I live in Hunterdon County it's approximately 45 min to 1 hour from NYC. I suggest that you look at a map and follow Route 78 west. This road goes directly from NYC through NJ and PA. There are some beautiful areas along the way. My husband and I were thrilled when they finished Rt. 78 because it gave us a direct route to NYC. This enables us to visit NYC very quickly.

One can also pick up a train from either High Bridge or Whitehouse Station in Hunterdon County.

Better yet are Somerset and Union counties along the Gladstone line of NJ transit, the towns of Millington, Stirling, Gillette, Berkeley Heights - all are closer to NYC than the stops mentioned above and offer mid-town direct trains.

Check out the link.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks to both. I should mention that we'd be looking for a house in the $500-750K range (not exactly sure). Are all the towns along those train lines garden-worthy?

Michael,
There are trains and buses every which way. You can live in NJ, Connecticut, Long Island, New York and all have many garden worthy areas. The fact that your looking for a pedestrian feel is the harder part of the equation and that is the parameter that will narrow your list. So take a list of towns with good main streets that have residential homes with property nearby, because often the lots will be smaller and denser near a main street. Also, do you favor a certain style of home, a property size, have children in school, a population density? Rural, urban, suburban? Do you want to invest in 8' fencing to keep the deer out of your garden?
May I suggest you rent at first and take some time to get to know the area? The areas mentioned in the above posts are great but there are many other areas that are convenient to NY. Bergen, Morris, Passaic, and Essex Counties all have towns with great, garden worthy areas and are good commutes. Also, consider that the closer you are to the city in a nice neighborhood, the less you get for your money. Do you want to spend that much for a bi-level?
Define garden-worthy. Are you looking for a nice urban garden like you see in the magazines? are you happy with a line of arborvitae to block out the neighbors on your side and behind you? or are you looking for land where no one can build in back of you with long views of the mountains, flat land, slope, near the shore, Mayberry, McMansion-you can have it all in NJ. Then there is the shore area - Zone 7 instead of 6. Know that the further East and or South you are in the state, the earlier your spring starts, the longer the leaves stay on the tree. Once you hit the Appalachians, the season shortens noticeably.

That is going to be very difficult decision for you because you can live in 3-5 states and still be in commuting range of the Manhattan. You can live in NY City itself (although that may be a stretch in the price range, Long Island, Westchester county, southern Connecticut, Northern New Jersey, Central New Jersey, Philadelphia city (in PA and use AMTRAK) and even Wilmington, Delaware.

I like the same type of towns that you like. I lived in Millburn 50 x 150 lot about 30-35 minutes from midtown. You can use realtor.com and see the prices there are see what you think

The tricity states are

Thanks; all are good points, Loretta. It is difficult to define what we like without being too wordy. We actually spent a few years combing different areas of the U.S. to figure out just that, and ended up here in Evanston where I was going to school.

One of the most important things we'd like is the ability to walk places from our house; we live in a semi-urban-ish area, not a suburb design where you must get in your car to go anywhere. Mixed use and styles of architecture, varied incomes/races, progressive thinking ... it's hard to immediately identify some of these. But I know I need some land!

Our current lot is a mere 30' x 120', and more would be nicer (more veggies!), but defining the area looks like a challenge right now.

Garden-worthy areas in and around New York. . .talk about a
loaded question !

Where to start: Loretta has the very BEST suggestion of
all. . .RENT initially, don't try to buy - the choices are
just too many and too complex. I lived, and gardened, in
Manhattan for over 40 years, before taking up full time
residence out here in Monmouth County, NJ (sales pitch:
it's a great location for NYC workers - excellent bus,
train and ferry service 24/7, the proximity to the Shore,
a central Jersey location that makes Philadelphia, with its' storied gardening history and culture, just as
accessible as New York). . .Contrary to most people's
perception, New York City is a gardener's paradise: start
with Central Park, one of the most extraordinary gardens
in the world, add in the New York Botanical Garden, Wave
Hill, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the list goes on and on, ad infinitum. Don't rule out the City as your
first rental stop, particularly Brooklyn, if you want a
garden (had an apartment and gardened there for nine years!). . .check out neighborhoods like Cobble Hill,
Carroll Gardens, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and Park Slope,
which is across the street from the other great NYC park,
Prospect Park (same designers as Central Park).

