Hotscot

Ok, crossed off...

Bob

I was thinking a little bit more inland than that. Towns like New Bedford, Carver etc. Still around the Cape, but on the mainland side and a bit out of the way of the Cape...especially if the Cape brakes off

Those towns at least have that Falmouth island bit as a breaker for protection.

robin1234

This is an important point, we tend to take it for granted up in the north country. Quebec is just a short drive away, Montreal and Ottawa really are world class cities ... It is a bit of a cliche here, Montreal and Ottawa are so "European" ... not sure about that, they are no more "European" than Boston or NYC, but they are so "not USA" .. so foreign. Quebec City is a bit further away, but that is another very interesting place to visit.

Ithaca has a lot going for it. Property is reasonably priced. Wine country nearby. Very fine museums in and around Ithaca.

Pulaski

Please don't allow the prejudice of someone who decided that SC wasn't for them to put you off. Charleston, SC is one of the cultural jewels of the East Coast, and would be high up my list of places that might have what you're looking for, or Ashville, NC in the foothills of the Appalachians. If "lake living" is more what you're looking for there are several lakes along the Catawba river, including several in SC. Lake Wylie is in SC, though effectively a suburb of SC, and just a few minutes from CLT.

Ironically all the cities in the Carolinas are chock full of transplants from New York and New England, many of them retired or approaching retirement.

Hotscot

Ok, I hear ya
Certainly Charleston sounds worth a visit.

Pulaski

Ashville too. It has a little bit more winter than I see, but is a "hotbed of liberalism" (if the politics concerns you that much). Both Raleigh and Charlotte are islands of relatively liberal politics, though in all honesty I just find most people just to be friendly and in almost 12 years here I only remember one person asking me which church I go to, and that was probably 8-9 years ago.

There is also NC "wine country" the main part of which stretches mostly across the north-center part of the state, within an hour or so of Ashville, Charlotte, and Raleigh. I had never expected to live near a vineyard, but ironically one has opened up near where I already live, within two miles of my home.

Jerseygirl

You couldn't pay me enough money to live in the area just south of Lake Ontario...Buffalo/Rochester/Syracuse.

Hotscot

Well, I'm not especially political myself but here in CA the State Govt are nuts with taxes, fees, crazy ideas and pandering to certain groups.
On the other hand I don't want to end up somewhere where the politicians think the earth was created 6000 years ago and men herded dinosaurs.
I guess I want to live amongst friendly educated reasonable people who, while they can disagree, tend not to be fanatical extremists.

What's that saying? Socially liberal, fiscally conservative?

Pulaski

I just found this buried in a busy thread that you posted while I was driving home.

Virginia is very expensive to the north, and VERY rural to the south and west. VA is also very humid to the east in summer, around Richmond. Despite Mrs P coming from there I would find it hard to recommend an area in VA where you might be comfortable. NC is the same, very humid on the coastal plain, and the heat and geography makes it the same in most of SC. Mrs P assures me that Charleston is "nasty" (very humid) in the height of summer.

We have insects, but not particularly badly and although I do a lot of work outdoors in the summer they rarely give me a problem.

Politics in NC is remarkably balanced, and had a Democrat controlled legislature for over 100 years, IIRC, until a few hears ago (2010, I think). The Republican governor is remarkably pragmatic, and is eyed with suspicion by many Republicans. He was the mayor of Charlotte for a Decade despite Charlotte being a city skewed significantly towards the Democrats. We have a few political wing nuts, but show me a state that doesn't!

Hotscot

I'm more of a cool sea breeze than a muggy warm type of person.

Sally Redux

Crazy groups?

Hotscot

Yes, those as well.

Pulaski

Probably. Rumour has it that weed is fairly widely available in Ashville. I can't say I've met too many of the evolution deniers, or at least find it easy to avoid getting into an argument with most of them. Although when showing off a rather nice magnolia that I own I will sometimes sneak in a comment about it being an evolutionary stepping stone, of the sort that evolution deniers claim don't exist) between pine trees and deciduous trees, with the magnolia having a straight pine-line shape with side branches, it is evergreen like a pine, but with leaves and flowers like a deciduous tree, ..... oh and look, it's seedpods are cones!

scrubbedexpat091

Quebec is foreign to the country it is part of.... Like going into a foreign country without having to leave your own country.

Maybe its the accent that makes them seem European? It's a pretty unique accent when compared to most of the US and Canada.

rpjs

I dunno that that's a plus point. With the exception of the methode champenoise sparkling wine from the Brotherhood Winery in Orange County, every New York State wine we've tried has been pretty undrinkable.