Small towns?

[ktgrok]

Several times I've read on here about people who live in small towns, where they can walk to their doctors office, shopping, restaurants and other things. I know in urban areas of course you can walk to places, But are there people living in a more suburban type area that can do this? If so, where? Florida, at least where I have lived, isn't like that.

Edited June 13, 2017 by ktgrok

[Guest]

We can do that in the town I'm leaving. It's a small town next to a big one, and the downtown is a centralized mile or so of businesses and a loop. We happen to live right off of it and so if and so if we wanted we could walk to dance, the park, library, the grocery store, pediatrician, and even our old church. It's a great area.

[ktgrok]

We can do that in the town I'm leaving. It's a small town next to a big one, and the downtown is a centralized mile or so of businesses and a loop. We happen to live right off of it and so if and so if we wanted we could walk to dance, the park, library, the grocery store, pediatrician, and even our old church. It's a great area.

 sounds perfect other than the lack of sunshine, lol

[Desert Strawberry]

We don't live in town, but the town we live outside of is like this. It's very tiny.Children and adults walk to school, rec center, pool, grocery store, Circle K, bank, park, clinic. There are only a couple of businesses in town, but they are all accessible. We park on Main St and walk all over. I'd say the whole town is less than 2 square miles. 

 

We lived in a small town in Louisiana. WE could walk pretty much everywhere, but it might be a few miles and take a while. We walked 1.5 miles to the park, two nearby restaurants, a small grocery a few blocks away, church, playground, etc. it wasn't as easy as here, but people did a lot of walking and mostly stayed to their own neighborhoods. 

 

We also lived near a town in Nevada that was close to the size of the one we live near now. But it was long and skinny. We did walk the length of it one time. It was just a couple of miles, but kind of L shaped. Very few houses in town. Most people had to drive in. not as compact as this town. 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Desert Strawberry

[BarbecueMom]

There are a couple "inner ring" suburbs in our metro are that are safely walkable, but you would pay out the nose to live there. Plus, you'd still need a car to get to anything outside of that zip code.

[Guest]

That's because it's too hot and humid to walk anywhere in Florida (or Texas for that matter) besides the beach!! :)

[MEmama]

Our small town is totally walkable to almost everything. Otherwise bikeable for sure.

 

Older suburbs are often set up like small towns. Many were independent villages before getting absorbed by the larger adjacent city.

[amy g.]

We are in a city of about 115,000, so not small, but we live close to downtown.

 

This morning, the girls walked to yoga class, then we walked to a restaurant for brunch. We walk to the library and to the dentist.

 

I agree though that the climate of Texas and Florida make walking generally unpleasant.

[bettyandbob]

My suburban community was developed to be walkable. And it mostly is. It was initially developed in the 60s.

 

From my house I can walk to dental offices and doctor offices--but those professionals are not on my family's insurance plan.

 

Dh can walk to work. He does when weather prohibits driving (rare). Sometimes he gets on an exercise kick and does.

 

We can walk to grocery, some retail and a community center.

 

We have miles of paved trails throughout that enhance walking or commuting by bike. We also have an increasing amount of bike lanes on surface roads.

 

My community, Reston, VA, is often described in college urban planning textbooks. I believe Columbia, MD is also set up this way.

 

Now, do people take advantage of the walkability. Some people do. I do, but not as much as I should. My dh doesn't so much. Oldest ds is doing so under duress -- he's an adult who has refused to learn to drive and I refuse to drive him.

 

This is not a small town. It is really part of continuous DC suburbs. But you'd miss the walkability differences if you didn't look.

[ktgrok]

Thanks all. I'm just thinking I'd love for my kids to be able to walk places! Where I grew up we could walk to a small strip mall type place that had an ice cream parlor, convenience store, hair salon, etc. Grocery store was across the street, bank across the other street. Very few places ike that anymore in Florida. But I loved being able to ride my bike to those places as say, a 10 or 12 year old!

[Lady Florida.]

Several times I've read on here about people who live in small towns, where they can walk to their doctors office, shopping, restaurants and other things. I know in urban areas of course you can walk to places, But are there people living in a more suburban type area that can do this? If so, where? Florida, at least where I have lived, isn't like that.

