MOVING TO SE NEW HAMPSHIRE!

July 15, 2007 11:47 AM

My husband, two young daughters (3 and 2) and I are moving to New Hampshire (from the midwest). I will be working in Merrimack. We'll be heading up there in a few weeks for a house hunting trip. Any suggestions on where we should look? Any kid-friendly activities in the area? Preschool suggestions?
posted by beachhead2 to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

I'm always surprised to see many questions about my home state, but here's one about my hometown!

I'm a college kid still living with his parents, so I don't necessarily have the best perspective on home-buying. I've never heard of any 'bad parts of town' in Merrimack, so you should be happy most anywhere. (Merrimack also has a pretty diverse range: you can get a house sandwiched right next to someone, or one with 20 acres of land; you can get a small shack or a sprawling estate; you can live in a really quiet neighborhood or right on DW Highway...)

Merrimack has Kids' Kove, a park/playground I used to love when I was a little kid. It's right on DW Highway near the center of town. King Kone, also on DW Highway, down by Exit 11, is a sort of local tradition, with ice cream (in heaping proportions), hot dogs, tacos, etc. (I feel compelled to note that not everything in Merrimack has misspelled names starting only with K's.) There's a bowling alley up past Exit 12, and Axel's, another ice cream stand with greater variety, right by Exit 12. (Try their fried dough sundae!)

Hope this helped somewhat; my e-mail is in my profile if you have any questions.

Oh, and a few useful links:
Official Town Website
Merrimack Forum (unofficial and sometimes very politically-charged, but a great way to see how things are going)
WMUR, a Manchester TV station
posted by fogster at 12:17 PM on July 15, 2007

Fidelity?
posted by cocoagirl at 5:09 PM on July 15, 2007

My brother and his wife live in Dunstable, Massachusetts which borders S. Nashua, NH. I really like Dunstable because there's not much commercial development, so even though it's very convenient to shopping, restaurants, entertainment, etc., the town itself has retained a lot of it's old New England charm. Dunstable also has excellent schools.

Another benefit to living in Massachusetts is that property taxes are significantly lower in MA than they are in NH. However, since there is no sales tax in NH, it would make sense to do all your shopping in NH. What's great about Dunstable is that it's just minutes from S. Nashua which has pretty much any retail establishment you could think of.

Good luck!
posted by oilygoily at 5:36 PM on July 15, 2007

If you settle in Massachusetts you will have to pay 5½ % Massachusetts income tax.
posted by Raybun at 4:59 AM on July 16, 2007