Town Information: Maplewood, NJ

Here you will find comprehensive information regarding real estate in Maplewood. Being that I have been a Maplewood Realtor for many years I can offer some of my sound advice regarding buying or selling a home in Maplewood. You may also find mls listings in Maplewood as well as any local information in Maplewood. Over the years Maplewood Real Estate has grown in high demand, and my expertise in the area will help you become more familiar with the surroundings of this beautiful town. I am familiar with listings in Maplewood as well as negotiated deals for those looking to buy homes in Maplewood. So whether you are looking to buy a house in Maplewood, sell a house in Maplewood, or just research local information about Maplewood you will find everything you need with Robert Northfield your expert Maplewood Realtor. If you are looking for a home for sale in the Maplewood area, I can help. I have years of experience in this area of New Jersey. If you just want some information about Maplewood you came to the right place. The following is a small featurette of Maplewood taken from the Maplewood Official Website. Talk to newcomers and you oftern hear the same story: A young couple is fed up with high rents for cramped apartments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Maybe they're expecting a child. They approach the suburbs warily, unwilling to move too far from New York, where at least one of them works. Maplewood's Norman Rockwell image is not just an illusion. Nothing much has changed here in 30 years. Sure, there is an art gallery and a bagel shop in town, but there is also an old-fashioned luncheonette, where neighbors sit and talk. The four-square mile township is a vision of sidewalks, parks and tranquil streets lined with tall trees and Colonial and Tudor homes. It's four-block downtown, affectionatelly known as "the village," is filled with quaint, family owned shops. Even the downtown Kings - the smallest of the sixteen store chain is more like a country store than a supermarket. This small town atmosphere is what attracts people to Maplewood, along with the town's natrual beauty and amenities. Maplewood abuts the South Mountain Reservation - a 2,020-acre recreational preserve that includes picnic grounds and hiking trails. The town also has six parks and an award-winning outdoor pool. Another attraction, especially for first-time home buyers, is affordability. Many couples are drawn to the socioeconomic mix of the community's 23,000 residents, which some say, gives it a down to earth feel. The scenery in Maplewood attracts people to this 4-square mile township, but a strong sense of community keeps tradition strong and neighbors close. A collection of Tudors, Victorians, and Colonials predominate most of the single family housing. Beautiful established landscaping is a common thread throughout. A home in Maplewood may sell for $150,000 to over $700,000 and there are larger homes on larger properties available for $350,000 and up. Also available in more modest, but very appealing neighborhoods are homes ranging from $125,000 and up. Maplewood is 18 miles from Manhattan and many residents commute daily by train (about 30 minutes at rush hour). The Township shares a quality school system with South Orange. There are six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school with a reputation for academic excellence. Columbia High School offers advanced placement, college prep and vocational courses as well as classes in film making and journalism. Columbia offers 25 clubs from astronomy to chess and 23 varsity sports. Maplewood is governed by a Township committee, made up of 5 men and women and a mayor.