 

I'm not sure if there's any place in Florida where you can walk everywhere. Maybe Celebration or The Villages? Plus it's so hot most of the time anyway, I wouldn't want to. I once walked home from Pep Boys when I knew the car would be there overnight, thinking it was kind of nice out and it wasn't far to my house. It didn't take long for the sun to beat down on me and make me sorry for my choice. 

[DawnM]

I have never lived where it is convenient to walk to anywhere.  

 

In our one house, we did have a church and a small convenience type store about a half mile away, but we want a yard and it is impossible to live that close when we have a sizable yard, or I have never found a place that had a good sized yard and close by shops/things to do.

 

The only places here either are condos, townhouses, or there are these planned communities where there is a grocery store, some shops, and restaurants, and seems very step ford wife-ish to me.  

[SKL]

Where my parents live (we moved there when I was 12), you can walk to everything you need.  It's an old, rural small town (still has landmarks from the underground railroad).  In the more modern suburb where I live, no, you can't easily walk to anything unless you have good legs and lots of time.  The nearest "amenities" are at least a mile away, and all in different directions.  :P  Some of them require traveling busy roads with no sidewalks.  Now if you had a lifestyle that allowed a couple hours for a regular walk, then yeah, you could make it to the commercial area where there are restaurants etc.

[SKL]

If it's kid mobility you're talking about, then yes, there is plenty that is bikeable for an independent 10yo.  I thought you were asking about adults walking.

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

The only places here either are condos, townhouses, or there are these planned communities where there is a grocery store, some shops, and restaurants, and seems very step ford wife-ish to me.  

 

My stepson and his family live in one of those planned communities. He said the shops are really only if you ran out of something and don't have time to go farther to get it. The prices aren't competitive so it isn't worth shopping there on a regular basis. He likes everything else. They have parks throughout the town so no matter where you live you're never far from a park for the kids. Some of the parks have a splash pad. There are running and biking trails. It's a green community with lights that all point down and are only where they're really necessary, and places all around to plug in an electric car. There are a lot of festivals year round that are open to the general public, not just residents. There's a community pool (you do have to be a resident), horse stables (again for residents), and always something to do in the town square. He doesn't think it's stepford like at all (we actually brought that up when they first moved there) but he and ddil are the type who would fight back if it was. :) He did say he was talking to some teenagers once asking how they liked living there and they said it's boring. His kids are little so he's hoping by the time they hit their teens it will be somewhat less boring. 

[AmandaVT]

When we lived in Montpelier, we could walk everywhere. It was great. We bought a house 3 miles outside of town, so we can't walk to town anymore, but I loved living in town!

 

Lots of kids walk to school and when I lived there, I could walk to the farmers market, library, restaurants, grocery store, etc. 

 

 

[Caroline]

I was about to ask if you lived in Reston or Columbia. I grew up in Columbia and we could walk to a lot of stuff or take the "Columbus." And I took ballet in Reston once a week, so I am familiar with it, too. When my parents were deciding where to buy a house in 1970, the choices were Reston or Columbia.

 

My sister lives in a Chicago suburb that is like this. It has a cute downtown area. She walks all the time to lots of places. And, if she wants to go into the city, she walks to the train. My niece has been working at the Field Museum and she takes the train to work every day.

 

My suburban community was developed to be walkable. And it mostly is. It was initially developed in the 60s.

 

(snip)

 

My community, Reston, VA, is often described in college urban planning textbooks. I believe Columbia, MD is also set up this way.

 

Now, do people take advantage of the walkability. Some people do. I do, but not as much as I should. My dh doesn't so much. Oldest ds is doing so under duress -- he's an adult who has refused to learn to drive and I refuse to drive him.

 

This is not a small town. It is really part of continuous DC suburbs. But you'd miss the walkability differences if you didn't look.

[ktgrok]

Any of the walkable places have fenced yards for dogs?

[Caroline]

Any of the walkable places have fenced yards for dogs?

My sister has a fenced yard for her dog. All over Columbia, MD there are fenced yards.

