Tell me about Summit, NJ.

New Yorker here - my family is from that neck of the woods.

I love Summit. It’s right next to Short Hills but I kind of like Summit better - it’s older (far fewer tear downs of orignal homes) and quieter. It’s the furthest East of all the really nice towns (is closest to Newark and Elizabeth; it’s in Union County Which it wishes it weren’t), but it couldn’t feel further away.

Now, Short Hills has a much better school system so unless you’re definitely sending your children to private school (Kent Place, Pingry), you’re better off in Short Hills for those purposes.

Anyway, they’re neighboring towns and they’re both lovely.

Btw, I thought M was from Bernardsville? (A lot of my family is there as well - it’s also where “big Pingry” is).

It says on IMDB and Wikipedia that she is from Summit. (she may have just been born there and they moved later on. I don't know where IMDB and Wiki consider a person to be "from".)

I always say I'm from the place I went to school and high school even though I was born and lived some place else until I was four.

Who is M?

The upscale Short Hills Mall had a murder a few Christmases ago. It was a carjacking gone really bad.

I love r3.

R4. Thank you for reminding everyone. You have class.

M refers to OP's mom, obvious only to his self-involved self.

Later for M. Ice-T is from Summit.

R1

My dad went to Pingry, back when it was in Hillside. We lived in Summit when I was two, then Chatham.

[quote]Who is M?

Part of the problem.

R1. I grew up in Chatham too, both the Borough and Township I liked it very much.

r7 must be new in town

I grew up in Chatham too. I was born in Chatham Boro and later we moved to Chatham Township.

"Murder At The Mall" starring Tori Spelling Sat on Lifetime.

[QUOTE] I was born in Chatham Boro

Not enough time for your mom to get to Overlook?

It has the state's oldest continuously running community theater.

I live in Chatham, five minutes from Summit but in Morris county. It's a really nice area. Lol R15, I'm not R13 but my daughter was born in Overlook.

Didn't Pingry just have a huge sexual abuse scandal, spanning back decades?

My mother is from Short Hills and my grandparents still live there, so I'm familiar with Summit.

It is, as others have noted, the Christian counterpart to heavily Jewish Short Hills. Both have lots of large older houses (1920s vintage), lots of well off residents (heavy on the Wall Street crew) and good schools.

IIRC, the reason Millburn schools (SH is part of Millburn Twp, it's actually about 2/3 of Millburn Twp) are considered so good is that Millburn is almost all upper middle class and above, while there's a section of Summit that's more working class and heavily Latino.

Summit has a charming and sizable downtown for suburbia with a hotel and lots of restaurants and upscale shops. We go there to eat with my grandparents a lot and also to the movies sometimes. (I grew up in Manhattan, so not far away.)

The vibe in all those towns (Millburn/Short Hills, Summit, Chatham) is far more Martha Stewart than Carmela Soprano.

Trivia: "Goodbye, Columbus," Philip Roth's novel and the basis for the movie, is set in Short Hills.

Also-- how random that several DLers live in Chatham, which is a wealthy, very family oriented suburb.

Especially since Maplewood, which is the gay suburb (lots of gay families, crosswalks are painted rainbow for Pride month) is right nearby-next town closer to NYC from Millburn

I grew up in Chatham but as a young gayling I moved to NYC right after college and have been here ever since. Great place to grow up but a little too Republican for me, although that is now changing somewhat.

Got it R20

What are you doing there R17?

Or are you female?

I lived in Chatham (borough) ages 3 - 13. (60s/70s)

Funny story: years ago at a party, I met another guy who was a kid in Chatham first thing I said to him was "Borough or Township?" His partner, who was from New England, said with some exasperation, "Why does everyone ALWAYS ask that right away?"

Back when I lived there, Summit and Madison were both in the real world, but Chatham was like the Land That Time Forgot, frozen in the Norman Rockwell post-war years. But my Dark Shadows paperbacks at the Park pharmacy near the Acme.

Getting back to Summit, I understand that the less affluent part of town is below Overlook on the way to Springfield?

R17 here, I found this place looking for gossip after Harvey Levin turned out to be such a Trump humper, and stayed for the pointless bitchery and laughs. I'm from the UK, so your humour is right up my alley (Ooh Vicar!).

