tell me all about New Hampshire please:)

[snarlingcoyote]

All I've got to say for a Florida girl moving to NH is that I will pray for you.

The people are nice in NH, the scenery is lovely. Be prepared though, you will be cold most of the time. And by cold I mean. . .well, I mean cold. Like go stand in a walk-in freezer for a minute. That is how cold it will be for MONTHS with NO respite.

That said, except for the 9 months of winter, I love it up there. I'd move back to NE and live in NH if my DH weren't a good Louisiana boy through and through. Have fun. One thing I do reccomend - we bought a 200 year old house, because darn it, if I was living in NE I was getting me an old house. If you love old houses and you'll only be there a limited amount of time - go for it. Old historic houses are a dime a dozen and we loved living in ours.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have NEVER- EVER been in snow, I have never even seen snow (except on TV and in Pictures) ....makes me very nervous

Snow in pictures is usually really "nice". And "pretty". The reality of living in snow, and LOTS of it, isn't as nice and pretty. It's difficult. And freezing. And tough to drive in. And a lot of work. Not to dissuade you or anything, but if I were you I'd probably test out the waters in the winter before committing for sure, and if you're renting, try to get somewhere that includes snow removal, which is one of the biggest pains of snow there is. Winters can be long and isolating, especially if you don't know people in the area. If you work, you leave when it's getting light out and come home when it's dark. Most people can barely wait for spring and summer, though fall is really nice, too. Like a pp said, Jan-March is really long.

OTOH I NH. After my home in MA, it's the state I feel most at home in. Lots of natural space left, still. And wildlife, activities, water, etc.

 

[bettymae1121]

My parents had good friends that moved to Exeter when I was in Jr. High/High school and we'd go and visit in the summers. It's a beautiful state with lots to see and do. I know the schools in Exeter were good 20 years ago when our friends kids went to school there (they went to the puplic school in Exeter, not the famous private prep school). Be sure to drive up to Maine and get some lobster. That was the first time I'd had lobster and seriously, I haven't had such good seafood since then, not even at top restaurants, as I did at seaside mom and pop joints in Maine that weren't much bigger than shacks.

But then again, we only visited in the summer/fall, and I wasn't the one paying the bills! Still, if I had the chance to live there for a couple of years, I'd jump at it.

 

[dakcp2001]

I would suggest Derry or Londonderry if you need to be near Manchester. You MUST have four wheel drive and if you have never driven in snow, you need to take a driving lesson in NH. Learn how to steer into the skid etc etc. You will need to learn to keep blankets, shovels, sand salt etc in your trunk for when you get stuck in the snow. I HATE winter. HATE it! I despise shovelling. I fall a lot, snow and ice make it worse!

But I must say, it is nice to have a blizzard on a weekend when work isn't an issue, you can just sit by the fire drinking hot choc w Baileys while the crock pot makes a delicious smelling dinner. Fall is also great for crock pot dinners!

Fall is wonderful! Crisp air, sweater weather and apple picking is so much fun! Then you get to go home and make baked apples, apple crisp, apple pies etc!!

Winter will be hard for you, but it will prob be fun the first year. And you can call in sick to work because "your from FL and have never driven in snow" lol. If you have a job that lets you telecommute, you will enjoy the snow.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Try to avoid living in Manchester or any town that sends students to Manchester high schools (Auburn, Candia and Hooksett). I'm a (relatively recent) graduate of a Manchester high school. At that time, we were happy with the experience. Unfortunately the schools have gone steadily downhill. I agree with those who suggest Bedford, Londonderry and Derry. Litchfield would be another good option. NH schools in general aren't bad.

Unemployment is among the lowest in the nation. A lot of people do commute to MA for work, but there are plenty from MA that commute here to work... No sales or income tax.

Cheapest grocery store is Market Basket. There's a reason it's the cheapest. It's scuzzy. Hannaford is next in line for "cheap", but it's much nicer. Shaws and Stop and Shop can be inexpensive with the rewards card, but you've got to watch the sales flyers.

