Charming Small Towns in PA within 3 Hours of Herndon, VA? (Lancaster: home, transfer)

[confetticake]

Hi Everyone - I just posted a few days ago on the NY forum because it looked like my husband was transferring there and we were interested in upstate. We just found out yesterday that it looks like they are going to transfer him to Herndon VA instead. The thing about it is - my husband works from home and will only have to go to the office 1 or 2 times per month.

So if you were looking for a safe and charming small town within 2-3 hours of Herndon, where would you live? We are open to other states as well such as MD and DE. We are also looking at our options in Virginia but some suggested that we look into PA too. We would like to be within 8 hours of upstate NY, but we are flexible on that.

As far as town size, something 25K and below would be great, but we are flexible.

I really appreciate any suggestions given - we are native west coasters and now that we are considering living in multiple states because of their close proximity to each other, its become pretty overwhelming from when we were just looking at one state.

Thanks so much!

[pman]

I think bedford is charming. chambersburg, shippensburg, carlisle, gettsburg, hanover all might fit the bill.
huntingdon, pa is exactly 3 hours according to google maps, it's an attractive little town.

[confetticake]

Thanks so much for the suggestions! Carlisle is on our list of places we are interested in and so is Doylestown. We also looked into Jim Thorpe but it may be pushing the distance from Herndon. If there area any other towns I'm overlooking that are in Southern PA I would love to hear about them!

[pman]

Bedford
//www.city-data.com/forum/penns...hoto-tour.html

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by confetticake

Thanks so much for the suggestions! Carlisle is on our list of places we are interested in and so is Doylestown. We also looked into Jim Thorpe but it may be pushing the distance from Herndon. If there area any other towns I'm overlooking that are in Southern PA I would love to hear about them!

Jim Thorpe is an awesome town that I would recommend to almost anyone, but at that distance, even traveling 12-24 times per year would be a nightmare unless your hubby has a VERY fun car to drive.

If you're interested in Jim Thorpe, you should check out Lancaster County. When it comes to quaint small towns, Lancaster County corners the market. Lititz, New Holland, Ephrata, Strasburg, Willow Street, Quarryville, Columbia, Mt. Joy, Elizabethtown, even as far out as Bowmansville or Goodville might be a nice place for you. There are at least a dozen more places I could list just in Lancaster county, not including the great towns in Chester county or New Castle County, Delaware. I will warn you, when you first come to Lancaster, the horse smell is immediately obvious, but within the first month you don't notice it any longer.

[villageidiot1]

I'll second the suggestion for Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg. Mechanicsburg and Camp Hill are other possibilities. Something close to I-81 or US-15 is your best bet for access both to Herndon and upstate NY. You might also want to take a look at Winchester, VA or Martinsburg, WV.

[JustMe13]

If you have kids, stay away from Chambersburg. Just an example...Chambersburg Area Middle School - Chambersburg, Pennsylvania - PA - School overview

[silveraardvark]

i live in leesburg virginia and can't recommend it highly enough. further out west in purcellville is absolutely paradisical as well. harpers ferry and shepherdstown, WV are stunningly beautiful as well. in my opinion any of these spots would be a better bet than south central PA..

also frederick maryland, while not a small town, is one of the gems of the northeast/mid-atlantic region. taxes are higher in maryland than either VA or PA but i certainly would consider frederick county MD as well..