Newcomers and Natives Club

If you are thinking about moving to Marblehead...
    

Marblehead has a lot to offer!  It is a beautiful town located on, and surrounded by water with scenic views, great beaches, a very active boating community, wonderful schools, fun people, sidewalks, bike paths, neighborhood parks, a bustling downtown, diverse restaurants, and proximity to the city of Salem.  It is a great walking town with many interesting streets and historic homes in the "old town" area and more suburban newer homes in the uptown area. Most homes are well kept and many people are into gardening with spectacular hidden gardens tucked away around town.
   
 Marblehead is a huge sailing center and in the summer sponsors many sail races and activities.  

five clubs on the harbor that range from very upscale to moderate and including purely social memberships if you are not a boater.  The town has a very active park and recreation program and kids sports are huge here- soccer, baseball, basketball and football. If you have kids who are athletic and will play sports you will have no problem meeting people as the adults are very involved with the sport programs.  There are nice parks and playing fields scattered around town in almost every neighborhood.  Park and recreation also offers adult programs and classes, as does the brand new YMCA and nearby Community Center. There are many fitness facilities, fitness programs, spas, tennis courts and a badminton club etc. in the town.  With three colleges in the immediate area, you can take classes in just about anything and find great babysitters.  The library here is a very active one in terms of the number of people who use it.
  
There are many shopping areas to choose from.  Downtown (midtown and old town) offers small boutique type stores, restaurants, bakeries, gift shops, florists, nurseries, and upscale grocery stores.  In the uptown area bordering Swampscott, there are larger supermarkets, chain stores and restaurants (Gap, Stop n Shop, Whole Foods, Home Goods, Marshalls, Petco, Staples, B of A, Panera, Bertucci's, Unos, etc.)  There are also the Salem big chains such as Market Basket, Target, Walmart, etc. and closer to 128 in Danvers offers two malls and the even bigger chain options.  If you don't want to ever leave town, you can find everything you need right here!
  
Marblehead sponsors many nice family orientated activities. There is an art festival the week of July 4th with art shows, food, music concerts, local parade, harbor illuminations and fireworks. In the winter, a Christmas walk and activities, carolers on the street, gingerbread house competition, a parade etc.  In the winter it is quieter around town but you are close enough to ski areas if you want to do that, skating in the public gardens in Boston, and museums in Salem and Boston. In the spring, summer and fall there are lots of people out riding bikes, jogging, walking dogs.  There is also a fabulous new state-of-the-art popular YMCA with great activities for adults and children and a Boston Ballet wing for ballet lessons to keep your family busy and fit during the cold winter months.  It's a great place to bump into friends all winter long!
    
The school system ranks an 9 out of 10 on greatschools.org.  You can read more at http://www.greatschools.org/massachusetts/marblehead/.  The high school is a brand new facility. There is a charter school in town as well as small neighborhood elementary schools which enable most people to walk their children to school. Many people do send their kids to private schools as well.

Real estate here is considered higher end but it seems to hold its value and the taxes are much lower than most comparable towns in the area. You can get into a "starter home"- smaller, in need of work for about $425,00-$450,000.  Average price for a good size home is about 5-600,000 and they go up from there with many on the water in the millions of dollars.  Many people have bought older properties and totally redo them and they are beautiful.  Renovations and reconstructions are common as there is not much in land here to buy.  It is also VERY common to rent for at least two years to find the house of your dreams :)    

To get to Boston on a good day with no traffic you can do it in about 35 minutes, with traffic it could take 1 hour +.  There are many ways to avoid going on the highway and thereby avoiding the worst of the traffic.  Getting to a highways is a 20-25 minutes drive no matter which way you go.  There are buses that run from town to Boston and also commuter train stations in neighboring Swampscott and Salem that go into Boston. There is a water ferry from Salem to Boston. Many people drive to Revere leave the car and T into town. Takes about 45 minutes to do so.  If you are looking for friendly, outgoing, active, social people into outdoor activities, Marblehead is a perfect fit!  For more information, read more at: http://www.city-data.com/forum/massachusetts/36665-anyone-know-about-living-near-marblehead.html#ixzz1TW9ZyXJ0