want to retire to pa . bad idea ? pros , cons

[goldie1959]

will seriously be looking for vacant land in the next year or two in and around indiana, pa , shelocto,pa .we ride motorcyle,don,t do drugs, and metal detect,camp etc. anybody awake out there. goldie

 

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[urbss]

Well, welcome to PA. I also ride motocycles, metal detect and don't do drugs!! Of course, since having a child (he's 3 1/2 now), I don't ride or detect as much as I'd like - but I wouldn't change it for the world!!

 

[goldie1959]

thanks for the replies riding mc is great ,with our kids finally out of the house gives us freetime. i know toddlers keep us busy( gr.kids) but since we are 50ish we take them only when WE want.thats OLD school thinking. god bless the folks that are raising the grandkids but i thank god we don't have to. we look foward to breaking out of mich. HAHA and meeting people of all ages. we are lower mid income so we are down to earth and we have never wanted to social climb our families were mainly farmers etc so i know we will fit in in pa. all the folks we have met in our travels over to pa have impressed us with their help your neighbor attitude and the friendliness is unbeatable. so in our remaining yrs we want to be in pa. goldie

 

[warsawdaddy]

Goldie,you cut me to the quick.Just what is wrong with the southern tier?There's motorcycles there also,just ask RiverRat.Beautiful country and beautiful people,just ask Nana and Noodle.And what can I say about the Ozarks?Nothing could be better.Although,I'll have to admit,PA has some great looking country and snow,and snow,and snow.

 

[deepskyal]

Oh common Warsawdaddy....we have rain too.

Al

 

[goldie1959]

where you at al

 

[Tubecity]

Good luck in Pa. . Indiana is still fairly rural. Forget Allegheny Co. , the political
hoodlums in Pitts. are trying to merge the whole county into the city so they can
waste more money. Westmoreland is nice, but it is probably one of the fastest growing counties in this half of the state. Somerset is my favorite, lot of mountains
& farmland, but in the last few years, the eastern & southern portions are being
overrun by the same yuppies from the DC area that ruined Deep Creek, Maryland.
Had plenty of chances to leave, but I like it here. The only place I'd swap Pa. for
is north-western Montana.

 

[jeff of pa]

pick a small town
the smaller the better

get a list of the County Ghost Towns

most of these so called ghost towns aren't realy ghosts.

just small.

Most will Disagree with me on this, Because they Don't live in these types of Places
but Find one that dosn't have a Police force or Mayor.
Preferably part of a Township.
the kids behave for the most part because
there is no reason to see what they can get away with.
plus everyone knows their parents

no need to lock doors, Or worry that your
Neghbor is going to try and run your life for you.
yet they will be there in a flash if you need.

Good Luck !
& I hope to say Welcome to Pa.

Soon

Jeff

 

[goldie1959]

thank you jeff, all the advice is very helpful and im not just saying that, this is a big step for us .we want our prop soon even though we won't completely move for awhile. ive also been to cook forest,leepers,clarion, lou wants to stay south of I-80. i shop once a mo. and keep 3 mo. supply on hand so and im not a mall person so thats not a problem . have 2 lg. malls here for the last 30 yrs and been to both maybe a total of 20 times. mainly to use post office,buy bob seger concert tix.and twice to get ear candles. see i even can remember why. ha

 

[jeff of pa]

Sounds like you'd get along great in Small towns.

I get to the mall maybe 6 times a year (about 25 Miles)
and maybe 20 times to wallmart(about 20 Miles)
most of my shopping is at the local
(about 10 miles) Grocery store. every other week these days.
and once a month to the post office.

Only Bad thing about "One Horse Towns" (mine's a no horse town,
although the horse hitch is still Behind my yard ) is if they have
a small Mom & Pop Store.
Had one in town yet in the late 70's.
you need to watch Expirations on boxes.
alot of their stuff expired in the 60's
and maybe earlier :P

Good thing, If I would have thought of it.
alot of antique toys etc. still in the boxes,
still for sale at their original prices

& Penny Candy like gummy fish

 

[fng68]

hi Goldie,

Remember as a general rule,north of 80= lots of snow, south=less.

this is the general rule western PA, I guess from lake effect (Erie).

