Anyone in the Harrisburg Area?

[A Mom's Love]

Hi! We're moving to the Harrisburg area from the Philly area soon. The west shore appeals to us, especially around East Pennsboro, Camp Hill or Mechanicsburg because these areas would allow for a short commute for dh. Anyone living in the Harrisburg area? I'd love to hear about Harrisburg. What do you like/dislike about the it? Is natural living uncommon in the area?

We homeschool, so school districts are no issue for us. We'd like to live in a low crime area, though. We're getting ready to come for a few day trips to explore the area soon. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!!

[A Mom's Love]

Ok, so after our first visit & learning more about the locations dh will be working at, we're rethinking that maybe we should live more near the Hummelstown/Hershey area. Anyone out there at all?

[annettemarie]

We're actually an hour and a half north in Williamsport, but lived in Camp Hill for a bit. There are some great LLL groups down there! Welcome to the neighborhood!

[A Mom's Love]

Cool! Thanks for the response. Camp Hill is lovely! We just drove through it yesterday.

[AlexisT]

I'm on the West Shore. There are some crunchy people around here, I think--I know I've seen the Birth Without Boundaries billboard and someone had to put that up! I'm out of the baby/toddler stage right now so I don't know about LLL or the other usual ways you meet new mothers.

I don't know where you're coming from, but traffic here is really nothing aside from a stretch on 83. My husband works in Harrisburg and his commute is easy. Unless your DH is working in the Hummelstown/Hershey area I wouldn't feel too constricted by his location. That is a bit out of the way--I go there for doctor's appointments.

[AlexisT]

(oops - I see now - you're coming from Philly! Well, you'll definitely be pleasantly surprised by the traffic here.)

[MomSmoo]

I am south of Harrisburg, but will be starting a job in Harrisburg soon. I am in York and I find it a pretty easy commute. We looked at Hummelstown when we first moved here and liked York a whole lot more. Takes about 40 minutes, so keep in mind heading south out of Harrisburg might be wonderful also.

GL. Great time to be buying.

[A Mom's Love]

Thanks, AlexisT! I guess coming from the Philly suburbs, I feel like I'm moving out to the country & everyone is going to think we're weird homeschoolers or something. We do currently live in an area where we can walk to excellent shopping for groceries & other things. I'm afraid we won't be able to find that there & will be driving more. Oh well. I'll just have to get over my moving jitters. I think once we find a home I'll feel more relaxed about the while thing. We're coming out again soon to look around & explore the area.

That's great to know that traffic is basically a non-issue. That's going to be nice! We'll keep that in mind while we're looking for a place to live. Thanks again for your help.

[A Mom's Love]

Thanks for the response, MomSmoo.

[AlexisT]

You will definitely be driving everywhere. Sorry about that. There are a couple of walkable areas in Harrisburg and Carlisle, but even then, big box shopping is so prevalent here that you can't avoid it. All I seem to do is shlep, and that's the big thing I dislike about living here.

[smeisnotapirate]

I'm just south of Lancaster.

Homeschooling is definitely not weird out here. Yes to the shlepping - I spend a crazy amount of time driving, but the neighbors are nice and helpful and the crime rate is low. People still don't lock their doors in a lot of these neighborhoods.

I have a cousin in Hummelstown, and they love it there.

Welcome to south central PA!

[D_McG]

We're in Lititz. About 45 minutes from Hershey. Hershey is v. pretty. You do have to drive everywhere (which I hate... we lived in NY for years before this). But it's beautiful and homeschooling is pretty common, I think.

[A Mom's Love]

aarg! All the driving will be an adjustment. At least hs'ing isn't viewed as crazy weird, generally.

shlep? Is that PA dutch or something? I've never heard that one before.

[serenbat]

shlep?

- like sherpa


We have family in Harrisburg and have to go there often.

We live about 2 hours away and the one thing that I find besides what every one has said about driving is the food issue.

I been to local farmer's markets in the Harrisburg area and was shocked at how little selection and lack of organics are to found. Ex. compared to Kutztown or Allentown's FM. This goes for meat, veggies, milk-cheese. There are some places listed on Craig's List for the Harrisburg area as far as eggs go, but we find far fewer organic (even non-certified) than we do in other areas and far more driving to find things.

So you might want to look into what you need and ask others for ideas on finding certain things prior to shelping.

I don't know how much you are concerned about fluoride in the water, many local water systems have added it.

[AlexisT]

shlep is Yiddish. Drag around.

The farmers markets are eh, but there are a lot of farms around, and several CSAs. It takes a little know how but a year after moving here I'm finding most of what I need (though I still wouldn't say no to a Whole Foods for the high end fun stuff).

I know that Pennsylvania American Water fluoridates--my daughter's dentist has a list of which water companies/authorities fluoridate and told us about ours.

[smeisnotapirate]

There are also LOTS of homes that still have dug wells - at least in the Lancaster area. That's how we've avoided flouride. We also have LOTS of markets in Lancaster County, and some really good ones. So if you don't mind driving a bit.............

[A Mom's Love]

I haven't really done much research on fluoride to tell you the truth. We don't have it in the water where we live here as we are outside of Philadelphia County, so I haven't had to think about that much.

As far as farmer's markets go that is a bummer. You'd think it would be better out there. I'm glad to hear you're finding most of what you need out there, AlexisT. Trips to Lancaster now & then sound like fun. We went out there a year or two ago & enjoyed it. Also, thanks for the idea of looking for places to buy eggs on craigslist. I had never thought of that!

With all the driving involved in living out there, it's a shame that gas was 10 cents more expensive there than it was here when we came out this weekend.

We're still not sure if we'll be on the west shore or east shore. It just depends on what's available to rent when it's time to start looking, which is in about 2 weeks. We decided to rent rather than buy because dh's job there is only for 3 years. I think Camp Hill is still our preference if we can find a place we like in our price range. We loved all the trees and they were even more lovely because they were covered in flowers. We just couldn't live in a neighborhood without trees. The area looked like a beautiful place to go on walks or bike rides.

Thanks, thanks, thanks for all your help, everyone!

[tiffany21074]

Hi there!

We are about 10 minutes from Harrisburg, on the East Shore. We moved a year ago from Lancaster County, and there are more farms/farmers markets there and homeschooling is also more common. West shore is very nice..we lived in Mechanicsburg for a few years too. I would say there seems to be more homeschoolers on the west shore than east. Not sure why. Maybe it's better out by Hershey, not sure. But I would highly recommend joining Harrisburg Area Homeschooling Association to connect here! they are a great resource to meet some new people!

Tiffany

[smeisnotapirate]

Tiffany!

[A Mom's Love]

Hi Tiffany! Thanks for the info! I really appreciated hearing what you know about the area.