If garden planting zones influence you at all, know that
you can have everything from Zone 5 in the Hudson Valley
and NW Connecticut, right on down to Zone 7 in central NJ and along the Shore.

If there is ONE area I would NOT reccommend, it is Long
Island. . .oh, there are terrific gardens and suppliers of
all kinds out there, and I do visit often, but the sheer
nightmare of getting back and forth to NYC puts me off
completely. . .there's also that knowledge that you are ON
an island and the only way off (along with millions of others), is back through the bottleneck of New York City. . .it's a good thing this is a NJ Forum or I'd be
getting hate mail in two seconds!

Actually, this whole subject of folks re-locating to New
York is something I've helped a number of friends with
over the years - but you've added a novel twist by adding gardening to the mix! Feel free to contact me directly
here on GW through My Page if you'd like more detailed information. . .but my fingers are getting tired, and there's SO much more to tell, and everyone else on this thread is nodding off. . .

Carl

Holy cow are we an opinionated bunch!

One of my best friends is a gardener in Evanston. You will delight in being one zone warmer and able to grow a bunch of new things. I'm a pro and here's my take on garden worthy towns (I used to commute to NYC).

You will have to trade off land and house size for time. Generally to live in a place similar to Evanston, you will have to commute at least 45 minutes to over an hour by train or bus in NJ, 1 hour in Connecticut and upper Westchester/Dutchess County NY and the same for Long Island. All have areas of rich gardening traditions.

I, for one, chose Morris County, NJ for it's direct and regular train service, old buildings and still open space (although it's considerably less that when I moved here.) My daily commute from here was 1 hour and 20 minutes by train and foot each way door to door. I worked in midtown. That's considered average.

Good luck.

I still think you should rent, take driving trips on the weekends for a period of time and explore. Maybe draw a circle and limit your commute to an hour, see what presents itself. You will enjoy it. Get up Saturday morning and go! Drive through towns, go to open houses. Maybe go out with realtors from different areas. Your price range gives you a lot of choices.
As a bonus, if you rent in Morris County and/or the town of Montville, you can rent a plot in a community garden and still have your veggie garden while you wait.
Now just to throw a mix at you, take a look at Ramsey in Bergen County, Chatam, Morristown, Denville in Morris County, Montclair in Essex County.

Here is a link that might be useful: Weichert

Hi Michael,

Based on this...

One of the most important things we'd like is the ability to walk places from our house; we live in a semi-urban-ish area, not a suburb design where you must get in your car to go anywhere. Mixed use and styles of architecture, varied incomes/races, progressive thinking ... it's hard to immediately identify some of these. But I know I need some land!

...you simply must check out Maplewood, NJ

MW is 20 mins from NYC's midtown, via NJTransit's "Midtown Direct" train.

We moved from an urban area and while there are many wonderful aspects of more rural and suburban areas, we too were looking for a place where we could walk to shopping, the movies, restaurants; neighborhoods where you'd find people on the sidewalks; someplace with a "hip" vibe.

Mixed use and styles of architecture? Center hall colonial? Got it. Victorian? Got it. Four square? Got it. Ranch? Got it. Dutch colonial? Got it. Tudor? Got it. Arts & Crafts? Got it. I've described most of the homes in my neighborhood.

Varied incomes/races? Got it.

Progressive thinking? Oh Lordy, yes.

One thing you didn't mention is "garden club". Got it. And there are a good number of men in the club too!

Check out the link below to see what people love about and love to fight about in Maplewood, NJ.

Here is a link that might be useful: maplewood, nj

Favorite towns in NJ that have the atmosphere you describe:

Metuchen
Montclair
Westfield

Cranford (next to Westfield) is a little more affordable, I think.

A sample of what's in Metuchen

Here is a link that might be useful: A house in Metuchen

More places to check out; thanks!

Hi Michael

We moved here from Texas and decided to lease for a year until we decided where we want to live. Unlike you (and being from Texas)walking distance to places was not something we wanted. We wanted a good school for my daughter, a big yard, nice neighbors, excellent dining and close shopping. We are leasing just that! We love Whippany (just outside Morristown)...however, we have to drive to the train station.

If this area interests you, Madison is nice quaint little town with a train station and great dining and a wonderful main street and there are many houses in your price range that are within walking distance to most everything!