I am a woman R21, but don't hold it against me. :P

R17 = R23 and R24.

Academy Award Winner Anne Hathaway talks of her days at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn NJ

I checked out some of the Summit houses - they look like "Leave It to Beaver" type homes.

What is New Providence like?

It's a nice bedroom community, a sort of a satellite or extension of Summit.

It's nice R28, decent restaurants and stores.

Many are much larger than "Leave It To Beaver" style if you mean 1950s suburbia, Most homes in the greater area were built between 1890 and 1930, and so they're far more Norman Rockwell looking and in Summit and Short Hills many are mansion-like and sell for several million dollars and up. This is a renovated house in Summit that DL's "tasteful friends" would likely approve of

And that's a Short Hills house at around the same price point, also from around 100 years ago but updated.

[quote]It's a nice bedroom community, a sort of a satellite or extension of Summit.

No kitchens?

They do seem like some nice suburbs. I like Montclair too. I just don’t think I could live with the stigma of NJ - and the traffic and Jersey Shore types.

In those areas you would never see the Jersey shore types. I doubt the traffic's any worse than in other upscale areas in the northeast.

Morris County NJ >>>>>> Fairfield County CT

R34 Montclair is more... socioeconomically diverse.

The Jersey Shore types are mostly from Staten Island. Not a single person I know is like that here in Morris county R35. Well Snooki moved here with her Jersey Shore money, but we snub her. Trashy.

Chris Christie lives in Mendham, but I think of him as pure Verona! Curious, which town did Madame Snooki move to? (Parsippany would be fitting)

Florham Park R39, that trashy Cake Boss guy lives there too.

That's too bad as I always liked Florham Park. Nouveaux are everywhere these days though. My dad's family was from New Vernon.

New Vernon is so pretty R41, it reminds me of the English countryside.

I grew up in Short Hills and lived there most of my life. I just moved to Summit a year ago.

Summit is one of the most beautiful towns in NJ...it's filled with classic homes from the late 19th century and early 20th century. Short Hills by comparison...has a lot more overpriced split levels homes which are being leveled on a daily basis at this point. Short Hills was as always as much an Irish Catholic community as it was a Jewish community...the Catholic Church is one of the largest in the area and one of the most affluent in the nation. The town...which really includes Millburn...is now about 35 % Asian... Summit is really, really WASPY...I miss Millburn Short Hills.

But the nicest townin the area is Maplewood...the people are much nicer...it's more diverse in every way...the houses aren't as grand...but there are beautiful neighborhoods. South Orange also has some amazing architecture...it's often associated with Maplewood...they share a high school. Millburn Short Hills and Summit are strictly Wall Street suburbs at this point in time.

Maplewood is a very cool town R43. Morristown is nice too, lots of new bars and restaurants in the last few years.

DL heartthrob Patrick Wilson lives in Montclair.

Really R45? Now I really like Montclair

How is Madison?

At the end of the day it's still New Jersey.

Madison is interesting as it's a hybrid of WASP and Italian.

Is Meryl's childhood home open to the public? Are there tours? Can you touch the Oscars?

Madison is much like Chatham but slightly more diverse, and I mean very slightly. Nice town.

A decent amount of what you've said is not true R43

While the part of Summit that sits across Route 24 from a similar area of Short Hills is " filled with classic homes from the late 19th century and early 20th century" most of the town has the same overpriced post split-levels and smaller colonials and Capes that make up a slightly lesser percentage of Millburn/Short Hills, if for no other reason than Millburn is much smaller than Summit, which is why Summit's downtown is much larger and more of a destination. (See link for example of overpriced Summit postwar )

And (from my mother who grew up there) while Short Hills was originally very WASPy, there was a decent sized Irish Catholic community, but the town became very Jewish in the mid-80s and even more so after they started direct train service in the 90s. The Jews are now being rapidly replaced by Asians (Chinese and Indians) who move there because of the schools and (as per a recent DL thread) pay cash for the houses, and so younger Jewish families are now starting to move to (wait for it) Summit and Chatham.

[quote]Short Hills became very Jewish in the mid-80s

Don't you mean the '60s?

[quote]At the end of the day it's still New Jersey.

At the end of the day, most of America is Hooterville, which makes NJ more attractive than most other states in the country.

