| Weather | | How much crime? | | What are the neighborhoods like? | | What are the people like? |
| In Chappaqua, fall is colorful and cool. Winter is freezing cold and often snowy. Spring is a dream of daffodils and new green leaves. Summer days are often in the 90s. This northeastern town experiences strong delineated seasons every year. | | Chappaqua is nearly free of crime. In this wealthy town there is a home break in once in a while, but most houses here have alarms and the well funded police force keeps a close watch, constantly patroling neighborhoods. Other than that, just occasional teenage mischief or D.U.I.
The only violent crime in recent history was a murder of a wife by a husband and the story became a Dateline episode called "A Long Dark Stretch of Road." | | There are no bad neighborhoods in Chappaqua. Aside from the handful of apartments available in the village's small shopping district, above the stores, all housing in Chappaqua is medium to very large upscale homes with selling prices starting at around half a million dollars. There are also a couple of large, semi-detached condominiums complexes. The Clintons live on Bedford Road, right outside of the village. Houses around their property are typical of the town: very large, built in the last fifty years or so, and perfectly maintained. | | Chappaqua is a very wealthy, white town. Almost everyone here is married with a family. There is a lot of focus on academics and some focus on sports. Kids who grow up here are often pressured to get into the Ivy Leagues. You'll see expensive cars, designer bags, diamond jewelry and tight, haughty faces here. Perfectly made-up and manicured soccer moms, triple lattes in hand, chauffeur snobby teenagers and spoiled children. Dads in this town commute to the city to run companies and hedge funds, or they work as high level executives at Westchester companies like Pepsico and IBM. Over the past decade Chappaqua has become home to more East Asian engineers. Currently, an affordable housing project is facing extremely vocal opposition in this town. |
| Downtown Area | | Restaurants | | Schools | | Single life |
| Chappaqua shopping is perfectly suited to the town's residents. Uber preppy clothing chain Talbot's is joined by locally owned Family Britches and Squires Family Clothing. These three stores take care of all the WASP basics you will need to fit in here. There are also some small jewelry stores and home decor shops. Chappaqua is not a shopping destination. | | For a cozy evening or holiday meal, try Crabtree's Kittle House on Bedford Road. Housed in a registered historical building on an old farm, this restaurant offers a surprisingly sophisticated, international menu, classical service and occasional live music.
Le Jardin De Roi is an eclectic French Bistro on King Street in the center of the village. It offers a modern take on French standbys, with an updated menu that can even accommodate vegans. | | The Chappaqua Central School District is well-known as impeccable and outstanding. Though many of Chappaqua's young residents are sent to private school, Horace Greeley High School and the lower schools in the town are excellent. | | This is not the right town for singles. The few that do live here tend to socialize in nearby towns like Mount Kisco and Pleasantville. Older, recently divorced singles meet each other through old friends. If you find yourself single and in Chappaqua, you had better take up golf or tennis and join a country club or you may find yourself spending lonely nights at home. |
| Noise | | town comparison vs. | | Best hospital | | Tourist attractions |
| Chappaqua is a very quiet little town. In fact, visit the village anytime but a weekend afternoon and the silence is almost eerie. Beyond the Saturday morning mowers of professional landscapers, the only significant noise sources in Chappaqua are the Saw Mill Parkway and the Metro-North commuter trains. These trains are fairly quiet and even homes with properties that border the tracks find teh sound tolerable. | | Chappaqua is situated between the much more mixed Mount Kisco, and the more... pleasant Pleasantville, which has some very refined cultural institutions. I am sure Chappaqua is very nice if you're the junior league type or you want an audience for bragging about your kids' S.A.T. scores, but I would much rather live in one of the livelier towns near by. | | Northern Westchester Hospital is located just minutes away from Chappaqua, north on Route 117. | | Chappaqua offers some surprisingly good thrifting for those who enjoy designer bargains. Elegance II, an upscale consignment shop on Greeley Avenue, sells a lot of designer handbags and cocktail dresses, in new to gently used condition, at a deep discount. The Discovery Shop, located on King Street accepts donations to fund cancer research and sells clothing and housewares. Expect plenty of minimally used items from Talbot's here. The out of the way Opportunity Shop, to the right of the train station, is a messy, odd little shop that keeps unpredictable hours. It can be worth the trip to find anything from a cashmere sweater to large enameled Le Creuset cast iron baking dish. |
| General comments | | | | | | |
| This town feels sealed shut. People on the sidewalks don't often stop to chat. There is never much going on in terms of culture or entertainment. Everyone seems intent on getting a couple errands done, making their demands done and getting the kids home. Life in Chappaqua does not center on the village; it centers on home. Decorating the home, raising children and entertaining in the home. That said, there are many active charities, run by women residents of the town, and school and sports-based activities for kids. | | | | | | |