[bettyandbob]

I was about to ask if you lived in Reston or Columbia. I grew up in Columbia and we could walk to a lot of stuff or take the "Columbus." And I took ballet in Reston once a week, so I am familiar with it, too. When my parents were deciding where to buy a house in 1970, the choices were Reston or Columbia.

 

My sister lives in a Chicago suburb that is like this. It has a cute downtown area. She walks all the time to lots of places. And, if she wants to go into the city, she walks to the train. My niece has been working at the Field Museum and she takes the train to work every day.

 

 

Hi! Remember we talked about this a couple years ago. DD graduated from the same ballet studio last year. The same woman (much older now) still owns it. DD is helping out there when she's not working this summer. Spring demo is next weekend. Such a great place for her to grow up.

[Caroline]

Yes I remember that now. Oh, I loved that studio.

 

Hi! Remember we talked about this a couple years ago. DD graduated from the same ballet studio last year. The same woman (much older now) still owns it. DD is helping out there when she's not working this summer. Spring demo is next weekend. Such a great place for her to grow up.

[Guest]

sounds perfect other than the lack of sunshine, lol

Yes. The drawback to the walkability is few people want to walk around in the winter. It's doable, but a lot of people commute around here despite the walkability.

[Guest]

Any of the walkable places have fenced yards for dogs?

Almost all of them, including ours.

[Carrie12345]

Where I grew up in NJ, you could walk to a limited amount of shopping; pizzeria, Chinese, Rite Aid, deli, chain convenience store, liquor store, hardware store, post office, maybe a few other things.  Video rental, when that was a thing! There were a couple of in-home professionals around the main road, too.  But people generally didn't walk unless they lived right down the street or couldn't drive for one reason or another.

 

Now I'm in a "small town" in terms of population, not geography.  I don't even walk to the mailbox!  (About a mile with a steep hill, lol)

 

[Carrie12345]

Any of the walkable places have fenced yards for dogs?

 

People who left their dogs out had fences. People who didn't, didn't.

[HTRMom]

I live in what I would call a small suburb. And yes, there's an area with a doctor's office, grocery store, library and one restaurant and I can walk to it.

 

 

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[Rachel]

I grew up in a small town in SD, it was very walkable/bikable. My dad still rides his bike to work year round (yes even in below zero weather). I walked to school and we always rode our bikes to the pool and summer activities.

 

Where I currently live is pretty walkable/bikeable. Most people don't walk though. I live about 10 miles outside a small city of population 300,000. There is not a sidewalk out of my neighborhood so I'm not comfortable with my kids walking or biking out of the neighborhood without me, but plans are in the works to put in a sidewalk.

[tdbates78]

I live in a suburb of a larger city and our town is walkable, depending on where you live. Our neighborhood connects to a Greenway. We can walk it and be two parks and downtown with a farmers market, coffee shops, the library, a few microbreweries, restaurants and services in less than 10 minutes. I can walk to my hair salon. However, I chose drs and dentists that we need to drive to access. But the majority of the city (population 25,000) is accessible mostly by car.

Edited June 13, 2017 by tdbates78

[J-rap]

I love being able to walk places if I need to, and would really dislike living somewhere where it wasn't an option at all.  In my experience, small towns and big cities are the best options for walking to places easily, and I love them both.

 

In our current small town, nothing is more than a mile away really.  So we can walk everywhere if we need to, and if the weather is nice we try and do that.  The kids could walk to their part-time job, we can walk to our medical clinic, church, and library, we can walk to the corner grocery, we can walk to the post office.  That doesn't mean we always DO.  Sometimes I'm just out to get a dozen errands done as quickly as possible, or if I'm getting a load of groceries I take the car.

 

It's nice during blizzards and no one wants to drive, because then everyone just walks, if they really need to be somewhere.

 

We live in a town of 5,000.

 

But I also love living in big cities right downtown, and I can run downstairs to a grocery store or a coffeeshop, or if nothing else, public transportation is usually very convenient.

