Moving to Walpole (Boston, Attleboro, Franklin: 2013, crime rate, home)

[FutureMassResident]

Hi Everyone! I'm moving to Walpole this summer, and even though I have driven around the town a few times, I still don't have a very good grasp on all there is to do. Any advice you could share on: shopping, dining, parks, entertainment, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much, in advance!

[CaseyB]

I'd consider Erik H our resident expert on Walpole. Send him an email or look at the blog on his homepage for a write-up on Walpole.

[Eric H.]

Thanks Casey B. for that nice shout out and congratulations FutureMassResident on your impending move to Walpole!

I can understand why you can't get a grasp on Walpole as the town spans 21 square miles and possesses so many different suburban and semi rural elements under one unified close-knit community vibe.

Personally, I love Walpole and here's why: the feeling is small town and friendly but yet so close to everything. From a shopping perspective, you are a short drive to the Legacy Place and Patriot Place shopping centers, South Shore Plaza and the Emerald Square Mall and the renowned Wrentham Premium Factory Outlets. A friend in the restaurant business once told me that there are more than 30,000 restaurant seats spanning from Dedham to North Attleboro, so there is no shortage of dining out options. And here's some really good news: for city life, you can easily drive to Boston and Providence. Taking downtown Walpole as the starting point, Boston is generally a 45 minute ride and Providence a half hour. Those two cities will clearly offer all the entertainment, culture and restaurant options you will ever need! Also, Cape Cod is about an hour's drive.

On its own, Walpole offers it residents quite a bit. You have more than 2,000 acres of publicly accessible land, including the 89 acre Bird Park (absolutely beautiful!), 365 acres at Adams Farm, and about 300 more at the Walpole Town Forest. Turner Pond features outdoor ice skating and a cozy lodge in the winter. On the cultural side, the Walpole Footlighters have their own theater and offer local plays to the general public.

The downtown is well defined, generally attractive and, at times, possessing a park-like setting with its three town commons. The downtown features three excellent Irish pubs in The Raven's Nest, Napper Tandy's (great pool hall downstairs!) and Finnegans's Wake, while Jalapeno's serves up excellent Yucatan cuisine, Farmer in the Dell with superb farm to table offerings, Conrad's specializing in mouthwatering steak tips, and Bianco's with take-out pizza nearly as good as what you'd find in the North End of Boston. Ginjo offers solid Asian cuisine. Red Cherry serves frozen yogurt and will soon be expanding as a cafe/restaurant. Along the way, you'll find nice downtown mom and pop shops selling quilts, home furnishings, gifts and musical instruments. Betro Pharmacy is one of the last independent drug stores in the Boston area. The owner Peter Betro pretty much knows everyone by name. Also, the new public library is fantastic -- very modern and "green" yet well aligned with Walpole's innate traditional look.

The public schools are solid with nearly 94 percent of graduating Walpole High School students going on to secondary education. The crime rate is quite low. There is a prison, but it has never been a concern for most residents we know. As the late great George Carlin once said about prison towns:

"What’s wrong with having a prison in your neighborhood? It seems to me like it would make it a pretty crime-free area, don’t you think? You think a lot of crackheads and pimps and hookers and thieves are going to be hanging around in front of a freaking prison? Nope, they ain’t coming anywhere near it!
What’s wrong with these people? All the criminals are locked up behind the walls, and if a couple of them do break out what do you think they’re going to do, hang around? Check real-estate trends? No way, they’re freaking gone! That’s the whole idea of breaking out of prison: to get as far away as you possibly can."

But I digress. What is perhaps most impressive about Walpole is the close-knit feeling. Community events happen with frequency including Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances, May's Walpole Town Day (I suggest you go to get a feeling for the town), Epiphany Church of Walpole's June Village Fair (best strawberry shortcake around!) and December's tree lighting ceremony.

We had a serious family illness in November 2013 -- everything is OK now, thank goodness. We never asked for anything but for almost 30 days in a row, residents came by with meals cooked for us. When I was feeling sad thinking of my loved one suffering, I would often walk downtown to go for a walk or for a bite to eat and there was always someone asking me how things were and offering words of encouragement. We learned that this is an incredibly thoughtful community and never, ever to take that for granted. It is something to embrace.

