Kingston this weekend. I have heard that it is a nicer area of Wilkes Barre. But I have a few questions.....

What is Kingston like to live in? What sort of shopping areas are close by? Type of residents? Anything else I should know?

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Old 12-08-2010, 09:31 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,747,523 times
Reputation: 4425
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachluv99 View Post
I'm moving to Kingston this weekend. I have heard that it is a nicer area of Wilkes Barre. But I have a few questions.....

What is Kingston like to live in? What sort of shopping areas are close by? Type of residents? Anything else I should know?

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a nice walkable town...lots of small businesses and only a walk across the Market Street bridge to downtown Wilkes-Barre. There's a nice park along the river with walking/jogging trails. Its probably where I would look to live if I was to move to the W-B area. I would think its pretty much a middle class town.
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Old 12-08-2010, 12:26 PM
 
Location: wilkes-barre
1,973 posts, read 5,246,934 times
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It's a nice middle class area just west of Wilkes-Barre over the river. There are many small shops up and down Market st and Wyoming Ave., and there are a few shopping centers like The Gateway, Mark II plaza ect, Plus it is bordered by Kirby Park and Nesbitt park. It's a nice town. Good choice!
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Old 12-09-2010, 08:55 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,603 posts, read 77,247,404 times
Reputation: 19066
What I always envied about Kingston was its walkability. Within a 2-mile radius of just about any home in the borough you could get to Downtown Wilkes-Barre (movie theater, performing arts center, universities, health care, major employers, an awesome weekly farmers' market, YMCA, annual events, the river commons, government offices, etc.), Kirby Park, Nesbitt Park, and a slew of businesses within and adjacent to the community, including, but not limited to:
  • Theo's Metro (great Greek food)
  • Dagwood's Deli (great subs)
  • Goldstein's Deli
  • Pierce Street Bistro
  • Bake House (great pastries)
  • Lowe's Home Improvement
  • Price Chopper (grocery store)
  • Abe's Hot Dogs
  • Rayco's (awesome exotic cars to drool over)
  • Numerous houses of worship, banks, and professional offices

It's rare to find such a "walkable" community in NEPA, and the fact that Kingston is almost perfectly flat, has many sidewalks, and many tree-lined streets makes it even more conducive to either walking or cycling. Generally speaking the nicer parts of Kingston are east of Wyoming Avenue/U.S. Route 11 (closer to the river). There are some shadier parts of Kingston directly adjacent to the community's border with Edwardsville.
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Old 12-09-2010, 11:45 AM
 
5,287 posts, read 6,086,634 times
Reputation: 5451
Default The old Kingston

Kingston used to be THE place to live in the Wyoming Valley. It had the best public school system in northeastern PA until it was merged out of existence in 1967. Every year, Kingston High School grads were accepted at most of the Ivy League colleges, MIT, military academies, etc. The last KHS grad to enter Harvard was Sandy Ungar Goucher College: Biography (http://www.goucher.edu/x4676.xml - broken link) in 1963. Wyoming Valley West, the successor to Kingston Public Schools, is just average.

Most of the up and coming professionals in the area now make their homes in the back mountain or Mountaintop, not Kingston anymore. I'm sure that you will find Kingston OK, but things do change and not always for the better.
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Old 12-09-2010, 03:36 PM
 
4,526 posts, read 6,058,293 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wells5 View Post
Kingston used to be THE place to live in the Wyoming Valley. It had the best public school system in northeastern PA until it was merged out of existence in 1967. Every year, Kingston High School grads were accepted at most of the Ivy League colleges, MIT, military academies, etc. The last KHS grad to enter Harvard was Sandy Ungar Goucher College: Biography (http://www.goucher.edu/x4676.xml - broken link) in 1963. Wyoming Valley West, the successor to Kingston Public Schools, is just average.

