HALIFAX /Harvest Lane
Secluded neighborhood was once a cornfield

By TERI BORSETI
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 17.33 square miles

POPULATION
2000: 7,500
2007: 7,819

Density: 484 res./square mile
Median age: 39
Median household income: $66,814

FINANCES
Tax rate (2007): $11.78
Town budget: $15.732 million
Average water bill: $170/year

HOUSING
Median home price (#sales)
2007: $310,500 (42)
2008: $270,000 (17 through April)
Median condo price
2007: $211,000 (28)
2008: $152,500 (5 through April)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 724
Elementary teachers: 45
Median SAT score (2006 at Silver Lake): 1,524

A Halifax neighborhood near the Bridgewater border that includes Summit Street, Harvest Lane, Kestrel Lane and Cherry Street know their neighborhood can be a little difficult to get to, but residents like that about it.

Many of the homes didn’t even exist 10 years ago. Bob Murphy, who lives on Cherry Street, said the Summit Street neighborhood used to be a cornfield. The area, just off Route 105, was transformed into a small neighborhood with a mix of colonials, ranches and cape-style houses.

Murphy, who moved to Halifax from Holbrook 16 years ago, lives in a 20-year-old contemporary that overlooks the Summit Street athletic fields. On most autumn Saturdays, Murphy is among the dozens of parents at the field socializing and cheering at a soccer game.

“It’s pretty nice here. Everybody knows each other and our kids all play together. I would never have met my good friend Greg, the “coach of everything,” if Summit Street wasn’t built,” Murphy said.

Greg Grindle moved into a colonial house eight years ago and got involved in community youth sports programs.

“It’s a nice, quiet neighborhood. I know all my neighbors, and Stop and Shop and Wal-Mart are a short distance from here. Sometimes I think no one even realizes we’re here,” he said.

Grindle coaches basketball, soccer and baseball and is eager to talk about Halifax’s third-place finish in the state baseball championship.

Murphy and Grindle paid about $168,000 for their homes about a dozen years ago.

Some ended up in the neighborhood by accident. On Harvest Avenue, Susan Quigley, her husband and their five children knew they needed a bigger house than their Bridgewater home.

“We had a house lined up that we liked, but it fell through. So one day we came here to this new development because there was an open house next door. By the time we got here, the open house was over but the one in this house was still open. It’s like it was meant to be,” Quigley said.

The Quigleys’ four-bedroom colonial has a generous front and back yard and Quigley loves that it’s located on a cul de sac where her kids can ride their bikes without her having to worry.

“We could not be happier here. Neighbors meet over at the field for games all the time. Several of the mothers here work part time, so we can help each other out with the kids. It’s a place where the kids have friends and the adults do, too,” she said.

Neighborhood residents say the public schools are great and they like being part of a town with a population of just about 7,800.

Kerri Butler of Success Real Estate in Marshfield said the neighborhood has a mix of house sizes and the average list price is $420,000 with 391 days on the market – however houses under $400,000 continue to sell, too.

“Those prices reflect that particular neighborhood and Highland Woods which is just down the street – where there are more new houses than old ones. But Halifax in general is not out of the ballpark for first-time buyers with an average across the board price of $328,000.”

“There’s quite a variety of house styles and price ranges on the market,” Butler said. She added that the town offers good value and is a family-oriented community that’s a great place for kids to grow up.

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