What's it Like to Live Here

All across America, people are increasingly talking about something called "Community". The term stirs thoughts of safe streets, good schools, neighborliness and people who care.
The quest for community has led companies to seek out new places to do business, and has moved families to look for new places to settle and grow - places where they can feel they belong.

This is one of those places.

You may have driven through a community like this once and wondered what it might be like to live there. Really, what's it like? What do people do in the afternoons and evenings? Is there a center to it"- is there a real downtown that's vibrant and fun? Is it livable? Is it a place you'd want to call home?

We believe all the answers are positive.

A community is the sum of its parts, schools, safety, the cultural setting and the natural surroundings, housing, shopping and finally that real intangible: the belonging part, where you feel you can make a difference.

These are the things that make our communities work.

Our region is the heart of New England and is an easy two-hour drive to Boston, Hartford or Albany. New York and Montreal are but four hours away. In short, the Monadnock Region is connected, and still has its own sense of place, and its own identity.

To a lot of people, the identity is Mount Monadnock - the most climbed mountain in the world! People come from all over the country, and beyond, to climb Monadnock with their families. From the top, on a clear day, they can see Boston.

Every year, tens of thousands of people come to Keene to celebrate the pumpkin in the city's Guinness Book of Records salute to the orange gourd. The amazing thing is - the Pumpkin Festival is just one of the many things that make downtown Keene what it is.
There's the annual week-long Art Walk that puts artists' works in storefronts, and school children in front of art. The Colonial Theater, a restored venue, brings films and stage productions to town - like Dionne Warwick, BB King, Joan Baez, ballet, broadway shows, comedy acts and many children's performances.

There's the Apple Hill Chamber Players. There's the Keene Pops Choir, Monadnock Music and the Raylynmor Opera company. Here's a remarkable thing about the people of Keene and neighboring towns: they're constantly banding together in volunteer efforts that make a difference.

Ordinary folks helped build: A park, a bandstand, a farm study center, playgrounds, a skateboard park and Habitat for Humanity Houses. It's the kind of community where people make a difference. People can make things happen. They can belong. They can feel they're actually part of something, and they can have fun doing it.

The sum of all the parts? A suburb without the big city next door. That's a good life. That's Keene and the Monadnock Region.

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