While Walpole has a bit of "It's a Wonderful Life" personality, I want to be realistic and tell you that it is not Camelot. No place is, and that must be kept in mind no matter where one moves. The downtown could have a mix of better stores. The tax rate is high. South of downtown is not that great looking with its junk yards and frayed open spaces. The prison presents a perception issue for some.

I don't know about you, but, to me, the greatest things in life do not involve being impressed. I would almost always prefer feeling a connection. And that's what, for many, Walpole is all about -- feeling a connection to the town. I have lived in a few places -- some with high profiles that are media darlings -- but none come close to the friendly, welcoming feeling of Walpole. Additionally, my job involves travel writing so I get to visit quite a few towns and cities in the northeast. Walpole kind of reminds me of the friendly Upstate New York towns. The great thing is, though, that you are close to everything so ultimately it is the best of both worlds -- that is so close to the city and in a setting that is decidedly small town. And if you don't feel like traveling to the city or staying in Walpole on a given day, use the nearby towns to find something to do. Norwood, Medfield, Foxboro, Franklin Millis, Norfolk, Sharon and Wrentham are all great towns that have their own special qualities and things to do.

I hope this helps. I'll leave you with a few photos of Walpole...

Common Street in downtown Walpole:


Downtown during Christmas:


North Walpole:


Adams Farm:


Bird Park:


Turner Pond:

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Eric H.

Personally, I love Walpole and here's why: the feeling is small town and friendly but yet so close to everything. From a shopping perspective, you are a short drive to the Legacy Place and Patriot Place shopping centers, South Shore Plaza and the Emerald Square Mall and the renowned Wrentham Premium Factory Outlets.

Don't forget about the new University Station shopping center in Westwood. There's a brand new Target there and a Wegman's supermarket opening there in the very near future.

[Gold77]

If you like Chinese Food. Kihei is the best.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Gold77

If you like Chinese Food. Kihei is the best.

Is that in Walpole? For my money, I would take a drive to Stoughton which is just around the corner and go to Chinatown. Definitely one of the top Chinese restaurants in the state (outside of Chinatown) IMO.

[Eric H.]

The Kihei is really good, but, yeah, Chinatown in Stoughton is in a class of its own.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Eric H.

The Kihei is really good, but, yeah, Chinatown in Stoughton is in a class of its own.

I bump into #56 Andre Tippet there all the time. It's one of his favorite restaurants.

Speaking of local legend restaurants . . . everyone I know who grew up down that way LOVES Town Spa Pizza also located in Stoughton. Every year the restaurant seems to be on the news because some guy drives up from Florida who grew up in the area. He drives back down with his car loaded with 100's of pizzas.

Of course not to be missed is Crescent Ridge Dairy in Sharon which is undisputedly THE BEST ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD. The chocolate jimmies (sprinkles to you non-New Englanders) are amazing and actually taste like chocolate instead of just sugar. Always, always order a kiddie size. It's more than sufficient for even the heartiest appetite. You can tell when someone's new there because they order a small and when it gets handed to them they always say "how am I going to eat all this??"

[Dm84]

I'm not a huge fan of Chinatown. Town spa is great.

Fyi- Crescent Ridge just introduced a "tot" size since even the mini kiddie is too big. While I like Crescent Ridge it is crazy expensive.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Dm84

I'm not a huge fan of Chinatown. Town spa is great.

Funny, I would have said the reverse . . . Town Spa is OK and Chinatown is great. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

Originally Posted by Dm84

Fyi- Crescent Ridge just introduced a "tot" size since even the mini kiddie is too big. While I like Crescent Ridge it is crazy expensive.

Really? That's interesting. I could see them needing a smaller size as even the kiddie size is pretty generous. I haven't been over there yet this year but the last few times I've been I've just gone into the store and bought tubs of ice cream to take home.

Most ice cream stores expensive IMO. JP Licks, Lizzy's, Bubbling Brook, Richardson's, etc. I wouldn't call any of them cheap. You could buy a gallon of decent ice cream in the supermarket for what you'll pay for a cone at many of these places.