bennington, vermont???

[greta]

is anyone familiar with bennington, vermont?

my husband has an interview there in the beginning of march, and it looks like a great job opportunity. i'm just wondering what kind of place it is. seems like a great location for us, but ih have no idea what the community is like.

any help would be greatly appreciated!

[greta]

bump...don't want it to get lost! ;)

[bobmark226]

I know Bennington, Greta, but, of course, I know it as a tourist. That said, just what is it you'd like to know?

Bob

[greta]

thanks for your response, bob...hey, even as a tourist, you know a heck of a lot more than i do!!!

wondering if it's a progressive town. (big shocker there, i'm sure). any good restaurants? and any other random thoughts you might have.

and things that a tourist probably wouldn't care about: housing, schools, taxes, etc.

[momqat]

This link (http://www.bennington.com/) might be of some help. At least a place to start.
Good luck in your searching, and to your husband for his interview. Hope you find the information you need.

[gertdog]

Originally posted by greta
thanks for your response, bob...hey, even as a tourist, you know a heck of a lot more than i do!!!

wondering if it's a progressive town. (big shocker there, i'm sure). any good restaurants? and any other random thoughts you might have.

and things that a tourist probably wouldn't care about: housing, schools, taxes, etc.

Progressive it is. Definitely a small town feel with a Main St. dotted with shops and businesses- it's not exactly thriving, but it's nice. Food- I've eaten some non-memorable pizza there, and we frequently go to a place called Alldays & Onions on Main St. which I would describe as something of an upscale diner/cafe- lots of interesting sandwiches and salads plus daily specials.

We usually stop in Bennington on our way to some other place in Vermont, but we've found it very pleasant and there is a lot of interesting local history.

It would definitely be a change from Long Island!! :) Best of luck to DH on his interview!

[greta]

momqat, thanks for the link...i've done some looking.

and, stephanie,
after asking about restaurants i thought to myself, how often do i get to nice restaurants now? that will be reserved for weekends in nyc while my parents are watching the kids! ;)

thanks for your input. i'm thinking of meeting my husband up there when he has his interview.

i'll hate to leave my family on LI, but it will be nice to be able to afford a decent house!! crappy shacks in my neighborhood go for 350,000!!! eeek!

[jphilg]

I have never been to Bennington, but I used to live in Stowe, which is another tourism-economy spot in VT. A couple of things to know about Vermont on the schools/taxes front:

Vermont is unique, I think in the country, in the way the schools are funded. Rather than each locality funding schools based on the local tax base (plus whatever state and federal funding), all of those local school taxes go into a big state pot, and divvied up under on a per-student-capita basis to the various school districts. Because VT is a land of very rich and very, very poor, this policy helps schools in poorer parts of the state maintain a higher standard of education than their tax base would support on its own. The down side, of course, is that wealthier communities end up with their tax dollars being watered down, which lowers the level of school funding, and tends to lead to lots of extra fees (activity fees, etc) on kids in communities where education is a major priority. Bennington is a very wealthy community by VT standards, FWIW.

Housing will be very inexpensive compared to LI. Not sure if you share my "live in a renovated farmhouse" fantasies, but there are gorgeous, gorgeous properties on realtor.com right now for well under 500k, several in the 300 range. And those are the already-renovated, spectacular ones on 30 acres. You can still buy a great house in that part of the state for 150K.

When you are looking at housing, you might want to consider heating costs. If you live in a more rural area, you'll almost definitely have oil heat, and you will want to inquire as to how much that is. Winters are long, gorgeous but long, in VT, and when I lived in Stowe, I paid about 1/3 as much for oil every month as I did for rent.

These are all very practical things to think about; Bennington is the kind of place you move to because it feels right in your heart. My experience in Stowe was that people actively sought out a life there, for the active, outdoors, community-centric lifestyle. I sense that Bennington might be a similar community.

Keep us up to date! It would be a dream relocation for me, but then again, I have a bizarre Vermont fetish thing.

[NewMrsG]

Originally posted by jphilg
It would be a dream relocation for me, but then again, I have a bizarre Vermont fetish thing.