 

I think some suburbs are like small towns though, so that could work for me too I suppose.  :)  

[Guest]

Thanks all. I'm just thinking I'd love for my kids to be able to walk places! Where I grew up we could walk to a small strip mall type place that had an ice cream parlor, convenience store, hair salon, etc. Grocery store was across the street, bank across the other street. Very few places ike that anymore in Florida. But I loved being able to ride my bike to those places as say, a 10 or 12 year old!

We lived for ten years in FL where you could walk to a lot of things. Grocery stores, fast food, dr, etc. Smaller (4500 pop.) town that is an hour in from the Gulf coast. We loved it. Very tight knit, and everyone looked out for each other. It is also a pretty poor county, and we just couldn't financially do it anymore.

[Wheres Toto]

There are towns in my area of NJ that are like this.  The town that starts a mile up the road from us is one of them.  A really nice downtown with a grocery store, a Wallgreens, a bunch of restaurants, an ice cream place, martial arts studios, yoga studios, paint your own ceramics places, playgrounds, schools, churches, post office, banks, doctors, a hospital, a library, a county park with hiking, multiple lakes, etc.  

 

Theoretically we can walk there from our house but there are stretches of road with no sidewalks and no shoulders so I won't take the kids there.  One of my goals for this summer is to see if I can find a back way to walk out to where the sidewalk starts.   A month or so ago, we parked at a small pond/playground which was about 1/2 mile from our house and right where the sidewalks start.  We walked from there into town, got ice cream at the homemade ice cream place, then walked back.  According to my Fitbit (confirmed by Google maps) it was 3 1/2 miles round trip.  

[Carol in Cal.]

I live in a neighborhood of a big city.  This particular neighborhood used to be an independent town, and it still has that kind of layout.

I can walk to a general grocery store (a Safeway), a Mexican grocery store, my dentist, several hair folks (unfortunately, not mine any longer), nail and waxing people, the library, the bank, a great independent bookstore, a fantastic thrift store, several antique stores, a drug store, and good restaurants for Mexican, CalMex, Chinese, Italian, Californian, basic pizza, gourmet pizza, and Bistro food.  There is a playground with a packed earth sidewalk around it about half a mile away. 

[skimomma]

The small city I live in is walkable.  I can walk to at least one of each kind of "thing" I would need...grocery, post office, work, library, restaurants, hardware store, etc.....  In fact, I often do.  I happen to go to a dentist and doctor that requires driving but could switch to one within walking distance.  Some people fence their yards, some don't.  It is certainly allowed.  I do like that dd can walk just about anywhere she wants to go.  We do, however, have 6 months of snow so there is that.  The walking comes in handy when I am either too snowed in to shovel quickly or feel the roads are too treacherous for driving.

[creekland]

My mom lives in one in NY.  Hubby and I enjoy getting out to walk places (stores, restaurants, parks, churches, even the hospital if we want to) when we go visit.  Note though... we had to convince HER that we were perfectly ok walking a quarter mile or so to the nearest store when she wanted us to pick something up...  :glare:  She drives (and did before her health issues too).  She used to bike a lot in the old days. When I lived with her (my senior year of high school), I walked to school - as did all kids within a 2 mile one way distance.  I'm not sure if that's still the way it happens there or not.  I know I don't see buses picking kids up on her street.  I bet the school is within half a mile - as short as my boys walked to their bus stop in our rural area.

[Guest]

When we lived in Montpelier, we could walk everywhere. It was great. We bought a house 3 miles outside of town, so we can't walk to town anymore, but I loved living in town!

 

Lots of kids walk to school and when I lived there, I could walk to the farmers market, library, restaurants, grocery store, etc.

When we lived in Burlington we walked everywhere for the most part, except for in dec- February :)

 

My hometown was walkable. My grandmother never had a car and she lived there birth to death. But it wasn't suburb, just a town out in the mountains.

 

I prefer walkability over almost any other consideration when we move now.

[Frances]

I live in the center of two cities with about 300,000 people. We can walk to absolutely everything, including our jobs. I don't consider where I live to be very urban, and it's definitely not the suburbs, which I would never consider due to strongly preferring walking to driving. It's an older historical neighborhood with only single family homes of various sizes. There are no apartments or high rises and everyone has at least a small yard. Plus we have numerous parks and green spaces a few minutes walk in every direction, including one very large park.

