Where to live near/around North Dartmouth? (Boston, Lowell: apartment complex, rentals)

[ruby44]

I'm a Canadian on the verge of accepting a job with UMASS-Dartmouth.

I'm trying to do as much research as possible to get a good handle on the living conditions in the South Coast, specifically the Fall River/New Bedford areas--if the job is accepted I will have a limited time frame in which to completely relocate and need to know which neighbourhoods to target.

I currently living in a substancial urban centre, and while I'm not looking to live in Boston (the commute would kill me), I would like to live in a place that has *something* to offer (e.g. culturally, gastronomically, recreationally etc).

I tried searching for a post on this, but couldn't find one--what would be the ideal town/city to live in, if one was working in North Dartmouth? I've read both positive and negative posts regarding Fall River & New Bedford (I'm not opposed to living in either one as long as they are reasonably safe neighbourhoods).

I'll be renting, have a car, and would like to be no more than 30-40 minutes away from the campus. I also need to be in MA.

[maggiekate]

Fairhaven is a small and nice place you may consider, also Bridgewater or the Bourne are may work.

[ruby44]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look them up.

Which then brings up the next question: I'm doing my apartment hunting via the internet, is there one particular site that is used more frequently than others by landlords to advertise their apartments?

[lrfox]

Hi, ruby and welcome to Massachusetts.

I spent the bulk of my life on the Southcoast so I think I can help a bit (have also lived in Maryland, Maine, and now Boston).

The Southcoast is a nice area. It's on the ocean (beautiful beaches and rivers) and it's within an hour of Boston, minutes from Cape Cod and about 3.5 hours to New York City.

Given what you're looking for in an area, the BEST fit would be Providence, Rhode Island. It's unfortunate that you say you HAVE to live in Massachusetts (any way to change this?) because Providence is about 25-30 minutes from Dartmouth and will offer you the best urban amenities. It's a metropolitan area of about 1.6 million and has all sorts of culture, arts, nightlife, great restaurants, etc. It's also on the local Boston commuter rail trains (MBTA to Boston's South Station in an hour) as well as Amtrak's high-speed Acela Express which services Boston, New York City (under 3 hours), Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Providence has many ethnic neighborhoods (their little Italy, "Federal Hill" is phenominal) and some great institutions (Brown, Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson and Wales, etc). If there is any way for you to be able to live there and commute, it would probably be the best bet for you.

Fall River and New Bedford are often terribly regarded in Massachusetts. I can see many reasons why, but I tend to think the criticism is overblown. Fall River has some nice, suburban-esque neighborhoods (the "Highlands"... along Highland Avenue are beautiful. Loaded with tree-lined streets and old industrial era estates). It also has a cool waterfront area with the world's largest collection of Naval War Ships (which you can board and explore). It has a large Portuguese population and there are some really interesting markets and restaurants in town. It's not very walkable and there are some isolated areas that I would avoid in Fall River.

I would recommend New Bedford before I recommend Fall River. New Bedford is slightly larger (right around 100,000 people) and is a more active seaport. The downtown area is gorgeous (it's a national park) and very walkable. The streets are cobblestone and there are a good number of restaurants, bars, galleries, and some nice museums (the whaling museum, art museum, and ocean explorium are all very cool). It also has a wonderful theater (the Zeiterion) and a great symphony orchestra. New Bedford is really the Southcoast's cultural hub. It's also loaded with history as it's where Herman Melville lived when he wrote Moby Dick about his experiences on a whaling ship and it's also where Fredrick Douglas found freedom (and a big underground railroad stop). Like Fall River, there is a large Portuguese population and many great Portuguese restaurants (mostly scattered throughout the city, not concentrated downtown). New Bedford also has a wonderful little Zoo set in the Fredrick Law Olmstead (same guy who did NYC's Central Park) designed Buttonwood Park.

New Bedford has some great attributes but it's struggling economically. It's the nation's highest grossing fishing port, but when manufacturing left, many were left without jobs. You can see some urban decay in areas outside the city's core. Like Fall River, the crime is really isolated to certain locations. If I were you and were looking for a home in New Bedford, I would look Downtown, the Whaling District, The West End and along the County Street historic area (many wonderful old homes here).

Crime isn't an issue in these cities save for certain spots (usually around public housing projects) that tend to garner most of the attention. The worst thing about these cities are the lack of jobs requiring a college degree (there's a large uneducated population you'll likely notice), and the poor public education services. If you don't have a family (or are going to put your kids in private schools), Fall River and New Bedford can provide EXCELLENT value for you.

As I mentioned, if you were going to look into those cities, I would highly recommend New Bedford over Fall River. The core of New Bedford is entertaining (though small) and walkable. You're still within a half hour from Providence and an hour from Boston for your real urban needs. New Bedford offers great scale and some stunning architecture. If you're single or not worried about public schools, you will likely find the Downtown/historic district area and the West End/ County Street historic area quite charming and fun. If you do need public schools, you would be better suited outside of the city.

