Living in small towns: tell me about Duryea, Avoca, Jessup, Peckville, Pittston, etc.... (Scranton: new house)

[lorac07]

Good Morning. Well, at the risk of repeating myself, I am looking for a new house, and I am looking in the boonies. But in my search, I've been coming across lots of nice houses in lots of nice smaller towns--not the open-countryside I've been wanting, but nice nonetheless. Having been jaded and embittered by living next to the 4 or so neighbors-from-h-e-double-toothpicks, I'm naturally leery about moving next to neighbors-so-close again (though of course I'm aware of the fact that neighbors 2 miles down the road can also be neighbors-from-h-e-yadda yadda, but that's a discourse for another post). So tell me about small-town life in PA: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Where would be the best small-town in PA in which to live? I'm looking forward to your feedback!

[Mr Yuk]

I don't know much about Duryea and Avoca, but I will say that those two towns always struck me as gloomy....sort of run down and depressing. Jessup and Peckville I am very familiar with, and I would say they would be good choices for local towns. Mostly friendly people, there's a nice park with walking trails along the river in Peckville that is only right across the river from Jessup. I used to walk that trail from Archbald to Mellow Park in Peckville, and across the river to Olyphant all the time when I lived up there. Right by the park in Peckville is a public library that was just built a few years ago. A pretty nice well kept middle class area.

[W-B proud]

Originally Posted by go phillies

I don't know much about Duryea and Avoca, but I will say that those two towns always struck me as gloomy....sort of run down and depressing. Jessup and Peckville I am very familiar with, and I would say they would be good choices for local towns. Mostly friendly people, there's a nice park with walking trails along the river in Peckville that is only right across the river from Jessup. I used to walk that trail from Archbald to Mellow Park in Peckville, and across the river to Olyphant all the time when I lived up there. Right by the park in Peckville is a public library that was just built a few years ago. A pretty nice well kept middle class area.

I've always had the same "gloomy and depressing" feeling about Peckville and Jessup, that run down "main st" that runs through all those little towns ect. Kind of like Nanticoke or Carbondale. I am sure there are nice sections of both towns, but I haven't seen them. I suggest West Pittston, Wyoming, or maybe Taylor, or Old Forge in Lackawanna county.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

I've always had the same "gloomy and depressing" feeling about Peckville and Jessup, that run down "main st" that runs through all those little towns ect. Kind of like Nanticoke or Carbondale. I am sure there are nice sections of both towns, but I haven't seen them. I suggest West Pittston, Wyoming, or maybe Taylor, or Old Forge in Lackawanna county.

Are you sure you've been through either town? Especially Peckville....Peckville is probably one of the nicer-looking well-kept towns in the area. There are really no dumpy parts of Peckville. There is no way that Jessup or Peckville resemble Nanticoke or Carbondale. Archbald does have kind of a depressing "downtown," though, but its otherwise not a bad town.

Now I'm sure you're not very familiar with Lackawanna County towns....Taylor?? Taylor is very depressing. Half of the town is trailer parks, and the entire stretch of Main Ave through Taylor is dumpy. Old Forge I agree with you on....Old Forge is a nice town, very well kept and a nice main street for a small town.

[SteelCityRising]

To assist the OP in his/her potential house-hunting, Peckville isn't a town; it's a large neighborhood of either Blakely or Archbald (Ditto Eynon). I'm not as familiar with "up da valley" as Go Phillies is, considering Greater Pittston was my old turf.

[memoriesbre]

I am originally from the big city of NY (Queens). We lived in NJ and then Florida. We are in Tunkhannock and love it. The town is quaint and kept very nice. We DO have open space out in the country on three acres. Neighbors are there but no way on top of us. I would suggest looking in Tunkhannock/Wyoming County.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by memoriesbre

I am originally from the big city of NY (Queens). We lived in NJ and then Florida. We are in Tunkhannock and love it. The town is quaint and kept very nice. We DO have open space out in the country on three acres. Neighbors are there but no way on top of us. I would suggest looking in Tunkhannock/Wyoming County.

Here's another nod for Tunkhannock. The only downside would be a treacherous winter commute to work in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

To assist the OP in his/her potential house-hunting, Peckville isn't a town; it's a large neighborhood of either Blakely or Archbald (Ditto Eynon). I'm not as familiar with "up da valley" as Go Phillies is, considering Greater Pittston was my old turf.

Peckville is actually a section of Blakely borough, but it seems that Peckville is actually bigger than the section of the borough known as Blakely, and has its own post office, while the rest of Blakely is actually served by the Olyphant post office. Eynon is a section of Archbald, as is Sturges (the area of Rt 247 right off of Rt 6 in Eynon, sneeze and you miss it) and Nebraska, which is actually closer to Jermyn than it is to the rest of Archbald, sometimes its referred to as East Jermyn.

Confusing, I know...