The hurricanes in 1635, 1667,1693 and 1788 may have been major hurricanes. And a close miss in 1869. Others of interest are the 2 hurricanes in 1815 and the hurricane in 1849.
Taxes on govt pension and SS have to be given strong consideration so I fully understand why PA is appealing to you. Pittsburgh is a great city. Home prices in that area are far more reasonable than in Ma. Great area for hs,college and pro sports.
Depends on how much money you want to spend for a nice looking lawn. Personally I'd rather invest the money in something that I need or want to do. My lawn is decent. A neighbor down the street has a great looking lawn but his water bill is huge. Plus he uses a lot of different chemicals on his lawn which is another major expense. The fascination with lawns is an obsession with some people. A former neighbor would spend hours working on his lawn. His lawn looked better than augusta! He moved out about 15 years ago. A couple of years later he came back to visit. He was appalled at the condition of the lawn at his former home.