I'd rather be in the NY metro area than any of the country's other metro areas.

LOL R53. According to my mother, there's been a significant Jewish population in Short Hills since the 1950s (hence Brenda and the Patimkins) but by mid-80s it shot up to close to or over 50%, at least in the schools. I've seen her yearbook, it's pages of Cohens, Schwartzes and Goldbergs. Prior.to that, Livingston had been ground zero for Jews in that part of NJ.

R53 I was a teenager in Union County in the 1960s, and many of my Jewish friends’ families wanted to move to Short Hills. Most of them called it Millburn, however, which SH is a section of.

Yes R56, my grandfather's big joke is "Millburn is a polite way of saying Short Hills"

Get off my lawn!

Looking at listings, seems like Montclair has a lot more classic homes than Summit. Summit looks like 80% post-war dreck - prototypical NJ. Short Hills looks nicer too - though crazy expensive. Montclair seems like a nice mix of classic homes that aren’t crazy expensive.

Montclair is very pretty R59 and there's one road up there on the top of a hill where you have killer views of the Manhattan skyline in the distance. (Had a friend from camp who lived there.) The town of Montclair is very big too with a lot of trendy and/or ethnic restaurants (notable because it's suburbia.) There's also a college there.

The houses are much cheaper than Millburn/Short Hills because of the schools. Supposedly there are some rough sections of Montclair which is why my friend and a lot of other kids who lived on the hillside went to private school.

Fun fact re: Montclair

My dad was born at Mountainside Hospital, where the maternity ward is across the street so that births are actually in the borough of Glen Ridge.

Just found this, which puts a lot of the conversation in perspective for people not familiar with northern NJ.

According to Bloomberg's 2017 rankings of 100 Richest Places To Live In America:

Chatham - #72

Summit - #70

Upper Montclair- #49

Short Hills - #5

So does Upper Montclair have better schools than plain Montclair? Really liking the house listings there - and seems cheaper and prettier than Short Hills

Wikipedia says no R63

"Upper Montclair is in the township of Montclair and is served by the Montclair Public Schools. More than a quarter of the district's schools are found in Upper Montclair."

Intersesting R62.

Wasn’t Tom Cruise from Glen Ridge?

With the exception of Upper Saddle River I’ve never been a fan of the wealthy areas in Bergen - they don’t have that same charming feel. And it feels more Sopranos RHONJ to me (speaking of that, has anyone here ever been to The Manor)?

DL favorite The Family Stone was filmed in Madison NJ even though it was supposed to take place in New England. In & OUT was filmed in NJ also, even though it took place in “Greenleaf Indiana.”

It’s funny that when a movie calls for a picture perfect town, they will very often film in NJ, but it will almost never actually take place in NJ.

You can just tell what an uptight, uppity bitch she was in high school....

Ridgewood seems nice enough, R66.

Joisey loses point for Rt.22 in Union alone. You take your life in your hands just going to ShopRite. Just crazy.

Can you explain that R69? Is Union a high-crime area?

They make great martinis at Roots Steakhouse.

Mondo's is a cute, New-Age-y place with good coffee that also presents good dramatic productions and cabaret in its spaces.

Winberie's is always good for a quick, cheap meal. And one of the maître d's is just too good-looking for words.

Fox News has several on air personalities living in Summit

LOL. Yes they do make great martinis at Roots, R71

That is my grandparents favorite restaurant and why I am familiar with Summit as per my reply at R18

And that is not surprising R72. Though Summit overall--that whole swath of NJ--went blue in 2016.

When I lived in New Jersey I knew an otherwise fear less b itch who would cringe at the mention of Route 22, whimpering "Death Highway!"

[quote]Can you explain that [R69]? Is Union a high-crime area?

No' it's a major highway lined with stores, banks restaraunts, everythinh but stop lights. You have to literally sit there and wait for a spot shoot out into running traffic to get on the road. If what you want is on the other side, you have to get on a turn around and o nce again sit until you shoot in.

There are videos people have shot, this is one and believe me there is no one on the road on this video but usually it's hundreds of cars zooming by.

Thanks for that R75.

