Moving to Newark is this a good town? (Wilmington, Bear: ski resort, real estate)

[kevin8374]

We are moving to Newark with a 9 year old son. We are looking for some advice about the city. Is it safe? Does the city have a lot of things to do outdoors? Please advise ASAP.

[doctorjef]

Try reading the other Newark threads.

[virgode]

You and your son would enjoy Lums Pond State Park, in Bear, close to Newark.

Lums Pond State Park, Bear, Delaware

[queenofbavaria]

to me Delaware in general is not that 'outdoorsy'. there is not too much to do, and everything seems to involve driving 20 minutes or so ...

I like parts of newark, mostly main street, since this is - compared to other streets - very lively, nice cafes, restaurants, shops .... and lots of students. I also like the food co-op and the newark art alliance, both next to main street.

I am not sure about the schools. As far as I know it's christina district and it just depends on your feeder pattern, if your son is going to attend good or not so good schools. as a single parent newark might be a good place, but as I said, check on the schools. we have several threads about school ratings here, if you go for a little 'hunt'.

we often go to the UD iceskating rink, that's nice (but indoors ).

[doctorjef]

There are a lot of small outdoor venues, such as ponds that are in nice wooded areas and good for fishing -- like Lums Pond isn't that far from Newark and there are other wooded areas around Newark that are good for hiking. As I live north of both Newark and Wilmington, around so-called "Chateau Country" (why it's singular instead of plural -Chateaux - don't ask me!), I'm not all that familiar with state parks and ponds down Newark way. Delaware operates many state parks that are pretty nice. There's a lot more outdoor activity along the coast - either the Delaware Bay or the Atlantic coastline (as well as Rehoboth Bay), but none of that's in immediate proximity to Newark -- it's all farther south. However, for day trips and brief getaways, these places are all really cool - and I admit to not having been to many of them. But it isn't like, for example, when I lived in Grand Junction, CO and could go out hiking in the Colorado National Monument any day after work and where we had a local, family type ski resort just out of town on the Grand Mesa. Newark is basically a nice, pleasant college town and I think you could be quite pleased with the general quality of life there. I would, however, investigate the public schools and feeder patterns relative to properties you are looking at buying or leasing -- a real estate agent should prove very helpful and informative about such issues.

[armx]

Newark and surrondings will be quite fun/safe for the nine year old and his parent/s. A little more information regarding specific requirements, budget will help decide where to actually locate.

In the interest of orientation, OP might want to know that there are no towns attached to each other in Delaware. There is the CITY of Newark and then there are neighborhoods (there used be names like Ogletown, Choate even Glasgow) but they were never the towns like one finds in PA or NJ. Next City/Town is Newport that is 10 miles outside Newark City limits.

Public schools and feeder patterns can be looked into once more specifics are at hand.

[James420]

White Clay Creek Park, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and my favorite, horse racing at Delaware Park which opens on May 1st. Delaware Park on Saturdays is alot of fun,they have moon bounces and slides for the kids, beach volleyball, and or a big sandbox. Fun family atmoshere with cookouts. The nice thing about living in a small state is, fun is usually 20 minutes away. Other than the weather from Nov. to March its really not a bad place to live.

[doctorjef]

White Clay Creek Park is in the immediate Newark area -- couldn't think of it earlier today. Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is farther downstate, but certainly do-able as a day excursion. Among other things, Bombay Hook is a wintering place for huge flocks of snow geese. Up here in northern New Castle County, by contrast, we have enormous wintering flocks of Canada geese that appropriate just about any field, golf course, or other available grounds that they happen to fancy. To me they are a marvelous seasonal feature of nature here on the Delmarva penninsula.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Bombay Hook is a wintering place for huge flocks of snow geese.

Unfortunately, doctorjef, the snow geese can't read the Bombay Hook Wildlife signs. It seems almost every farm below the ditch is covered with snow geese at certain times of the year. As a farmer, in the 60's in Kent County, we kept a couple German Shepherds as pets, only so they could run the snow and Canadian geese off of our winter wheat fields, and cover crops. The geese pull up each seedling, and up to 5-6 inch long wheat blades out of the ground, root and all. The damage was very costly. Oh, and our German Shepherds were slim and trim from twirling themselves in the air, trying to catch a goose. But the geese were quicker, never were harmed, and always came back for more, even bringing their friends.

[doctorjef]

Yes, I've seen the geese out in some of the corn fields up here, systematically "weeding" the fields -- looks very tedious! At least with the corn fields they're presumably just destroying what's left of the plant roots after the crop has already been harvested in the autumn. I can imagine what a problem they must be for farmers with winter-seeded crops. However, they are marvelous to see and hear in flight if one has no economic investment to protect from their depredations.