Altamont
There's a neighborhood secret in the shadow of the Helderberg Hills, and its name is Altamont. This tiny village, less than 2,000 people strong, is a country gem less than 20 minutes from Albany or Schenectady. Home to excellent hiking at John Boyd Thacher State Park, plus several nearby pick-your-own apple farms, Altamont is a place of quiet country living, except, perhaps, when the 120-year-old county fair kicks into high gear every August or during the annual town wide garage sale.
Altamont is a gateway within the Capital Region, bridging the space between the region's popular suburbs and the farm country high on the Helderberg Plateau, a thousand feet above the Hudson Valley. It's big enough to have its own elementary school, which is part of the excellent Guilderland District. But it's small enough that it's hard to stop at the local convenience store without running into someone you know.
Big porches are the norm here. Altamont, once a summer vacation spot reachable by train, has an unusually-high percentage of beautiful Victorian homes and other magnificent houses. And neighbors value their community -- when the state wanted to widen Route 146 through the town's main street, residents said "No way," and stopped the plan in its tracks in order to preserve the small town feel.
With the high cliffs of Thacher nearby and the sound of crickets your only distraction, it's hard to imagine a better place to spend a summer's evening.
Description: semi rural, small town, mature housing stock