<p>I am curious about the town of Hamilton, since other colleges I am looking at (the upper tier being Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and Amherst), are in medium to large communities/cities. I think I would prefer a suburban/urban area to a rural one, but Colgate is so intriguing that I think I would really like it. I'd just like to know more about Hamilton. What kind of stores/restaurants are there? Is it a close-knit community? Do many people commute far to work elsewhere? Do students feel they can do just about anything without going too far, or do they frequently head off to the city (or just do without)?</p>
<p>I am especially interested in the performing arts aspect of Colgate/Hamilton.</p>
<p>Ohhh Hamilton is very different from Boston and Amherst (I lived in the Pioneer Valley for a year). Hamilton's more on the quiet side, more quaint. Not as busy as Amherst or Northampton in terms of small towns.</p>
<p>Hamilton has about 3,500 residents so Gate kids actually double the population for 7 months of the year but it doesn't really feel like it. It feels more like about 500 living right within walking distance to the town.</p>
<p>Stores? Not much at all- a hardware store, a health food store, a drugstore, a few beauty salons, a supermarket (nearest Wegmans is 40 minutes away), and the bookstore. There's a chocolate shop (YUM). There's quite a few places to eat- one sushi place, 3-4 delis, 2 breakfast-y, 3 pizza places... a Mexican restuarant (owned by 3 Gate students). There's also the Hamilton Inn and Colgate Inn for upscale dining. There's other cute places down on Route 12B to Cazenovia.</p>
<p>Most people work in the area since many are farmers but for those in the town, either they work for Colgate or do work in town. Many will commute to Syracuse for big jobs (like law and stuff).</p>
<p>A lot of us get by without needing to go into Syracuse for big-city stuff. When we do go off-campus, often they're road-trips with a bunch of people. There's plenty to do (and not just professors dumping tons of work on us) and we enjoy our company so we stay around.</p>
<p>I think the community itself is close-knit but there's a pretty fine line between Colgate kids and the townspeople in terms of town-gown relations. The foilks can't stand a bunch of kids drinking at night and leaving a bunch of mess in the morning. But they do like us when we're not disturbing them (like really interacting one-on-one).</p>
<p>Performing arts only happen at Colgate but sometimes the local high school puts on a play too.</p>
<p>Hope that paints some kind of picture for you :)</p>
<p>I think Tick's description is accurate in so far as she describes what's in Hamilton, but she omits to tell you of the attractive charm of the place. It's only really a crossroads, but far nicer than you'll find in any other similar town in the area. It's well kept up, quaint and inviting in a Norman Rockwell sort of way but without the dated connotations that might also conjure up.</p>
<p>Not sure Tick mentioned the theatre in town which offers better faire, selection (and price!) than many mall multiplexes.</p>
<p>Of course, most of what goes on in Hamilton centers around Colgate, not Hamilton. The town is more like an attractive backdrop and alternative venue for things than a destination. Put it this way, I think you'd find most of what you need (with occassional forays into more distant malls like Syracuse about 45 min away) in Hamilton, but you wouldn't be choosing to come to Colgate because of the town.</p>
<p>mhc- you're right that students go to Colgate for Colgate, not for Hamilton. Colgate really supports Hamilton financially big time (including huge renovations in the early 2000's) that made the town look really nice and chaming.</p>
<p>The movies? They do change every week but sometimes we don't always get what we want. Yes, it's cheaper, especially on CAB fare weekends ($3 w/ Colgate ID).</p>
<p>Honestly, it's possibly to stay on the Hill for an entire semester if you really, really, really try and have that kind of mental capacity of not going crazy of not going away within 300 ft LOL</p>