Where should I start?

[matthew6]

I'm thinking about moving up from NM to NH in the next few years if I can get my wife onboard, and we're thinking about visiting while on a trip to the east coast sometime this fall.  What I'm wondering is where should we look?  Just from my cursory research, I think we may be interested in anything from the lakes region to the south.  What cities and towns would be good to look at and why?  Keene is on the list, because it seems to be the center of the FSP, but are there other concentrations of FSPers?  Just not sure where to begin... It's really difficult to get any idea of what a given area is really like just from surfing the web.

Some info that may be useful:  I'm in video (shooting, editing, etc).   I like hiking, camping, fishing.  We have a one year old.  My wife grew up in Maryland and really misses the ocean, so if we could be within a relatively short drive of the coast, that would be nice.  We'd like to be within fifteen minutes of a decent sized town. 

Kind of a vague question, I know, but anything would be, well, something.  Thanks!

[Kat Kanning]

There are concentrations of freestaters in all the larger cities/towns:  Manchester, Nashua, Concord and on in the seacoast area.  Basically anyplace you choose is going to be close to hiking, camping, fishing.  Step outside any town and you're in the woods.  Manchester is probably the largest city, but you can still be 5 minutes from downtown and be out in the woods.  Nashua is kind of spread out suburban.  The seacoast is nice but expensive.  If you're in Manchester, it's easy to get to the ocean, a little more difficult but not far from Nashua and Concord.  Keene is about 2.5 hours from the ocean.  There is also a concentration of freestaters around Dartmouth/Grafton.  I don't know if that is farther North than you were interested in.  They have porcupine meetings up there, but it's been sporatic.  Quite a few people have recently moved there though.  The largest porcupine monthly meeting is in Manchester (usually around 50-70 people show up), and there are also meetings in Concord, Keene, and Rochester.  When I drove around NH for the first time, I basically found that there wasn't anyplace I wouldn't want to live, except Manchester and Nashua, which were too big for me.

Hope some of that rambling helps!

[Dave Ridley]

matthew I'd say being within 20 miles of manchestser is your best bet.  You'll be closer to more pro liberty activities living there than anywhere else, you're near a decent sized city and about an hour from the ocean.

[aries]

Exeter, Stratham, Hampton, Seabrook, Rye.. all the towns in that area are right near the seacost, within 15 minutes of Portsmouth, close to Manchester... I'd look there if I was you.

You might want to check up north too
But I don't think there are any video jobs up here that don't involve self employment, and we're definitely not close to the seacoast or any "big towns".

[Dreepa]

I live 15 minutes from Concord and I am 'in the country'
Depending on your jobs situation I think Dada has it about right.
Search around the areas of Concord/Manchester.  You can get to the 'city' easy but still be in another town.  Many towns have trails in them to hike  and good hiking is never far away and great hiking is only within 2 hours.  Concord is about an hourish from the beach.

[Jared]

you should definately check out portsmouth. it's a port city, full of arts and entertainment. it's about an hour south of the lakes region area. i like to call it a "mini city". manchester isnt bad for arts either, but there's a lot more crime and just bad stuff in general in that area. there are also some more rural/suburban towns surrounding portsmouth, like barrington, kingston, dover (which also has a lot of arts), greenland, and some others.

[matthew6]

Thanks for the info, guys.  Gave me some good things to chew on.