That is crazy! I wonder why no one's every tried to make it safer. (Actually I don't now that I think about who runs NJ)

I live in Chatham currently. The borough. ACtually the mayor is gay and black so times have changed a bit. Still pretty racist bc you get the Philly influence. Why are so many ppl from philly racist. Everyone here went to Villanova. The high school is consistently rated top 1 or 2 on the he state. Many Asian family’s therefore have started to move in. Summit downtown is nicer game chathams and bigger. Summit is more of a city and the high school is somewhat sketchy-locals go private usually. Summit playhouse is a great place to perform shows. Tiny stage but very charming

R77-- are you the British woman from Chatham who is R17/R23?

Or are there two DLers posting from a lovely-but-tiny NJ suburb with minimal gay population?

I grew up in Chatham and going to Canoe Brook Country Club which is now very fancy. Yes, the mayor of Chatham Bruce Harris is a black gay man.

Which is funny only if you grew up in Chatham in the 70s and 80s. And 90s.

“Diversity” meant an Ivy League-educated Asian person

Wow. So unless you are all the same person posting multiple times, the number of DLer both hailing form Chatham and living there now is pretty impressive.

Must be the gay black mayor.

I bet Maplewood is jealous.

I am convinced that growing up off of Rt. 22 is why I hate driving. Horrid, unnatural activity. I used to drive into the city a lot, and as a result, have always preferred public transportation.

R1 when describing physical distance, use farther and farthest. Easy to remember, they begin with Far.

I'm the guy who was in Chatham in the 1960s and 70s. My mom explained to me that the borough was a very conservative place as many of the residents had southern roots.

R52

While your mother might have grown up there...whenever...I lived in the town for 48 years....through 2017. What I said is true...your mother's childhood notwithstanding... I went through the school system...kindergarden through high school. And I grew up in a household with two parents who were very involved with civic affairs and the Board of Education.

I'm not sure what you took issue with...but if you have never lived in the town...I'm not sure why you are such an expert on the place.

The house you picked out in Summit couldn't be less indicative of what most houses in Summit look like...you can go into Zillow and find an exception to the rule in any community in the United States.

You need to find out more from someone other than your mother...I'm assuming she hasn't lived in the town for a while.

[quote] you can go into Zillow and find an exception to the rule in any community in the United States.

Or you can go to realtor.com and find 38 exceptions. Out of 72 houses for sale

I grew up in both Chathams in the 60s to early 80s. My family had a beach house on Long Beach Island. We also were able to travel to Europe as a family of 4 and often went into NYC for Broadway and other events. The first house my parents purchased in 1963 in Chatham Borough cost $4500 and the house they sold in the Twp in 2010 was over a million. My father was a college graduate with no graduate degrees and my mother was a secretary. He commuted into NYC for work in finance. Getting into Chatham was so much easier then. Money went so much farther in those days for working families. I have a law degree and would need a bucket of cash for a down payment on a simple house there. Can't afford to live where I grew up, so just feel lucky to have gotten a head start in life living there. The American dream of upward mobility is pretty much out of reach for most of us, unless you have two incomes, no student debt, and a family to help with a large down payment.

Lol R78! I'm the British woman from Chatham birough, I did a double take too and checked the date in that post. Hi fellow Chathan it R77. That's so weird, but kind of cool.

Borough, ^R87.

Christ, sorry about all the typos- R87.

We moved to Chatham Borough in 1963, R86.

Lol - it’s true, everyone at Villanova is from that area of North Jersey it seems.

R86 yeah ...none of us can. I grew up in a 9 room duplex on East 72nd...so much for that. Were in a Junior 4 now and we’re almost definitely not having kids - it’s crazy and just a little sad.

A lot go go Fairfield in CT too R91, but yes the Villanova thing is weird around here.

How in heck is Great Neck not on that list? And Riverside (shit) and Cos Cob (shittier) are? Interesting.

It’s telling that N.J. has by far the most inclusions of any NY suburb. Surprised Princeton wasn’t on the list - maybe because the professor concentration brought the median income down, but that said, home there are by far more $$ than any where else in the state, Short Hills included.

Amy Sacco hails from Chatham so idk was there a more working class section of the town?

r93 tell me about Fairfield. I almost applied there for some reason that I don't quite remember now. Something about it appealed to me. They must have had a good brochure.

