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They arent complete, but the poll is prestigious. I dont really consider NNJ Suburbs as prestigious as SWCT, Westchester, Main Line, Metro West Boston, North Shore Boston and even LI. But prestigious doesnt have to have a purely positive attribute.
MetroWest is just a continuous 40+ towns of inflated home prices, mansions, NIMBYist, classist a*hles and country clubs. NNJ is not like this, its definitely more inclusive and although until recently may have been just as wealthy, also had more diversity in its wealth. Even in towns like Short Hills and Summit. If they tried making MetroWest more urban, there would be another Battle of Lexington and Concord.
I dont mean to bash MetroWest, but to me its not even the nicest part of Greater Boston.
But the towns are all well-maintained, and don't have many amenities. A few pockets of more mundane middle class but still with inflated homevalues.
NJ is more inclusive yes but they're also more complete, neat, better acces to the city. Im saying they may not be as prestigious but they're better IMO. I think they're just as wealthy as MA towns. NJ does have a higher median income after all.
That's a solid argument. I am not as familiar with the Boston towns, but one positive for CT and the Main Line that sticks out to me is the connectivity, several towns that are a part of one large area. I am guessing the Boston burbs in this thread follow that setup. NNJ seems more disconnected (still very nice though).
The Main Line has similarities to West Chester and Gold Coast CT, but quintessential Pennsylvania in terms of the architecture and heavy use of field stone on most homes. I love stone homes and The Main Line has no shortage of those. The Main Line also has a main road (Lancaster Ave, Route 30) that takes you from one end to the other and it runs generally parallel with the train line. And there are several little downtowns every few miles surrounded by leafier streets. And of course there is a huge legacy of notable institutions, wealth, and an independent culture from other suburbs, but a little more understated than its CT counterpart.
NNJ lacks a lot of that. Now that I think about it, I would def place Metrowest Boston ahead of NNJ.
The thing about Boston's western suburbs is that they don't strike me as a coherent or even continuous whole the way the Main Line, southwest Fairfield County or LI's North Shore do. I'd say that the suburbs of North Jersey headed west and south from Montclair also hold together better, and Montclair is probably more urbane than the town centers of any Metrowest suburb save Brookline.
BTW, your inner Philadelphian-ness is showing with your using two words when you're speaking of the county north of the Bronx. That "Westchester" is just one word.
The thing about Boston's western suburbs is that they don't strike me as a coherent or even continuous whole the way the Main Line, southwest Fairfield County or LI's North Shore do. I'd say that the suburbs of North Jersey headed west and south from Montclair also hold together better, and Montclair is probably more urbane than the town centers of any Metrowest suburb save Brookline.
BTW, your inner Philadelphian-ness is showing with your using two words when you're speaking of the county north of the Bronx. That "Westchester" is just one word.
I think that's fair. To be sure, there's definitely a significant amalgamation of abutting, wealthy towns in Metrowest (thinking of Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Wayland, Lincoln, Sudbury, Concord, Carlisle, Lexington, Acton, Boxborough, Harvard, and Dover specifically, etc.).
But in comparison to the Main Line area, which tends to have pretty concrete geographical awareness (at least, in most cases) and has formed its identity literally from a pretty linear railroad corridor, Metrowest is a little more amorphous if you will, and not nearly as identifiable geographically.
The Main Line identity is also very "village" based, with inter or intra-municipal communities like Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Wayne, etc., so I think that overlays some more overlapping cohesion, as well. This is in opposed to the New England City/Town structure, which is fiercely rigid and independent in character and often in practice. Township/Borough identity in Pennsylvania, while it obviously exists for local government, is generally more "fluid" in feel.
I voted the Main Line, based on historical significance and name recognition.
The Gold Coast, CT & Gold Coast, NY and The Main Line all though are about equal to me in stature.
They are the bastions of Old Money in America (along with metrowest in the Northeast)
The Main Line, has some unique character with its predominate use of Pennsylvania Fieldstone Architecture, and its social clubs that highly reflect British traditions.
You have the Radnor Horse Show, The Radnor Hunt Club (Fox Hunting), The Brandywine Polo Club, Merion Cricket Club.
Im not saying the other prestigious suburbs listed above do not have a string of prominent social clubs. But The Main Lines are the most British in tradition.
Even The Main Line villages have a British flair with its village layout and stone house farm architecture.
Here is an example of a new construction custom home that really reflects the Main Line style.
I’d have to go with Connecticut here. The suburbs are some of the most posh in the country, and the world. Even Main Line can’t compare with the six figure millionaire and billionaire status of many who live there.
