nickisaboss

nickisaboss t1_j4e1u8i wrote

Lehighton is a world away from center valley/Coopersburg. I'm not kidding when I say that there is a nearly 15 year difference in life expectancy between residents of lehigh and carbon counties (there is significantly more poverty up north).

That being said, there are more than enough rural lots within the lehigh Valley itself. The metro area is only really allentown->Bethlehem, with suburbs for another 10 miles in each direction. A good compromise could be alburtis, New Tripoli, Nazareth, or Northampton. Plenty of good places exist in between, but these towns are IMO the best ratio you'll find between lot affordability and rural Ness.

I'm not kidding when I say that things get rural FAST when leaving the valley. The LV is really a metropolitan oasis compared to the rest of the region. Travel a mile north of blue mountain and the politics change rapidly. Travel a mile west of Alburtis, and you will see Amish riding horses on a daily basis.

Tamaqua is lovely in my opinion, but If you can afford it, I would absolutely not raise my kids there. The entire coal region is plagued by poverty. The only times I ever visit Tamaqua are to explore abandoned coal mines. There are entire city blocks that are abandoned in many of these towns. Shenandoah is another example or how bad this phenonema is.

Southern Lehigh, Parkland, and East Penn are all excellent, well funded school districts. I wish I had more to say, I wish you luck in your quest!

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nickisaboss t1_iv1g01q wrote

Not the answer you are looking for, but there are several stone bridges that look like this along mill creek when going north on rt 61 out of Pottsville. Most of that stretch of creek is state game lands. It once hosted a big gravity railroad that took coal from Frackville area down to reading/philladelphia

Some of the bridges are really really tall, maybe 40 or 50' from grade to creek, and are hard to access the creek below it

40°45'31.0"N 76°12'10.9"W https://goo.gl/maps/ECNn5oUPQA9YXXum8

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