Relocation to Providence, Rhode Island?

Question

My husband and I are currently considering a possibley relocation to the Providence, Rhode Island area. Anyone, who can shed some light on the following would be greatly appreciated: What areas around Providence would afford

1.) The quintisential New England village environment.

2.) Close to some good dining

3.) Close to the water.

4) Close to Providence - we are considering the Barrington area but looks pretty pricey.

Also, can someone please confirm or dispell what we are being told about winters in Providence. That being "snowfall is not as bad as being inland, Two to three inches at time. Doesn't stay on the ground that long because of the close proximity to the ocean. Snowfall doesn't really get bad until the end of December. Janary and February are the worst." All of this with the caveat of "You can occaisionally get slammed with a horrible Noreastern from time to tome." We are trying to get an honest answer to these questions.

Many Thanks, Deborah

Answer 1

Rumford is part of East Providence and has some nice neighborhoods. There's a great bike trail that goes from Rumford all the way to Bristol. Rumford has easy access to Providence.

You're right about the snow. You don't need to go too far inland to get more snow...everybody knows the common refrain on the school closing announcements..."no school Foster-Gloucester"...means that those towns always get a lot more snow than those who live close to the water.

Answer 2

Hi Deborah,

I live just outside of Providence near a place called Pawtuxet Village, which meets a lot of your criteria. It's about 15 minutes from here to Prov, which has lots of great restaurants. It's right on the Prov River. Also nearby is East Greenwich, which also has restaurants. EG also meets a lot of your requriements, but is kind of expensive.

Warren is a nice town just outside of Barrington that has a great village center and is a little less expensive. It's a little farther to commute if you are working in the city.

The winters here can vary a lot from year to year. Snow usually starts in late Dec and can extend into March. Some years there is a lot of thawing in between but other years the snow can get pretty deep and last quite a while. March and April can still be pretty cold and wet. And yes, there is the occasaional northeaster that can dump two or more feet snow all at once.

If you're not sure you can stand the winter maybe you should rent here for a year or two before you decide to stay.

Overall though, I think Prov is a great place to live, and I like the changing seasons.

Hope that helps, you can email me if you have more questions.
Some web sites you might want to check out for more local info:
projo.com
naturalnews.net

Answer 3

Well, they really have already. I mean, who calls it 'Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations'? Maybe in courts or before some official meetings of politicians but otherwise its just Rhode Island. I would have to give an answer of NO. I think its a slippery slope doing these things and whatever good some may think it will accomplish all its really doing is demonizing the word plantation. The next thing you know you can't say the damn word in public without looking over your shoulder to see if a potentially sensitive party is within earshot. When we start to control what words we can use we're controlling how we can think and that is not a good thing.

Answer 4

the weather description is fairly accurate for most of southeastern New England.

1&4) anything "quintessential" New England is going to be pricey. Rhode Island is largely old mill towns, suburbs, and wooded low-density surburbia; there aren't a lot of classic little N.E. villages per se, especially close to Providence.

Adding in #3, I could suggest that there are neighborhoods of suburban Warwick which are kind of village-ish and are close to the water.