PCS to FORT DRUM NY

[ilovemylife]

Hello we are PCSNG to FORT DRUM NY. Can anyone please provide to me things about the area? Such as living on post, schools, elementary and middle schooler, things to do, work and anything else that might make this moe easier. Thank you

[NatalieTW]

I grew up in Carthage NY, just outside of Fort Drum. Town of 6000 people. Out of all the surrounding towns, Carthage is the better of the small towns. Watertown is the major town (45,000+) of the area and has been growing with more ammenities than what I grew up with, which is nice. I suggest, and I may be a little bias, but the Carthage schools are fantastic! Cathage high school is the best. Curriculium is outstanding and colleges love Carthage. No issues with crime or such in Carthage. People even don't lock their homes or cars in Carthage. The Carthage police are sticklers, don't even think about speeding. :-) Very safe to live and there is a military housing section in Carthage too. And if you live on base, try to live in the area that is the Carthage school district and not Watertown school district. Work for civilians is limited. Jobs are mostly in Watertown (15 miles down the road from Carthage, 8 from Fort Drum). Winters are harsh so learned to love skiing and snowmobiling and it won't be so bad. Four wheel drive is a must, the snow gets deep. Summers are beautiful and cool. Most houses don't have a/c, you only need to kick it on for the month of July anyway. There are hundreds of things to do in the summer. I would go back to raise my kids there if I could. My retirement plan is snow birding between Florida and Carthage. :-) Good Luck

[BrianaHartzell]

Fort Drum has a Spouse Facebook Group that I am sure could provide you with some excellent information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/FT-Drum-Spouses-Network/150164805019048 Also, there are some informative discussions about Fort Drum on this site: http://www.militarydutystations.com/installation.php?inst=Fort%20Drum Best of luck on your move!!

[NickyP]

Right now due to the deployment cycle the rentals are very limited. When more units deploy it will be a much better market for renters. Unfortunately, and this is per my experience and an article published in the Watertown Times, renting anywhere right now is tough. Because the market has such few rentals, many landlords have jacked up their prices and let the properties become run down. This will change as folks deploy so if you have to live somewhere you don't want to be, try to get a short lease. Google maps is very deceiving if you are trying to see how long it will take you to drive to post because most roads around post have a speeed limit of 55mph. On the map places like Sackets Harbor look far away but it's only another 10 minutes compared to a place on the southwest side of Watertown. You should consider investing an entire day and a tank and a half of gass just driving through carthage, watertown, sackets harbor, theresa, and phili to check the place out and see just how long it takes you to drive to post. Watertown on the south side is beautiful, the neighborhoods south of the hospital and just west of thompson park are VERY nice. Drive around a neighborhood on the northwest side and you wont believe you are in the same town. Black river is very nice and very close, it is more rural than watertown or carthage. Carthage in my opinion is way over priced and a little run down considering the outragous taxes. The realtors in town tell me the school district is no better or worse. I don't know what the truth is. The places north of post (Theresa, Phili) are small villages but they appear to be pretty nice. Out by the lake (Sackets) is a very nice area with a little bit of night life. I heard watertown and the surrounding area gets less snow than the places to the south (Loweville) because the show belt hits harder in the south. It snowed a few weeks go and I know for a fact Lowville got more snow than base. Apparently this is typical. I live north of Lowville, it's about 25min to post (but I burn a lot of gas because it's about 20 miles). As soon as I can I am moving to the southeast side of watertown (somehwere on or near Thompson BLVD.) It is still going to take me 25min to get to post but I will only be driving 10 miles (traffic). Watertown is a large town I wouldn't call it a city.