If you look into New Bedford (or Fall River) and find that it doesn't suit you well, then there are plenty of other alternatives. Fairhaven as has been mentioned is quite lovely. it sits directly across the harbor from New Bedford so you can access everything in downtown New Bedford from Fairhaven within about 5 minutes (across the Pope's Island Bridge). Fairhaven has some of the most affordable Ocean Front property you'll find in Southern New England and the center of Fairhaven has an excellent small-town vibe. Their high school is perhaps the most beautiful in the area (the old Durfee High in Fall River is a gorgeous one as well). Fairhaven schools are fairly decent if that's important to you.

Dartmouth itself isn't bad (great public schools). The town takes up a large chunk of land so the neighborhoods are pretty diverse. Closest to the New Bedford line it's almost urban, while in areas like Russel's Mills it's mostly rural. Of course, you do have the suburban areas as well. The coastline in Dartmouth is wonderful. Westport is charming (a lot like rural Dartmouth) but has terrible public schools. The river and beaches in Westport are some of the prettiest you'll find anywhere (I spent my summers in college lifguarding down there); the Boston Globe recently featured a spotlight on Westport here and a nice photo tour here. If you want a cool area to start living, see if you can find something in Westport Point, it's a gorgous little peninsula that juts out into Westport Harbor.

Lakeville is very suburban but has some gorgeous lakes (hence the town's name). It has very good public schools and the real kicker is that it has a commuter rail station with service to Boston's South Station. Lakeville is on Route 140 which gives it relatively easy access to Dartmouth, New Bedford, etc. Freetown may also be another good alternative. It's situated conveniently on Route 24 and 140 so you have easy access to Dartmouth, New Bedford, Boston and I-195 (to Providence). I'd suggest looking at the Assonet section of Freetown as it has a nice historic village with a meandering river. It's also right on Route 24 (exits 9 and 10) so you're 20 minutes from Dartmouth, 25 from Providence and 50 from Boston.

Towns like Marion, Mattapoisett, Wareham, Rochester, etc are all wonderful, but you're getting further and further away from having easy access to the larger cities in the region (though you're still within range of Dartmouth).

Craigslist (check the Southcoast section) is the best site for rentals in the area. They've got a good Providence section too if you can finagle that. Rent.com and other sites are good for managment companies, but most people use craigslist. The Lofts at Wamsutta is a cool apartment complex (brand new) built in a converted mill building. It's close enough to downtown New Bedford and only about 15 minutes from UMass Dartmouth. I'd give it a look.

Anyway, good luck! I hope you find some place that fits your needs.

[ruby44]

Thanks so much for replying.

The only reason I'd prefer to live in MA is due to the complex tax situation I'm going to find myself in--I don't want to complicate it any further (I'll be filling taxes both in MA and in Canada, adding a second state would only add another layer to the already pretty messed up bureaucracy I'm going to find).

Schools aren't too much of a concern right now, as we're not even pregnant yet and would actually like to return to Canada before the future children are of school-age.

I'll definitely explore the many places you've recommended; and thank you for confirming my hunch that if it's a choice between NB & FR, New Bedford wins.

I'm pretty comfortabel with the Portuguese community, being Portuguese myself, and the potential job would have me working with the Portuguese community.

[DreamworksSKG]

Why not try Westport?


Another option would be north of UMASS Dartmouth -
maybe Lakeville which has a number of lakes for recreational activities and you're not far from Myles Standish State Forest the back roads of Carver or Freetown -Fall River State Forest. and you're not far from the south coast or Providence either.

Freetown is another small woodland type town
You could commute in via 140

East of Dartmouth you could live in Marion, Rochester, Mattapoisett, or Fairhaven. those are nice coastal towns with
marshlands and beaches as well as a bike path - the Phoenix Bike path
the only drawback would be you're commuting into New Bedford and across new bedford on 195 with the Bridges and such and could hit traffic there's not a lot of bridges across New Bedford they are all jammed in traffic as many people commute E-W to Providence in the AM and also New Bedford-Fall River

So I would say you're better off living North or W of Dartmouth to avoid the morning and evening rush as much as possible to be opposite the flow of most of the cars from Provdience.

New bedford and Fall River area are basically considered Eastern Suburbs of Providence ...- They'd be like outer suburbs like how Lowell, Lawrence, Framingham , etc. are in Boston.



you could also look into maybe Middletown, Bristol or Portsmouth Rhode Island
you'd be about 15-20 miles from Dartmouth area via 24-195 you'd be opposite the flow of traffic as well so it would be an easier commute possibly up until you get just outside new bedford

[Cookie2014]

Hi Ruby,

I am finding myself in the same situation since I am moving to UMass Dartmouth. Can you tell me where you chose to live eventually? I am considering Providence, Taunton and New Bedford.