I live in a small town of approx 500, when riding my bike I gotta watch out for the amish buggies and what they leave on the road.

The Movie "KingPin" with Woody Harleson (sp) from cheers was filmed here, pretty country watch the movie.

In 30 Min.,my wife can be at several Malls, we are 2 miles from the PA Turnpike.

If you need any info on western PA, let me know if I can help.

Good Luck,

Ron

 

[deepskyal]

I'm in Alleg. County, just N. of Pittsburgh......yea...I'd say steer clear of this county...and Beaver County as well. Spent 11 years there and those politicians are even more crooked than in Allegheny.

We've actually had some pretty calm winters the last few years in Western Pa.....

But I agree with Jeff...smaller towns around here are definitely the best way to go.

DEFINATELY STAY OUT OF CRANBERRY TWP. IN BUTLER COUNTY. It used to be all farmland, now its wall to wall malls and highways for miles. Sooo sad!
Plus their taxes are climbing through the roof.

I'd go the Northern tier of Pa or Central Pa. Still lots of open areas, quaint communities and plenty of detecting places with great history.
If I live long enough to retire, I'm going to Coudersport....Potter County...AKA .."God's County". Mountains, history, quiet, fishing, hunting....dark skies...home of the "Black Forest Star Party".
They actually have a protected dark sky there for astronomers so light pollution doesn't interfere with star watching. The only protected dark sky in Pennsylvania by The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
You can go to Cherry Springs State Park almost any weekend and there will be people with telescopes there that would gladly let you view the skies.

I love that area...been going since I was a kid.

And nothing against you Philly folks but...that area is growing in leaps and bounds too. My brother lives in Red Hill and it's doubled in population in just a couple years....as have some of the surrounding communities.
Hamburg is still pretty nice...but for how long with Cabella's there?

Well...that's my .02 cents worth. Hope it helps you some.
Al

 

[mistergee]

i live in pa too. just moved from philly to schwenksville. i go hunting and fishing upstate. pa is one of the most beautiful states with lots to see and some of the friendliest people. i have a buddy whose cabin we hunt out of and he got $250.00 per acre just to check if he had natural gas under his land. he could have held out for more in hindsite as we have heard of people getting over 2K per acre. that doesnt include if something is found. some of these people are going to be very very rich.he is above I-80. supposedly this "vein" of natural gas runs from new york southwest through pa and down into va. if your going to buy look at the areas running from the n.e. corner (wayne,susquehanna..etc) and southwest down to (westmoreland, greene..) this is where they have been looking. i have to dig but i remember articles and such with more info. if i find it i will post it here.you could get lucky and buy and pay for your land with plenty to spare. good luck, i know you will love pa.

 

[goldie1959]

sounds interesting. a plus to looking for land.personally PA has always held an interest for me because of the history of being founded by wm. penn and the trials and imprisonment, etc he went through to found a refuge just for people to live and experience their life with the basic human laws and rights. there would be no bill of rights or u.s. constitution without him.i just want to live the last yrs of my life, what ever god grants me hope its alot, as hassle free as i can make it. lou and i have both had rough up brinings not as rough as some i know but bad enough and we would like some peace and quiet. so much for my rambling and i appreciate your response and thoughts. i was just trying to explain what kind of area we are looking for since we grew up in a rural area we now live with our neighbors houses 15' on each side and we are working to escape. haha and me to md to my little hearts content. ps we went on a train ride up to a town called Bagdad Pa and it started in a town named Shenley? a large whiskey distillery was there and the town of bagdad had 2 or 3 people in it is anyone familiar with this. shenley had 179 people . thats the kind of pop.of town we are looking for.

 

[sunsetcliff]

I wish I could trade my house. Im in Sunbury. I would stay in PA, but go further out.

 

[goldie1959]

been looking in elk, clarion , indiana, clearfeild co. thanks for the reply cliff