Best of luck to you with winter. Invest in fleece and lots of it. Forget Uggs for boots; they have NO traction and things get VERY slippery. My winter boots are hiking boots. They have a lot more traction. I agree with a PP's suggestion to take a driving class here during the winter.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

4. New Hampshire: Powered by agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and a highly educated population
Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
Lower Than America's Unemployment Rate By: 3.7%
Major Industries Driving The State's Economy: Another agricultural heavyweight (dairy products, cattle, and apples dominate on the list of products), New Hampshire also produces machinery, electric equipment, rubber, and plastic products. Due to its famous ski slopes, the state is also a tourist hub come winter. New Hampshire also doesn't have a state income or sales tax and boasts one of the nation's highest median salaries.
Education: 32.5% of the adult population has a Bachelor's degree or higher. (Higher than average)

 

[pudge the fish]

thank you everyone for your replies

I am collecting info so I can "speak my mind" when it comes to a transfer or I should say put my foot down !! as to what I would like.

I know there are some wonderful schools in NH and I would love to see the seasons change. eveyone I've met from New England is very nice
not real happy with snow. I have already stated I will not drive in it for a while. I would however love to build a snowman or throw a snowball .
I would also love to see historic sites in New England.


I have been told that the cold is different than Florida cold. Florida cold is a humid damp cold... and I have been told that the roads are easy to drive on when it is snowing as they are prepared for it..and no different than driving on wet roads in Fla..
Of course these are people trying to get me to say yes
Thank you all again for info! if it comes to a transfer I think I can deal for a short time

maybe

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

thank you everyone for your replies

I am collecting info so I can "speak my mind" when it comes to a transfer or I should say put my foot down !! as to what I would like.

I know there are some wonderful schools in NH and I would love to see the seasons change. eveyone I've met from New England is very nice
not real happy with snow. I have already stated I will not drive in it for a while. I would however love to build a snowman or throw a snowball .
I would also love to see historic sites in New England.


I have been told that the cold is different than Florida cold. Florida cold is a humid damp cold... and I have been told that the roads are easy to drive on when it is snowing as they are prepared for it..and no different than driving on wet roads in Fla..
Of course these are people trying to get me to say yes
Thank you all again for info! if it comes to a transfer I think I can deal for a short time

maybe

Well, Northern states are much better prepared for snow than Southern states for obvious reasons, but when a blizzard hits, it can still get pretty rough. Don't psych yourself out over it, since obviously we all manage to do it, but it's not quite like driving on wet roads. Give yourself plenty of space to stop and be reasonable and careful and you'll be fine. If you have all wheel drive, you'll be better off, and a rear wheel drive car is tough, but overall once you acquire the skill, it's easy enough to drive in snow. Also, contrary to what the weather channel wants you to believe, it doesn't snow all the time; 3-4 real blizzards per winter is about the norm, with a few lighter snow falls per month mixed in.

As to the "damp cold" versus "dry cold" debate, it's valid to an extent, but -10 degrees is just plain COLD and it doesn't matter much matter whether it's moist or dry. But I love having all four seasons, and actually love the snow for the first few months, it's just the end of winter when it starts to get old. Really old!!! But you will never appreciate spring so much in your life as after a New England winter...

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Uhm. . .about the snow and driving. New Hampshire (and those who live right on the border with New England, west of 495) gets about 4 blizzards a year, give or take. Our last year there, we got, I think, 6, including one in mid-April. Yes, members of my family went swimming in Louisiana the day I drove home in a heavy, wet, spring blizzard in Northern Massachusetts.

It is not like driving in rain. Two very different skill sets. It is doable, and it is a skill you acquire, but it is unlike anything you've ever experienced. And if you have to drive anywhere when the roads are iced over. . .if I die and go to hell instead of heaven, I already know my eternal punishment will consist of driving on black ice in the middle of the night in the mountains forever. Trust me, I am intent on living a good life.