Northern NJ should absolutely be on this list, too.
I voted the Main Line, based on historical significance and name recognition.
The Gold Coast, CT & Gold Coast, NY and The Main Line all though are about equal to me in stature.
They are the bastions of Old Money in America (along with metrowest in the Northeast)
The Main Line, has some unique character with its predominate use of Pennsylvania Fieldstone Architecture, and its social clubs that highly reflect British traditions.
You have the Radnor Horse Show, The Radnor Hunt Club (Fox Hunting), The Brandywine Polo Club, Merion Cricket Club.
Im not saying the other prestigious suburbs listed above do not have a string of prominent social clubs. But The Main Lines are the most British in tradition.
Even The Main Line villages have a British flair with its village layout and stone house farm architecture.
Here is an example of a new construction custom home that really reflects the Main Line style.
Even prominent $5 Million Plus new construction custom homes, reflect this Pennsylvania Fieldstone Farmhouse Architecture.
You really could think you were in the UK with large areas of it. It is, I would say the most unique of those in the poll and why I voted for it.
The Main Line definitely feels older than a lot of the others. Gold Coast LI and Westchester definitely have the British look but not quite the culture and feel excluding a few towns. Gold Coast, CT definitely has that British look and feel, along with a lot of big big bank accounts.
I voted the Main Line, based on historical significance and name recognition.
The Gold Coast, CT & Gold Coast, NY and The Main Line all though are about equal to me in stature.
They are the bastions of Old Money in America (along with metrowest in the Northeast)
The Main Line, has some unique character with its predominate use of Pennsylvania Fieldstone Architecture, and its social clubs that highly reflect British traditions.
You have the Radnor Horse Show, The Radnor Hunt Club (Fox Hunting), The Brandywine Polo Club, Merion Cricket Club.
Im not saying the other prestigious suburbs listed above do not have a string of prominent social clubs. But The Main Lines are the most British in tradition.
Even The Main Line villages have a British flair with its village layout and stone house farm architecture.
Here is an example of a new construction custom home that really reflects the Main Line style.
Even prominent $5 Million Plus new construction custom homes, reflect this Pennsylvania Fieldstone Farmhouse Architecture.
You really could think you were in the UK with large areas of it. It is, I would say the most unique of those in the poll and why I voted for it.
Massachusetts has no county government at all. The courts and some of the services are county based but cities and towns are all financially independent. They each have their own school system. They use zoning to keep the riffraff out. Any proposal for low income housing not targeted at seniors will be a fight to the death. High density housing even remotely affordable to the unwashed masses will be similarly opposed. It's how you have gold plated towns sharing a border with a disaster city or low income town with a horrible school system.
Anyways, I'd pick the top NYC tri-state suburbs since that's the most affluent city in the country. I have Vermont ski friends from all the fancy suburbs. It's splitting hairs picking between the best of North Jersey, Westchester, Nassau, and lower Fairfield. The financial industry is where all the money is. Do I have to pick one? I guess Greenwich.
Massachusetts has no county government at all. The courts and some of the services are county based but cities and towns are all financially independent. They each have their own school system. They use zoning to keep the riffraff out. Any proposal for low income housing not targeted at seniors will be a fight to the death. High density housing even remotely affordable to the unwashed masses will be similarly opposed. It's how you have gold plated towns sharing a border with a disaster city or low income town with a horrible school system.
Anyways, I'd pick the top NYC tri-state suburbs since that's the most affluent city in the country. I have Vermont ski friends from all the fancy suburbs. It's splitting hairs picking between the best of North Jersey, Westchester, Nassau, and lower Fairfield. The financial industry is where all the money is. Do I have to pick one? I guess Greenwich.
Massachusetts has no county government at all. The courts and some of the services are county based but cities and towns are all financially independent. They each have their own school system. They use zoning to keep the riffraff out. Any proposal for low income housing not targeted at seniors will be a fight to the death. High density housing even remotely affordable to the unwashed masses will be similarly opposed. It's how you have gold plated towns sharing a border with a disaster city or low income town with a horrible school system.
Anyways, I'd pick the top NYC tri-state suburbs since that's the most affluent city in the country. I have Vermont ski friends from all the fancy suburbs. It's splitting hairs picking between the best of North Jersey, Westchester, Nassau, and lower Fairfield. The financial industry is where all the money is. Do I have to pick one? I guess Greenwich.
Yup I've been going up to Vermont for decades and more than a few of my trips were with the aforementioned described. I'll take Saddle River.
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