Most of the up and coming professionals in the area now make their homes in the back mountain or Mountaintop, not Kingston anymore. I'm sure that you will find Kingston OK, but things do change and not always for the better.
amen to that--am living next to a soap opera in what looked like a quiet neighborhood--watch out for flies as neighbors(the bar type)--can best be seen by the presence of teens/adolescents generally wandering around,skipping school,no adult supervision-----seriously check the areas out in the evening when everyone is around
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Old 12-09-2010, 05:10 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,603 posts, read 77,247,404 times
Reputation: 19066
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wells5 View Post
Kingston used to be THE place to live in the Wyoming Valley. It had the best public school system in northeastern PA until it was merged out of existence in 1967. Every year, Kingston High School grads were accepted at most of the Ivy League colleges, MIT, military academies, etc. The last KHS grad to enter Harvard was Sandy Ungar Goucher College: Biography (http://www.goucher.edu/x4676.xml - broken link) in 1963. Wyoming Valley West, the successor to Kingston Public Schools, is just average.

Most of the up and coming professionals in the area now make their homes in the back mountain or Mountaintop, not Kingston anymore. I'm sure that you will find Kingston OK, but things do change and not always for the better.
To be fair changing lifestyle trends---not necessarily a poor quality-of-life---have caused the continuing demise of inner suburban places like Kingston, Forty Fort, West Pittston, etc. while Mountain Top, the Back Mountain, the Abingtons, and other newer suburban areas have been the benefactors. Even Clarks Summit is in a population nosedive as residents there move to newer housing options in adjacent South Abington Township, and I don't think anyone would seriously offer up a credible argument to indicate Clarks Summit has a poor quality-of-life that is causing its downfall.

Families, at least for a long time from the 1970s until the recession, wanted to live excessively and ostentatiously with a large amount of land around them, distance from neighbors, 2-car garages, ample off-street parking, and relative isolation. They didn't care about front porches because they didn't want to be that "intimate" with their neighbors. They wanted backyard inground pools over sharing a neighborhood or community pool. They wanted backyard playsets instead of being within walking distance to a neighborhood park. That's why places like the Back Mountain are now replete with sterile cul-de-sacs right out of Desperate Housewives. There's been a much more recent trend of people reinvesting in core urbanized areas nationwide, and Wilkes-Barre has seen that to a smaller extent; it only lost 1 person from 2008-2009, based upon census estimates, and I project it will be growing between 2010 and 2020, especially if it can continue to improve its negative external image (Scranton is another story).

Say what you all will, but in my opinion places like West Pittston, Forty Fort, and, yes, Kingston, are all still wonderful places to live. If some of you think the nearly 100,000 people who live in the Back Mountain, Mountain Top, and Abingtons combined are all "angels", then you're in need of a serious wake-up call, as drugs are just as commonplace in these affluent outlying suburban areas as they are in the inner suburban areas. Violent crimes can and will occur. Where did that slain gay porn producer live who was nearly beheaded before having his home torched? Wilkes-Barre? Nope. Hoighty-toighty Dallas Township, one of the most affluent communities in the region. There have been major drug busts at Abington Heights High School.

If some of you honestly think Kingston is unsafe or trashy then you really should move out to Lopez or somewhere. Most of the people I knew from Kingston while working at Lowe's were middle-class college-educated professionals, many of whom worked Downtown.
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Old 12-10-2010, 01:16 AM
 
4,526 posts, read 6,058,293 times
Reputation: 3983
Quote:
Originally Posted by RestonRunner86 View Post
To be fair changing lifestyle trends---not necessarily a poor quality-of-life---have caused the continuing demise of inner suburban places like Kingston, Forty Fort, West Pittston, etc. while Mountain Top, the Back Mountain, the Abingtons, and other newer suburban areas have been the benefactors. Even Clarks Summit is in a population nosedive as residents there move to newer housing options in adjacent South Abington Township, and I don't think anyone would seriously offer up a credible argument to indicate Clarks Summit has a poor quality-of-life that is causing its downfall.

Families, at least for a long time from the 1970s until the recession, wanted to live excessively and ostentatiously with a large amount of land around them, distance from neighbors, 2-car garages, ample off-street parking, and relative isolation. They didn't care about front porches because they didn't want to be that "intimate" with their neighbors. They wanted backyard inground pools over sharing a neighborhood or community pool. They wanted backyard playsets instead of being within walking distance to a neighborhood park. That's why places like the Back Mountain are now replete with sterile cul-de-sacs right out of Desperate Housewives. There's been a much more recent trend of people reinvesting in core urbanized areas nationwide, and Wilkes-Barre has seen that to a smaller extent; it only lost 1 person from 2008-2009, based upon census estimates, and I project it will be growing between 2010 and 2020, especially if it can continue to improve its negative external image (Scranton is another story).

