New England Bros! Road trip/potential move help

[neonblack]

Hey New Englanders! My wife and I have been talking about moving to new England a lot lately. Providence in particular has us both intrigued. No real reason apart from Lovecraft. Lightning Bolt, and Low Crime Rates.

Anyways we're planning a road trip to see if any other areas around there strike our fancy. Right now we're thinking of heading through Baltimore to visit Mommy Dearest, then to DC to find Ian MacKaye and see the Smithsonian. Then we're thinking Salem/Boston, Philly, NYC, and Providence, not necessarily in that order. Maybe Maine? Just for the depressing vibez.

Anyways, anything in should be checking out? Any awesome little towns with badass music scenes and decent family living? Keep in mind, this trip is to scope out potential places to relocate. The main things I'm looking for are:
-Decent cost of living. I'm not a rich man.
-Low crime rates
-Interesting things to do, charming, spooky, etc.
-Promixity to good shows/music scene/people to play with
-Close to D.o.S.

Thanks for the help y'all! Maybe I'll see some of you in October.

[D.o.S.]

I'll have you know that I live in a city that is routinely listicled as having both a badass music scene and decent family living, thank you very much.
(and, allegedly, the second best french fries in the country? http://www.tabelog.us/summary_articles/ ... ica?tpl=cd )

ANYWAY. Come visit. Or let me know when you're in Boston and I'll come visit you.

[ck3]

Maine may be worthwhile for day tripping in warmer months, but is so economically depressed that decent jobs are few and far between (even with a masters degree). Additionally, the winter weather is beyond brutal well into spring most years, and the state has been increasingly irresponsible about treating roads in winter months and repairing them after plows leave potholes and other carnage in their wake. Rents and property values are ridiculously high in more populated and "progressive" areas (had to put scare quotes around that word for some reason). Natives are generally nice, cooky, and honest salt-of-the-earth-type people, and the crime is low in rural areas. Most major urban areas here are plagued with the same drug, crime, etc. issues as in other states with less traffic outside of rush hour. There has been greater cultural diversity in recent years in southern areas with growing refugee and immigrant populations. The local art and music scenes are both diverse and generally unimpressive. Did I mention good jobs are impossible to find? I've endured almost 15 years of this place and am headed elsewhere with the missus and our furry son in the next few months.

TLDR: Worth a visit IMO, and that's it.

[kbit]

If you want super small town america vibe, Hudson NY is worth a look. Not a ton of big shows but not super fsr from NYC. Not really sure what the economy is like but it seems to be growing a little with some NYC transplants heading up there.

I was only in Providence for a lil bit but it seems pretty cool. Check out the museum at the college of design, its rad.

Philly is a cool place with a lot good music and decent cost of living, but crime aint super low, and the public school system in the city limits is pretty fucked from everything I know (I know you got some lil ones).

Also its a bit out of the way from super east coast cities but if you go to Ithaca, NY it will provide pretty much everything on your list and you'll probably feel like youve found Narnia. Hipster liberal vegan DIY yadda yadda yadda. But is is a pretty small city in the middle of nowhere so its isolated.

[D.o.S.]

Maine may be worthwhile for day tripping in warmer months, but is so economically depressed that decent jobs are few and far between (even with a masters degree). Additionally, the winter weather is beyond brutal well into spring most years, and the state has been increasingly irresponsible about treating roads in winter months and repairing them after plows leave potholes and other carnage in their wake. Rents and property values are ridiculously high in more populated and "progressive" areas (had to put scare quotes around that word for some reason). Natives are generally nice, cooky, and honest salt-of-the-earth-type people, and the crime is low in rural areas. Most major urban areas here are plagued with the same drug, crime, etc. issues as in other states with less traffic outside of rush hour. There has been greater cultural diversity in recent years in southern areas with growing refugee and immigrant populations. The local art and music scenes are both diverse and generally unimpressive. Did I mention good jobs are impossible to find? I've endured almost 15 years of this place and am headed elsewhere with the missus and our furry son in the next few months.

TLDR: Worth a visit IMO, and that's it.

Location: Gorham, ME

I would leave too.

[bigchiefbc]

I live about 10 minutes from downtown Providence, and I do have to say that I like it a lot here. We get a pretty good selection of bands coming through here, and we're also close enough to Boston that you can hit up all of those shows too. There is a pretty awesome boutique guitar shop (Empire) that Jrmy will be able to tell you all about. And you get to hang with Jrmy, Decibill and I all the time, which is really all that matters. Definitely let us know when you'll be zipping through and we can hang out and get some beers!

[HAVN]

Never been in winter, but I gotta say I love Portland.

[Decibill]

I live about 10 minutes from downtown Providence, and I do have to say that I like it a lot here. We get a pretty good selection of bands coming through here, and we're also close enough to Boston that you can hit up all of those shows too. There is a pretty awesome boutique guitar shop (Empire) that Jrmy will be able to tell you all about. And you get to hang with Jrmy, Decibill and I all the time, which is really all that matters. Definitely let us know when you'll be zipping through and we can hang out and get some beers!

I'm a Rhode Island transplant since 1998, originally from Ohio. The New England area has been great to me. As bigchiefbc said, you have peeps here that would be glad to help direct you to cool stuff--music, eats, drink's and my Unified Guitars shop

[repoman]

Pretty much all of NE has high cost of living. High taxes, lots of driving, high heating costs, expensive gas/food/rent. Most of it has super shitty economy too. But it is a pretty amazing place in the summer. I'm in Vermont, it's basically heaven on earth in the summer. Rest of the year makes me want to eat a bullet, but Mid May through first half of Nov its incredible. You might want to look into Burlington, Vt (if you can stomach/like cold shit for 5 months a year). They have some music/cultural stuff. Montpelier too kinda. Crime that makes the newspaper in Vermont is like, someones mailbox getting blow up by firecrackers or someone smashing a someone elses pumpkin.

[D.o.S.]

And heroin.

[repoman]

well...that too

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

i grew up in suburban north-central NJ and lived in boston (5 years), nyc (3 years) and philadelphia (7 years?).
they're all interesting and great places to live for really different reasons... come hang with kbit and i in philly and i can tell you all about them and he can give you the scoop on upstate ny. *thumbs up!*

[kbit]

come hang with kbit and i in philly and i can tell you all about them and he can give you the scoop on upstate ny. *thumbs up!*

2nd'd

[ThurberMingus]

In my experience New England is fucking awesome. I've only been there on tour though. In Boston you can leave one basement show and walk two blocks to another house show. You can get anywhere from anywhere from anywhere in a couple of hours. Maine feels like falling in love. I had a friend who lived in Providence for like a year before he moved back to the Midwest, FWIW.

[ck3]

Location: Gorham, ME

I would leave too.

I've actually lived in multiple locations in Cumberland county (South Portland, Portland, Freeport) and have traveled as far north as Bangor, ME. Gorham is close enough to civilization to allow access to culture and far enough from inner city Portland to be sparsely populated and safe, but it's still in Maine.