 

I would say there are some suburban areas in my city where you could walk to lots of things if you lived in the right part of the suburb. But it would mainly be walking to strip malls, shopping centers, chain restaurants, and office complexes, not the kind of places I frequent.

[AnnE-girl]

From our old neighborhood we were about a mile from our town's downtown as well as the next town over. We walked often. We had to move further out to get the size house we wanted, so now we can walk to a drug store and one of the public pools, but we have to cross a busier street to do so.

[SamanthaCarter]

We do! I think you have to search for it, and to some extent, be willing to pay for it in higher price for lower square footage. We live less than 1/2 mile from Main Street in a small town that is adjacent to a small city. We can walk to the library, coffee shop, several restaurants, the farmer's market, preschool, town hall and the recycling dumpsters. My kids can follow the stream that crosses through the little liberal arts college between us and Main Street all the way in to the farmer's market on Main. I let my DS go down to the library by himself and my DD can go down with a same age or older buddy. DH bikes to work on nice days. 

Edited June 14, 2017 by SamanthaCarter

[Frances]

Any of the walkable places have fenced yards for dogs?

My neighborhood has many fenced yards. Our yard shares fencing on two sides and could easily be fenced off, but we've never had dogs interested in leaving our yard, and we don't leave them alone outside when we are not home. We have numerous great walking, running, and swimming areas for them a few minutes walk away.

[AmandaVT]

When we lived in Burlington we walked everywhere for the most part, except for in dec- February :)

 

My hometown was walkable. My grandmother never had a car and she lived there birth to death. But it wasn't suburb, just a town out in the mountains.

 

I prefer walkability over almost any other consideration when we move now.

 

 

We lived in Burlington for a year before moving to Montpelier and that lake wind was vicious in the winter!! Montpelier gets more snow, but thankfully much less windy!

[greenbeanmama]

We live in a town of about 10,000, three blocks off the downtown.  I send my 10- and 7-year-olds to the post office, to deliver our utility payment to the city offices, to the local bakery.  We walk the two blocks to our library, and have six playgrounds within walking/biking distance (biking distance for a four-year-old!).  The community pool is three blocks away (the other way from the downtown).  The only drawback is that we no longer have a walk-able grocery store - both are on the outskirts of town (in different directions).

 

We are about one hour from "the big city", where we have larger hardware stores, medical specialists, Costco, etc - we tend to head there every 6 or 8 weeks (often coordinating with my son's pulmonologist appointments).  We do use Amazon for most birthday gifts, as we don't have a great bookstore in town, but like most small Midwest towns, we do have a Wal-Mart on the edge of town.  But mostly, we can get around town walking or biking.

[wintermom]

We live in the suburbs of a city of about 1 million. We can walk to our doctor, dentist, grocery story, pharmacy, swimming pool, tennis courts, shopping, community theatre, restaurants, Costco, gyms, movie theatre, and box stores. We're also close to buses downtown, which dh uses to get to work daily. We are right on the outskirts of town, too, so it's possible to bike to an equestrian park, camping, and take cycling trails either into the city or out into the country.  It's a great location. 

 

In the winter, though, walking is more limited as the roads and pathways are snow and ice covered and it's cold. Luckily, the cross-country ski trails are close by. 

[Guest]

I live in a suburb of a major metro area.  However, this suburb was a town first, and so it has a downtown area.  when my son was little, I took him out every day in his pram (yes a pram) and we went to the grocery store, the doctor, many restaurants, the library, clothes and toy stores on foot.  About 5 years ago (my son is now 22), I went into a restaurant and the waitress recognized me:  "You're the lady with the stroller!" she said, as I stood next to my 6'3" son.  haha. 

 

So yes, we could walk.  BUT the area has been gentrified and upscaled.  It went through a phase where a lot of the stores became art galleries.  Most of those died.  Now I could still do the groceries and the library and some of the clothes and restaurants, but the doctor moved, toy stores closed.  BUT we also have a wonderful kitchen store, and a fabric store, and more sidewalk cafes--so it is not a loss--just different.  And the public transit is a LOT better now.

