green northeast communities?

chanamarie

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:06 am

I'm looking to relocate back to the Northeast (USA) in the next 2 years. I'm looking for a community (doesn't have to be large, but it does need to be active!) that has (I'm not even going to say affordable) cheap housing with decent sized yards (the greener, the better). My husband works from home, so job opportunities aren't an issue. We have young children, but plan on homeschooling, so the schools in the communities aren't an issue either, though we do want there to be children around for ours to play with (and because of the homeschooling, NY and PA are out because of their restrictive laws about it). We'll be in NY visiting family for a few months soon, so I'd like to compile a list of places to visit while there, so any help is really appreciated!

Rutabaga

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:17 am

Vermont? It is the Green State. Too bad there isn't much in the way of Jewish life though.

There's a recent thread about homeschooling in NJ. You may want to check that out.

I hate labels, but approximately what kind of community are you looking for?

imasinger

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:20 am

Can you give a housing price range?

Other Jewish considerations? (Mikvah, shuls, availability of kosher food and restaurants, etc.)

You might want to look into Malden, MA, and Bangor, ME.

monseychick

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:36 am

If you are set parnosa wise, and you are anyway homeschooling, there are sections of Lakewood that look like N Hampshire. As long as you dont need anything from anyone, its a fairly nice place.

The only caveat is with the rate of growth those areas are likely to be sprawled in the next few years..

devo1982

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:44 am

As imasinger notes, Malden is a growing community and would definitely be more affordable than Newton (depending on house size, of course, but prices there still seem reasonable compared to other areas nearby). While it's urban, the thing I love about the Boston area is how green it is and how accessible nature is - Walden Pond, the Fellsway, the Boston Public Gardens, all the hiking trails and fall foliage - it's great. For the five months of the year it exists Wink

ectomorph

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:48 am

I want to second Malden - it seems to be a really nice growing community. I'm not sure how many children there are though; I think they are very far from having a school.

chanamarie

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:51 am

Thanks for the replies! To describe us...my husband learns a few hours a day (on his own and with chavrusas), wears a black hat on Shabbos, we eat chalav yisrael so that being available would be useful or a city nearby where we could go occasionally to stock up, I cover my hair, need a shul (a few would be nice to choose from, but could do with the one if we 'fit'), need a mikvah, don't need restaurants, but they're nice.

Was kind of interested in Lakewood, but never been there. We wouldn't need to get the children into schools there, but we are a little 'offbeat.' Would we fit in? It is important that we're able to make friends. Maybe other NJ communities? Interested in Waterbury, but maybe that's not so 'green'?

My family lives in the Hudson Valley and ideally I wouldn't want to be more than 2 hours from them (though if a community really was perfect for us...maybe).

And thanks for the mentioning the NJ homeschooling thread...will look into it!

imasinger

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:59 am

Waterbury, CT has plenty of green spaces. Not sure about cost of living, though.

What about the Catskills area? S. Fallsburg or the like.

NJ is warmer than New England, but has plenty of green. You could also look nto northern PA.

amother

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 10:13 am

As a lakewooder. If you don't fit the mold, don't come here. Because your children would likely not be accepted socially as people here are judged very superficially. Especially if you've never been here before and don't know what you're getting yourself into. I would love to have u as a neighbor but know the pain of my children being rejected because we don't shop in the expensive clothing stores etc. Nj is one if the best states to homeschool and there are many other green suburban communities...

Notsobusy

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 10:18 am

amother wrote:

I don't know where in Lakewood you live, but I don't shop in the expensive clothing stores either and my kids are not rejected. Some of my neighbors do shop in such stores, some don't, we are all very friendly and the kids are all best friends. They really don't look at each others clothing. They may be jealous of other kid's toys, but we try to buy fun things in the flea market or on sale, and they are doing just fine.

chanamarie

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 11:07 am

Thanks again, everybody...

I am actually from the Catskills and that's where I'd ideally like to live, but we won't live in NY or PA because they have very restrictive homeschooling laws. So someplace like the Catskills (when I said green I did mean trees and grass), but not in NY and *very* affordable housing. (And also some place where they will accept us. We're quite open and accepting of other people, so hope to be treated the same. A community that only has one 'mold' probably wouldn't want us.)

Any particular communities in NJ I should look into? I'll look into Malden, though MA might be too far away (unless it's a really great place). Any places in CT?

amother

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 1:29 pm

What about W. Hartford, CT? I believe that CY is available there, and the community there is really nice and always looking to grow. It isn't a super-long drive to NY, either.

As for Bangor, ME - it is a beautiful place, but your kids won't have many (or any) Orthodox Jewish friends to play with. There is not even a Chabad there, and forget about CY. In the winter, the sun sets really, really early, and it's a 2 hour drive from Portland in good weather with no 0 traffic. Having lived in a place with similarly early sunsets, it can be really depressing if you're not used to it.

amother

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 4:21 pm

I love Waterbury and the surrounding Litchfield Hills areas. It's very green and nice. The people that I met in Waterbury seemed accepting and non-judgmental. And you would be somewhat close to the Catskills.

devo1982

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:20 pm

Here's some more Malden info for you (which I know is probably a bit too far from the Hudson Valley for you, but I've really fallen in love with Boston, bad, terrible, no-good winters notwithstanding Wink

).
http://bethisraelmalden.org/ (mortgage subsidy to encourage families to move in!)
New mikvah (which looks lovely!)
http://bethisraelmalden.org/mikvah/

Permissions and permits for an eruv were just granted in August, though there is one immediately surrounding the shul:
http://www.bostoneruv.org/
http://www.shalomboston.com/Re......aspx

Home prices:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/Malden-MA_rb/

Hatzlacha! You'll find the perfect fit as long as you keep an open heart. Smile

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 9:24 pm

But you might be wrong about the restrictive home schooling laws in NY and PA. Maybe consult the relevant websites and even lawyers about this. But perhaps you have. There are probably ways of working with the laws; maybe a little more paperwork, or something, but not the end of the world. Do some googling, and also look at the past threads here about home schooling. (I haven't homeschooled.)

I think a big conference about home schooling was held in Maryland but I am not sure.