Crunchy New Hampshire?

[Demeter_shima]

so...I am currently planning a summer move to New Hampshire (I should know by next week if it's happening now or not) and we found a great rental house not far from the Concord area.  

I really need to know the socio-political climate of New Hampshire...broken down!  If anyone has lived there a while and could shed some light on this for me, it would be greately appreciated.  

I keep hearing how "conservative republican" NH is thought to be. ..but I have gotten a 50/50 vibe from what I have heard as well as far as a more liberal and Earthy focus.  

We plan to rent and scope out for buying down the line, so we plan to end up where the community we fit in with is the strongest or at least thriving.  We are a very "Mothering" family and would love to find more of THAT lifestyle support.  

THanks for any help and or info! 

-Annette

 

[Demeter_shima]

really?  Nothing???  Not reassuring ladies!!!  

Please...ANY feedback or direction would be great! 

[Imagining]

Well, I will tell you I'm moving from New Hampshire to Maine in search of a bit more of a crunchy lifestyle.  But ironically will be going from what I would consider a more liberal area here in NH to a more largely more conservative area in Maine.  In both cases, it's more about the pockets of community you find in the area.  Excellent that you'll be renting because you'll be able to feel those out before you commit.  We have some crunchy minded folks around seacoast NH, but are really attracted to the earthiness/lifestyle of the specific community we're headed to in Maine.  

I don't know much about the Concord area, but my homebirth midwives were from there.  We had a celebration for one of them last summer and the group of area women that got together for that could not possibly have been more "mothering" type.  I imagine it's just a matter of tapping into that network of people somehow - the lifestyle does exist there.

Best of luck!

[fyrwmn]

we're about 15min from concord. you kinda have to search out the crunchy around here. we go to crossroads chiropractic in pembroke (borders concord) and have found many like-minded families there. they are just starting up a friday summer playgroup, though we missed the first one yesterday :( , so i'm hoping to make some good connections.

[motherlove99]

Hey, I'm in Long Island as well! Massapequa. So, I lived in Keene, NH while doing my graduate work at Antioch University back in 2044-2005. I ended up withdrawing from the program because I was generally not happy up there. I was alone and it was cold! 6 years later, I am revisiting the possibility of completing my M.S. in Conservation Biology with 2 small sons in tow (ages 4 years and 14 months). My husband would not be able to move up with us, it would be for about a year and a half (or shorter) just to get my degree :-( The thing about Keene and all of that area that never appealed to me was the lack of any ethnic diversity at all. I mean none. I am multicultural (Hispanic, African, etc.) and that just felt weird to me, although I gre up in a predomninantly white italian/Jewish town on the south shor eof Long Island. So, that still worries me because I want my kids to be exposed to diversity. But for us it would be temporary, my husband would join us on the weekends. Let me know how your journey goes! 

[raezang]

I've lived in Concord for three years after growing up in the suburbs of Boston, and although there certainly are conservative pockets, there are also liberal ones. One of the things I love about Concord is the diverse range of different groups of people, politically and socially. There's a great sense of community, especially among the locally owned businesses. I work at a lunch place downtown, and know that the crunchy mamas are out there! It's also a friendly enough place that I end up having conversations with people at the grocery store, the Y when I go to work out, the library, and I've met a fair number of people that way as well. 

As far as the socio-political climate is concerned, it really is a mixed bag. At least in Concord (I haven't lived in other places), there's a real mix of liberals and conservatives. There's a lot of transplants here, and many of them are more politically liberal than the old New Hampshire-ites. When I first moved here, a friend described Concord as a pocket of more liberal/crunchy types surrounded by towns that tend to be more conservative. I've found that to be true, for the most part.

I will say that I have had to be active about looking for and finding like-minded mamas, and that's one of the reasons I joined this board. I'm going to the La Leche meeting tomorrow night and am hoping to meet some moms there, and I know there's a baby carrying group that started up in town recently. You can find both groups on Facebook. 

Hope this helps, and if you'd like to chat just let me know!

[raezang]

Oh, and the thing the pp said about the lack of racial diversity is, unfortunately, true. One of the things I do miss about Mass was hearing different languages all the time, and seeing people that don't necessarily look like me. Alas, such is not the case in Concord, and much of New Hampshire.

[akimball]

I have to say though, coming from Long Island, NY...while we were around a diverse population, there is sadly the down side of that, where much of the exposure was in negative or "down class" in such a way that it might lend itself to prejudice or stereotype more than "diversity" awareness.  We did have a few bi-lingual friends and I suppose there was more opportunity for diversity "on the playground"...but it's not like we're in the mountains somewhere and not able to explore :P~ 

I imagine a semi-annual trip to Boston and New York will help vary out the exposure...and frankly,I was raised seeing some variation, but really...we had ONE Jewish kid, ONE Indian kid, ONE black kid ...in my whole elementary school experience...no kidding.  Everyone was Italian or Irish in my town, but I was raised with a very open minded and culturally diverse and tolerant mindset, being the child of an Italian immigrant myself.  

I'm more concerned with finding like-minded people and people with similar family values than anything else!   That's really the priority for us right now,so we can surround ourselves with support.