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Ossining’s pretty, well-kept residential area is Briarcliff Manor, the probable subject of many a John Cheever story. Not much has changed since the 1960s, although many of the houses have grown in size. It is an affluent suburb without being insanely lavish, like many of its neighboring towns, and there are actually some affordable areas.

The Briarcliff Manor School District has one elementary school, and a combined middle and high school; it’s a small district, and has excellent facilities and high test scores, and almost all its graduates go on to college.

Westchester Community College has a campus in Ossining, Pace University has one in Briarcliff, and SUNY Purchase is a short commute.

Briarcliff Manor has an active Recreation Department, and there are a multitude of great clubs and gatherings based here: The Briarcliff Garden Club, the Choral Arts Society, Friends of Music, The Handweavers Guild of Westchester, the Ossining Arts Council, and the Westchester Ballet Company. The Calvary Baptist Church even hosts “Dynamic Sunday Sermons,” as well as jazz events.

There are two town parks in Ossining, with one located on the waterfront, and a new aquatic facility at the Community Center, which sports a competition-sized pool. In the Village of Ossining there is a yearly Village Fair, and a weekly summer Farmer’s Market on the corner of Main and Spring Streets Saturdays from 8:30 until 1.

For those in need, the Phelps Memorial Hospital Center is located in nearby Sleepy Hollow.

Briarcliff Manor is a nice choice for those who want a pretty suburb which is close to New York City – safe, clean, with good schools, but without the edgy competitiveness of some of the other areas of Westchester.

Wappingers Falls is a village within the town of Wappinger. Actually, half the village is in Wappinger, and half of it is in the neighboring town of Poughkeepsie. There is only one post office for both, though, which means that Wappingers Falls, Wappinger, and parts of Poughkeepsie, Lagrange, Fishkill and East Fishkill are all –according to their zip code – located in Wappinger Falls. This makes the mail system interesting, and means you should probably invest in a GPS if you’re going to spend time here.

Wappingers Falls is a little over one square mile and has a population of about 5500 people. It is between the Newburgh- Beacon and Mid-Hudson Bridges, east of the Hudson River. There is an historic district, where you’ll find Mesier Park and Homestead, circa 1891. There is quite a bit of history here; the beautiful stone library, Grinnell, is the 6th oldest in New York State.

The schools here are good, and there are quite a few. There are 10 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 2 high schools, and one alternative high school. The Randolph School, a very well-regarded alternative school for ages 3 to 10, is located here as well.

The recreation department is active, offering summer camps and youth art programs, and there are many parks from which to choose. There is an award-winning community theater; recent plays have included My FThe lion in Winter, Godspell, and somehow, the full Monty.

Wappingers Falls has restaurants, bars, gyms, and there is a $3 movie theater ($2 on Tuesdays!) at the Short Hills Mall just north in Poughkeepsie, which is another active town. Those looking to settle in the Hudson Valley, and who would find themselves going stir-crazy in a more rural setting, may find this village just what the doctor ordered.

To the north of North Salem is the border of Putnam County, to the east, the border of Connecticut. North Salem is a bucolic, determinedly rural Westchester town, one that has successfully managed to fend off the rapacious developers who always seem to skulk around areas like this. Luckily, the North Salem Open Land Foundation works hard to convince landowners to donate their land and keep it undeveloped, and residents are willing to fight to keep their town from becoming yet another congested suburb. Those wishing to move here will need to bring along a good-sized bank account, as the 2011 average net worth was $1.2 million.

Peach Lake is a small community of converted summer cottages which are comparatively lower-priced, and Westchester County has just agreed to build affordable housing in various spots, so there is and may soon be a bit more affordable housing. But mostly this area is made up of large estates, horse farms, open land, and the “smaller” places on minimum 4-acre lots.

Residents are proud of the excellent school system, which encompasses the entire town of North Salem as well as the Putnam County towns of Southeast and Carmel. There is also an active Recreation Department.

Since this is riding country, you might want to know about Old Salem Farm, arguably the best equestrian facility in Westchester. Located on 125 acres in North Salem, they have 3 indoor arenas, four outdoor riding rings, and a grand prix field. The lucky horses who live here can enjoy a fly mist system, four horse showers, and have 30 turnout paddocks from which to choose; people footing the bill for all this can watch their fellow horse-lovers ride from a heated viewing area, or have a workout in the gym while they wait. Serious riders will be impressed by the names Frank Madden and Steve Weiss, who are the resident trainers. Old Salem Farm has hosted several US Olympic Team Selection Trials, as well as World Cup qualifier classes. The American Gold Cup will be held here in September, 2012.

Shoppers head to Danbury or Westchester, as commercial properties are strictly zoned. If you can afford it and want the gentile Westchester country life, North Salem might be for you.

Depending on who you talk to, the roughly three square mile community in Yorktown centered around a 105-acre lake is called either Lake Mohegan or Mohegan Lake. That is, unless you travel north to shopping-deprived Philipstown, where residents refuse to take sides and call it simply “Mohegan.” Philipstown residents often travel to the stores in the Cortlandt Town Center, which is supposedly in Cortlandt Manor; although, according to its zip code, it’s really in Mohegan Lake. Or Lake Mohegan.

