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There's a prison complex on the Norfolk/Walpole town line.
It's a maximum security prison. We've debated about whether it's a negative to have in town or not. There are a few discussion threads which a quick search should turn up.
Cedar Junction in Walpole is maximum security. Norfolk is medium security.
Sorry about that. I just saw Walpole and prison in the same sentence and assumed you were talking about Cedar Junction. I completely forgot there was another prison in Norfolk.
I grew up in Walpole, lived there for 21 years and my mother was native to the area as well. I can assure you the prison has little to no effect on the daily lives of residents and it is a perfectly respectable town to live in and be from.
The prison is situated at the extreme southern end of town of Walpole and partly in the town of Norfolk, by itself; a good deal of forest surround it, especially along Winter street and only a small portion is visible from the road, along route 1-A Main street on the Walpole-Norfolk boarder. Issues relating to it are rare and the town of Walpole receives money from the state yearly, but its not talked of much. Escapes are very rare and I think the last time any inmate did so was more than 20-30 years ago now.
Walpole itself is nice, a typical old New England town for southeastern Massachusetts. Housing stock is pretty varied and there are many lovely old homes, some dating back to colonial times; there is also a reasonable amount of newer homes as well when a building boom occurred in the early 2000s. The schools are good too, as they are in the surrounding towns such as Medfield, Norwood, Norfolk, Foxborough.
Its somewhat conservative (fiscally conservative that is---socially its moderately liberal) which is typical for the area and is decidedly family oriented. North Walpole is the least built up but also the most expensive area of town. Really all the towns around Walpole are fine as well, though Medfield, Westwood, Dover, Foxborough are what I'd recommend for the immediate area aside from Walpole as the schools are very good in those towns.
Mike is right, counties are something which are rarely referred to when describing an area around MA; some county governments have been abolished here and any that still do function are very, very weak. Each town/city sets its tax rate and each is its own incorporated town/city; most have their own fire/police as well so things like county sheriffs are largely unheard of, where they even exist...you have no county/city-limit distinctions as every area of the state is incorporated within some town/city --this feature goes back to colonial times and is known as the a New England town setup.
People tend to refer to an area by a nearby larger town or highway, some feature like that. (I know this might sound weird as when I lived in other areas of the US, counties are what is so common to use when referring to an area).
Last edited by Austin023; 04-21-2014 at 10:41 PM..
Reason: typo error
Austin023, Thank you so much for the wonderful information (and for understanding the whole county reference thing)! I have been doing a lot of internet searches on the towns everyone has mentioned; climate, demographics, populations, education, etc. but hearing first hand from people who have lived in or are familiar with the area is way more informative. So again, thank you much!!
Mike is right, counties are something which are rarely referred to when describing an area around MA; some county governments have been abolished here and any that still do function are very, very weak. Each town/city sets its tax rate and each is its own incorporated town/city; most have their own fire/police as well so things like county sheriffs are largely unheard of, where they even exist...you have no county/city-limit distinctions as every area of the state is incorporated within some town/city --this feature goes back to colonial times and is known as the a New England town setup.
People tend to refer to an area by a nearby larger town or highway, some feature like that. (I know this might sound weird as when I lived in other areas of the US, counties are what is so common to use when referring to an area).
I'm not aware of any counties in this state that don't have any county government at all. As far as I know, every county in MA has governmental agencies like the registry of deeds and a sheriff for example. However, government is very very limited at the county level in this state. A sheriff in MA does not have anywhere near as many duties as a sheriff in another state. Basically, they serve legal notices and evict people. That's about it.
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