North Andover: tell me what you know! (Boston, Tewksbury: homes, neighborhood)

[buglalane]

We're considering a move to North Andover. We want more land than we currently have (in the city), a bigger house, and better school system. We know a little bit but not a lot about that area.

Any information you can provide me is much appreciated.

[chris]

mid to upper class - very nice area. There's a prep school close by that has a good rep (Andover Academy but someone plz correct me if I'm wrong) and the area has always been very desireable. Very small town feeling but plenty of conveniences close by. Most everyone I knew there was very friendly and nice (in a way, not so typical for being that close to metro Beantown).

Land might be at a serious premium there, I don't remember much open land but not so crowded that it still felt very country like.

I'm curious as to what others think of it, since I haven't been there in a while. Whether or not it's maintained that feeling or if it's gotten better/worse.

[CityGirl52]

For the past 3 years I worked in Andover seasonally from January to June. I took a few rides all through this area when I was early for the job through Andover and No. Andover. It was mainly to shop, because they have a Chico's located on Turnpike Street in No. Andover as well as some other interesting shops to check out. My opinion of No. Andover is that it seems to have a little more land between the homes as opposed to Andover. May be I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got of it. Although Andover is quite charming and has a lot of New England character, especially as you get closer to their town and near the campus of Phillips Andover Academy and of course the famous Andover Inn where I had the pleasure of dining this past winter, if you're ever in the area stop in for lunch or dinner, it's quite nice. There appears to be a lot of "old money" and older New Englanders as well as quaint & of course stunning colonials in through the town of Andover. The "old money" is definitely what you see a lot of in Andover as opposed to No. Andover; where they seem to have newer developments and sub-divisions all through here.

As far as the school systems in both Andover and No. Andover, I don't have kids but I do know from working with people from Andover and No. Andover that do have kids; they tell me the school systems are the best in the state and I've heard that comment several times from quite a lot of people that know and I can see that it is. If you can afford a home in Andover by all means you go for it girl! If you can get a home in No. Andover? If I were in your shoes? I would tell you the same thing. If you want your kids some day to go to Phillips Andover Academy and if they graduate from there? They will be a graduate from quite a prestigious school. For example the President of the United States, George W. Bush graduated from there, as well as his father, George H.W. Bush and so didn't Jeb Bush the Governor of Florida. Did you ever hear of the actor Dan Delany? Well he graduated from this school as well. He was in China Beach and Exit to Eden. The famous author Oliver Wendall Holmes graduated from this school, he wrote the book The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. The actor Jack Lemmon from "The Odd Couple" went there and so didn't John F. Kennedy Jr. the son of John F. Kennedy and so didn't Patrick Joseph Kennedy the Congressman from Rhode Island. The Screenwriter of "Mash" Ring Lardner, Jr. and also the Producer of Law & Order **** Wolf graduated from this school. Olivia Wilde the actor that was in Skin went there too. Did you ever hear of Bill Veeck? Well he's the owner of the Chicago White Sox, he went there too. One more that you might have heard of is Humphrey Bogart from the movie "Casablanca". There were more but I won't list them all. Jay Leno actually was born in New Rochelle, NY but he was raised in Andover, MA and sometimes you hear him talking about living in Andover on his show!

Good luck wherever you decide to live, there's also Tewksbury that's very nice as well, so don't rule out the surrounding towns, they're all basically convenient to get in to Boston and also to get up to the White Mountains for skiing. It's the best of both worlds living just to the north of Boston, it has a lot of advantages that you'll really like a lot!

[smarty]

Many people think Andover and N. Andover is the same. They are different towns. The MCAS test scores are higher in Andover compare to North Andover. Also Andover has 88% of kids going to 4 year college vs N. Andover's 75%.

The 4 catagories of percentages are Advance; Proficient; Need Improvement; Fail

N. Andover GRADE 10 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 20% 59% 16% 5%
Andover GRADE 10 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 21% 67% 10% 2%


N. Andover GRADE 10 - MATHEMATICS 52% 24% 15% 9%
Andover GRADE 10 - MATHEMATICS 68% 20% 8% 3%

Last of all, everyone thinks their district is the best district. Their school is the best school. Their kid is the smartest kid.

[scolon228]

Andover- upscale neighborhood, notable schools system. extreme housing costs. the comment about old money is accurate. I have lived in the area for 26 years.