Me too! I keep telling my husband that I want to retire there (his response is that that we're culturally bound to retire to Florida, given that we're Jewish, but I don't really care) :)

I can't recall if I've ever stopped in Bennington specifically, but will say that I just love VT. I find it a wonderfully beautiful and refreshing contrast to Boston.

[greta]

jen,
thank so much for your feedback! very helpful indeed.
i have a feeling my husband and i will love bennington...and the real estate situation alone gave me a warm fuzzy feeling!

my husband has a extreme appreciation for nature...he'll see a tree, and immediately notice it's beautiful berries, when i probably would have just noticed the tree. so, i love when we're in a more rural area and he's just soaking in the scene! i can already picture our lovely garden!

the ONLY major concern we'll both have is the lack of diversity--population-wise. since our kids are/will be a very uncommon mix, we were hoping to be in a more integrated area. but, as long as the town is progressive and open-minded, i don't think we'll have a problem.

mrsg, you'll just have to come visit! ;)

[Kalna]

Hi,

I live in southern Vermont and agree with all the comments about Vermont the others have posted. Bennington is on the other side of the state and I don't know much about the town. Before you move please check out the school system. I believe that Bennington schools are on the list as "schools in trouble - not meeting state standards in testing for several years." Even with the state wide property tax, the quality of education varies greatly from one school system to another.

Kalna

[Lauren]

I love Bennington Pottery! :D

[bobmark226]

Greta, you don't have to worry about "diversity" in Bennington. It is, after all, a college town, and Bennington the college has always been liberal and international in flavor with lots of exchange students and certainly impacts the town.

But the town is really a hub and market town for the southwest corner of the state, very developed, with lots of highway junctions, and not quite so much "country" as you're perhaps envisioning. You have to go a few miles up to get away from it, towards Arlington, for it to change.

Bennington has the Mother of all Congregational Churches at its center, very beautiful and much photographed, and rightly so. Robert Frost is buried in the cemetery behind it. And there's also the famous and popular Blue Benn diner, where you can eat anything from a sprout and tofu sandwich to regular diner fare to Mexican specials...they do it all and they do it all very well.

Bob

[greta]

well, we went up to bennington about a week and a half ago for my husband's interview.

unfortunately, the first morning that we were there, we found out that my brother (who was in arizona on his spring break) was rushed to the emergency room in tuba city, az. he was delirious, agitated and "flailing about". he had to be sedated and restrained. after about 12 hours in tuba city, he was airlifted to a hospital in phoenix. it was a scary few days. my parents flew out to be with him.

in the end, all we know is that it was some sort of encephalitis--and we have no idea what caused it. we're still waiting on some test results, but up to this point all of the tests have come back negative. he's doing well now, but it was a rough time. he has no recollection from the time he called the front desk at the hotel, to when my parents arrived.

SO, it was really difficult to give bennington a fare shake. the circumstances weren't great.

the interview went well and they offered my husband the job--but their need is for a general neurologist, and my husband has 2 specialties--he wants to use them. right now we're undecided.

ok, so most of you know that i was concerned about the diversity--and therefore wanted a pretty progressive community. well, the realtor that showed me around was a self-pronounced conservative-republican who was happy that howard dean was gone and that they have a good republican governor.

not to ruffle any conservative feathers (have a few good conservative friends myself ;) ), but little did she know her political input wasn't a selling point!

a few notes:
we stayed at the four chimneys inn. it was nice. good breakfasts.
we had our only dinner in bennington in the inn's restaurant--known for quality dining. we went as soon as dinner opened b/c we didn't want other patrons who may have been there for the fine dining experience, to experience it with a almost 1 year old (even tho he's a very well behaved 1 year old in restaurants).
my husband had a great filet mignon. i had a somewhat tasteless red snapper crusted with sushi rice. (it could be that my 1st trimester pregnancy status had impacted my ability to enjoy the meal--we'll never know).

we had a lunch at alldays & onions, but it was at the height of brother stress. if i wasn't pregnant, i wouldn't have eaten at all (b/c i was so stressed)--but, when i don't eat my nausea worsens. so, i ordered the messiest reuben sandwhich--a very bizarre order for me. it was pretty tasty.

so, that's my report.
much more info than you probably wanted...
thanks again for all of your help.
greta

[gertdog]

Greta, wow, that is so scary about your brother- I'm glad he seems to be doing okay now. It must have been really hard to think about anything else while you were in Bennington.

