Morris, Essex, Hudson counties (Montclair, Morristown: rentals, crime rate, home)

[Winter_fan]

My partner and I are planning to emmigrate from the UK to New Jersey shortly and have been looking particularly at Morris, Essex or Hudson counties (but are still open to suggestions), we'll be doing further research while in NJ next week, but I wanted to ask from a locals perspective which areas might suit us:
Reasonable price for intially renting (only 2 of us)
Small town feel but commutable to larger towns/cities
Friendly
Nice area to (one day) raise children
'Green' areas not too far away (eg, park or lake or similar)
Not a majorly high crime rate

If anyone has any suggestions, doesn't have to be from any of the above 3 counties, just North Jersey if poss, we'll then add them to the itinerary for next week!
Thank you

[ira]

A lot depends on what your budget is and where (location) you'll be working. Of the 3 counties you listed, Hudson is the least desirable.

[SheSellsNJ]

Ira is correct. Hudson county has the higher crime rate and is extremely urban in feel throughout. With the exception of Hudson County Park, I can't think of any 'green pastures' where you can throw a frizbee around. And, at this writing, I don't know how safe that park is anymore either or what element hangs out there.

[downtownjc]

It's a pretty big and incorrect generalization to say that there are virtually no parks in Hudson. How about Liberty State Park, Lincoln Park, or the Hudson Waterfront Walkway (all of which are pretty large)?

But yes, if you're looking for a small town feel Hudson probably isn't for you. It's more like a borough of NYC in terms of population density than a truly suburban area (although parts of Secaucus and Weehawken are pretty suburban looking).

I don't know if you'll find any truly small towns in Essex County either, although I suppose there are some larger towns with a small town feel (and for example Montclair is very nice if not really a small town).

[princetonian]

Morris, Middlesex, and Bergen counties are nice counties that are safe near NYC.

[HelgaB]

Out of the three counties you mentioned, Morris is the most safe, green, and tax-effective one. It is also the wealthiest and, in my opinion, the friendliest.

You will feel perfectly at home in Chester or Mendham, especially if you like horse-back riding, hunting, or gardening. These are very upscale (and pricey) places with true small-town atmosphere. Chester is a real countryside while Mendham has more “suburban” feel. Also, Chester has a very nice downtown area with lots of antique shops that New-Yorkers just love to visit.

The schools here are superb; both towns share the high school. Chester school science fair is recognized as the best on the entire Atlantic coast.
You can drive to the nearest city, Morristown, from Chester in just 25 minutes (15 minutes from Mendham). From Morristown, you can reach New York City by train in only 45 minutes. Another train station is located in Gladstone (5-7 minutes from both towns), but train ride to NYC from there is longer, about an hour and half.

There are many major corporate sites in the area, including Pfizer, AT&T, Verizon, to name just a few. You can find plenty of jobs here, especially in the IT or financial services field.

Since Chester is located 800 feet above the sea level, the summers here are very cool compared to the central NJ (we rarely use air conditioning), but the winters are also colder. Both summer and winter temperatures are about 10 degrees cooler than in the center of the state. And our snow is 2 inches thicker

Chester was recently profiled in NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/re...ll&oref=slogin

If you are interested, I can send you more information, including the info on rentals. Just send me a PM or e-mail me at HelgaNJ at gmail.com