What’s it like living in Kingston?

The Village of Kingston is located in the Annapolis Valley, about an hour and a half drive from Halifax. The Village of Greenwood is just five minutes away, and people often believe the two Villages are one town, but they are separate. Between the two is Stronach Park, a picnic park with water fountain, garden areas, ducks to feed, and a 1.5km family fitness trail.

With just over 3,000 people, many of the residents of Kingston are connected to 14 Wing Greenwood, the largest airbase on the East Coast.

Kingston has a variety of stores and restaurants, including hardware stores, hair salons, and personal services like an optometrist. There’s an Avery’s Farm Market and a large Atlantic Canadian Superstore, plus many other small businesses. Nearby, Greenwood is home to some of the larger chain stores and restaurants on this side on the Valley.

The economic driver in Kingston is the military base in nearby Greenwood. Many of the services and facilities on base are available for non-military personnel to use, such as the recreation centre with a gym and pool, the single-screen movie theatre, the arena, the skate park, and the bowling centre.

Like most small communities in Nova Scotia, there are weekly bingo nights at the local halls and community centres, cold or hot fundraising suppers, live music nights, and more. There are numerous churches in the area too, and a public library and arena. If you enjoy golfing, check out Paragon Golf and Country Club. The village has three fenced ball diamonds with dugouts and washrooms. Two tennis courts with lights are transformed into an ice-skating rink in winter. Across from the Credit Union Centre arena is Centennial Park, an open grass area with a bandstand, and next to the arena is a large playground.

Let’s switch gears and go over some of the necessities–housing, health care, schools, employment, and transit.

Kingston offers homes that encompass a wide range of styles and price points. From executive homes to standard suburban-style homes to condos to farmhouses in need of significant repair, Kingston has it all.

Some homes in the village are connected to the municipal sewer system, while others are on private septic systems. There is no water utility in Kingston, so homes are on dug or drilled wells. In the winter, the roads are plowed pretty reliably in Kingston, but if you purchase land on a private road, you and the other road residents will be responsible for arranging and paying for your own road maintenance, and snow clearing.

Kingston is home to a small medical centre, the Kingston Family Medical Centre. They are not accepting new patients. For medical care, you’ll need to travel to Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Middleton, about a 10-minute drive away. More than 10% of Nova Scotians are without a doctor, and it’s important to keep this in mind if you’re considering moving to a rural area.

There are two schools in Kingston, Kingston & District School for students up to and including grade 5, Pine Ridge Middle School, and nearby West Kings District High School.

You can typically find a job in town on the base, or at one of the retail stores or restaurants, or another small business. Some residents of Kingston commute to Waterville to work at the Michelin plant, or to the industrial area surrounding nearby Coldbrook.

It can be difficult to get around rural communities without a car, but there is public transit in Annapolis and Kings County on major routes. The Kings Transit bus connects Kingston up and down the Valley.

That’s it for our tour of Kingston, Nova Scotia. Be sure to reach out if you have any questions.