Town near D.C. metro area away from the rat race!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel your pain OP, but 40-60 miles one way is a lot even 2-3 times per week. If you are determined to leave, I'll throw out the suggestion of Anne Arundel county in Maryland. Some of the areas are really conservative, but there are liberal parts as well. The pace is slower and overall the people are much friendlier. There are a handful of snobby areas, but still they are twice as down to earth as they are in DC.

I would also add that Anne Arundel County is NOT progressive. Annapolis is probably the only are you will really find progressive/liberal people. AA County is very conservative. If you keep to yourself, it's fine (people won't bother you). but if you are looking to move to an area where you will make likeminded friends, you're going to have a hard time in AA County.

[Anonymous]

Frederick MD seems to be up and coming.

[Anonymous]

Savage, Elkridge, or Clarksville, MD.

All have good schools and moderate access to both Baltimore and DC. Not easy or close, but not way out, either. All are about 30 minutes to Silver Spring without traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lovettsville VA is hardly progressive as is most anything west of Leesburg.

Middleburg VA is (surprisingly) liberal (it voted 2-1 for Obama.) It does have a tinge of the tourist trap though ... and if you don't like horses, you might not like it.

Why not Frederick City, given that 2 of your 3 locations are in MD.

If that is too bustling for you, then maybe the rural parts of Frederick County? OTOH, rural Frederick County still puts the Fredneck in Frederick.

South on I-95 you're in red country until you hit Fredericksburg.

Why do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lovettsville VA is hardly progressive as is most anything west of Leesburg.

Middleburg VA is (surprisingly) liberal (it voted 2-1 for Obama.) It does have a tinge of the tourist trap though ... and if you don't like horses, you might not like it.

Why not Frederick City, given that 2 of your 3 locations are in MD.

If that is too bustling for you, then maybe the rural parts of Frederick County? OTOH, rural Frederick County still puts the Fredneck in Frederick.

South on I-95 you're in red country until you hit Fredericksburg.

Why do you know this?

I know the area and I'm a political junkie.

Was any of this incorrect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Middleburg VA is (surprisingly) liberal (it voted 2-1 for Obama.) It does have a tinge of the tourist trap though ... and if you don't like horses, you might not like it.

+1 Love M'Burg! Gloriously away from the rat race, a fabulous place to raise a family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Middleburg VA is (surprisingly) liberal (it voted 2-1 for Obama.) It does have a tinge of the tourist trap though ... and if you don't like horses, you might not like it.

+1 Love M'Burg! Gloriously away from the rat race, a fabulous place to raise a family.

+2
Our good friends moved out there last year and are living it so far. They don't commute that far in though.

[Anonymous]

Clarksville md has a indy natural store and other signs of progressiveness.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking Shepherdstown, WV, but I don't know about the schools. Or Harpers Ferry, WV

Boonsboro, MD, Jefferson, MD

[Anonymous]

Brunswick, Mt. Airy, MD

[Anonymous]

Anne Arundel county not quite getting a fair shake here. Perversely, Annapolis city schools are quite sub-par. But both east and west of there are among the best in Maryland. I get where the conservative characterization is coming from; places like Fort Meade and the Naval Academy. But you also have the seat of state government (anything but conservative), and various granola-crunching elements attracted to the Bay proximity. And there are definitely liberals among the USNA crowd; it's an academic institution after all. And then there's St. Johns. So not conservative.

Commuting concerns get specific, but a few times per week to places on the Orange line, downtown, or on the east side of town are quite doable. Virginia, not so much. If you have any taste for proximity to the Bay, it really starts to make sense, especially compared with the farther-flung Va. exurbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anne Arundel county not quite getting a fair shake here. Perversely, Annapolis city schools are quite sub-par. But both east and west of there are among the best in Maryland. I get where the conservative characterization is coming from; places like Fort Meade and the Naval Academy. But you also have the seat of state government (anything but conservative), and various granola-crunching elements attracted to the Bay proximity. And there are definitely liberals among the USNA crowd; it's an academic institution after all. And then there's St. Johns. So not conservative.

Commuting concerns get specific, but a few times per week to places on the Orange line, downtown, or on the east side of town are quite doable. Virginia, not so much. If you have any taste for proximity to the Bay, it really starts to make sense, especially compared with the farther-flung Va. exurbs.

AA County is incredibly conservative. Sure, the seat of government is in Annapolis, but the entire county is still really conservative. And the pockets that have good schools are increasingly congested, so I really don't think it's the solution the OP is looking for.

[Anonymous]

Ellicott City?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AA County is incredibly conservative. Sure, the seat of government is in Annapolis, but the entire county is still really conservative. And the pockets that have good schools are increasingly congested, so I really don't think it's the solution the OP is looking for.

Won't argue with you too much here but I think it's more fair to say there are predominantly good schools in AAC with "pockets" of bad ones. And it's not much more "incredibly" conservative than the other regions posed here, apart from very specific enclaves and the oddball granola-cruncnhing hillbilly living out in the sticks. So I guess the goal is to recommend one of those specific enclaves to OP. But I wouldn't dismiss AAC entirely as potentially hosting one.

[Anonymous]

We have friends who live in Warrenton and love it.