Over a year ago, Charise Miller’s attendance rate was up – by a lot. It now takes her about an hour and a half to get to her office in New York City, instead of 10 minutes. But she’s fine with that, as it means she doesn’t have to spend two hours finding parking after work, like when she lives in the Bronx, near Yankee Stadium.
In Stroudsburg, Pa. – a Monroe county 75 miles west of New York and just across the Delaware River from New Jersey – where she now lives, there’s plenty of parking. There’s also plenty of breathing room.
From most of the windows in the six-bedroom apartment that Ms. Miller, 49, a New York State administrator, owns with her husband, Charles, a 49-year-old truck driver, they can see. see the Pocono Mountains. Deer, wild turkeys and even a bear roamed the 3-acre property they bought for $499,000 in March 2021. “We are slowly dying in the midst of their environment, ‘ said Mrs. Miller.
New Yorkers have been searching for open space in Poconos for generations, but the Millers are among recent city residents settling in Stroudsburg, a community of about 5,900 residents who call themselves “the fruit.” heart of Poconos”. Stroudsburg is becoming a vagabond, if a little more crowded. “But if it weren’t for people from New York and New Jersey, we wouldn’t have the diversity and culture we have today,” said the town’s part-time mayor, Tarah Probst, a regional outreach coordinator. drug and alcohol sector, said. rehabilitation facility.
Probst, 49, is a Democratic candidate for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, but she said she won’t be leaving the mayor job, a job she’s had for more than six years, until she knows the county. is in good hands.
It seems to be going in the right direction. Many old Main Street storefronts are taking on new personalities: A bicycle shop has been turned into a meadow; A space that was once home to a dry cleaner is now Marita’s Cantina, a popular Mexican restaurant.
Ian Schreier, the restaurateur, who lives in neighboring East Stroudsburg, an area home to 11,000 state universities, said the arrival of new residents began long before the pandemic hit. Since 9/11, many motels in the area have become primary residences, he noted: “It seems like with all sorts of different issues, people come here and discover a new world.”
Mr. Schreier admits that Stroudsburg already has a Starbucks, but that’s not a bad thing. “They bring a lot of traffic into this town, and I am delighted to host their customers,” he said. “I’m full. We are all full. “
Angela Sessoms, 68, a retired speech teacher, moved to Stroudsburg from the Bronx in 2004, so that she and her sister, Barbara, 70, a retired repair worker, could adopt and foster teach children with special needs. She currently has four adopted children, ages 18 to 23, and her sister has two, 17 and 20. The sisters have moved from place to place in Stroudsburg, most recently paying $420,000 in May. Five for a five-bedroom, three-and-a half-bath home seven miles outside the county. She says the area is very diverse and the residents are warm and friendly.
“We had to get used to people saying hello to us,” Ms. Sessoms said.
What you will find
Stroudsburg is only two square miles in size, with Interstate 80 running through its southern portion. It is bordered to the east by Brodhead Creek and East Stroudsburg (which has less of a US Main Street feel); and to the west it borders Tannersville, with Crossings Premium Outlets.
The county is clearly going through a transition. The parade ground on the old Sherman Theater, which anchored Main Street, still hosts concerts and shows, but the building that once housed the nation’s first JJ Newberry’s store, a 5-cent chain, has now been abandoned by the House. wine machine Renegade occupied.
Large canned goods retailers have flooded the area and many of the small boutiques in downtown Stroudsburg have disappeared. But new independent businesses are also moving in – among them Pure Day Spa, Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store and Cure Cafe.
“It’s only getting busier,” said Nicole Murray, a native of the area who is the association executive director of the Pocono Mountain Brokers Association. “I remember driving down 80th street and not seeing any other cars. The elders in town would say, ‘I remember there wasn’t even 80th Street back then’. “
Although Monroe County has the highest average effective property tax rate in Pennsylvania – 2.37 percent – taxes still tend to be lower in upstate New York, and housing is generally more affordable at a variety of price points, Ms. Today, those listed for sale don’t get 25 offers like they did at the height of the pandemic, he said, but they can still get three or four.
“There is a lot to do here,” she said. “And it’s beautiful.”
What you will have to pay
As of July 15, there were 83 properties for sale under ZIP code 18360, according to data from the Pocono Mountains Brokers Association. That includes homes in Stroudsburg county, as well as the towns of Stroud, Hamilton, Jackson, Pocono, Smithfield and Chestnuthill. Prices in the area range from $200,000 for a farmhouse on a “contractor’s dream” property on Sherwood Forest Road, with new foundation, framing, roof, septic and heating, up to $2,399 million for an 1824 five-bedroom, five-bathroom farmhouse on 100 acres.
Sales are down slightly in 2022, but prices are up. As of the end of June, 146 properties sold for an average price of $312,079, with an average time on the market of 39 days. In contrast, the first six months of 2021 saw 151 properties sold for an average of $285,786 – about 8% lower – and a 48-day average on the market.
The Vibe
Liz and Sergio Ferro moved to the area from Millstone, NJ, in 2011, paying $193,000 for a five-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home six miles from downtown Stroudsburg, because they thought it would be An ideal location for raising children. Ms. Ferro, 39, a Covid-19 contact tracer, and Mr. Ferro, 44, general manager of a construction company, currently live near a small lake with their 15-year-old son and child. 11-year-old girl, and they enjoy swimming, fishing, hiking, and kayaking. So are their mellow neighbors.
“Everybody knows each other and is very nice,” Ms. Ferro said. “And everywhere you go, you can just sit back and relax.”
Schools
The Stroudsburg Area School District, which serves students in Stroudsburg and Delaware Water Gap counties, and the towns of Stroud and Hamilton, consists of four elementary schools, one middle school, one middle school, and one middle school. high school. As of August 2021, 49 percent of the district’s 4,700 students identified as white, 19 percent as black or African-American, 24 percent as Hispanic or Latino. chimpanzee, 4 percent are Asian and 4 percent are of two or more races.
According to the state Department of Education, students taking the 2019 SAT at Stroudsburg High School, home of the climbers, scored an average of 534 in math and 540 in reading and writing, compared with the average for the climbers. states are 537 and 545.
Route to work
The Martz Bus Company provides daily service from their station on Foxtown Hill Road to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. With a few exceptions, Stroudsburg is the last stop on the way to New York and the first stop on the way back.
Nine buses depart to New York from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays, and there are six to eight daily buses on weekends. The trip takes about 90 minutes. One-way fare is $46; a book of 40 one-way tickets is $669.
History
The Monroe County Historical Society is housed in the stately Stroud Mansion, a 12-room Main Street home built in 1795 by Jacob Stroud, a Revolutionary War colonel who founded Stroudsburg in 1799. The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, remained in the family until 1893.
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