Woods End Rd, LaGrange

Woods End Road in LaGrange has its name right -- it's in the woods. This is a small side street on the east side of the Taconic State Parkway, off of Todd Hill Road. It's a perfectly nice location, but right away, there is one minor nuisance with which residents must contend: on the west side of the Taconic, there are some shops, places to eat, more schools, a supermarket, and so forth. Here's the problem: when the county attempted to make the highway safer about 10-15 years ago, they closed all at-grade crossings of the Taconic. Todd Hill Road was one of them. If going west on Todd Hill Road, you can't go from one side of the highway to the other because the median was sealed and there is no overpass, so you'll have to go down and around or up and around to get to the other side. Put another way, the main road to which Woods End is connected is now essentially a dead-end upon reaching the highway. This probably doesn't create a tremendous issue, but it may require you to hop on the highway and back off just to go food shopping.

As for the neighborhood itself, it's on the more well-to-do end. It's a more secluded side road with nice houses and well-maintained yards. Of course, there are trees all around as well. It's a short street -- maybe a little over a quarter of a mile long -- so you'll have maybe a dozen neighbor families or so, but they're all pretty close together (but not too close) so I figure it's relatively close-knit and friendly. I wouldn't think that the nearby Taconic poses a threat for sound, since there is a buffer of a few hundred feet and a lot of trees in the way. The highway almost certainly won't be a bother to you here.

There are some conveniences on this side of the highway, like a few elementary and middle schools, parks, and churches. For the rest of the good stuff, like local hospitals, shopping, and everything else, you'll have to cross the Taconic to the west.

Woods End Road is a small neighborhood but a classy one with its above-average properties, setting, and quietness. You might need to have a little money to get a place here, but you can do far worse than this neighborhood.