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My husband and two young children are looking to relocate from Brooklyn, NY (we are originally from CT) to the Worchester/Boston area. We were looking for a town that is walkable (walk to library, schools, bakery, and restaurants), has a decent school system, friendly and active community, fairly safe, and could buy a 1,400 sq ft house for around $300K. Franklin seemed like it fits our criteria, but not sure. Could anyone please tell me a bit more about the town or other areas that might be a good fit? Thanks!
If you do a search, you will probably bring up several more.
Downtown Franklin has the train station, post office,several restaurants, banks, a furniture store and several other smaller shops plus Dean College. I'm not sure if there is currently a bakery there, though. The large grocery stores are located on opposite ends of the town in shopping centers, so you would need a car to get to those, but there is a small shuttle bus that runs from one end of town to the other.
It's probably a good town to consider given your price range and preferences.
Franklin seemed like it fits our criteria, but not sure. Could anyone please tell me a bit more about the town or other areas that might be a good fit? Thanks!
Franklin's attractive center is very walkable but much of the town is typical 'burbs (i.e. not very walkable). Still, I think Franklin is a good community -- you could do a lot, lot worse. It has good -- not great, but very good -- schools. Crime is very low.
As far as 'burbs go, the biggest rap against Franklin is that it is pretty far from Boston. Thus, if you're commuting into downtown it will be a hike. Overall I think Franklin offers more bang for the buck compared to nearby Norfolk, Plainville, Wrentham, and Bellingham (Norfolk has good lower schools but the big regional King Philip High School that serves Norfolk, Wrentham and Plainville doesn't fare as well). Franklin isn't a prestigious address, but neither is it downscale, either. It's a very pleasant middle class/upper middle class outer 'burb. I agree with CaseyB: given your price range I think Franklin would be a good town to consider.
From a parent's perspective, I know my boys played Franklin in Pop Warner. I remember the Franklin team having a lot of parent involvement. Everyone running concessions etc was very friendly and there was just a nice show of sportsmanship as kids were congratulated on a good game.
One of the elementary schools was open so parents could use the rest facilities and I remember being impressed by the building itself and the school work I saw on the walls. As has been already stated, the downtown area is very attractive. I was also struck by the mix of old and new construction and the pride of ownership that was evident throughout the town.
I moved to Franklin 3 years ago, so here is my advice.
It's a friendly town, in my experience.
I would not define it as a "walking" town, however. If you live near Dean, you can walk to the library/common/downtown areas very easily...but you will still have to hop in that car for groceries or daily shopping. The commute into Boston from Franklin (mbta) is an hour; the Franklin line is my least favorite. It stops every 5 minutes. My husband drives to Mansfield now to hop the train...it's a 30 minute ride, with a much better schedule in & out of town.
Franklin, in my opinion, is a town that experienced a nice boom in the 90's and now is struggling to find its place. There are some beautiful, upscale neighborhoods, as well as affordable ones. The newer elementary/jr. high schools are very nice (remington-jefferson, keller-sullivan, etc). Like everywhere else in this state, they are suffering from the economy...but they are still fine schools. The problem--big problem--is the high school. If you are not planning on living here that long, it wouldn't concern me. The high school is a disaster, and the town lacks the money & willing voters to do the right thing. If they don't fix the problem, the town will continue to become a less atrractive choice for home buyers...and it gives me no joy in saying this.
On the upside, Franklin is filled with a good mix of people who are welcoming and wonderful. Even knowing what I know now, I would still move here again!
We have met some of the most incredible people this state has to offer...so we welcome YOU! Best of luck in picking the right town for your family.
As for walkability, Norwood comes to mind. People say Wrentham, too. I think Westborough has possibiities. Franklin, in my experience, isn't much of a walking town--yes there's a center but with few stores and they don't have much in the way of well used parks or walking trails. There's a superabundance of beautiful walking-hiking opportunities in many Boston area towns but Franklin is pretty well built out and hasn't developed what remains for recreation (although the old reservoirs along Pleasant St are nice.) But the most walkable, as syracusa has been pointing out elsewhere, tends to be most expensive and close-in to Boston--Newton, Arlington, Brookline, Belmont, Somerville, Cambridge, etc. In general, once you get away from the areas within easy T-access to Boston, things are not very walkable. There are exceptions, mostly along the coast, especially north of Boston, where old densely built towns make for walkability. In Boston's West Roxbury and Hyde Park districts, I'll bet you could pick up a small $300K house but the city schools are at least as challenging as in NYC. People say the elementary schools are not so hard to navigate but middle and high school is tough. These districts feel much more suburban than Brooklyn, NY, but they have bus and railroad service, walkable main streets, and good local parks.
I have lived in franklin for 8 years. Im 32 and have a 1 yr. old daughter. To me, Franklin is an old school town that is still experience growing pains from a serious surge in the 90's. This is not a bad thing - I love seeing the growth - old warehouses being turned into coffee shops, etc. Like the previous post said, it had a big boom in the 90's and it seems to me the town has been trying to position itself as more metropolitan but still maintain the small town charm. I think its done a great job of this. To me, the town is a bit split. There are the old schoolers (people who grew up here and remember the days when "it was nothing but apple trees around here") and the newer young familes moving into town who enjoy the fact that there are now a couple swanky (by our standards) restaurants to choose from. It has everything from biker bars to a high end place to sip a martini. I love the charm of the town. Dean college, while not a terribly great school, is very pretty. There is a downtown square, very traditional new englandy looking. There is a farmers market in the town square every friday from spring through fall. We only own 1 car and my husband walks to the train station to go into Boston every day. For me its a good balance of surburban town but there enough going on so that you never need to go far. I literally never need to go more than 10 minutes (by car) to go run whatever errand it is I need to run. I grew up in Holliston (about 20 minutes away) and this was a bit too small for me.
It's actually a nice town. Kind of pricey, but most of Norfolk County is. It's sort of a mix of yuppie and blue collar, I guess. I think it makes more sense if you're commuting to Providence than Boston, although the commuter rail runs out there.
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