[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I think Richford would be one of those places that nobody would want as an assignment, hence the job offer there. The natives do creative things with tractors up there.

Customs agent. If it paid really well (and it might) that could be worth enduring for a year or so. But the person would have to be almost desperate for a job and have a great tolerance for being alone and living in a remote, desolate location with nothing to do--and able to endure long, dark, freezing cold winters. I'm not sure if St Albans would be an easy enough winter drive or if it would be lively enough to be a tolerable place to live. (Never been to St Albans.) It would probably take a certain kind of person, a very hardy soul, a loner.

The area might be nice in summer if the person enjoys Vermont's natural beauty -this area has open meadowland and dairy farms--and activities like hiking and fishing but the winters would be long and brutal. I've seen the road that goes to Canada. It goes from the "center" of town right up to the Pinnacle with signs telling you that is Canada over there. There are a few houses, the little Methodist church, and the narrow meandering river as you face the mountain.

Thanks for satisfying our curiousity. I simply could not imagine what the job would be but this makes sense now. It's not a very busy border crossing

[Biker53]

Rural living is not for everyone. Some hate it, but for others of us it is heaven. I have never been to Richford but I am guessing it could be a wonderful place to live for those of us who don't need much in the way of public entertainment or facilities. What I value in low populations settings is the close relationships that develop with the community and the extent to which you really belong. Such places tend to have a self sufficiency mindset where the community takes care of their own.

[Sporin]

I have a friend who lives in St. Albans with his wife and 4(!) kids. They like it there. It has it's problems, for sure, but mostly is a nice little town with decent amenities. He rides the commuter bus into work in Burlington daily. She's a per diem nurse and works all over.

They have a nice, walkable downtown, stores, restaurants, etc. There's a lot of community arts projects and such trying to rebuild and elevate the community. I'll tell you though, it's hard to get up there to visit, it's just not on the way to anything, and Burlington is a long enough drive already, so to go another 30+ minutes makes it a tough day trip with kids.

Richford is another 40 minutes past there, in good weather. So you'd have to like the isolation I think, so if you know that's for you, then it won't be so bad.

[Keep2]

Hello everyone,
Thanks for the very (very) insightful replies. I'm starting to regret that I didn't choose Massena, NY when it was available.
Overall, Customs is a good job. Only thing, when starting out one have to choose, what I consider, the best of the less desirable locations. That is unless on luck out and a desirable location pops up or get stationed there. The more in site I get from your experiences the more I realize why these places are less desirable. However, I prefer the northern border over the southern any day / time of the week.
In case any of you are wondering, I chose Richford due to it being close to Burlington and Champlain. Plattsburgh maybe once or twice a month type trip. Being from SoCal, where it doesn't snow, I forget how much it can and will snow. Then there is the whole issue of being able to find readily available apartments for rent. The option of Derby Line, Norton, and Beecher Falls is available as well. But they are so far from Burlington, with Canada not being a livable option.
But the one good thing (which could work against me as well), I found out that Richford is a very slow port where people go to retire on the job.

[jackmccullough]

If you're into skiing it's very close to Jay Peak, so you've got that going for you, which is nice.


As a practical matter you will probably want to live in St. Albans; Newport is a similar distance but has less to offer. The commute should be less than an hour, even in winter.


As for Plattsburgh, unless you have a good reason to want to be there, once you've made it all the way to Burlington there isn't much of a draw to Plattsburgh.

[Keep2]

How does living in St. Johnsbury and working out of Derby Line compared to living in St. Albans and working out of Richford.

[ColoTroutlHntr]

St. Albans is a real drive to Richford, curvy, bad in winter, but scenic. Richford however, is not far to Jay Peak; the best skiing in the East, some of the best mountains for hiking in Vt. and excellent outdoor recreation of all sorts right in the area. Also, an excellent new bike path that goes long, long miles and is fairly well used, very beautiful. Some people think Montgomery is one of Vt.'s most scenic towns and it is. And the funny thing about Vt. rural is that it doesn't live like other rural places, its different and better living than many places, but you have to live it first to "get it" so you have to try it to know. So, if you are into certain lifestyle features or would like to learn this area offers a great deal and is very nice with 3 mountain passes really close, a fair bit of tourist traffic, hikers, bikers, skiers. I think for the right person it could be a lot more pleasant surprise experience and a real find than than the town of Richford might seem to some to suggest since it is like it has been described. And there is Montreal.

[Keep2]

All of this minus the bad winter drive sounds wonderful. I know it may be a bit early in the ball game but could any of you all point me in the right direction to finding apartments in either Richford, Swanson, or St. Albans.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Keep2

All of this minus the bad winter drive sounds wonderful. I know it may be a bit early in the ball game but could any of you all point me in the right direction to finding apartments in either Richford, Swanson, or St. Albans.

You still want to give it a whirl after all that? Are you good at driving in snow?

You could look on Zillow for Richford or Swanton. St Albans doesn't sound like a very sensible drive in winter but who knows???

[jackmccullough]

What I think is that there are probably more housing options in St. Albans than in either Swanton or (especially) Richford. Also, according to Google Maps the drive time is about the same from Swanton or St. Albans.

It's possible that Seven Days, the "alternative" (but well established) newspaper in Burlington will carry rental ads for St. Albans. St. Albans also has a newspaper, the St. Albans Messenger.

All three towns probably have a Front Porch Forum, a community listserv that you can sign up for, where you might be able to either find rental listings or, once you are signed up, post requests for rentals.

Good luck, and you'll want AWD. People go for Subarus up here if you need AWD but you don't need a truck or SUV.