Happy hunting! We love New Jersey!
Ellen

MORRISTOWN
Clifton
Fanwood
Westfield
Bridgewater (neighboring Somerville has an excellent central business district and train station)
Rutherford
Montclair (way overpriced though)
Denville

PS. Be sure to check out your prospective towns carefully first. There are a few bad areas peppered throughout NJ that you may want to steer clear of, even though they have a few big, beautiful houses for reasonable prices.

Here is a link that might be useful: NJ Towns info and demographics

I would suggest that you avoid any county seat without industry, i.e., Somerville, as the property taxes are so very high.

http://www.dunellen.com/redevelopment.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Dunellen redevelopment News Clip

YOu should definitely live in New York, why would you want to live in New Jersey? Look at Westchester County. Rye, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Sleepy Hollow: there are so many nice places to live. Yonkers has some beautiful neighborhoods, as does Mount Vernon, although in these cities you would probably send your kids to private schools. Bronxville is GORGEOUS. White Plains is a smaller city and has some wonderful areas, too, and the train is right there.

The outer boroughs of New York City are wonderful places to live as well. The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island all have lovely areas with nice homes, and yes, yards and gardens.

Forget about New Jersey.Live in New York

>>>anita55 wrote

>>>YOu should definitely live in New York,
>>>why would you want to live in New Jersey?

To avoid the NY snobs

Ha ha I have a house in New Jersey and one in New York. I'm no snob. The man will be working in New York, but I guess if he wants to live in New Jersey it's his choice. Thanks for showing YOUR true colors, Mr unpleasant.

Anita

I didn't call you a snob, but if the shoe fits....... The rest of your post isnÂt worthy of a response.

I apologize - of course the person wrote to the njgardening forum because he wants to live in new jersey. I thought he was overlooking some lovely places in ny, but reading back what i wrote does sound flippant. i'm sorry.

Peace :)

One thing you may want to consider is the taxes (real estate and state / local taxes). Real estate taxes in NJ are generally high and can vary widely - same thing for Westchester though less so in CT. If you work in Manhattan you definately don't want to live inside the city of NY as NYC's resident state and local tax burden is huge.

If you work in NY and live in NJ you generally get to credit your NY taxes paid against your NJ tax liability which helps big time. Connecticut puts a limit on the credit in such a way that makes it less attractive (I have lived in both NY, CT and NJ while working in NYC).

You may want to check with your accountant or run some scenarios using some tax software.

I would suggest Montclair.
Train station into the city.
You can walk everywhere, great places to eat, shopping, museum, theater, parks/gardens.
Progressive thinking and varied incomes/races/housing.
Look at gsmls.com
choose search for properties;
select Essex county;
select Montclair from the listing on the left;
add search criteria if you want.
You will be able to see the types of housing available.
Good Luck!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden state multiple listing service

Welcome to the East Coast, Michael in Chicago. I've travelled to and enjoyed many states, but I think my home state, NJ, is a pretty cool state. For your consideration, some information I gleaned from a talk on native plants presented yesterday to Monmouth County Master Gardeners:

New Jersey is the third smallest state in the Union, but has 1,910 vascular plant species - more than states 11 times its size.

New Jersey has five physiographic provinces, very rare. In the northwest is the ridge & valley region, then, stretching in bands essentially running northeast to southwest, the highlands region (with conditions similar to central Ohio) and piedmont region; below those, the inner coastal plain to the west, and, to the east, the outer coastal plain (with conditions similar to central Virginia).

New Jersey is at a crossroads, or intersection, in the plant world. This is where southern plants pushing the limits often reach their northernmost limits ... and where northern plants reach their southernmost. There are also species here in NJ that are also found in Canada ... but not in New York or Connecticut, as their ancestors were carried down on the leading edge of the glacier, which stopped here in New Jersey.

For anyone who likes to garden, this is pretty good stuff.

I'm a lurker, but I've lived in a lot of the towns mentioned. Based on your criteria I would say:

Maplewood
South Orange
Montclair

WEST MILFORD NJ FOR THE HIGHEST R.E. TAX

Really? I didn't find that when I was looking for houses ten years back. I have a lot of respect for W.M. and their years of fighting to preserve the watershed property.