Walkable Towns

[catherine]

Herbgeek: Since you have recently retired and we are both in the same part of the country, how do you feel about "the middle of no where" as a location for aging in place? Or do you not intend to stay where you are for the long-term? DH is always showing me real estate listings for western MA where homes are so much cheaper than where we currently live. As much as I love the more rural New England areas for vacation, I feel like moving to one of them for my older years would not be a great plan for this non-driving introvert.

Rosa, some of the western MA towns are beautiful!! Lenox and Great Barrington are two I can think of off hand. I don't know where the essential services in those towns are, but they do have lovely Main Streets. I think it's possible to find small towns in more rural areas that are walkable.

[herbgeek]

how do you feel about "the middle of no where" as a location for aging in place?

I don't plan to be here for later old age. I need an area that doesn't necessarily have to be walk-able (although that would be nice) but will need to have readily accesible public transportation. But I'm only 59, so for now, driving where I need to go is ok. It will likely be a small town, maybe a college town, as big cities already intimidate me.

[iris lilies]

Steve, it somehow seems counter-intuitive to worry about a used car lot being "walkable"... And it would be great if our neighborhood had a brewpub, but alas, life is never perfect.

And I agree with dado that the walkability site is imperfect. In our neighborhood it counts the little bodega on the corner as a grocery store. I suppose if one considers a bag of chips, a candy bar, a bottle of alcohol and a lotto ticket as groceries it could be considered a grocery store...

We have a micro brewery one block from my house, and now they are making spirits as well.But the best thing is that they have nice quality bar food and they are open 7 days a week.

[Teacher Terry]

I lived in a small town in upstate New York and you had to drive to the next town for everything. I was young so didn’t mind but no thanks now.

[catherine]

I lived in a small town in upstate New York and you had to drive to the next town for everything. I was young so didn’t mind but no thanks now.

Our first home was in a very small town, and I HATED that I had to drive 8 miles to the supermarket and 14 miles to soccer practice when the boys were small. The only thing in our town was a gas station and a bar and a grocery store owned by a VERY nosy family who got into everyone's business and then spread it around.

Although I hated having to leave it at the time (I loved our acre of land in the middle of nowhere and the peace and quiet), with kids, moving to central Jersey was the best thing I could have done to protect my sanity. The kids had soccer practice literally in our back yard in the park behind our house. It was heaven.