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Hi - We are thinking of relocating from Manhattan. Right now we are focusing on Croton on Hudson and Huntington/Centerport (Long Island). Each area has it's own plusses. Both have some nice houses on the market in the $500-600 range, both are near the water and both the Croton-Harmon and Harborfields school districts get good scores. The commute to Manhattan is quicker from Croton (42 minutes vs 60 minutes) and more scenic. The mountain views that many houses have are a plus. The village of Huntington has more to it. Are there other villages near Croton that have a larger variety of stores and restaurants? Does anybody know what the bike paths near Croton are like? I enjoy biking. Would an interracial family be comfortable in Croton? Also, are there any other pluses about Croton that I may be missing? Thanks in advance.
Croton has a growing number of restaurants (I think there are now 6 very good ones, plus some okay ones) and a few interesting stores. There are also a few other good restaurants not far outside of the village. Croton is very close to to Tarrytown and Peekskill, both of which have a larger number of good restaurants, galleries, and stores. Peekskill has a great art museum (the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art) and the Paramount Art Center (which has art films and live performances). This spring it is also getting a new micro-brewery and restaurant, which looks very promising. Tarrytown has the Tarrytown Music Hall. Briarcliff is even closer and has one or two good restaurants. Croton is also pretty close to Mt. Kisco, which has a very large selection of good restaurants and stores, and Katonah. You'll also find a few good restaurants in Yorktown Heights.
Croton has a large series of town hiking trails and is very close to a number of nature preserves with great hiking. It also has Silver Lake, a beach on the Croton River, and Senasqua Park on the Hudson (which has open-air movies and music in the summer). Residents can also swim at the Cortlandt pool, which is huge and has a beach area. And there's Croton Point Park, and a number of other great parks.
The best biking in the area is the North County Trailway, which runs through Yorktown and is 35 miles long--it runs up to Putnam County and down to the South County Trailway, which goes all the way to the Bronx. There are also a number of roads in the area that are very popular with bikers and very safe. My favorite is the one that runs along the southern shore of the reservoir just outside of Croton.
If you can live with the longer commute, I would choose Huntington. I can't think of a more appealing downtown in all of Westchester and Long Island. Croton has a lot of things going for it, but the downtown is nothing. And how many times can you go those six very good restaurants?
We started looking on Long Island first and gave strong consideration to the Huntington area, in part due to it's village. The school scores were not terrific so we started looking at both Centerport and portions of Westchester including Croton on the Hudson. I've never had more than a half hour commute door to door so I'm not sure if I could handle an a total commute of about 1 hour and 25 minutes.
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