Town Information: South Orange, NJ

Here you will find comprehensive information regarding real estate in South Orange. Being that I have been a South Orange Realtor for many years I can offer some of my sound advice regarding buying or selling a home in South Orange. You may also find mls listings in South Orange as well as any local information in South Orange. Over the years South Orange Real Estate has grown in high demand, and my expertise in the area will help you become more familiar with the surroundings of this beautiful town. I am familiar with listings in South Orange as well as negotiated deals for those looking to buy homes in South Orange. So whether you are looking to buy a house in South Orange, sell a house in South Orange, or just research local information about South Orange you will find everything you need with Robert Northfield your expert South Orange Realtor. If you are looking for a home for sale in the South Orange area, I can help. I have years of experience in this area of New Jersey. If you just want some information about South Orange you came to the right place. The following is a small featurette of South Orange taken from the South Orange Official Website. South Orange is a 2.8 square-mile community spread out east of New Jersey’s South Mountain. Thought fully developed, South Orange retains some vestiges of village life, including gas street lighting. Utility lines are in the back yards, rather than cluttering streets. The town of 16,390 people has an active downtown business section and several popular restaurants. The Montrose Section of town provides the setting for mostly large, vintage homes, replete with interesting and varied split-levels, sitting atop South Orange is an elegant setting. S9outh Mountain offers diversity in housing, with most homes dating back to the turn of century, set along the side of the mountain. These three areas offer homes from $300,000 to the upper ranges. There are also homes available from the low $100’s in pleasant neighborhoods around town. South Orange shares a quality school system with Maplewood. There are six elementary schools two middle schools and one high school and a reputation for academic excellence. Columbia high School offers advanced placement, college prep and vocational courses, as well as classes in filmmaking and journalism. Columbia offers 25 clubs, from astronomy to chess and 23 varsity sports. Sixty-two acres of parkland, two thirds of which consist of Meadowland Park and adjacent Cameron Field, Provide five baseball diamonds, 15 lighted tennis courts, a soccer field, duck pond, playgrounds, Baird Community Center and a fine outdoor pool complex and favorite sledding hill. Every four years in a non-partisan election a village president and six trustees are elected. South Orange is thirty-five minutes from Manhattan via NJ Transit train or bus. South Orange is a quaint residential community boasting authentic Tudor, Colonial, and Victorian homes, streets dotted with gaslights, beautiful parks, and a bustling Village center. The history of our town dates back to May 21, 1666, when Connecticut settlers landed on the shores of the Passaic River. Guided by Captain Robert Treat and Lieutenant Samuel Swaine, the group purchased land, now known as Newark, from the Lenni Lenape Indians on July 11, 1666. Those families wishing to farm moved westward into South Orange and surrounding areas. In 1678, the Lenapes sold the settlers a second parcel of land running from the East Branch of the Rahway River to the mountain top. South Orange Avenue, an Indian trail, served as the main thoroughfare. But in 1705, road statutes required landowners to maintain the first primitive highways. These included Main Street and Valley and Ridgewood roads. Washington and his troops often traversed the latter during the American Revolution. The mode of transportation graduated from horseback, to ox-cart, to stage coach. Then in 1836, the Morris and Essex Railroad developed a single track between the Village and Orange and operated a horse-drawn cart. A year later the line was extended and two cars were pulled by a wood-burning steam locomotive. The advent of the railroad established South Orange as a suburb of Newark and a summer resort. Just after the railroad was continued through to Hoboken in 1868, the Village began its rapid transformation from a rude settlement of farms and mills to a polished residential railroad suburb of New York and Newark. Swamps were drained, roads were constructed and gas lines were laid in the 1890s. Sewers and running water were later added. Street lamps in the town's center burned sperm oil until 1860 when gas service became available. Electric power was brought into the Village about 1888, although most of the streets are still lit by gas lamps. The first telephone exchange was opened in Orange on December 6, 1879. In 1899, a Village central office was established. The transition of South Orange from vast farm lands to a prestigious residential community is due in large part to the vision of one man, New York attorney John Gorham Vose. Taken with the rich mountain scenery, he purchased a home on Scotland Road in 1858. In 1862, he began to buy large plots of land to begin his conversion. As building got underway, Villagers took great interest in the development of each magnificent home. In just a few years, 175 acres between Scotland Road and Center Street were complete. Vose christened the area Montrose. Other successful businessmen, Turrell, Kingman, Connett, Mead, Speir, and Mayhew, also bought farms, carved out streets, and helped change the face of the community. The Village Hall, built in 1894, housed the fire department until 1930 when it was moved to Sloan and First Streets. The police department then moved from its 1872 building just west of the railroad into the newly vacated space in Village Hall. In March, 1972, a separate police station and Municipal Court building on South Orange Avenue was completed. The first U.S. Post Office was opened in 1841 in Freeman's Store at 71 South Orange Avenue but the Postmaster reported "receipts so dreadfully small" that business was suspended. In 1843, another office was opened to serve the thirty families nearby. In all, six different sites were used until 1937 when our present first class Post Office was opened on Vose Avenue in a new building of its own. Free mail delivery started in 1899. Built about 1680, the Stone House is the oldest in the Village and is still standing on South Orange Avenue near Grove Road. The colonial house at 167 North Ridgewood Road was built by Henry Squier in 1774 and acquired by William Redmond when he bought the Squier farm in 1850. Later the house was leased to a dairyman named Flood who pastured his cows in what is now Meadowland Park. Flood's Hill in the park, used for winter coasting, was named for this family. William Redmond built the brownstone mansion for his home which is used today by the Orange Lawn Tennis Club. Another landmark, said to have been built around 1830 and standing until after 1881 when it was destroyed by fire, was The Mountain House, a fashionable water-cure supervised by two physicians, where spring water piped down the mountain to it, was thought beneficial. A large wooden structure with two wings, set in spacious grounds on Ridgewood Road, at the foot of the present Glenside Road, the hotel accommodated 150 guests. Mr. Lord of Lord & Taylor owned it in 1850 and leased it to G. Baird. The Eclipse Stage Line operated in 1830 between the hotel and Newark. Today the sole reminders of the resort are Mountain Station and Mountain House Road, both established to accommodate hordes of visitors who once flocked here. South Orange was part of Newark until 1806, when what is now the Oranges and Maplewood were set off as "Orange Township." The name Orange came into use in the second half of the 18th century, and was officially adopted by a meeting of the inhabitants in 1780. The name South Orange first appeared in print in a newspaper ad in 1793 in "Wood's Gazette." It replaced such old names as Chestnut Hill and the Mountain Plantation. Village government has changed dramatically from theocracy to democracy since the 1600's. In 1776, there were only a cluster of houses, a grist mill, a black-smith shop, a store or two and a tavern but South Orange inhabitants were united in defense of home and country. In 1872, civic indifference reached a peak when only 235 votes were cast in a presidential election. Population has steadily increased: 7,200 in 1920, 13,000 in 1928 and over 16,300 in 1995. The creation of the South Orange Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature in 1861, led to the granting of the Village Charter in 1869, but not until 1872 was it given authorization to levy taxes and borrow money. In 1904, complete separation of Village and Township was effected by action of the State Legislature, after South Orange had agreed to remain in the school district. A copy of the 1869 Charter and its amendments, variances and supplements was printed in 1906. In November, 1977, South Orange voters passed a new Charter for South Orange and changed its name to The Township of South Orange Village.

