This Old House

GETTING SCHOOLED

Sometimes finding the right neighborhood is as important as buying the right house.

When Drew Evans was trolling New York’s rural Columbia County for a new place to live, he wasn’t searching for good schools or walkable amenities. He was looking for quiet—if not downright silence. And on his very first visit to the place that would become his home, he didn’t need to meet the neighbors to know he would like them.

“As soon as we got out of the car, the Realtor pointed in the near distance and said, ‘That’s the reason this house hasn’t sold,’” says Drew, who looked across the road to see an old graveyard. “I later told her that’s the reason I bought it.”

Before moving to the small upstate town of Ancram, Drew had spent 14 years in a 400-square-foot studio in a bustling area of

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