With all your interests, you’d probably love it in the Laurel Highlands. That’s prime outdoors area, with a lot of great parks around.

It honestly depends on the commute you are willing to make. Somerset is about a 45 min drive on backroads or shorter on the turnpike (for a charge of course). It’s amazing how much Somerset has to offer from car dealerships, to restaurants, to grocery/general merchandise options. Also Seven Springs are nearby, Johnstown is north, and hopping into the turnpike can get you to Pittsburgh easy. I love Bedford but it doesn’t have the same amenities that Somerset has and living halfway between the two makes it super inconvenient to go shopping.

Nothing ,

No, that's what's around the area.....

I don't think you'll have to worry about any crab feasts

We I was a teenager we moved to Bedford from the Lehigh Valley due to s job transfer for my dad. We lived there 1 year and 2 months then moved back to the Lehigh Valley. My dad said, no amount of money was worth that. Maybe it’s changed but unless you like lots of quiet and absolutely nothing to do without a decent drive I would not recommend

Born and raised there, but moved away for job opportunities. I would move back if I could but only because I grew up in the country and it was so quiet and peaceful. We used to drive to Johnstown or Altoona if we wanted to do any real shopping, see movies or go to restaurants. Both are about 45 minutes. Hiking and biking could be done at Buchanan state forest possibly

I did hear that the meth and heroin were getting bad though 🙁

I like Bedford, but the absolute most racist people I've ever encountered in my old job that took me all over the state happened to be in Bedford.

Don't get me wrong, there were some absolutely amazing people there as well, but I've never had people say the vile things said to me from people in Bedford.

That's a bummer to hear. Like in what context?

Yeah I am trying to balance moving away from a place getting too populated and expensive to live with finding somewhere nice and quiet to raise our son -- but at the same time not be in BFE where I need to drive an hour to get something from the store.

Would you say there's anywhere close that has the best restaurants or even breweries?

I'm willing to commute a little bit for sure.

Would you say Somerset (or somewhere else) also has good local restaurants or is it just typical chains? I always cringe driving through towns where it's just TGI Friday's, Olive Garden and fast food.

I'm not really coming from Maryland nor do I eat crab. It's just a reference to a podcast :)

OK now I definitely need to keep doing my homework. I don't want to repeat what your dad did.

I'll definitely focus on that region. Would you say there's a particular county better than others in terms of schools and amenities? Mainly in terms of local dining and breweries?

Much appreciated.

Honestly I didn't even think of a specific state, the name made me laugh and the fact that PA isn't known for crab feasts led me to a dumb joke 😅

I told people I lived in Pittsburgh.

They replied. "how can you live there with those n*****". "aren't you afraid your wife will be raped by those n*****" How can you stand the city.

And it happened a lot more than once. The brazen openness was the most shocking.

haha all good, I love dumb jokes

Well, damn!

Like I totally get not wanting to be in a big city or even think it's dirty, polluted, whatever if you grew up in a rural area, but yeah, that's totally not cool.

Whew!

Bedford itself has seen a bit of a resurgence in the last decade or so since the resort was renovated. It's a cool small town with a revitalizing downtown area and is on the upswing.

That being said, you're going to have to drive a bit to find another town on that level. (45+ minutes)

If you want peace and quiet and are okay with knowing you'll need to drive for things like concerts, the arts, or sports; Bedford could be perfect for you. Rural PA has its fair share of plusses and minuses.

There are some restaurants in bedford, there’s a farm to table place and some niche restaurants and a chain or two. I don’t know about a brewery at all though but I haven’t been back since my dad died and that was in 2017. I went to bedford middle and high school and had a decent quality education, graduated top ten, they offered AP courses my senior year, graduated with 120 kids so not too small or too big. My circle of friends ended up being a dentist, a chiropractor, pharmacist, a university registrar and I work in A.I. so I think we had a good starting education. I would say that would be better than Everett or Chestnut Ridge, or Northern Bedford/Tussy Mountain schools.

Everett has a drug problem so I’d probably stick towards bedford in town or out in the country

With us having a little one I'm not super worried about not being near concerts or sports at this time and if something does come up then we'll make a long weekend out of it.

I suppose I'm more worried about being far away from groceries (or having options), dining and other amenities that mid sized towns have.

I'll definitely take a closer look. Appreciate it.

Bedford has a Giant Eagle, a Weis, and a sizable farmers market on Mile Level. Also a top notch farm-to-table restaurant called Horn O Plenty is there that we make it a point to stop at when we're in the area. I'm sure there are other good restaurant options but that one is a slam dunk.

Great info. Familiar with GE with family in Ohio and I've definitely been to worse grocery stores. Looked up that restaurant and it looks awesome... appreciate it!

This is true. Rural PA is super racist/conservative :(. I can’t tell you how many times people would come up to me and just say “so how about that Obama?” And expect me to agree and say something nasty. It has decent, polite, open minded people too though, and once you find them, it’s a nice place, generally to live.

They have a cool stainless steel looking diner, a nicer sit down restaurant, an authentic Mexican restaurant and some others… also there are tons of other options within a 30 min radius.

Thank you for all of the information. Horn O Plenty looks amazing!

It’s a nice place. I also found a brewery in Bedford too. Olde Bedford Brewing

I actually just watched a video about that place and their owners. Definitely right up my alley.