And what people call "cold" in Florida is NOT cold. That is Nice Weather in New Hampshire. Your coldest day in Florida is short sleeves weather in New Hampshire. You know that heavy leather jacket you call a winter coat? That's a mid-fall, mid-spring jacket in New Hampshire. In winter, you wear a parka. For 3 months. Every. Single. Day.

You will never get warm from about late November until early/mid March unless you are standing in a hot shower or sitting in your own car.

I am not joking.

I was not joking about going and standing in a walk-in freezer. Bring a book. Sit and read for an hour. Imagine being that cold and unable to escape without the use of modern transportation to another place.

Okay, back to the snow. In the end, I saved up days-off and just stayed at home during blizzards if I knew the blizzard would be bad that day. A couple of times I thought it wouldn't be as bad as it turned out to be and paid for it. My hour commute was a 3 - 6 hour commute in a blizzard. You just cannot drive fast in a blizzard, and if it's a spring blizzard, you have to stop and scrape the ice off your windshield, your tire wells, and various other parts of your vehicle every few miles, because the slush builds up fast.

Blizzards are just beautiful the day after they stop. We had a big open meadow with a boulder in the middle of it. It was soooo pretty the day after a blizzard. The dogs knew and respected our property boundries, so we'd let them go run the meadow. The GSD would bound ahead, and the BC would follow in her trail. All we'd be able to see in those 16 or more inches of snow the blizzard had left would be the white plume of her tail.

The sky would be a sharp, frozen blue and the snow would be so white that it seemed to be a muted reflection of the blue of the sky. It glistened and crystaled as we played in it all day.

Then there was the shovelling. DH had a snow blower, but around the cars and on the old brick walkway that lead to our front door, we had to shovel. Shovelling was hard work! Scoop heavy snow, toss heavy snow someplace cars won't drive. Repeat for several hours.

And then, that beautiful, lovely snow? If it was a December or January snow, the chances were that we would still be looking at that same snow in Feburary and March. And after a few days, it isn't pretty. It turns brown and then black with soot and dirt and pollution. It's ugly and when the sun hits the snow, it melts a little. That night, the water freezes. It's ugly and it isn't really fun to play in and you're stuck with it for months.

And during that time? You won't be able to feel your toes very often. They'll be too cold, even in your heavy weight, high denier snow boots.

But then spring will come and snowdrops will push through the snow, and after a spring snowfall, even the tulips will appear under a frosting of white. Finally the spring leaves begin to unfurl. Long after your Florida friends have already graduated to summer, you will be wearing sweaters and enjoying the ephemeral beauty of spring. In June, it will seem like the whole world is a sylvan paradise. If I die and go to heaven, I think I will go to an old New England home set on the side of a hill in a meadow with deep dark woods on either side and it will be June forever. The forest is a lovely dark, cool green and the brooks babble with crystal water that tumbles over dark, mossy boulders. Everything beautiful is in bloom and if you find the remains of an old orchard, you can smell the fruit growing. The sunlight is bright and the entire world rejoices in the warm weather and the cool nights and you will wonder in June that you ever, ever would want to live anywhere else.

I like to say that in New England, summers are beautiful and positively ephemeral, but that you pay for those summer with hellish winters.

So don't delude yourself that the cold won't be so bad. It will be. It will be miserable and long and very, very dark, and you will understand why they sell so much liquor at the stores.

But, God, the summers are worth it.

 

[phorsenuf]

I have a house for sale in Concord. I moved to Florida!

Concord is nice. Convenient to everything!! It's right off 93 so very easy access to all over. Very pretty area too. But man! It gets cold!!

I liked the Concord school district. All 4 of my kids graduated from CHS.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I have a house for sale in Concord. I moved to Florida!

Concord is nice. Convenient to everything!! It's right off 93 so very easy access to all over. Very pretty area too. But man! It gets cold!!

I liked the Concord school district. All 4 of my kids graduated from CHS.

I used to live in Fitchburg. I always got on the commuter rail in Concord when I had to go into Boston. Free Parking!

 

[3boymthr]

Well... Snarlingcoyote certainly summed up NE winters.

