9balllvr said:
...NH, ... If it helps a little more, to be a little more picky, I would love to find a medium sized town with a country-type atmosphere......any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
9balllvr
"medium sized town with a country-type atmosphere" -- Well we have some of those up here in NH. Three pretty decent small cities that at one time or another have showed up very high (within the top three -- or higher!) of the 'most livable small cities in the US' over the last few years. That would be Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth, NH.
Portsmouth is an historic seacoast city with many 18th and early 19th C buildings that escaped demolition over the years mainly because the wealthy shipping merchants that originally thrived there really collapsed after the war of 1812 embargo and subsequent bigger ships that needed deeper harbors (like Boston). Portsmouth is a pretty good art and music community, has great restaurants, is definitely on the upscale end of housing cost, and is only about an hour from Boston. There are some pool leagues I think & league torunaments, but only one 'pool room', without much in the way of strong players, IMO.
Nashua is inland, right on the MA border, and at least twice the size of Portsmouth. There are 'upscale' rooms I believe, but no 'player oriented' rooms at this time. Lots of rooms just south of the border in MA however, and Boston itself is only a half hour away (unless it's rush hour!). Kind of an upscale bedroom community for the Boston area 'high tech' and defense industry.
Manchester is the state's biggest city (still only about 150,000

), and more working class than either of the other two, but has really been coming into its own over the last five years or so, with more & better restaurants, more arts support, and the refurbishment of an impressive mass of giant old brick textile mills into offices, restaurants, service businesses etc. Manchester is a definite pool town too, but with a real twist -- most of the pool is in 'private social clubs' that you have to join. However, they are really cheap to join (maybe $20 a year), drinks are cheap, and they all seem to have two full size 9' tables -- fairly well maintained, that are FREE to play on!! They have both a 9-ball league (handicapped, mixed M&F), and their own pecular variation of golf on the pool table called 'Around the World'. The 'Around the World' pool league is over 50 years old! The social clubs are pretty working class, but generally very friendly

-- if you are comfortable with that, you could thrive here.
All three of these cities are within an hour of Boston, too, which opens up all kinds of options...
No I don't work for the chamber of commerce
