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We've lived in SW NH for the past 6 years and love it. It's not beset by out of state tourists, with the exception of Mt. Monadnock, so we have most of the good places to ourselves. We live just up the road so to speak from Keene in Dublin. Much of this is probably that there are no 4 lane highways going through the area, including Keene. So travel takes a bit more time. For example, a trip from Keene to Boston would be about 2 hours outside rush hour.
Not sure where abnfdc gets information about flooding in the area? No worse than anywhere else, and usually very transient and localized. After all, we're not the flat midwest.
We don't have a lot of high end dining, or great shopping, but Amazon takes care of the latter quite well. What we do have is plentiful, affordable culture - lots of concerts (jazz, classical chamber etc.), affordable live theater, and great outdoor places. There are state parks, town forests and conservation land everywhere, most with decent walking/hiking trails. There's great back road bicycle touring, with little traffic if one stays off the numbered roads. Winter can be a delightful time, with skiing, both downhill and cross country, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing and so on.
If there's a weak spot in the area, it might be education, but I'm probably an education snob? Our child graduated HS, college and grad school some years ago, but I've noticed that locally, few grads, even the top students from local public HS go to colleges beyond local state universities or middle of the road local LACs. (Maybe we're biased, since child went to a Boston area public school where anyone who didn't get into an Ivy was considered a failure? Fellow readers, feel free to pile on if I'm unfairly biased...).
Another plus for Keene is proximity to the Pioneer Valley (aka Connecticut River valley) of Massachusetts, which offers interesting college towns, shopping and a totally different atmosphere from NH.
Keep in mind too that school districts in the area cover multiple towns. IIRC, you could live outside Keene yet still attend the same schools as Keene residents.
Hey Peachukis,
LI here too. Can’t wait to move too! Heading up to the lake region again in Oct. to look for the third time. Unfortunately, I have another 3+ years. Hopefully a vacation home until then.
Good Luck!
Oh lake region sounds wonderful! Best of luck with your search!
Not sure where abnfdc gets information about flooding in the area?
To start with, this is what I said: "SW NH gets a couple of odd weather events like flooding from time to time, but I don't think Keene proper is affected."
To answer, it was all over the news. Apparently Keene is affected so my assumption that it wasn't was incorrect.
Request for disaster declaration and begging for federal funds: https://www.governor.nh.gov/sites/g/...on-request.pdf
'The City of Keene was among the hardest hit communities in Cheshire County during this event.'
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbear99
After all, we're not the flat midwest.
I've lived in the flat midwest. Never had flooding.
In every case you cite, the flooding was very localized and resulted from unusual heavy thunderstorms. For example, the Jaffrey storm affected a few roads there, but nothing to the extent that the news reported. I know because I drove one of the roads the next day, and it was completely passable. I live in an adjacent town, and while they may have received 6 inches, we got far less. That's how localized these storms are.
Do similar google searches for other areas in NH, and you'll find similar results.
Let's have more honest, balanced reporting here, especially when you're talking about an area you don't even know!
In every case you cite, the flooding was very localized and resulted from unusual heavy thunderstorms. For example, the Jaffrey storm affected a few roads there, but nothing to the extent that the news reported. I know because I drove one of the roads the next day, and it was completely passable. I live in an adjacent town, and while they may have received 6 inches, we got far less. That's how localized these storms are.
Do similar google searches for other areas in NH, and you'll find similar results.
Let's have more honest, balanced reporting here, especially when you're talking about an area you don't even know!
but again, this is what I posted. "SW NH gets a couple of odd weather events like flooding from time to time, but I don't think Keene proper is affected."
Other than Keene actually being affected, was I wrong?
OP, I've lived in Keene (2002-2012) or just outside of Keene (2012-current) and in general I like the area a lot. The biggest issue for most people in this part of the state is making a living; unless you're a doctor (big shortage around here!), lawyer, professor, or something similar, it's hard to earn a great salary (i.e. approaching or exceeding $100k).
Property taxes in Keene itself tend to be VERY high (lately a bit over 3% of assessed value per year), partly because there are a couple of colleges that are of course tax-exempt, which means "their" property's costs are basically spread out over the actual taxpayers. (Then again, the colleges bring decent jobs to Keene and students who spend money, so maybe it all evens out.) In towns just outside of Keene, housing prices tend to be a bit lower (although the market RIGHT NOW is insane) and the property taxes are almost always lower. Some of the towns (Swanzey, Marlborough) are just a few minutes from downtown Keene, others (Dublin, Peterborough, Chesterfield in the other direction) are further out but still commutable.
I've never thought of Keene as "dirty," but maybe I just don't hang out in those areas!
For a small town, there's a lot going on for families (well, for everyone, really). The Cheshire Fair was just last week, and of course Keene itself, especially Keene State College, has lots of cultural events (plays, speakers, concerts, etc.). The area around the College (which is right on Main Street, near downtown) quiets down a LOT in the summer (which I like, LOL!), but it's never TOO crazy (notwithstanding the rowdy Pumpkin Fest from many years ago -- lots of "outside agitators" that year). Lots of parks, lots of neighborhoods with people out walking their dogs, stopping to talk to neighbors, etc.
Schools in Keene tend to be better than those in nearby neighboring towns, but of course so much depends on parental involvement, I tend to take school ratings with a grain of salt.