 

If you look around for towns that have been absorbed by sprawl, you might be amazed at what you can find in what look to be only suburbs.  

 

I know of at least four other similar areas within 20 miles of me, and of a few in Colorado as well.  Suburban small towns.  

[shawthorne44]

I am shocked at just how much I love our small town we moved to two years ago.  We can easily walk to two parks, dance studio, drug store, art studio, yarn store, pediatrician, auto supply, feed store and a dry cleaners plus a few restaurants.  Oh, and many antique stores, and probably some other stores I've forgotten.  Oh, and the library, which is small but they never got rid of the classics, like the Little House series on CD.  

[Lady Florida.]

We lived for ten years in FL where you could walk to a lot of things. Grocery stores, fast food, dr, etc. Smaller (4500 pop.) town that is an hour in from the Gulf coast. We loved it. Very tight knit, and everyone looked out for each other. It is also a pretty poor county, and we just couldn't financially do it anymore.

I think it really depends on where you live, not just in Florida but a lot of states. Smaller beach towns are often more walkable. My family came to my current city 47 years ago and it's never really been a walkable city, even though it isn't large. We lived in a much bigger city in NJ yet there were some mom and pop stores within walking distance but big stores required driving.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[ktgrok]

I am shocked at just how much I love our small town we moved to two years ago. We can easily walk to two parks, dance studio, drug store, art studio, yarn store, pediatrician, auto supply, feed store and a dry cleaners plus a few restaurants. Oh, and many antique stores, and probably some other stores I've forgotten. Oh, and the library, which is small but they never got rid of the classics, like the Little House series on CD.

Where is this magical place? You can pm me if you prefer.

[zimom]

nm

Edited June 14, 2017 by zimom

[MomtoCandJ]

If I lived in town, yes. But we live 11 miles out of town and the nearest business (besides home based engine repair and computer repair) is about 3 mikes away, opposite direction of town.

[Kalmia]

In our small Maine town of 3,000, you can walk to a pharmacy, small IGA type grocery store, eye doctor, dentist, doctor, veterinarian, dog groomer, post office, library, a farm stand, four independent restaurants (one a four star restaurant), three pizza places, Chinese food, ice cream stand, a Subway, a Dollar General, a health food store, a thrift shop, hair stylist, barber, historical society museum, two banks, a beach on a river, a mountain you can climb with views of much bigger mountains, a craft beer store, auto repair and tire shop, a tax preparer, three churches, the fairgrounds, concerts in the park, a rail trail, pick your own raspberries farm, town summer camp, the high school performing arts center which hosts outside performers, two preschools, and all three regular schools in a matter of minutes. Many kids walk to school and ride bikes and free range safely in the village. You can access all of them from the center of town in at most a 15 minute walk at a brisk pace. Of course one or two months of the year, your walk may occur in a negative 20 degree wind chill.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Kalmia

[Zinnia]

We live in an inner ring suburb, but the part that was developed in the late 50s.  We can walk to a park, a school, and we are about 1.5 miles from the edge of the neighborhood (we are dead center).  On the edge are a couple of churches, a Walmart, lots of chain stuff that goes with Walmart (Joanns, Ross, Zoes kitchen, etc), a dry cleaner, etc.  One and a half miles the other way (on a nature path through the woods) is another park and the library.  That 1.5 mile walk can feel really long with kids and sidewalks only part of it.   Plus traffic.  Lots and lots of traffic, because the main road is a busy one.  We don't walk all that much beyond fun.  We don't walk for errands most of the time.  

 

There is a trendier, fancier part of our inner-ring suburb that is even more walkable.  Things tend to be in a 3/4 mile radius of the cute little center, instead of large, 3 mile edge to edge neighborhood surrounded by "stuff" that I live in.

 

As a kid, we lived in a town of 12,000 for 5 years.  It was really great for us as kids.  We could ride our bike all over the island (one town on the island).  Shopping, library, doctors offices, restaurants, you name it.  And the beach.  A fun place to live for sure.  

 

But in all these places, I still don't want to go outside from June to August.  Cause Atlanta summers.  Just no.   :D

Edited June 14, 2017 by Zinnia