Washington, CT is actually once of the places that Stars Hallow is based off of. It's a very cute town and where my ILs lived until about 2 years ago.

I will be honest, my block is like this. I am in Arlington so its not a small town, but we are hyper local here. I know everyone on our surrounding blocks and we all support each other- except for one person but we all need a bad guy in the story. community is what you make of it, you can be lucky to have great neighbors move in, but small towns can be tough to break into socially

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Bainbridge Island, WA. It's as close as you can get.

Bainbridge, no. Whidbey, maybe.

I’m team Glastonbury and agree with the Hartford area poster above. Excellent schools, a historic town center, and decent real estate prices.

Whidbey is far more rural and spread out. There are a handful of tiny towns. You can't walk anywhere.

I guess I’m only familiar with the little towns from visits, and those are walkable and great. And driving down windy darks roads on Bainbridge definitely doesn’t bring to mind walkable! Unless you live right by the ferry terminal, but most don’t.

Do you think people walk all over Whidbey? Like from town to town? The island is huge and mostly rural. The towns are tiny.

What about upstate New York? Jerry Seinfeld’s town? Lots of other towns, pretty much every New England state has these towns.

Anonymous wrote:OP are you sure you'd actually enjoy the 'everyone knows everyone' small town experience? In the real, non-fictional reality outside of tv series that coziness can feel more like busybodies watching your behavior and talking to other busybodies, a suffocating amount of forced daily interactions generally not as well-scripted as by the writers of Gilmore Girls.

Yeah. Plus all the drugs and pregnancy.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I live in a city, Hoboken, but it sort of has that vibe. It is hyper-local with friendly faces everywhere and yet the city is right there.[/quote]

Awww. Lived in Hoboken for years and I’ll always miss it. I used to describe it to people as being like a Richard Scarry book come to life.[/quote]

What? I went to school in Hoboken and it is not a small town. It’s a nice community sure, but not at all like Stars Hollow.

OP are you sure you'd actually enjoy the 'everyone knows everyone' small town experience? In the real, non-fictional reality outside of tv series that coziness can feel more like busybodies watching your behavior and talking to other busybodies, a suffocating amount of forced daily interactions generally not as well-scripted as by the writers of Gilmore Girls.

looks in the small towns of New England. If you want good private schools and close to Boston the closest is probably Arlington. It still retains some of that blue-collar, small town feel, but i think that may fade out in the next 15-20 years. It's getting too expensive and a little too well-connected to areas like Cambridge to have the insular small town feel.

Bryn Athyn, PA. But rarely do houses come up for sale- they are passed through family. One is actually available now. Seriously the most peaceful and lovely community I’ve ever seen, close knit and everything you could want. Happiest place on earth!

Hershey, PA is nice. If you don’t want the amazing privates in Harrisburg or Lancaster nearby you can do a virtual/onsite charter gifted school for free. Great place to raise kids. More diversity than you’d expect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Bainbridge Island, WA. It's as close as you can get.

Bainbridge, no. Whidbey, maybe.

I’m team Glastonbury and agree with the Hartford area poster above. Excellent schools, a historic town center, and decent real estate prices.

Whidbey is far more rural and spread out. There are a handful of tiny towns. You can't walk anywhere.

I guess I’m only familiar with the little towns from visits, and those are walkable and great. And driving down windy darks roads on Bainbridge definitely doesn’t bring to mind walkable! Unless you live right by the ferry terminal, but most don’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Bainbridge Island, WA. It's as close as you can get.

Bainbridge, no. Whidbey, maybe.

I’m team Glastonbury and agree with the Hartford area poster above. Excellent schools, a historic town center, and decent real estate prices.

Whidbey is far more rural and spread out. There are a handful of tiny towns. You can't walk anywhere.

When we lived walkable to downtown Takoma Park I felt it was pretty close. But we used public schools and were happy.

Honestly, my neighborhood in Gaithersburg is like that (Kentlands/Lakelands). We have an annual Christmas tree/menorah lighting in our little town square, we do an annual community dinner with live music and food trucks, etc.

Everyone seems to know everyone else. There are lots of small businesses in addition to the chains.

We know the local business owners and work with them for community events and initiatives.

It definitely has a small town feel.

I grew up in a town a bit like that-Katonah, NY.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a small itown about 45 minutes from Boston. Similar vibe- we had a quaint town common with a church and colonial houses surrounding it and a small downtown area. Everyone knew everyone - although at the time I think it was more blue collar than Stars Hollow.

DH is also from a town outside of Boston and the town look is similar although now there is a Whole Foods and other big box retail, it at least had the look and feel back in the early 2000s. The town was more blue collar. I haven’t been back for a long time and a lot of turnover of homes so more young professionals.