A Tale of Two Cities
We visited Maplewood, NJ on Sunday, and it's hard to argue against living there. The commute would be only about ten minutes more than what I'm doing now, including a short *walk* (no need to drive) to the train station. There's a cute, New England-esque downtown area. The schools are good. The blocks are kid-friendly and full of NYC transplants. The houses are HUGE and AFFORDABLE, and South Mountain Reservation - with 2,000+ acres of hiking and biking -is two miles away. They've even got their own version of Parkslopeparents.com with Maplewoodonline.com.
But...
On Saturday, we met a bunch of friends in Prospect Park for an impromptu game of toddler soccer. The outing lasted four hours, and included a hike to a waterfall, a guitar, and sitting in the shade while Asher ran wild with a pack of boys and girls his own age. That evening, we dropped Asher off with Sarah's parents, and went into Manhattan for a party. (Leah came along, since she's not taking a bottle, and could not be left with her Grandparents, but she slept the entire time.)
!!!
We visited Maplewood, NJ on Sunday, and it's hard to argue against living there. The commute would be only about ten minutes more than what I'm doing now, including a short *walk* (no need to drive) to the train station. There's a cute, New England-esque downtown area. The schools are good. The blocks are kid-friendly and full of NYC transplants. The houses are HUGE and AFFORDABLE, and South Mountain Reservation - with 2,000+ acres of hiking and biking -is two miles away. They've even got their own version of Parkslopeparents.com with Maplewoodonline.com.
But...
On Saturday, we met a bunch of friends in Prospect Park for an impromptu game of toddler soccer. The outing lasted four hours, and included a hike to a waterfall, a guitar, and sitting in the shade while Asher ran wild with a pack of boys and girls his own age. That evening, we dropped Asher off with Sarah's parents, and went into Manhattan for a party. (Leah came along, since she's not taking a bottle, and could not be left with her Grandparents, but she slept the entire time.)
!!!
Labels: New Jersey, Park Slope, Real Estate
posted by isaacjosephson at 9:21 AM
5 Comments:
I have always said that I would happily move to Maplewood (or someplace like it).
Besides, why wouldn't you want to live in the town that reared the voice of Jar Jar Binks?
Exactly.
come back to the west coast...or um, chicago. i think illinois has 2 or 3 acres of something like nature.
I got married in Maplewood, right across from the big park. And I grew up really close to Maplewood as well. It is a lovely community. It would be very hard to leave NY, I think, but if you were going to go to any burb, I think that would be a fantastic choice.
BTW, I believe the town also reared Lauryn Hill.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Just as a matter of I-don't-know-what, Lauryn Hill (and Zach Braff for that matter) grew up in South Orange, which doesm't matter a single bit because the two towns really are just one big one. Unless, of course, you're in middle school and fighting about which town has better cred. In middle school, this is a very important argument. Ahmed Best is from Maplewood, though. Kiki Smith is from South Orange (for anyone who cares about contemporary artists); Andrew & Elizabeth Shue are, I think, from Maplewood.
And thus my suburban New Jersey roll-call ends. I swear.
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