Hate to break it to r94, but academics often make boatloads or money: books, lectures, boards, etc.

Particularly academics from places like Princeton. Or so I would imagine.

I'm thinking that whoever put those stats together likely counted grad students living in Princeton housing as residents, and since grad students make almost no money, that brought the overall income down. (As for Great Neck R94, lots of cash businesses + lots of apartments)

According to realtor.com, there's not much difference in pricing between Short Hills and Princeton--lots of houses over $2MM, they seem to be around the same size although the Princeton houses have considerably more land, which makes sense as it it further away from NYC. (Though to be fair, this may just be indicative of what is for sale right now versus overall.)

Who is buying those houses in Princeton though? I had friends who went to college there and it's about an hour on the express train to NYC, though if you don't catch an express it's more like 90 minutes. Do people do that commute daily?

It's likely that many people who live 60/90 minutes from the city don't have to do that commute daily. Senior management/executives don't punch the same time clock as the rest of us. And you can get a lot of work done in the club car of the express; it's pretty civilized. There are also plenty of people who don't commute at all; they run foundations or write books or otherwise are self-employed.

LOL. There's no "club car" on NJ Transit R99, but the seats are comfortable enough, and if you're a CEO, "working from home" is not usually an option

Princeton is small enough that if likely attracts people who don't need to go into NYC every day, plus there are a large number of pharma companies based in NJ where Princeton is likely an easy commute

If you're a CEO, you're probably not traveling on NJ transit, r100.

Yeah Princeton is a ton of doctors and pharmacy people. Know a lot of doctors at Penn who live there. I don’t think there are a lot of NYC commuters. That’s more Short Hills. Princeton proper residents work in pharma or medicine and are well educated. Some Princeton profs - one of the few schools that can pay a good enough salary to afford to buy a $1MM+ house.

It's not the academic salary; it's the extra $$ perks that come from publishing and speaking.

That's not true at all R101

Plenty of CEOs take MetroNorth, NJTransit or the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan if they live in suburbia.

The trains are far more efficient than driving (even if you're being driven) --you can get in and out of the city in less than half the time during rush hours

Thanks R102, that's what I suspected.

Jesus, why are we bickering over how CEOs get to the office? Ridiculous.

Amy Sacco is from Chatham Boro; her family owned the local moving company. My mother was friendly with her mother, Bette, whom Amy named a short-lived restaurant after.

Amy played up her working class roots and likely exaggerated them. She grew up in the Boro which at the time had smaller, more modest homes and more modest lifestyle compared to the neighboring towns but it was still NOT a poor area or “working class” area compared to other economically deprived areas outside New York City.

I think Amy likely FELT like she grew up poor compared to the jet set, wealthy white people she purposefully surrounded herself by.

R107 interesting info, thanks for that!

Was her family entirely Italian ?

As one of the folks who lived in Chatham Borough back in the 1960s, I had not realized that there were Italians at all. We had an Irish Catholic family nearby with, I believe, seven children. That was enough to deal with!

R94, I definitely think that Chatham and Madison were more blue collar years ago. The midtown direct train and good schools really drove the house prices up.

Since we're on the topic, Billy McFarland, the guy behind the Fyre Festival (competing docs on Netflix and Hulu launched this week) is from Short Hills.

R94. Amy Sacco's family owned the biggest moving company in town (cash business). She had a ton of brothers (some very hot). They had a nice size house, but probably not big enough for that brood of a family. The father resembled an old pirate (without the parrot), quite a character.

At least NJTransit has "quiet cars" on weekdays. It's a f___ing godsend.

Didn't realize Chatham is the wealthiest town in Morris County.

Must be nouveaux in the Township

A lot of those seem inaccurate tbh. I can think of a lot of Morris Co towns that make more more sense (Far Hills? New Vernon? Mendham?) And west Windsor over Princeton or Lawrenceville? Hunterdon seems off too. (I know this area around 206 fairly well)

R114 this is the companion piece. The only real consistency here is that Short Hills always finishes first across the board. I’m a little surprised because I know a lot of that wealth has moved west over the past 30/35 years. That’s why “big Pingry “ moved its campus out to Bernardsville back In the mid 80s (they were also hoping to get fewer Jews, as it was around that time Short Hills really began to change. Not sure they succeeded there).