My brother & SIL live in Weare - it's about 1/2 hour drive from Manchester to the Northwest and a very nice, smaller town. They also lived in Londonderry. There are definitely lots of houses available for rent in Londonderry. They rented here while looking for the house they eventually bought.

Another thing to be prepared for. The heating bill. Picture your summer cooling bill, then transpose that onto winter and for a longer period of time.

Whatever you do -if you are renting a place where you are responsbile for the utilities - do NOT rent a home that has electric heat My electric bill - 19 years ago for December for a 1 bedroom 600 sf cottage that had electric heat - $500. I kid you not. Oil and gas boilers/furnaces are much much cheaper than electric. Lots of places in NH have pellet or wood heat. These are also reasonably priced alternatives but do cost more in time and effort.

If you will be staying thru the summer budget for window airconditioners. Most places don't have central air and for a couple of weeks a year it does get hot enough in the summer to warrant A/C (it was 90 just outside of Portsmouth on Sunday).

That live free or die motto - ummm, yeah they really mean it - especially in the smaller towns.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

That live free or die motto - ummm, yeah they really mean it - especially in the smaller towns.

Soooo agreeing on the Live Free or Die thing. . .you might want to look up what happened with one of Jodi Picault's books in Keene. Totally typical of NH small town attitudes.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I've been to Florida during a cold snap. The "Florida is a damp cold" argument can be thrown out the window. Yes, it does get cold in Florida, but the coldest days there are the days we live for here. Seriously, there's no comparison. I own a scarf, not because my neck gets cold, but because it gets so cold it hurts to breathe. Having a scarf over the nose/mouth helps to warm the air enough so that breathing doesn't hurt. Seriously, dressing for winter weather is more of a survival skill than one might think. When it hits 50 in March, it's t-shirt and flip flop weather. When a nor'easter comes, everyone makes a trip to the store to stock up on french toast supplies (bread, milk, eggs) and TP. I've never really figured out this trend, but you don't want to be at the grocery store on a Saturday when there's a storm coming

Spring can be beautiful. Unfortunately, spring usually lasts about a week. Winter lasts forever, we get about a week of gorgeousness and then we either get a ton of rain/flooding, or it hits 90. It's been years since we had a legitimate spring. On the plus side of this, black flies haven't been much of an issue lately.

Fall is usually pretty nice. It gets cold, but we usually get an "Indian summer" as one last tease before winter comes. Some years it snows on Halloween, others it's in the 70s. We all had costumes that were a little too big growing up so that we could wear them over winter coats if necessary. Foliage in New England is truly spectacular most years.

As someone already mentioned, most (residential) places around here don't have central air. This summer was kind of like a Florida summer. Literally, we went to Orlando a couple weeks ago, walked out of the airport and said "This isn't any worse than at home". USUALLY our 90+ degree temps don't last very long. A "heat wave" is 3 days of 90+ in a row. This summer it went on for weeks. Last summer, on the other hand, it rained basically all summer, and was cold. You never really know what you're going to get. Window air conditioners and big fans are a necessity.

Heat is expensive, period. My 2 bedroom apartment last year had propane heat. We had a $600 propane bill in January. And that's with a 3rd floor apartment. Install shades/blinds on the windows in your residence and use them. Keep them closed at night and on really cold, windy days. It WILL cut your heating bill. Layers and blankets are the way to go to keep warm.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I've been to Florida during a cold snap. The "Florida is a damp cold" argument can be thrown out the window. Yes, it does get cold in Florida, but the coldest days there are the days we live for here. Seriously, there's no comparison. I own a scarf, not because my neck gets cold, but because it gets so cold it hurts to breathe. Having a scarf over the nose/mouth helps to warm the air enough so that breathing doesn't hurt. Seriously, dressing for winter weather is more of a survival skill than one might think. When it hits 50 in March, it's t-shirt and flip flop weather. When a nor'easter comes, everyone makes a trip to the store to stock up on french toast supplies (bread, milk, eggs) and TP. I've never really figured out this trend, but you don't want to be at the grocery store on a Saturday when there's a storm coming

Spring can be beautiful. Unfortunately, spring usually lasts about a week. Winter lasts forever, we get about a week of gorgeousness and then we either get a ton of rain/flooding, or it hits 90. It's been years since we had a legitimate spring. On the plus side of this, black flies haven't been much of an issue lately.

