Best Places to Live

Best Places to Live

35 great towns: How does yours rate? Plus, check out our exclusive chart that shows home sales in more than 200 Delaware neighborhoods from 2006 through 2010.

Statistics compiled by Bob Thurlow Published February 16, 2011 at 05:32 PM

(page 4 of 18)

Hobbs’ farm, established in 1826, regularly throws events for nonprofits and hosts ice-skating sessions on the frozen lakes. Five years ago Hobbs took his family’s community engagement one step further by establishing Twin Lakes Brewing Company with the goal of using fresh, local ingredients to create a local craft beer that was big on flavor, but little on waste.

In using local ingredients and focusing distribution at local restaurants like Buckley’s Tavern, Pizza by Elizabeths and, BBC Tavern, Hobbs has been at the front of the localvore movement. He also hopes to be at the head of another movement: putting the green back in Greenville.

“We want to be the first town in the state that is all green,” Hobbs says.
The recent installation of solar panels at the brewery is a strong start in Hobbs’ quest, yet the real goal will be to enact legislation such as lowering speed limits to 35 mph, which would enable smaller electric cars to travel the roads.

“It is very important for us to give back to the community and protect it for future generations,” Hobbs says. “There really is no place like it.” —Bob Thurlow

4 Odessa
Safety 2
Property tax: 2.18 4
Median home: $238,000 24
SD: Appoquinimink 1
Commute time: 34 33
Shopping-Dining 2
Arts-Culture 4
Nightlife 1

Beyond Booming Middletown

Middletown claims the spotlight in the MOT triumvirate, but the smaller, quainter satellite towns of Odessa and Townsend have their unique charms.

Ask Odessans their greatest source of pride and you’ll get a common answer: the town’s history. Colonial-era mansions and pristine Federal architecture unite residents in the name of preservation. The Historic Houses of Odessa score big on the culture scale.

The tricky part, until now, was managing growth within the historic district’s design and architecture guidelines.

Page 5: How They Rate, continues...