Say what you all will, but in my opinion places like West Pittston, Forty Fort, and, yes, Kingston, are all still wonderful places to live. If some of you think the nearly 100,000 people who live in the Back Mountain, Mountain Top, and Abingtons combined are all "angels", then you're in need of a serious wake-up call, as drugs are just as commonplace in these affluent outlying suburban areas as they are in the inner suburban areas. Violent crimes can and will occur. Where did that slain gay porn producer live who was nearly beheaded before having his home torched? Wilkes-Barre? Nope. Hoighty-toighty Dallas Township, one of the most affluent communities in the region. There have been major drug busts at Abington Heights High School.

If some of you honestly think Kingston is unsafe or trashy then you really should move out to Lopez or somewhere. Most of the people I knew from Kingston while working at Lowe's were middle-class college-educated professionals, many of whom worked Downtown.
these nice small towns have their fair share of undesirable neighbors--i remember even paul had his in his relatively small area of pittston township
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Old 12-10-2010, 09:00 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,747,523 times
Reputation: 4425
Quote:
Originally Posted by RestonRunner86 View Post
To be fair changing lifestyle trends---not necessarily a poor quality-of-life---have caused the continuing demise of inner suburban places like Kingston, Forty Fort, West Pittston, etc. while Mountain Top, the Back Mountain, the Abingtons, and other newer suburban areas have been the benefactors. Even Clarks Summit is in a population nosedive as residents there move to newer housing options in adjacent South Abington Township, and I don't think anyone would seriously offer up a credible argument to indicate Clarks Summit has a poor quality-of-life that is causing its downfall.

Families, at least for a long time from the 1970s until the recession, wanted to live excessively and ostentatiously with a large amount of land around them, distance from neighbors, 2-car garages, ample off-street parking, and relative isolation. They didn't care about front porches because they didn't want to be that "intimate" with their neighbors. They wanted backyard inground pools over sharing a neighborhood or community pool. They wanted backyard playsets instead of being within walking distance to a neighborhood park. That's why places like the Back Mountain are now replete with sterile cul-de-sacs right out of Desperate Housewives. There's been a much more recent trend of people reinvesting in core urbanized areas nationwide, and Wilkes-Barre has seen that to a smaller extent; it only lost 1 person from 2008-2009, based upon census estimates, and I project it will be growing between 2010 and 2020, especially if it can continue to improve its negative external image (Scranton is another story).

Say what you all will, but in my opinion places like West Pittston, Forty Fort, and, yes, Kingston, are all still wonderful places to live. If some of you think the nearly 100,000 people who live in the Back Mountain, Mountain Top, and Abingtons combined are all "angels", then you're in need of a serious wake-up call, as drugs are just as commonplace in these affluent outlying suburban areas as they are in the inner suburban areas. Violent crimes can and will occur. Where did that slain gay porn producer live who was nearly beheaded before having his home torched? Wilkes-Barre? Nope. Hoighty-toighty Dallas Township, one of the most affluent communities in the region. There have been major drug busts at Abington Heights High School.

If some of you honestly think Kingston is unsafe or trashy then you really should move out to Lopez or somewhere. Most of the people I knew from Kingston while working at Lowe's were middle-class college-educated professionals, many of whom worked Downtown.
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Old 12-10-2010, 10:44 AM
 
Location: Location: Location
6,727 posts, read 9,889,335 times
Reputation: 20481
Mayberry R.F.D. was a TV show. It doesn't really exist. Maybe in the long ago, but where ever you go, there is the potential for crime.

As far as the school district is concerned, Wyoming Valley West is an okay district. Inner city schools in some really big districts can be daunting to students who want to learn but can't because of rampant disruptive behavior but WVW has much to offer a student who is willing to work, not only IN class but also outside of the actual building. Additionally, parental support is key, no matter where a child goes to school.

Yes, there are some sketchy areas, but in the main, Kingston is an okay town. Just be sure to bring your good humor and willingness to integrate into the community and you'll be fine.

OMT, the migration to the Back Mountain/Mountaintop areas really took off after the Agnes flood of '72 devastated a large part of the west side, which included much of Kingston. The levee system has been improved since then.
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