Moving to the Area

H. -
First of all, congratulations on this exciting opportunity for your husband and your family! We have moved around ALOT, so I completely sympathize with your anxious and nervous feelings. Rest assured, you guys will be fine!! It may take as little as a couple months, or it may take up to two years....but you WILL find a whole new life and support system in your new hometown.

We moved to West Chester, the west part of town, near Downingtown, four years ago. We really love it here. It is so family oriented w/ numerous festivals (eg. Turks Head Music Festival, Chester County Restaurant Festival, Octoberfest, Strawberry Festivals, family fun days and movie nites at most local parks, etc.) There are more township parks than you can shake a stick at!! Seriously! And they are all well maintained. There are always special events for the holidays, eg. Easter Egg hunts, Halloween parades, Christmas events, etc.

Chester County is a sports hotbed. My husband is continually amazed at how many different sports programs and facilities there are around here. The local townships offer different leagues, as do the private clubs (eg USTC in Downingtown). My seven year old son played football for the Downingtown Young Whippets the past two years, and this year we switched to the Marsh Creek Eagles. Both have their distinct personalities and advantages. You can easily find swimming, diving, lacrosse, ice hockey, inline hockey, field hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball, martial arts.......the list is endless, and all readily accessible around here.

If you want to be closer to Bryn Mawr, and or the city of Philadelphia, I would look on the eastern side of West Chester. Some people have suggested the Main Line to you, and it has ALOT to offer - very beautiful, well established, fantastic schools (Connestoga High School in the Tredyffrin-Easttown school district has been rated the number one high school in all of Pennsylvania, besting all public and private schools). It is close to the city, and offers many ammenities. My husband and I have considered moving there before.....the only reason we decided it against it is that living there does come with its share of - how do I say it nicely? - "haughtiness", I suppose. There are alot of kids who are overindulged (think BMW for your 16th birthday), and alot of egocentric grown-ups. It wasn't the kind of environment in which we wanted to raise our children. My friend's mom is a child psychologist in the area, and she has terrible stories of kids under ridiculous pressure, getting in trouble, not respecting others, etc. Before any moms fire back to me......I'm sure there are lovely people there.....and I know not everyone on the Main Line fits that mold to a T....but it is absolutely more prevalent. I guess you might compare it to Highland Park, but on a much bigger scale.

Chester Springs is also lovely, very picturesque, but a drive to get to restaurants, shopping, etc very easily. It is a growing area though, with beautiful homes and wonderful people. We just felt it was too far from the city, and other ammenities.

We are in the Downingtown School District, which is by most accounts, a great district. When we looked at houses, we considered Downingtown, West Chester, and Garnet Valley to be similar in rating. TE, Great Valley, and Unionville-Chadds Ford were a step up. Again, they all have pros and cons. Taxes are high on newer homes anywhere around here.

FYI, we live near Tattersall Golf course - lots of resales out here if you decide to pursue this area. Best of luck to you!!!

Hi H., I grew up here (in Devon and Malvern). I've lived all over, though, during college and the years after (NJ, CA, AZ, MA, VA) and I LOVE this area. When we first starting having kids we were in Virginia Beach, VA which is a great area for young families, but I couldn't wait to move back here. You'll love it! The best school districts (nationally recognized) are Trediffryn/Easttown and Radnor. Bryn Mawr is not far from either. I currently live in Downingtown, but wish I lived closer to the "Main Line" (several towns along the R5 train line). If I could choose anywhere, I'd live in Devon, Berwyn, Wayne, or Paoli. We chose Downingtown because you can get a larger, new home for less and the schools are still good. However, since I am originally from this area, I find myself driving a lot to go to stores and restaurants or visit people closer to the Main Line (20-30 minutes away) and we wish we had bought elsewhere. Downingtown has no real center of town, not a lot in the way of restaurants or little shops. The next best thing to it is West Chester for shops and restaurants, but I'd still prefer to be closer to Bryn Mawr, than out here! However, my kids are too young to be into sports and I never was, so I don't know much about that. Good luck and if I can answer and other questions, feel free to respond. Also, my mom is an awesome realtor, but I'm assuming your husband's company has relo, etc. :) -S.

Are you looking for a community that is close to Bryn Mawr? I am in Eagle, just a little north of Exton if you are looking at a map... there are lots of homes for sale in this area as it is building up quickly. The people here are friendly and the schools have a good reputation (that's why we bought here). does your husband have an idea of how close to his office he would like to be? Mileage W. we aren't that far, but traffic can get a little nutty if his company doesn't offer flex time. My husband grew up in this area so if you have any specific queestions, i would be happy to pick his brain for you!
Good luck!
A.

