Upstater

I love Chatham. My only beef with it is distance — three hours from my zip code, per Google maps — and not much in the way of public transit. Probably easiest to take the train to Albany and head down from there.

Cons aside, Chatham is beautiful. Less gentrified and snooty than Great Barrington, but, as this NY Times article says, “more polished than the rural outposts of the Catskills.” It has a real downtown, a movie theater (of course), a couple of yummy restaurants including Blue Plate, a terrific general store across the way in Old Chatham. Cultural offerings include summer stock theater and a Shaker museum. The countryside around these parts is gorgeous, and property here in northern Columbia County is significantly cheaper than parts more southerly and westerly. If you wanted to live in town, you’d be golden — lots of gorgeous old homes for under $300,000. Check ’em out this week!