Good Areas to Live Within Commuting Distance to PAX River?

[cissp]

I am considering a job relocation to a company that has business on PAX River. I already have information on good places to live in Calvert County, but would like the same sort of information for St. Mary's County. I'm looking for a good "quality of life" development/community there for my family. I have one child that is starting 4th Grade, and my other child is nine months old, so I'm in this for the long haul. I'm looking for schools with an excellent rating, a good, decent family type community, and within a 30 minute drive to PAX. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[czygvtwkr]

I would look check out the Wildwood area of California.

 

[RoseRed]

I would look check out the Wildwood area of California.

 

[UprootedYankee]

I would highly recommend the Cedar Cove area in Lexington Park - namely Squash Bay, The Landings, The Moorings, or Mariner's Cove subdivisions... very family oriented, access to private Chesapeake Bay beach, and just outside of Gate 3 (5 minute commute from driveway to parking lot!). Worth a look!

 

[crabcake]

The neighborhood I lived in up in Mechanicsville was great -- great families, great kids, a few cops who lived in there which I think helped keep the crime away. It's called Church Crossing and it's off Baptist Church Road. About 25 minutes to the base.

The down side is you can't touch a house in there now for under $400k unless it's a resale, and then you're looking at $310K+.

 

[Candle Lover]

Breton Bay is a nice community. There is a golf course, tennis courts, and pool. Your children can take golf lessons, tennis lessons, enjoy swimming and join the swim team. There is also a community pier and play area.

The public schools for this area are Banneker Elementary School, Leonardtown Middle School and Leonardtown High School. The private schools would be Father Andrew White (grades K-8), St. Mary's Ryken (high school) and Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy. You would also be 10 minutes away from the College of Southern Maryland.

Your commute to Pax would be about 25 minutes.

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

Northern St. Mary's nice location 20 minutes to Waldorf about 25 minutes to Pax, 30 minutes to Beltway at Branch Ave. non rush hour. 20 minutes to Prince Frederick. Mechcanicsville/Charlotte Hall centrally located in Tri-county area. Only drawback is the skyrocketing prices for homes, just in my development right on the Charles/St Mary's Co. line, in the past 18-24 months homes have gone up $100,000, these are homes that cost in the $50,000 range when I bought mine 27years ago, no mansion by any means you old timers proably remember the standard Swarey built homes, split foyer's double front doors, everytime one sales now it becomes the highest sold in the development, last one went for $349,900 just last week, now there is another listed for $360,000. Schools for the area are Lettie Dent, White Marsh, and Mechcanicsville for elemetary, Margaret Brent for middle, and Chopticon for high school for public schools, then you have St. Marys/Ryken, or Grace Brethren for private. If you look around you may be able still find homes in the 250,000 range in and around Mechcanicsville, in subdivisions like Patuxent Knolls, Country Lakes and Wicomico Shores and maybe along Mechcanicsville Rd.

 

[cissp]

Northern St. Mary's nice location 20 minutes to Waldorf about 25 minutes to Pax, 30 minutes to Beltway at Branch Ave. non rush hour. 20 minutes to Prince Frederick. Mechcanicsville/Charlotte Hall centrally located in Tri-county area. Only drawback is the skyrocketing prices for homes, just in my development right on the Charles/St Mary's Co. line, in the past 18-24 months homes have gone up $100,000, these are homes that cost in the $50,000 range when I bought mine 27years ago, no mansion by any means you old timers proably remember the standard Swarey built homes, split foyer's double front doors, everytime one sales now it becomes the highest sold in the development, last one went for $349,900 just last week, now there is another listed for $360,000. Schools for the area are Lettie Dent, White Marsh, and Mechcanicsville for elemetary, Margaret Brent for middle, and Chopticon for high school for public schools, then you have St. Marys/Ryken, or Grace Brethren for private. If you look around you may be able still find homes in the 250,000 range in and around Mechcanicsville, in subdivisions like Patuxent Knolls, Country Lakes and Wicomico Shores and maybe along Mechcanicsville Rd.

Hey, Old Hillcrest Guy,
Thanks for the information on the northern St. Mary's area (also thanks to everyone else that has posted with their opinions). I was leaning towards buying a house in Calvert County, only because I've been told that more or less the schools there are superior to ones in St. Mary's County. However, in doing research on schools' performance, I've found some schools in St. Mary's that compare favorably with Calvert County, and this includes some of the better rated schools there. We are basing the selection of buying our home in SOMD on the location of excellent elementary and middle schools. Of course we are concerned the same about high schools, but since our children are 10 years old and nine months old, elementary and middle school is the more immediate criteria. Besides, there may not be "excellent" elementary, middle, and high schools located within the same zone/district that we move to.

I would say that beyond the desire to settle in an area with great schools, we would like to avoid a community without much in the way of HOAs or covenents. What I mean is that we wouldn't want to live in an area whereby you have one house that is well maintained, while next door looks like something from, "The Not So Rich And Famous". I lived in a development in Dale City, Virginia before, which was created in the late 60s. Most people had pride in their house's appearance, but we had one bad apple. People in this house decided to paint the exterior pink one day. They were almost finished with half of the house, then ran out of paint. They never completed the job, so there it stood, eyesore of the neighborhood. I felt the neighborhood by then was on the verge of a downhill slide, so I sold and moved away. I was right, because within three years that neighborhood was totally trashed.

Anyway, I appreciate the opinions and look forward to any further insights to the good neighborhood/good school mix.

Thanks,

 

[Vince]

The only bad thing I've found about living in Calvert is having to fight the bridge traffic going home from work.