The actual lake is only accessible to certain residents (now over 1500 of them), who pay a small yearly upkeep fee for their lake rights. It’s a great community gathering spot in the summer, for boating, swimming and fishing; and in the winter, for ice skating.

A former summer community, Mohegan has many smaller, affordable homes, as well as an assortment of larger and newer ones. There are also condominiums, townhouses and an assortment of rentals. Like nearby Peekskill, Mohegan is more culturally diverse than many of its neighboring Westchester and Putnam towns, and its proximity to Peekskill means there is some nightlife available – restaurants, bars, the Paramount Theatre, and live music venues.

There is no Metro-North stop here, but the Cortlandt and Peekskill train stations are about ten minutes away, and the ride into Manhattan takes between 50-55 minutes.

Mohegan residents can take advantage of Yorktown’s many community groups, recreational facilities, good schools, and fine medical facilities. There are several wonderful parks with hiking trails, from the low-key, hiking-only Turkey Mountain, to the sprawling Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, where you can picnic, swim, play all kinds of ball, hike, launch your own boat (with a permit), fish (with a license) or simply rent a rowboat and paddle around.

Mohegan Lake feels a bit more spread out than a traditional small towns, but it’s low-key, surrounded by country, has all your shopping needs close by, and has a beautiful mile-long lake to pull it all together.

Croton-on-Hudson, a five-square-mile village within the Town of Cortlandt, is a charming place that combines beautiful views, outdoor opportunities, and enough events and activities to keep everyone busy. Located where the Hudson and the Croton Rivers meet, there are marshy areas, heavy woods, a plateau, and the Croton River Gorge, which cascades downward into a park that offers fishing, picnicking, a baseball field, sledding, and cross-country skiing.

There is a wide range of housing choices, from condos, townhouses, and small clustered ranch homes to new, multi-million dollar houses. The village itself is a fun place to investigate, with its variety of shops, stores, markets, and restaurants. For the pets in your life, Croton Animal Hospital, along Route 9A, has the most skilled, caring, and dedicated veterinarians and staff in the area.

Tompkins Elementary School, Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, and Croton Harmon High School are all well-reviewed schools. In the summer, Croton is camp heaven – Sport Squirts Camp (ages 3-7), Multi-Sport Camp (allowing kids ages 5-14 to try over 15 different sports from around the world during a single week of camp) and Single Sports Camp (soccer, tennis, lacrosse, etc.) There is also the renowned Croton Sailing School, which teaches kids ages 9-15 the art of small boat sailing and racing, right on the Hudson River.

Croton Point Park, a 508-acre riverside park, offers outdoor recreational areas, a nature center, and one of the oldest wine cellars in New York State. It’s also the site of some of the best festivals in the Hudson Valley. Bald Eagles spend their winters here, and in February, Croton Point hosts the Annual Hudson River EagleFest - with speakers, demonstrations, guided walks with naturalists, and a small army of enthusiastic birders eager to let you peer through their spotting scopes.

In June, the Park hosts the Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival, a classic two-day music-filled folk festival with all kinds of vendors and performances. Be sure to check out the summer greenery at Van Cortlandt Manor, a beautifully restored stone house where authentically costumed actors recreate life as it was in the 18th century. Come Halloween, it hosts a decorating extravaganza, including a dazzling display over 4,000 intricately carved pumpkins.

Garrison is a determinedly rural little paradise – or cow town, depending on your perpective – less than 60 miles from New York City. Surrounded by the spectacular Hudson Highlands, it is rocky and thickly wooded, and residents value their privacy and access to nature. It is home to artists, environmentalists, New York City dwellers with second homes, and a cross-section of those who simply want to enjoy a non-suburban way of life not far from a metropolitan area.

Garrison is a hamlet, and really has no town per se; visitors getting off the train will see the Depot Theatre, the Garrison Art Center, Antipodean (a wonderful store selling fine, old, and rare books, maps, prints, and photographs) and, looming across the river, the granite fortress of West Point. There are two golf courses, The Highlands and The Garrison, both with fine restaurants; The Garrison has breathtaking views. For architecture and design buffs, there is Boscobel, a Federal-stye house painstakingly restored, filled with period furniture and turned into a museum, which also hosts the summer Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; and Manitoga, the home, studio, and woodland garden of renowned designer Russell Wright.

The Garrison Institute, a center for contemplative studies housed in a beautifully restored former monastery, offers events and retreats hosted by leaders of all religions. Right next door, the Philipstown Recreation Department offers classes, sports, and a summer camp for kids. Although there’s no real night life except for a few very good restaurants, there is a busy social scene which revolves mostly around the many non-profit organizations based here and in nearby Cold Spring (which has an array of restaurants, as well as bars with live music.)

The Garrison Union Free School runs from kindergarten to 8th grade, then students continue to Haldane, in Cold Spring, or O’Neill, across the river in Highland Falls. Most Garrison residents do their daily shopping in Cold Spring, ten minutes north, but travel to Cortlandt, twenty minutes south, to do their large supermarket runs. Shopoholics may run into trouble, although it only takes 25 minutes to get to Woodbury Commons, the massive outlet village in Central Valley, and 45 to the Palisades Mall In Nyack.

Garrison will not satisfy those looking for suburbia, but will delight those who love life off the beaten path.