I grew up in Lancaster. Here s some links:http://www.cityoflancasterpa.com/lancast��http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/lanco/site��http://www.padutchcountry.com/http://www.centralmarketlancaster.com/We re also close to Hershey:http://www.hersheypa.com/and Strasburg:http://www.strasburgpa.com/If some of this looks familiar, you might want to rent the movie, Witness, with Harrison Ford, it was filmed in Lancaster county.
I would take a look at south central PA. I am from Carlisle which is located in cumberland county. It is about 3.5 hrs from NYC 2.5 hrs from baltimore and DC. 3 hrs from philly and 4 hrs to Pittsburgh. It is only 35 min from harrisburg the state capital. There are tons of things to do in the area and you are close enough to several cities that you can take day trips. As for raising a family the school districts in the county are rated very well, the sports are the best in the state year in and year out, and we have very minimal violence. Good luck!
I live in Doylestown, and I would tell anybody to live their if they had a chance. It s such a nice community. Really take this in to mind, it s great for family. I live here with my family. It s not very secluded, and Carversville is very very nice. And they have many good school districts. Ask anybody i bet they will say they love it to.