Ohland Rd, Stanford

Ohland Road in Stanford is a relatively long dead-end street which flows off of County Route 65, better known as Hunns Lake Road. It is sparsely-populated, as many roads around this part of the county are. As you drive up to it from Hunns Lake Road, it almost looks more like someone's driveway than a residential road.

There are few homes to be seen here, as a lot of Ohland Road is consumed by trees, but you'll also see what is unmistakably a little bit of farmland as you drive up and eventually have to turn around at the dead-end. There are perhaps a few more houses here than one might think, as a few are buried deep within the trees. Most everyone's driveway is long and seems to cut through a forest. Looking at it from above is almost extraordinary, because you'll sometimes spot a house alone, completely surrounded by the woods. Driving through here, you know you're in a remote location.

Because it's so remote, you're going to be left alone. I haven't lived in this neighborhood but while I'm sure those who live here may know their neighbors, you can't exactly see them, either. Like I said: some houses are completely isolated, never mind the road itself. I wouldn't think interaction is frequent and common like you'd get in typical suburbia. Ohland Road is out-of-the-way, and so are the neighbors.

Home values run a fairly substantial range. Some appear to be below $300,000, while others cross well above $600,000. Most fall somewhere in the middle. I would assume that certain properties around here come with a great deal of land, but the homes themselves look quite nice, so you probably won't find too much dirt-cheap in this area.

Bangall is the nearest hamlet to here, and it's very small. Stanfordville is right after that, and it's not much bigger. You'll find a few restaurants in those places several miles away, but your options for most everything are limited up here. Food, shopping, schools, gyms, medical facilities and so forth -- for the most part, you can forget them all, and none of it is within a couple miles of this road. Major retail shopping is especially distant, but being in this region of Dutchess County, there are plenty of parks and lakes in the general area. You'll need a car for all of it, because public transportation doesn't run anywhere near this part of town.

A road like Ohland isn't for everyone, of that I can assure you. The kinds of people who need to be near major amenities and want to be part of a vibrant suburban neighborhood won't find what they're looking for here. They probably won't find it within several miles of here, either.