Thinking of moving near Keene

Introduce Yourself
#1

Hello everyone! My boyfriend, Forrest, and I have been trying to decide on a place to live together. We think location is a really big deal in terms of where we want to settle down and place roots, so we have been trying to figure out where we want to live for about 2 years now. Still we had only narrowed it down to the North East in order to be within a days driving distance to either of our families.

Then recently I started listening to lrn.fm and the advertisements on the station about moving to Keene almost felt like a sign from the universe. So now I am seriously considering Keene and I am hoping I can get my bf on board as well. So far he seems open to the idea.

As of right now, we are just trying to save up just enough money so we can buy a few acres of land, then work our way up to building a small house. Overall we are hoping to live a simple, self-sustained way of life within a community of like-minded individuals.

But first before anything, we need to come visit. So if anyone has any suggestions about when and where to stay, let me know!
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Becca

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#2

Welcome. Lots of people visit NH in the fall to see the leaves change, so hotel prices are expensive. Presumably airbnb as well. Prices drop after the leaves.

Let us know when you have plans.

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#3

Thanks! We were planning to come in early November and stay in an Airbnb but I’m hoping that’s not too late. I’m concerned about a potential lockdown causing another wave of land values increasing. I’d really like to buy something before Christmas, but my bf doesn’t feel the same urgency that I do. Maybe my concerns are off base. Idk.

#4

I don’t know, but definitely check out Keene. I moved 5 years ago. Great place to live. Lots of activism here. Lots of good people. Small town feel. 23k people. If not Keene itself check out some surrounding towns / villages. I’m sure you can find something nearby. Keene is basically the heart of the region. It’s not crowded or depressed like some areas of New Hampshire. The people here are well off overall, but there are definitely some cities or parts thereof I’d avoid. Not a fan of Manchester for instance. Nashua is probably better, but I’d probably choose to go outside of Manchester over Nashua just cause it’s too close to MA and well frankly few liberty-minded folks live there by comparison. Though Keene isn’t where the majority of us live. We’re actually pretty spread out with concentrations along the seacoast, Keene, Manchester, and then mostly southern New Hampshire. There are a few people up north, but the population up north is VERY small so not many people there period.

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#5

that is a heartwarming post welcome becca and bf!

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#6

Thanks for the info – more of this kind of thing is useful to those who are moving to the Shire, or may do so at some point like myself. Why are you not a fan of Manchester? Just curious. Also, which area has the most libertarians or FSP members?

#7

Manchester is dirty-old- and for me there are too many people (Keene is old too, but at least the town is a pretty old relatively well kept up place, and there are “newer” areas like west Keene with newer housing like newer than the 1970s, but don’t expect genuinely new construction, the town has had a slow growth constantly increasing population since it’s founding basically, it didn’t go from 5k to 25k overnight like some towns in the north east). If you want to be around the more populated areas I’d look at nearby towns. There are definitely some nice places to live around Manchester, but in Manchester? Eeek. It’s dangerous (both pigs and other nefarious activities by other gangs and so on…). Manchester and it’s surrounding areas does have the largest number of free staters that said so there is a positive here. However there probably isn’t anywhere you can move in the state where you won’t bump into another free stater once in a while, but the places with communities include more Keene, Manchester, Rollinsford, Portsmouth (if you got the money anyway, super expensive area, more stuck up libertarian type), maybe Concord. Grafton is another hot spot people have moved, though the joke is that is where good activists go to die and never be seen again (very small town). Not a huge fan of the Nashua area (it’s nice modern, etc, but too close to Massachusetts and not enough of a free stater community there if you ask me from what I can tell anyway, but it’s one of the two big “cities” in NH, ie 100k or so people in both Manchester and Nashua). I might also take a look at Henniker as another spot to check out. It’s in-between Keene and Manchester basically and there is definitely stuff happening there. Very small town, but quite a few free staters relative to the small population. It’s closer to Manchester while being in the middle of nowhere yet there are still a bunch of other like-minded people in that area. You might take at Hillsboro which is kind of in the same camp, though not as many free staters. They’re near each other and closer to Manchester.

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#8

welcome becca and forest!

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#9

Did you make it?