Continuing-Care Retirement Community

Grace Ridge is a life-plan community, also called a continuing-care retirement community, on a 52-acre campus in Morganton, North Carolina, near the Catawba River greenway and the town center. All four levels of care are on one campus: independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing. That is the core of the life-plan proposition, and it is worth asking exactly how a move between levels is triggered and priced. Community life leans on arts and the outdoors, with painting, chorus, theater, volunteering, greenway access, dining and wellness programming, plus the Table Rock Lounge. Entrance fees and monthly charges are not published. Life-plan contracts vary widely in what they guarantee, so ask what is refundable, what happens if your money runs out, and what care costs once you need it.

Kendal at Oberlin is a nonprofit life-plan community in northeast Ohio, next to Oberlin College, open since 1993. Its residents come from 39 states, which is unusual and mostly explained by the college: music, art and lifelong learning are the reason many people move here. Care runs from independent living through assisted living, memory support, short-term rehabilitation and long-term nursing care, all on one 110-acre campus with walking trails and an arboretum. The community is resident-led in a real sense, with an active Residents Association, and the wellness and fitness center anchors day-to-day life. The Kendal organizations grew out of Quaker practice, which shows in the emphasis on self-governance. The office is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. There is a waitlist, managed through the community's portal, and a roadmap-to-residency program for people planning ahead. Pricing is not published.