Town Information: Short Hills/Millburn, NJ

Here you will find comprehensive information regarding real estate in Short Hills. Being that I have been a Short Hills Realtor for many years I can offer some of my sound advice regarding buying or selling a home in Short Hills. You may also find mls listings in Short Hills as well as any local information in Short Hills. Over the years Short Hills Real Estate has grown in high demand, and my expertise in the area will help you become more familiar with the surroundings of this beautiful town. I am familiar with listings in Short Hills as well as negotiated deals for those looking to buy homes in Short Hills. So whether you are looking to buy a house in Short Hills, sell a house in Short Hills, or just research local information about Short Hills you will find everything you need with Robert Northfield your expert Short Hills/Millburn Realtor. If you are looking for a home for sale in Millburn or Short Hills area, I can help. I have years of experience in this area of New Jersey. If you just want some information about Millburn and Short Hills you came to the right place. Millburn Township owes much of its character to Stewart Hartshorn, who bought a 1,550-acre tract in 1877 and founded a planned community he named Short Hills. Rather than laying out a grid of roads and lots, he followed the terrain and often adjusted roads to avoid felling trees. He built more than 50 houses on 2- to 5-acre lots. Many of the original Hartshorn houses, built of wood and blue traprock in several styles, including Greek Revival and Victorian, are still standing. The original lots have now been subdivided into half-acre to one-acre sites. Houses with six to seven bedrooms on one-acre lots are now priced from $1.2 million to over $3 million. The Morris & Essex Railroad, built in the late 1830's to haul coal from Pennsylvania to New York City, Passed through Millburn and spurred its growth. By 1872, when Hartshorn sought his town site, Millburn was already a commuter suburb of New York City with its own train station, which Hartshorn augmented with a second station in Short Hills. Both Millburn and Short Hills have a delightful mixture of interesting architecture and styles. The Wyoming section, on the southeast side of town includes Tudors, Colonials, historic farmhouses and Victorians. The South Mountain area has many Tudors and English Colonials and borders on Taylor Park. A variety of styles are found in the Country Club section, which was built around 1950. The Glenwood section is walking distance to the trainfrom the south side of the station and the homes are mostly colonials built in the late 1930's. The Old Short Hills neighborgood, located on the north side of the train station, has winding tree-lined streets with larger properties and many of the most prestigious homes in town. Homes in Millburn/Short Hills are available begining in the low &200s and up to $5 million. The Mid-Town Direct train line (started in 1996) has increased demand for housing all along this route. The Millburn Township Public School System has a reputation as one of the finest in New Jersey. It has five K-5 schools. The students go on the Millburn Middle School on Old Short Hills Road and then to Millburn High School on Millburn Avenue. Last Year the high school sent 97 percent of its graduates on to higher education. Graduating classes regularly include numerous National Merit Scholarship winners and finalists and, upon occasion, a Presidential Scholar and finalists. Two downtowns, created around the two ends of Millburn Avenue, have convenience and service business, including ice cream parlors, beauty shops, hardware stores and several interesting restaurants, galeries, gift stores and banks. The million-square foot Short Hills Mall, at Route 24 and JFK Parkway, is well known for a wide variety of luxury stores and across from the mall is the 300-room Hilton. The most widely used recreational spot in the township is the 36-acre Gero Park off White Oak Ridge Road. It has a par-three, nine hole golf course, the town pool, four tennis courts and three baseball diamonds. A popular township area is the 16-acre Cora Hartshorn Arboretum and bird sanctuary, developed by the daughter of Stewart Hartshorn on Forest Drive. The Paper Mill Playhouse, on Brookside Drive, one of the Country's best known regional theathers, offers musicals, plays and children's events. The Township is governed by five elected committee members who serve three-year terms and annually choose one of their own as mayor of Millburn. In keeping with Stewart Hartshorn's original tree preservation efforts, the town has a full-time forester. Before trees may be cut down, he must issue a permit, and he also advises residents on tree planting and care. Timothy P. Gordon, the Millburn Business administrator, says the township has more than 1,000 trees that are more than 200 years old.