Bringing the subject back to me...

With all this talk of trains I'm reminded of that Meryl Streep film Falling in Love.

She and DeNiro are always on the train. Was that shot in NJ? What about One True Thing wasn't that done in NJ?

R117 no Metro North Dobbs ferry (thee are two westchester lines - that’s the Hudson line).

Not sure about that other movie, M.

Princeton has a very good high school (consistently in top 3 like chatham). They actually had an article in the nYTimes bc the parents complained about the music program catering to kids who didn’t practice. And the school system was trying to manage expectations about public school music systems There is a high Asian population there) Good school systems drive real estate up. Chatham has become (thankfully in my opinion) more diverse in last 10 years bc of good schools -Indian and Asian population has really grown. Madison is more Italian and “old school”. Football still is king there. In Chatham and Sumnit it’s more about lax bro culture

-another Chatham mom

R59 houses in Montclair aren’t more affordable when you’re paying at least 20k a year in taxes. Taxes in Essex county, Montclair specifically are insane. Union and Morris counties houses may be listed higher but you’re paying less in taxes.

Just a note that in all of the other municipalities in the state, you're paying double schools tax for supporting your own local school, plus the state-bailed ones in Camden and Newark.

Far Hills is Somerset, not Morris. Kinnelon and Mountain Lakes should be fairly high up as far as income goes.

I hate the idea of living in NJ ever again, but if I had to Summit might be tolerable.

I love the "Big Pingry" queen.

Fughetaboutit.

Lax bro is right other Chatham mom, lmao. The extra diversity is nice, plus all the grass roots stuff that happened during the last elections. At least the Township got rid of the deplorable mayor too, good riddence.

-English Chatham mom

[quote] I love the "Big Pingry" queen.

LOL R122, I was thinking the same thing. He shows up here on every thread about New Jersey to post that bit of 40 year old trivia with its thinly veiled antisemitic overtones.

Some form of Pingry is still in Short Hills because it's not far from my grandaprents house, though people move to Short Hills for the schools, so I'm guessing it draws people from other towns or kids who are having troubles in the public schools. I knew kids from camp/college who went to other privates in the area--Newark Academy, Delbarton, Kent Place and MKA and that was the deal--I know a lot of those schools recruit for sports too, esp Delbarton and lacrosse.

Good point R120

I now remember my grandfather saying that the Short Hills Mall keeps his taxes down versus other towns in Essex County, but they're still pretty outrageous.

The math most people seem to do is that even at $20K or $30K/year, the property taxes, which mostly fund the schools, are still cheaper than two or three private school tuitions.

r125, I remember—or think I remember—when there was only one Pingry, and it was in Elizabeth. A friend got kicked out, or otherwise demoted to Wardlaw (before it was Wardlaw-Hartridge, of course).

But I am an eldergay.

Hillside, actually - my dad went there back in the day. Me, I ended up at NA for high school.

We used to play soccer games against Wardlaw back in grade school (not NA).

R126 the problem is that the public schools in Montclair aren't good. Maybe the elementary schools in Upper Montclair are good but Montclair High School is not top ranked for the amount of taxes you pay.

OP, Summit is the best town on the Morris/Essex direct midtown train line. Chatham is great but definitely has a more snooty feel.

True to some extent R130, but some of us are normal and non snooty here. There are a group of people making a concerted effort to raise cultural awareness and inclusiveness too, and it's already having an impact on the town's dynamics.

Eyeroll, R131. How many housefraus post here daily? WTF is cultural awareness? Inclusiveness? Having more Indians move into your town?

NJ does have diversity in the form of Asians and gays. Good to see discussion of Northern NJ. As NYC becomes so absurdly expensive and middle aged gays look for alternative living arrangements, NJ is becoming more of an option. I never would have thought Jersey City would become a gay option but I know a ton of gays who have moved there in past 10 years.

I like some of the older (pre-WW2) architecture of these towns. Though a little too much ugly mixed in. And taxes are crazy - which offsets the lower price per square foot.

R129-- my grandparents live in Short Hills (Millburn) -- that's why the Short Hills Mall keeps his taxes down. And I am aware (because my mother and her siblings went there) that Millburn High School has a stellar reputation and at some point not tat long ago Newsweek (I think) called them out as being the best public high school in America, which helped boost property values and thus my eventual inheritance, lol.

