Help with neighborhood search + friendliest communities

[Anonymous]

BTW I do agree with River Falls in Potomac. It has that pool club. That area seems due to pool club that is deeded to house all neighbors have a place to meet.

Plus near Potomac River hiking path and close to Potomac Village which is where “kids hang out.

You can go back way to Potomac. Closer in try around Glen Echo that is really close to Georgetown

[Anonymous]

Fort Hunt / Alexandria I think is the best place to live in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Falls Church City should be on your short list — with the caveat that a lot of the community ties develop through the public schools. St. James families do participate in rec sports, camps and other FCC happenings, but the close-knit nature of many streets and neighborhoods is reinforced by seeing each other at school functions, bus stops, and being on the same calendar.

FYI, the Arlington diocese is rather conservative, and St. James is definitely on the more conservative end of THAT continuum. (For example, their policy is they don’t allow girls to be altar servers. Boys only.) If that doesn’t appeal, you might try Our Lady Queen of Peace in South Arlington for Mass.

[Anonymous]

Falls Church City, and join one of the neighborhood pools- either High Point or Lee Graham. St. James is the catholic church in FCC. I'm not Catholic, but I know a ton of people there, and it seems like a vibrant community- community may be centered around the school however. My neighborhood in FCC has had 3 parties this year. Its really very social. The Bike Path cuts through FCC and lots of people are out running, biking, etc. Its suburban, but houses are close together, so you get a small yard, and things are very walkable. From West Falls Church metro to Foggy Bottom metro is a 19 minute train ride- so the commute's you are asking for should be close to doable depending on where exactly your offices are.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you so much for the quick replies -- going to look into the neighborhoods you all mentioned. We were leaning towards outside DC based on our initial knowledge of homes and communities, but not opposed to living in DC proper. Would anyone be able to tell me more about Glover Park, Mt Pleasant, Woodley Park and how that may compare to MD/VA top contenders (likely Fall Church VA and CCMD)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Catholic and go to mass. I moved here from NY. My Catholic Church in Potomac is very active and full of people.

What surprised me is my two kids enrolled in Winston Churchill HS and very few Catholic kids. Turns out a large amount of Catholic people go Catholic HS.

I found that surprising as in NY we had around 99.9 percent of town in public schools and everyone kids from CCD was in school my kids.

So that was another wired thing I found when moving.

Also I did notice my Catholic Church publishes amount of Baptisms and Weddings etc each year. Potomac is size on my old town in NY and the Catholic Church does way less Baptisms and Weddings than NY.

Unusual I am literally zoned one of the best High Schools in country and yet people pay for Catholic school.

Np "Best" does not mean for all.

[Anonymous]

I feel like Connecticut Ave from Chevy Chase DC into Kensington is a Catholic corridor, with Blessed Sacrament being a pillar of that community.

There is also a pretty active community around Little Flower, which would offer a potentially better commute to Georgetown, at least. Live in Sumner or Springfield, great public schools, go to a little Flower Church, and commute via Mass or MacArthur to Georgetown and downtown.

I feel like of the country clubs, Columbia has the biggest Catholic population. Not sure about Kenwood? If you go the Little Flowers/Dumber/Springfield route though, then you could join Mohican pool, which is heavily tied to the lock public school population, too.


I don't really know the VA side as far as Catholic community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you so much for the quick replies -- going to look into the neighborhoods you all mentioned. We were leaning towards outside DC based on our initial knowledge of homes and communities, but not opposed to living in DC proper. Would anyone be able to tell me more about Glover Park, Mt Pleasant, Woodley Park and how that may compare to MD/VA top contenders (likely Fall Church VA[b] and CCMD)?

OP- I just want to highlight for you that people are recommending Falls Church City to you. There is a large swath of NOVA that sometimes gets referred to as "Falls Church." Falls Church City is an independent 2 square mile city with its own school system, governance etc separate from Fairfax County or Arlington. You want to be looking within the city boundaries. Basically this is the 22046 zip code- there are portions of 22046 however that are outside the city boundaries. There are a few blocks in 22042 that are within the city boundaries. With some exceptions most houses in the city of falls church have only 3 digits to the house number. The few houses that are 4 digits will have numbers like 1000 or 1100 b/c they are on streets that have more than 10 blocks in the city. But a house number like 6791 is almost certainly not in the city of Falls Church.

Possibly portions of Falls Church in Fairfax County might well work for you- but if you just look at what a realtor will call Falls Church you are likely to be disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Kensington and Garrett Park, MD

[Anonymous]

Totally depends on your budget. Chevy Chase, Kensington, Cheverly are all Maryland options. Also Brookland is an obvious choice, but school could be an issue...there are many charter schools and Catholic schools nearby though.

[Anonymous]

We have all of these things in Tara-Leeway Heights near Westover (N Arlington).

[Anonymous]

Woodacres in Bethesda Maryland.

[Anonymous]

North Arlington. Join the Columbus Club. It's wonderful! Many great neighborhoods and Catholic churches. Great public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you so much for the quick replies -- going to look into the neighborhoods you all mentioned. We were leaning towards outside DC based on our initial knowledge of homes and communities, but not opposed to living in DC proper. Would anyone be able to tell me more about Glover Park, Mt Pleasant, Woodley Park and how that may compare to MD/VA top contenders (likely Fall Church VA[b] and CCMD)?

OP- I just want to highlight for you that people are recommending Falls Church City to you. There is a large swath of NOVA that sometimes gets referred to as "Falls Church." Falls Church City is an independent 2 square mile city with its own school system, governance etc separate from Fairfax County or Arlington. You want to be looking within the city boundaries. Basically this is the 22046 zip code- there are portions of 22046 however that are outside the city boundaries. There are a few blocks in 22042 that are within the city boundaries. With some exceptions most houses in the city of falls church have only 3 digits to the house number. The few houses that are 4 digits will have numbers like 1000 or 1100 b/c they are on streets that have more than 10 blocks in the city. But a house number like 6791 is almost certainly not in the city of Falls Church.

Possibly portions of Falls Church in Fairfax County might well work for you- but if you just look at what a realtor will call Falls Church you are likely to be disappointed.

Thanks for clarifying, good to know

[Anonymous]

Fairfax city and st leo the great