Welcome. I am orginally from New England, but I have come to love PA more. Chester County is a terrific location. We are in Downingtown School district on the side of Downingtown closest to the PA Turnpike. The turnpike has the best access because it rarely backs up. Downingtown is fairly reasonable as pricing is concerned however taxes can be a bear. Downingtown has a terrific reputation for schools. The side of Downingtown we are on has a youth association called Glenmoore Eagle Youth(Geyasports.org). Everyone in our neighborhood particpates 4 years to 18 years. Our neighbor's little boy has played flag footbal and now he is on a team. I don't know the info - sorry. With regards to swimming there are several country clubs - laid back (Pennypacker)to higher end (Whitford)as well as several YMCAs that everyone loves. I have lived in Coatesville, Lionville and West Chester. We moved away to New England for a brief time and when we came back we knew it was Downingtown we loved. Good Luck, I hope this helps

Hi H.,

I actually have lived here 9 years - I have lived in NE, CA, OH and outside of DC. When I first heard East Coast, I thought it would be people on top of people, but it's not like that at all! We live in the West Chester area and in our neighborhood, we were the 'newbies' for around 4-5 years as people rarely moved out of the neighborhood. My husband had a job offer to move to Miami and we found we just couldn't part with our house and the area (I did a house hunting trip a couple of weeks ago).

There is actually a house for sale in our neighborhood - I have not seen the inside of the house, but I believe it's a 5 bedroom and I know there are a lot of kids in the cul-de-sac that are mostly ages 3 to 6 and most of the moms are stay at home. The street is Squires Cir and depending on your price range and requirements, if you find you are checking it out, let me know and you can stop by here :)

Good luck with the house hunt!

S.

Hi H.,

Don't worry! This is a WONDERFUL area! based on your children's sports interests, my suggestion would be the Downingtown area. I don't know if you husband will commute to work by car or train, but I know the R-5 train goes to Bryn Mawr from just about anywhere in Chester County. Downingtown schools are excellent, young family area, and sports are abundant.

Best of luck in your move...you'll love it here!

H.,
Good luck with your move! I am from Dallas, TX and just moved to this area of PA in March. My husband and I moved from TX to NC, VA and now PA. We have 4 kids (10, 9, 7 and 5) in the same sports you mentioned. This area is a bit different from TX but it is beautiful here and it seems to be a great place for families. We rented a house in Downingtown for 3 months and our children went to a Downingtown elementary school for the last 4 months of the school year and had a smooth transition.

We are having a difficult time finding the right house so we are renting another house in Chester Springs now and do love it here. We also wanted to get a feel for the area before we bought a house. The prices have also come down in the past year. The boys are playing football for Marsh Creek Eagles and we have been very impressed with that organization. They played baseball for Lionville Youth Assoc. and soccer with Spirit United. We had a great experience with all of these organiztions. From what I've seen the schools are all pretty good in Chester county. A lot of people seem to send their children to private or parochial school. I have been happy with what I have seen and heard about the public schools and our kids will go to our public school next year in Owen J Roberts.

Housing is a bit pricey in this area of PA and the taxes are much higher than TX. If you would like to talk please email me as we have been looking since Dec when my husband was relocated here. We have been looking from the TE school district down to Chadds Ford and up to Chester Springs. We finally have a contract on a house in Chester Springs and are hoping it goes through.

I think you will like it here. We are very happy here. The summer has been great, it never really got that hot. I haven't experienced the winter yet but the kids will love it if we have snow and there are lots of hills. There are also so many outdoor things to do here. We love it here so far. The people are all so very nice and friendly!

If you want to talk more just send me an email.

Good Luck!
M.

Hi H.,

I use to live in Bryn Mawr myself and my parents/friends still do. I love the area. A little pricey, not sure what your income will be but it is more expensive then other nearby areas.
Radnor school distric and Conestoga are AWESOME!!! Havertown is great too.
If I were to move closer to the Bryn Mawr area I would look in Radnor and Havertown/Haverford. Berwyn, Paoli and Newtown Square are also great areas, good schools and have what you are use to in Texas.
Best of luck with everything, take advantage of this web site to talk/meet other Mom's in your new area and check out your local Mom's club!!!
J.