best suburbs driving from foxborough

[traffic_lover]

Mansfield has a traditional main st with a bunch of funeral homes, insurance agencies, bars (Jimmy s, catman, flynns, cheng du), hardware store, appliance store, town news, fancy italian spot, tobacco vaporizer cafe, & a black doll history museum. Its looking a tad shabby but is really really safe & walkable. Train station is at north common at one end & town municipal offices are at south common @ other end, with police around corner. Schools are great but will need new H.S.+ middle school soon. town is ultra sports centric, football is perennially super bowl & basketball was in state finals last few years.

[Eric H.]

I have been impressed with Walpole for many years. While it is only 18 miles to Boston, the town has its own small town identity with a well-defined, pleasant walkable town center, several ponds, open spaces to hike, a friendly spirit, lots of seasonal events, and a nice mix of suburban and some remaining semi-rural neighborhoods. I have written an extensive article on Walpole, with many photos, to give you a visual taste of the town: Downtown Walpole MA | Things to do in Walpole MA | VisitingNewEngland.com. If you like what you see, I would recommend living around the Common St. area -- easily walkable to downtown Walpole and with a few big, old homes currently for sale in your price range. I have included two photos below of Common Street, the first at the intersection of Main Street in downtown Walpole. Hope this helps!

[kingeorge]

Originally Posted by Eric H.

I have been impressed with Walpole for many years. While it is only 18 miles to Boston, the town has its own small town identity with a well-defined, pleasant walkable town center, several ponds, open spaces to hike, a friendly spirit, lots of seasonal events, and a nice mix of suburban and some remaining semi-rural neighborhoods. I have written an extensive article on Walpole, with many photos, to give you a visual taste of the town: Downtown Walpole MA | Things to do in Walpole MA | VisitingNewEngland.com. If you like what you see, I would recommend living around the Common St. area -- easily walkable to downtown Walpole and with a few big, old homes currently for sale in your price range. I have included two photos below of Common Street, the first at the intersection of Main Street in downtown Walpole. Hope this helps!

I think that there is nothing wrong with Walpole, but in interest of full disclosure you should not omit the fact that it has maximum security prison within town boundaries which repels many buyers and can hurt future resale.

[SpringMom3]

Originally Posted by kingeorge

I think that there is nothing wrong with Walpole, but in interest of full disclosure you should not omit the fact that it has maximum security prison within town boundaries which repels many buyers and can hurt future resale.

how can it hurt future resale? i would agree if the prison was built after you bought, but not before.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by traffic_lover

Mansfield has a traditional main st with a bunch of funeral homes, insurance agencies, bars (Jimmy s, catman, flynns, cheng du), hardware store, appliance store, town news, fancy italian spot, tobacco vaporizer cafe, & a black doll history museum. Its looking a tad shabby but is really really safe & walkable. Train station is at north common at one end & town municipal offices are at south common @ other end, with police around corner. Schools are great but will need new H.S.+ middle school soon. town is ultra sports centric, football is perennially super bowl & basketball was in state finals last few years.

Other than the doll museum, those businesses don't exactly sound family friendly.

I'm visualizing a suburban mom asking her child, "do you like the vaporizer cafe or the dive bar, you only get to pick one."

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by kingeorge

I think that there is nothing wrong with Walpole, but in interest of full disclosure you should not omit the fact that it has maximum security prison within town boundaries which repels many buyers and can hurt future resale.

The prison in Walpole is secluded on the far other edge of town.

Having a prison in town hasn't hurt Concord housing prices or demand and it is very obvious to all who pass through the Concord rotary. If I visit West Concord with its cute little shops at the right time, I get to see the visitors' hours parade of very prego moms and girlfriends with two or three kids in tow crossing the rotary.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

Other than the doll museum, those businesses don't exactly sound family friendly.

I'm visualizing a suburban mom asking her child, "do you like the vaporizer cafe or the dive bar, you only get to pick one."

They're restaurants, not dive bars.

[kingeorge]

I am OK to agree to disagree. People coming out of state should have all the facts, and decide for themselves if it is deal breaker or not. I am sure that most residents forget it is there.

I would hope to avoid starting any big discussion on Walpole, and its prison in general.

[knaapan]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

Other than the doll museum, those businesses don't exactly sound family friendly.

I'm visualizing a suburban mom asking her child, "do you like the vaporizer cafe or the dive bar, you only get to pick one."

Everytime I go to the Mansfield downtown on a weekend in summer, for some reason there usually some event going on and its run over by kids and their parents and would be no parking. They block of part of Main street which reduces the parking further. Definitely family friendly. Not much fun if you want to find street parking.

[MikePRU]

Walpole is nice and you can certainly get the house you describe within your budget there. If you're willing to compromise a little on the characteristics of your house, you could find something closer and more convenient to Boston.

Originally Posted by kingeorge

I think that there is nothing wrong with Walpole, but in interest of full disclosure you should not omit the fact that it has maximum security prison within town boundaries which repels many buyers and can hurt future resale.

I've probably made at least a dozen posts on this site stating the same opinion. Certainly, if anyone wants to debate over it there are 100 discussion threads on this site that can be dug up. Regardless, this is information someone coming from out of state would want to know about. It's up to that person to decide if it's a material fact or not.