Hammondsport , Prattsburgh , or Dundee NY...has anyone been??
Wondering if anyone has been to these towns and could share any info? Looking for similarities/differences to our area, if any? Likes/dislikes?
JRT People are very friendly and get along with each other...totally different experience than Hackettstown
Bug3Early June was up in Hector NY for a long weekend with brothers and their wives. Great views riding around the lake, Loads of wineries and breweries for tastings. If you like doing that kind of thing, we do. Going to the Amish Market called the "Windmill Market" is fun. They are there on Saturdays get their early if going to grab some of the Amish Bakery Items. They also have beautiful plants and fruits for sale.
JimT Lol bug3 ...I have heard that from others as well!
Thanks Jim! Yes, those things are exactly what we would be interested in.
Hackettstown, like Plattsburgh, is a college town surrounded by rural areas. I think you’d transition well. There’s less “stuff” up there to do and less stores to patronize so it’s a bit more rural. But, again, like here, your roughly and hour away from one of the great cities of the world IMO, Montreal.
Silly me, I just assumed you meant Plattsburgh and “Prattsburgh” was a typo. Sorry, never been to that area.
also a great thing we did because we were up there the right weekend previously was the Cayuga wine trail, may have spelt it wrong. You pay like $25 and you are given a map to stop at designated wineries and the give you sample of food and wine. it goes around the whole lake of lake Cayuga, again spelling, a great bargain. if you go enjoy !!!!
That sounds fantastic Jim! :)
Yea the snow thing......I have an uncle that lives up near Syracuse and they get a ton of it. I did talk to a realtor a few weeks ago from the area I am inquiring about. He said the snowfall was a bit more than here, but not anywhere near what they usually get near Syracuse.
When you walk into a grocery store and a total stranger says hello.. don't be too shocked
Vacationing in Hector as a kid, loved the area, never noticed a major difference in the people. Used to be the poorest county in the state. Could swim in the crick above Hector falls, walk right up to the edge. Watkins Glen is closest town, tourist town, used to be race town, not sure about now. Seneca is a nice lake, deep, cold. Corning is over the hill.
Hammondsport is the original NYS wine capital. Kueka Lake is smaller, was getting dirty decades ago, too small. Rod Serling used to live on the peninsular bluff, looked like it.
Don’t know Prattsburgh, would pick Dundee in a second. Love the Glen. Grab a cottage, hang out a bit and see what you like. Less snow than Syracuse? You can check, sometimes just depends on the lake effect path. Some places can escape. But certainly close enough to get walloped.
StrangerDanger Looked it up, the glen gets 38in avg snow, snow belt like syracuse around 120.
Its hard to predict snow up there...biggest factor is lake ontario...you seem to be below that...but fall time is spectacular...not really much of a spring...snow seems to stick around until april...sometimes early may if its a bad winter...summer not so hot and muggy..fall best season up there
When we did the Glen, walk up through the glen, climb Jacob’s Ladder (stairs), and then there’s a trail down the side, nice bridge over the glen halfway down so you get different glen views.
I lived in Hammondsport for ~ 12 years before moving to Hackettstown...so know the area well. Lived in Bath a few and Ithaca/Newfield as well. Upstate NY is MUCH different than NJ. Very friendly folks - you may think they are noisy, etc. compared to NJ folks, but they will HELP and share, etc. Winters are LONG - spring doesn't really arrive until May-June and fall is basically end of September (leaves fall and it's gray/dreary) then snow. Depends on winter, but Finger Lakes area in general, get less snow than the Thruway belt (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse) off the Great Lakes. Beautiful area....TONS to do from May thru October when you have double the population in H-port due to Rochester/Syracuse folks with summer houses on the lake + tourists. There was one grocery store in H-port when I lived there - small - almost would be a bodega here. Bath had 2 grocery stores - usually I went to Corning/Elmira area - Wegmans, etc. there + 20-25 min. drive. Little traffic - compared to NJ - if more than 3-4 cars at traffic light - locals will say "traffic jam". H-port had one traffic light when you turn off the main route along the lake (from Penn Yan) into town + that went on "blinker" after midnight till 6 am. I moved back due to job opportunity in NJ + grew up/family in NJ - wanted to be closer for aging parents/nieces/nephews. Good luck!
SS2cats SS- interesting that your picture matches my picture from the late 60’s, early 70’s. Matter if fact, the big change I noticed was the demise of “big box” wine and the expansion of “craft” wineries which I have to imagine is better for thr region. The people thing is funny though, lived from Syracuse to Buffalo and never really noticed.
Thank you ss2cats. That is very helpful. I was hoping to hear from someone that actually lived there as well.. I know Winters will be long, but I kinda feel like ours are getting longer too:) I am looking for more of a simple laid back lifestyle with great scenery, but not to far out of touch from civilization lol!. 20 min to shopping sounds like the perfect distance. Hackettstown has changed and there is so much traffic and non stop sirens, planes, etc... I need something a little more peaceful:)
I am assuming jobs are probably a bit harder to find. In a perfect world I am hoping to need only a PT job as I would be downsizing quite a bit.
Cutting back......a lot!!! Really just want a small little cabin with a little property.
Is that what you meant Bug?
Sales Tax in NY might be ridiculous, but it's lower than NJ's.
Prattsburgh, NY. The home of the Empire Telephone Company. Although it was over thirty (30) years ago, I remember it well!
Strangerdanger..salestax in NY is at the state, county and municipal level....it depends where.you are when you buy something.. county has a tax and the town or city might have one too..some places its 8% all together..nj only has state level..in otherwords everybody gets a piece of the pie
You are right, I read local as 0-.5% so I ignored; it's really 0-5%. So Herkimer County, where a lot of this was --- 8% or higher.
Sales tax determined in NY state by county - so H-port and Prattsburgh are in Steuben County + Dundee is in Yates County. Yates is home to a large (and still growing) Amish/Mennonite population. Difference between upstate NY + NJ - you DO have to pump your own gas in NY....sometimes forget when I go to visit...I'll sit in the car waiting for attendant...
Strangerdanger - what towns are you talking about? Herkimer County is in the Capital region. Finger Lakes where these towns in original post are on the western side of Rt. #81/south of NYS Thruway.
Herkimer county is in the Mohawk Valley..next to capital region and above and east of the finger lakes
Herkimer is a large county. The southern part of it is Mohawk Valley, but the northern part is Adirondacks. I grew up in the Leatherstocking Region south of there. The climate next to the mountains is quite different than the Finger Lakes.
GC Was I ever there? I was thinking Schuyler County, Watkins Glen and Hector. That was my stomping ground, vacation wise, in my youth. Not even sure where Herkimer came from... sales tax 8% there in Schuyler too. Used to be poorest place, still less density pop, but middle of pack now.
Did some house searching a couple years ago, Lakes still look doable even.
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