By Carolina Johnson

For Blaine Keogh and her husband Brian, there was no doubt, “Rye was always our choice,” said the mother of two and Mohawk Street resident since January. “I was just waiting for something in Indian Village to come on.” Growing up in the neighborhood from age 9 until she graduated from Rye High School in 2004, Blaine thought the tight community would be the right place for her children, Lilly and Griffin, to grow up.

Two doors down, Ali Walsh, a 2003 RHS graduate, moved in the summer of 2015. “Coming from the

City, it was important for us to walk to the train and town and to the YMCA, where we’re members,” said the corporate lawyer, whose husband Mike, never even saw the house before she made the offer. “He trusted me.” Since moving in, the Walshes welcomed a son, Paddy, born across the street from where his mom was born three decades earlier.

Ali’s friend and field hockey teammate at Rye High and subsequently Williams College, Charlotte MacKenzie is the newest arrival. She and her husband Scott rented on Purchase Street until the right house for them and their young children, Elle, age 2, and Zach, 5 months, became available this summer. The neighborhood is ideal for Charlotte and Scott, who both work in the City. “It’s an easy commute and the accessibility to restaurants and stores is great,” said Charlotte, whose parents live just two miles away.

All the pot-luck gatherings, Halloween parades, Christmas parties, along with lemonade stands, kids cruising on their bikes, and the men’s annual golf trip make this multigenerational neighborhood an extra-special place in an already ideal town.

Having family around adds another bonus for Chris McGuire, former Loudon Woods resident and a 2001 Rye Country Day School graduate. “It’s great to have my parents close by,” said the Onondaga homeowner, who claims newfound appreciation for his parents. “Dealing with a child and a house is a lot,” he comments. For his wife Gina, “To have Elinor, our 14-month-old, grow up in a community in the true sense of the word, where kids know each other and play together, is ideal.”

With its mature trees and classic colonial architecture, this well-established neighborhood has long attracted families for whom community is as important or more than the house itself.

Craig Daily, a 1990 Rye Country Day graduate, held out living in the City longer than most. “I think I had blinders on. I knew there were two good neighborhoods, Loudon Woods and Indian Village,” said Daily who grew up in the former and has lived in the latter since 2014. “ I still thought Halloween in Indian Village was dangerous because, nothing bad happens in Loudon Woods. If you wanted to toilet paper a house, you’d come to Indian Village.” Craig’s wife Happy left the City begrudgingly, but now acknowledges she loves Rye. Their daughters, Morgan and Hollis, can walk to town, school, and Apawamis Club.

The most recent boomeranger is Peter Sinnott IV, who moved back to Rye from Greyrock because his son Michael decided he wanted to attend Rye High. The Sinnotts now live four houses away from Peter’s parents, Rosemary and Peter III.

Once part of the tribe, always welcomed back, Andy Seitz built his house on Iroquois Street, where he lives with his wife Jana and two children.

And Indian Village lifer Barbie Haynes, well, she’s the matriarch.

<Disclosure: The contributing writer is a 14-year resident of Indian Village and may be biased.>