Good luck with your decision! Feel free to DM me if you have specific questions.
There is no part of Keene that seemed even remotely dirty to me. A little trash here or there? Maybe. But it certainly wasn't a "dirty" city by any stretch.
Also, we were there on a summer day during the week and the downtown seemed pretty active to me. My wife, mother and I quite enjoyed it. I could see my little baby daughter thriving in a place like this once she becomes a little older.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abnfdc
Check out the area around Dartmouth as well. Hanover, Leb, West Leb, across the river in WRJ, etc. I like that area more than the Keene part. Seems 'cleaner', right at the junction of two interstates, Ivy League school bringing in events, incredible hospital at DHMC.
IMO the bad with that area is housing costs and the annoyance of the shopping hub in West Leb-everything is all compacted into that one busy stretch.
Hanover is nice, but it's a bit too small for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KCZ
Outside of the college, the Upper Valley isn't exactly a center of diversity, which seems to be a primary concern for the OP. It would be helpful to know what kind of employment opportunities they are seeking.
I'm a teacher here, so I would probably try to do that should we move.
And yes, diversity is somewhat important to my wife and me: I want us to be near people with different political, social and other views from us, but also to be around people of varying backgrounds. I realize that anywhere we go in NH is going to be overwhelmingly white, and that's fine. I just don't want my daughter and wife to constantly feel like outsiders (even though they technically are). That feeling of being an outsider can be espoused by extremists on all sides of the political scale (Leftist treating my wife like a token brown friend and righties acting like her views don't matter because she's not from here, etc).
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbear99
We've lived in SW NH for the past 6 years and love it. It's not beset by out of state tourists, with the exception of Mt. Monadnock, so we have most of the good places to ourselves. We live just up the road so to speak from Keene in Dublin. Much of this is probably that there are no 4 lane highways going through the area, including Keene. So travel takes a bit more time. For example, a trip from Keene to Boston would be about 2 hours outside rush hour.
Not sure where abnfdc gets information about flooding in the area? No worse than anywhere else, and usually very transient and localized. After all, we're not the flat midwest.
We don't have a lot of high end dining, or great shopping, but Amazon takes care of the latter quite well. What we do have is plentiful, affordable culture - lots of concerts (jazz, classical chamber etc.), affordable live theater, and great outdoor places. There are state parks, town forests and conservation land everywhere, most with decent walking/hiking trails. There's great back road bicycle touring, with little traffic if one stays off the numbered roads. Winter can be a delightful time, with skiing, both downhill and cross country, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing and so on.
If there's a weak spot in the area, it might be education, but I'm probably an education snob? Our child graduated HS, college and grad school some years ago, but I've noticed that locally, few grads, even the top students from local public HS go to colleges beyond local state universities or middle of the road local LACs. (Maybe we're biased, since child went to a Boston area public school where anyone who didn't get into an Ivy was considered a failure? Fellow readers, feel free to pile on if I'm unfairly biased...).
Another plus for Keene is proximity to the Pioneer Valley (aka Connecticut River valley) of Massachusetts, which offers interesting college towns, shopping and a totally different atmosphere from NH.
Keep in mind too that school districts in the area cover multiple towns. IIRC, you could live outside Keene yet still attend the same schools as Keene residents.
Yeah, any school district that sends most of their students to the Ivy League is an outlier in every respect. I'm sure Keene's education system is fine, but we also plan to make sure our daughter does well in school.
And yes, diversity is somewhat important to my wife and me: I want us to be near people with different political, social and other views from us, but also to be around people of varying backgrounds. I realize that anywhere we go in NH is going to be overwhelmingly white, and that's fine. I just don't want my daughter and wife to constantly feel like outsiders (even though they technically are). That feeling of being an outsider can be espoused by extremists on all sides of the political scale (Leftist treating my wife like a token brown friend and righties acting like her views don't matter because she's not from here, etc).
Regardless of skin color, be aware that people that live here are not amenable to having outsiders move here and immediately try to change NH to "make it more convenient", i.e. more like NY or NJ or MA, or wherever they just left. Don't tell us we need more big box stores, streetlights, and police forces. We don't want those things and we don't want to pay for those things. That will wear out your welcome really fast.
Regardless of skin color, be aware that people that live here are not amenable to having outsiders move here and immediately try to change NH to "make it more convenient", i.e. more like NY or NJ or MA, or wherever they just left. Don't tell us we need more big box stores, streetlights, and police forces. We don't want those things and we don't want to pay for those things. That will wear out your welcome really fast.
Agreed. I will never understand society's obsession with "diversity" (or division by skin color and sex). Assimilating has more to do with mindset than anything. When I was younger, diversity referred to investment portfolios...those were better days.
While we may not be NH natives, we moved here a few years ago because we felt out of place in Baltimore...and NH offered features that MD lacked...lots of like-minded (yet independent) thinkers, extremely low overall taxes, extremely low crime, 2A friendly, homeschool friendly, low population, no traffic, very little reliance on govt, plus beaches, mountains, & lakes all nearby. Furthermore, we have no desire to change anything here. We moved to NH because we like it the way it is (well, we'd prefer colder summers and no bugs but you can't get everything you want). Plus, I grew up in the mountains of CO...and NH offered a similar East Coast setting for our family.
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I have a bad habit of ignoring NH tornadoes.