I know nothing about Montclair or the schools there other than the two kids I knew from camp who lived in Montclair both went to private school.

Roll away R132.

By inclusiveness I mean people forming groups to welcome and include everyone and to combat the bullying some of the kids of colour have dealt with by the little MAGA shits. We had a couple of cunty MAGA moms going all over the media complaining about the school curriculum teaching about Islam in the schools.

Mock away, but at least we're trying to change things. -R131

Vail Deane, the female counterpart school to Pingry , the boy school in Hillside.. was in Elizabeth. It's been closed now for many years.. I think the building is a Mosque now? It also had a fire a few years back. It was a beautiful old mansion.

R136 I’ve heard of that - what was it supposed to be like?

Vail Deane was a private girls' school set in a mansion in Elizabeth.. from grade 1 to 12 (?... I believe). The classes were small. I attended there for the 7th grade, after leaving elementary school in grade 6. My class had no more than 15 pupils. I only went for the one year, as I didn't like it... snooty girls, came from doctor families for the most part. After that, I went back to public junior high school. It was a college prep school, with higher standards from the public schools.

^^private school..

R135 so are you inclusive with your ridiculous swim and tennis clubs? Which one do you belong to? Don't say Chatham fish and game.

See all this Jersey trash posting?! That's why this board is so vile!

Fuck you R141, posting in your trailer from a swamp no doubt in the deplorable south. Shouldn't you be fucking your uncle or something?

[QUOTE] Which one do you belong to? Don't say Chatham fish and game.

I had friends who belonged to Noe Pond. There was a rule that one could not be a guest more than three times in a season, but as the owner of those clubs was a pal of my dad's, he said we were exempt from that; he knew we were away for most of the summer so it wasn't as though I'd be there a lot anyway.

God no R140, strictly The Colony.

I grew up going to Noe Pond. It’s incredible. Great memories

^ R135.

Nice R145.

Someone just posted locally about a person knocking on their door with a petition in the 60s to keep Jews out of Noe, and how his dad threw them off the property.

R135 = R144.

I'm fairly certain that Mr. Brower who owned the clubs would have thought the idea of a petition like that incredibly crass. Unfortunately, having lived in Chatham in the 1960s, I can fully well believe that that happened.

Yes R149, I've heard that the family that started Noe were nice people, no doubt it was the pricks who went there that came up with the idea. -R147

Family also owned Copper Springs in Millington, where I had been a few times as well.

I started life in the Boro and belonged to Minnisink Swim Club. When I moved to the Twp at age 13 my family was invited to join Noe Pond, but we remained at Minnisink because I was on their swim team and had too many friends there. My cousins were Noe members. Seems so long ago.

Are the people who live in that area happy or unhappy?

I'm sure it varies r153.

Please classify the swim clubs according to their given stereotypes.

Some cost more than others R153, but a lot of it is regular (blue) pool versus man made pond. Now and Colony are man made ponds with sand and playgrounds for kids to play in, which is why we liked Colony Fish and Game are regular type pools. Colony actually has an interesting history, I'll post it in a bit.

Colony was basically an eastern European Jewish commune/community founded in the twenties.

Which is the snobbiest? Which is the whitest? How does Noe compare to Fish & Game?

Well Noe is the most expensive I believe, so likely the most snobby but I know nice people that go there too. Fish and Game reminds me of a condo pool, it has a nice party space though and is closest to downtown. I find Colony the most relaxed, (and its cheapest at around $700 for the summer) you can just sit under a tree with a book. It's kind of nice, especially in the evening. I'm not sure about Minisink, I'm guessing it's more like Fish and Game.

A lot join the New Providence pool instead, or use the pools at Lifetime Fitness in Florham Park or Berkley Heights.

^ That was for R158. Not sure about the whitest tbh, Chatham is still pretty white. I'm guessing the POC are spread out fairly evenly, just like the rest of us.

R160 what does your husband do for a living?

All the clubs have active paddle teams. Men go to tournaments and start drinking at 9:00 am. Minisink and fish and game probs the rowdiest. I have heard that the Noe ladies nights get frisky