Fall is usually pretty nice. It gets cold, but we usually get an "Indian summer" as one last tease before winter comes. Some years it snows on Halloween, others it's in the 70s. We all had costumes that were a little too big growing up so that we could wear them over winter coats if necessary. Foliage in New England is truly spectacular most years.

As someone already mentioned, most (residential) places around here don't have central air. This summer was kind of like a Florida summer. Literally, we went to Orlando a couple weeks ago, walked out of the airport and said "This isn't any worse than at home". USUALLY our 90+ degree temps don't last very long. A "heat wave" is 3 days of 90+ in a row. This summer it went on for weeks. Last summer, on the other hand, it rained basically all summer, and was cold. You never really know what you're going to get. Window air conditioners and big fans are a necessity.

Heat is expensive, period. My 2 bedroom apartment last year had propane heat. We had a $600 propane bill in January. And that's with a 3rd floor apartment. Install shades/blinds on the windows in your residence and use them. Keep them closed at night and on really cold, windy days. It WILL cut your heating bill. Layers and blankets are the way to go to keep warm.

 

[Jaime4004]

All the horrible winter talk is really amusing! I agree, I hate winter, hate snow. And no, I don't ski, even though i'm from NH. But I don't find it difficult to live in it. We have a few large storms, that last a few hours, but after that, the roads are cleared up fairly quickly. It definitely can be freezing out, but I avoid going outside in it! I go from my house to my garage and go where i'm going. Quick walk into a store or wherever.. You're not going to be taking long, scenic walks in the winter. I do not enjoy that it's dark when you wake up and dark by 5pm, that gets depressing...

 

[snarlingcoyote]

All the horrible winter talk is really amusing! I agree, I hate winter, hate snow. And no, I don't ski, even though i'm from NH. But I don't find it difficult to live in it. We have a few large storms, that last a few hours, but after that, the roads are cleared up fairly quickly. It definitely can be freezing out, but I avoid going outside in it! I go from my house to my garage and go where i'm going. Quick walk into a store or wherever.. You're not going to be taking long, scenic walks in the winter. I do not enjoy that it's dark when you wake up and dark by 5pm, that gets depressing...

Dear, you're FROM NH. You don't understand what kind of shock it is for a mostly tropical girl to move from the land of sunshine and heat to the land of snow and ice. It's a huge, horrible shock to the system if you've never seen or felt real winter.

 

[Darcy03231]

I would check out Nashua. Its close to Manchester (about 18 miles) and has a good school system. It was actually voted the #1 place to live in the US twice (I think it was 1998 and 2008). There's public water, sewer, trash removal and snow removal.

Rents for a single family home will range from about $1500 to $2,500/mo without utilites. Condos/Apartments are $800-$1,500/mo on average.

Nashua has a nice downtown area, lots of shopping and restaurants, and lots of stuff to do. Its also about 45 min north of Boston if you want to go into the city.

 

[phorsenuf]

I would check out Nashua. Its close to Manchester (about 18 miles) and has a good school system. It was actually voted the #1 place to live in the US twice (I think it was 1998 and 2008). There's public water, sewer, trash removal and snow removal.

Rents for a single family home will range from about $1500 to $2,500/mo without utilites. Condos/Apartments are $800-$1,500/mo on average.

Nashua has a nice downtown area, lots of shopping and restaurants, and lots of stuff to do. Its also about 45 min north of Boston if you want to go into the city.

Nashua can be a traffic nightmare though! And truthfully, neither my husband or me can figure out why it was voted that way. We both grew up there and to us it only got worse. We couldn't wait to get out after we got married.

 

[maps]

What happened to the Jodi Picoult books in Keene? I work in that town and live in an even much smaller town if you can believe that, and I haven't heard about any book issues. Do tell!