Well, congrats to DH on the job offer! I can see why he'd be undecided about taking a position where he can't use his specialized skills.

How unfortunate about the realtor. You did say you wanted "diverse" though, so maybe just count her as representative of that... :p and engage someone else's services if you do decide to make the move.

Glad you like the reuben, though!

Keep us posted on the decision...

[aggie94]

Don't you just love people who are so conceited that they think everyone must think exactly like they do? :rolleyes:

Congrats to your DH on his job offer, and good luck with the relocation decision. How scary about your brother! I hope he is doing better. If he and your parents are still in Phoenix and need anything that I might be able to help them with, please feel free to PM me. I can only imagine how scary it must be to deal with something like that, and even more so in a strange place.

[greta]

stephanie,
yeah, diverse, that's a good way to look at it!
i'll keep you posted.
we'll have to have another nyc klatch before/if i move.

eva,
i was actually going to contact you for area info when i first found out, but fortunately one of my mom's best friends lives in phoenix and my folks were able to stay with her.
they're back in ny now...and my brother will head back to state college, pa tomorrow--he's got classes to teach. :rolleyes:
he was at banner estrella hospital--apparently it's a new hospital. no shared rooms. a la carte menus to order from, etc. the major drawback for dave was that there is no neurologist on staff--they have a neurologist come in from an area practice to make rounds. he had to wait 12 hours to see the neuro. for the first time.

[ChristieinMB]

Originally posted by greta
ok, so most of you know that i was concerned about the diversity--and therefore wanted a pretty progressive community. well, the realtor that showed me around was a self-pronounced conservative-republican who was happy that howard dean was gone and that they have a good republican governor.

not to ruffle any conservative feathers (have a few good conservative friends myself ;) ), but little did she know her political input wasn't a selling point!

How do you define diversity? I believe it to mean differing views, etc.
You met someone like that and didn't like it.
:confused: :confused:
Do you really mean you want to live in a liberal area, where others have the same liberal views ?
I wouldn't call that diverse.
Why a realtor would espouse their personal politics is a different subject!
Christie

[aggie94]

I took Greta's statement to mean ethnically and racially diverse, not necessarily diversity of political beliefs. Stereotypical as it may be, communities that are more ethnically and racially diverse also tend to be more liberal while communities that are less diverse tend to be more conservative. I don't want to put words into Greta's mouth, but I read her earlier posts in the sense that she would be less concerned about living in a very "white-bred" community so long as it was progressive and open-minded.

[gertdog]

Eva, I understood it the same way as you.

OT- I always imagined that the phrase was "white bread" as in a Wonder Bread reference- generic, homoegeneous, etc.- but I've never seen it actually written out, only heard it. Leave it to me to think of food when we're talking about racial/cultural phenomena. :o

[aggie94]

:o I think you're right, Stephanie:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001200.html

I guess it works both ways, so I don't look like a complete moron. :o

[gertdog]

Originally posted by aggie94


I guess it works both ways, so I don't look like a complete moron. :o

You don't look like any kind of moron! It does work both ways- it's one of those phrases that you just figure out the meaning when you hear it in context, so it makes sense that we'd all hear/interpret something different. When I saw it written out in your post, it just occurred to me that I may have been conjuring up images of fluffy sandwich bread while everyone else thought of it another way!

[greta]

christie,
if you knew me at all, you would know that i meant racially and culturally diverse...and if the town isn't diverse in that sense, that there are lots of people who embrace interracial, interreligious, and less traditional type families.

i liked the realtor just fine, thank you. she was actually quite nice.

i love talking with my politically diverse family and friends--and enjoy reading comments on this board from people on the opposite end of the spectrum from me.

now, as you've read, i've been thru quite an ordeal the last couple of weeks, and to top it off i'm pregnant and my hormones are not quite level. so, it would have been nice if you didn't make a big deal out of a lighthearted quip--which was exactly what it was!

[KathrynY]

Greta, what a scare about your brother! I'm sorry you've had such a difficult couple of weeks. And a tough decision for your DH on the job, although congratulations on the offer. Is he continuing to look for other opportunities while you decide? Sending you good wishes as you wrestle your way through some difficult decisions.