Tell me about Wilmington, DE

[Anonymous]

Boring as hell

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Chester County PA right on the Delaware border. The PA public schools in the area, around Unionville, Avondale, Kennett Sq, West Grove, and Chadds Ford are good. The commute to Wilmington is not bad at all. We had many neighbors who worked in Delaware. The area on the Delaware side namely Hochessin is home to lots of Wilmington doctor/lawyer types. You could even probably live in Delaware County PA and have a decent commute.

Chesco is a pretty nice area to grow up in. Close enough to Philly and Wilmington, but still with its own small-town character. It has gotten really expensive lately, though. If we could make the same money there as here, we'd have moved back long ago. It's only a little more than 2 hours from DC but completely different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1994 THS grad here. Hi to WFS late 80's and THS 1995!!

About the poster who said that there is a lot of wealth. That is true, but at least when I grew up there people were not as showy.

As for the partying, I won't lie and say we never drank at Tower Hill but our academics were so demanding and it was so competitive that we focused more on that. I was also a three season athlete and between sports, school work and he newspaper, yearbook, community arrive, plays, etc. I didn't have the time to party too much.

Honestly, we had sleepovers almost every weekend. Girls who slept around, etc. were looked down upon, as well.

same year SMHS grad. This is how I felt as well. I was too busy to get into trouble. Did I know people were doing it? Yes, but I didn't run with that crowd. I didn't "let loose" until college, and even then, I was still pretty tame in comparison.

My richest friend at SMHS was the biggest prude ever and a complete nerd/workaholic. She was the do-your-homework-on-Friday-afternoon person. BLECH!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks everyone, particularly for the neighborhood recommendations. Our housing budget would be up to about $700,000, but ideally I'd like to spend under $600,000. I think I need to do more thinking on just suburban I'm willing to go I spent a summer in Philly and liked it fine and would definitely not mind living there, but I think the commute is probably too much for me unless I could telework some significant portion of the time. I truly hate commuting (one of the reasons we chose to live on the Hill).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone, particularly for the neighborhood recommendations. Our housing budget would be up to about $700,000, but ideally I'd like to spend under $600,000. I think I need to do more thinking on just suburban I'm willing to go I spent a summer in Philly and liked it fine and would definitely not mind living there, but I think the commute is probably too much for me unless I could telework some significant portion of the time. I truly hate commuting (one of the reasons we chose to live on the Hill).

OP, please check out the hoods in my post 21:51. They won't fit the image of suburban that you have. They are 5 minutes to downtown Wilmington, and have a ton of charm. You can easy buy into a few of them for 600-700k.

[Anonymous]

So far we have......
THS '94
THS '95
WFS late '80s
AI DuPont late 80s (me)
SMHS '94
More???

[Anonymous]

Armpit of America for sure!

[Anonymous]

Archmere - '94

I grew up there, my rents still live. Everybody is still friends with who they went to High School with and not very welcoming to new people. My mom complains a lot about the lack of restaurants. Its got culture etc but you have to go looking for it and it sure isn't free like here in DC.

Personally if I was going back to the area, I'd move to West Chester, PA and commute. Cute downtown, restaurants, walk ability etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Armpit of America for sure!

You have clearly never been to Alabama.

[Anonymous]

Alabama is the buttcrack of America!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Archmere - '94

I grew up there, my rents still live. Everybody is still friends with who they went to High School with and not very welcoming to new people. My mom complains a lot about the lack of restaurants. Its got culture etc but you have to go looking for it and it sure isn't free like here in DC.

Personally if I was going back to the area, I'd move to West Chester, PA and commute. Cute downtown, restaurants, walk ability etc.

+1. Another plug for West Chester. It has all of that, and it has good schools (but I'm biased since I'm a product of them).

[Anonymous]

Yeah, to go out to a "fancy restaurant", most people go to Philly.

The proximity to Philly and Baltimore is what made my childhood much more exciting. We did lots of field trips to both cities. Phillies games and Orioles games with little league.

We used to go to a couple places for "fancy dinners" as a family in both Fair Hill and Chesapeake City (in MD).

[Anonymous]

We went to a Blue Rocks game in Wilmington this summer, and it was a lot of fun. Nice (small) stadium with lots to do for kids. Looks like there is a lot in that same development/complex but we didn't check it out.

[Anonymous]

AI '96 here. I loved growing up in Hockessin, but whenever I go back to that area I get claustrophobic and cannot wait to get out...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to a Blue Rocks game in Wilmington this summer, and it was a lot of fun. Nice (small) stadium with lots to do for kids. Looks like there is a lot in that same development/complex but we didn't check it out.

I LOVE THE BLUE ROCKS!!!!

They started when I was in HS. I can't tell you how many games I went to when I was in college during summer breaks (which was the only time I was home in DE). Best stadium I have been to so far in the Carolina League. The Potomac Nationals Stadium is pathetic by comparison - the Blue Rocks stadium spoiled me.

I know Kahunaville was back there - haven't been in many years now, but they used to do fun concerts there in the summer.