Town Information: Summit, NJ

Here you will find comprehensive information regarding real estate in Summit. Being that I have been a Summit Realtor for many years I can offer some of my sound advice regarding buying or selling a home in Summit. You may also find mls listings in Summit as well as any local information in Summit. Over the years Summit Real Estate has grown in high demand, and my expertise in the area will help you become more familiar with the surroundings of this beautiful town. I am familiar with listings in Summit as well as negotiated deals for those looking to buy homes in Summit. So whether you are looking to buy a house in Summit, sell a house in Summit, or just research local information about Summit you will find everything you need with Robert Northfield your expert Summit Realtor. If you are looking for a home for sale in the Summit area, I can help. I have years of experience in this area of New Jersey. If you just want some information about Summit you came to the right place. The following is a small featurette on Summit taken from the Summit Official Website. The city of Summit, population 19,612, is atop the second Watchung Mountain. During the Revolutionary War, Summit played a pivotal role due to its higher elevation. Today, there are several local historians who help maintain the proud history of this lovely city. The railroad spurred the development of a town center, complete with luxury hotels. One, the Blackburn House, built in 1868 on Springfield Avenue was reconstructed in 1929 as the Summit Suburban Hotel, then renovated in 1986 and renamed the Grand Summit Hotel. Today, it caters to executives visiting corporations in Summit and nearby. Single-family homes range in price from the low $200’s, for a smaller split-level up to $2.5 million for a beautiful, large, center hall colonial situated on one of north Summit’s distinctive tree-lined streets. There is also a large selection of condos, many situated in comfortable old buildings, within walking distance of downtown, and some in conveniently located younger developments. Schools are a major attraction in Summit with 89% of graduates going on to higher education. There are five elementary schools, Summit Middle School and Summit High School, as well as various private schools. Summit has 496 acres of green space. Memorial Field has a baseball field, two softball diamonds, two soccer fields, two basketball courts, a playground, an outdoor roller skating rink and eight tennis courts spread out over 25 acres. Reeves-Reed Arboretum is a 12-acre city-owned facility that is operated by a private foundation without local tax support which offers extensive child and adult nature education programs and there is an Olympic-size municipal pool. There are various cultural events including the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, which has 20th Century art galleries and daily classes. The center of Summit offers fine small shops and excellent shopping, which many find to be welcome alternative to mall shopping, which is also nearby. Summit has several popular restaurants catering to a variety of tastes. One of downtown Summit's many amenities, the Promenade was a gift of the Summit Area Development Corporation, a nonprofit group dedicated to providing aesthetic public improvements in and around Summit. Summit is 22 miles from Manhattan, 45 minutes by NJ Transit train of Lakeland bus.