Living in Rydal-Meadowbrook: What It's Really Like, From the Morning Train to the Weekend Trails

Thinking about moving to Rydal-Meadowbrook? Here is what daily life actually feels like here: a quiet, wooded first-ring suburb where the train to Center City is about half an hour, the school bus stops at the end of your block, and your weekend plans usually start with a decision about which park to visit first. It is the kind of place people describe with the word “settled” in the best sense, established, friendly, and remarkably convenient.

Rydal and Meadowbrook are two adjacent, mostly residential communities in Abington Township, Montgomery County, sharing the 19046 ZIP code and the Abington School District. They sit in a township that Money magazine has named one of the best places to live in the country, and once you spend a few days here, it is not hard to see why. Whether you are relocating for work, trading a city apartment for a yard, or returning to the area to be closer to family, here is an honest, neighbor-to-neighbor look at what living here is really like.

01 Two villages, one community

Rydal grew up around the railroad. The community was established in 1891 and developed along the Reading Railroad’s New York Branch, and the Rydal station that still anchors the neighborhood today opened back in 1888. It was designed by Frank Furness, one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated architects, and electrified service arrived in 1931. Meadowbrook’s station sits on the same line, now SEPTA’s West Trenton Line, and was known in its early days as Paul Brook Station. Nearly a century and a half later, those two stations still set the rhythm of the neighborhood.

The character shows up in the details. Penn State Abington’s campus sits right in Rydal, on the grounds of the former Ogontz School for Girls, which opened here in 1916 on 54 acres of rolling hills. The Abington Art Center occupies the 27-acre estate of Alverthorpe Manor, and Briar Bush Nature Center preserves 12 acres of woods and a pond on Edge Hill Road. This is a community with deep roots, and the pride shows in how well it is kept.

What that means for you: neighbors who have known each other for decades, block-level familiarity that is hard to find in newer suburbs, and a genuine sense that people here look out for one another. It is the kind of place where a new family is noticed in a good way, welcomed, and quickly folded into the rhythm of the street.

02 The morning train: about 30 minutes to Center City

If you commute to Philadelphia, this is the feature that sells the neighborhood. Rydal Station and Meadowbrook Station both sit on SEPTA’s West Trenton Line with direct service to Center City, and the ride from Rydal to Suburban or Jefferson Station runs about 30 minutes, with Meadowbrook roughly two minutes more. During the weekday morning rush, inbound trains from Rydal depart at intervals of roughly 30 to 45 minutes, with the first trains rolling through before 6:00 AM and service continuing through the morning, and midday trains run about hourly.

A few commuter notes worth knowing before you move: some peak trains skip these stations, so it pays to check the schedule for your exact train, and the station lots fill early on weekdays. Many regulars walk or bike to the platform, which is one of those quiet quality-of-life details you only appreciate after you have done the park-and-ride shuffle elsewhere.

For drivers, the neighborhood sits close to major routes into the city and around the region, and Willow Grove Park Mall is a short drive up Easton Road. The balance is the point: a real train line for the commute, and a quiet, leafy street to come home to.

03 What the housing actually looks like

Rydal-Meadowbrook is a community of detached single-family homes, and the housing stock tells the neighborhood’s story. Many homes date back to the mid-1800s, while the majority were built in the 1950s and 1960s, which means mature trees, established landscaping, and a settled feel that newer developments simply cannot fake. Lots typically run around half an acre, with median living space in the neighborhood around 3,100 square feet, so there is real room for gardens, play sets, and the kind of backyard entertaining that defines suburban summers.

Meadowbrook leans a little newer in spots, with subdivisions like the Preserve at Meadowbrook and Rydal Valley Estates adding more recent construction to the mix. The result is a range of options under one roof, so to speak: century-old stone colonials with character, classic mid-century homes with generous rooms, and newer builds with modern floor plans, all sharing the same tree-lined streets and the same school district.

If you are coming from a rowhouse or a condo, the adjustment is wonderful and real: your own driveway, your own yard, a street where kids still ride bikes, and enough space that everyone in the family gets a corner of their own. If you are downsizing from a larger estate, the neighborhood offers the same peace with less upkeep and a much shorter trip to the train.

04 Green space at every turn

One of the first things newcomers notice is how much green surrounds the neighborhood. Alverthorpe Park, Abington Township’s flagship park on Forrest Avenue in Jenkintown, spans about 75 acres with a playground, a summer wading pool for the little ones, a fishing lake, a par-3 golf course, ballfields, and picnic pavilions. It is open to township residents, so a proof of residency is part of the deal, and it is worth every bit of the paperwork.

Then there are the gems that make this corner of Abington special. The Meadowbrook Bird Sanctuary, a volunteer-maintained preserve of roughly 16 acres at the corner of Meadowbrook Road and Washington Lane, is open to everyone and is a genuine birdwatching destination. PHS Meadowbrook Farm, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s free public garden on 25 acres, opens its roughly 19 gardens from mid-April through mid-October with free admission. Jackson Park offers a small neighborhood trail, and the Abington Art Center’s sculpture park winds through the woods of the old Alverthorpe estate.

Weekends here tend to write themselves: a morning walk at the bird sanctuary, a picnic at Alverthorpe, an afternoon wandering the gardens at Meadowbrook Farm, and an evening concert on the lawn at the Art Center in summer. If outdoor time is a priority for your family, this neighborhood delivers in a way few suburbs can match.

05 Top-rated schools, from kindergarten up

For families, the Abington School District is one of the strongest reasons to land here. Rydal Elementary serves grades K through 5 across two campuses, East on Huntingdon Pike and West on Meetinghouse Road, and its attendance zone covers both Rydal and Meadowbrook. The school earns consistently strong marks: an A grade from Niche with a top-200 ranking among Pennsylvania elementary schools, a U.S. News score of 95.36 out of 100 with a spot in the top 80 elementary schools in the state and the top ranking within the district, and a 10-out-of-10 rating from Public School Review.

From there, students move to Abington Middle School for grades 6 through 8 and then to Abington Senior High School for grades 9 through 12. The high school holds an A-minus from Niche, ranks among the top 100 high schools in Pennsylvania, and carries a GreatSchools rating of 8 out of 10, with a full menu of Advanced Placement and honors courses. For many families, the ability to send kids to well-regarded public schools steps from home, without private-school tuition, is the deciding factor.

And if higher education matters to you, Penn State Abington’s campus is right in the neighborhood, which gives the area a pleasant, college-town energy and makes the commute to class a walk or a short drive.

06 Everyday life: markets, coffee, and easy errands

Day-to-day errands are remarkably easy here. The Rydal shopping center on Susquehanna Road covers the basics close to home, and Jenkintown’s walkable town center around York Road and Greenwood Avenue is minutes away, with its own farmers market at the town square on Wednesdays from spring through fall and a Tuesday-night market in the warmer months. The Glenside Farmers Market sets up Saturday mornings at the train station, and Willow Grove Park Mall, with more than 120 stores, is a short drive up Easton Road when you need a bigger shopping run.

For coffee and a bite, the neighborhood is spoiled. White Horse Coffee & Creamery on West Avenue in Jenkintown is a local roaster and creamery worth a detour, Welcome Home Cafe on Old York Road is a cozy neighborhood favorite, and the diner-and-brunch scene along Old York Road, from Nifty Fifty’s to First Watch, covers everything from a quick breakfast to a lazy weekend brunch. Add the Keswick Theatre’s marquee in nearby Glenside and you have a cultural calendar that punches far above the area’s suburban weight.

The honest summary: you can live here without feeling like you gave anything up. The city is a train ride away when you want it, and everything you need day to day is close enough that the car barely warms up.