NORWELL /Riverside Drive
A place for generations of young families

By KAITLIN KEANE
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 21.33 square mile

POPULATION
2000: 9,765
2006: 10,275

Density: 490 res./square mile
Median age: 43
Median household income: $100,398

FINANCES
Tax rate: $10.69
Town budget: $37 million
Avg. water bill: $348/year

HOUSING
Median home price (# sales)
2007: $590,000 (104)
2008: $677,500 (23 through March)
Median condo price
2007: $425,000 (15)
2008: $0

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 2,272
Number of teachers: 144
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: 90%
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: 6%
Median SAT score (2006): 1672

Alicia Warner knows Riverside Drive is a popular neighborhood for young families, but she did not realize how popular until she found a note in the mailbox from a young couple wanting to buy her house.

The house, which Warner and her husband, John, bought 30 years ago after relocating from Ohio, is not for sale.

“The note said they were looking for the perfect home to raise their three sons, and they liked the house’s charm,” Warner said. “We’ve been here many years and have seen the neighborhood really change over.”

Drawn by the block’s quiet, wooded atmosphere and the stellar reputation of Norwell’s school system, many young couples have chosen the street’s spacious four-bedroom colonials as the place to raise their families.

For some, it was the first-hand experience of growing up on Riverside Drive that lured them back.

Greg and Katie Lally bought their Riverside Drive home from Greg’s parents four years ago after deciding it was the right place to raise their three children.

“It’s such a family neighborhood, and it was that way growing up here for Greg,” Katie Lally said. “We wanted the same for our kids.”

Lally said other families also have been on Riverside Drive for more than one generation.

They have at least three neighbors who bought their childhood home and decided to stay and family members who live on either Riverside Drive or nearby Shrine Road.

“That in itself says something; that it was nice enough growing up here that you want to stay,” said Lally, who credits the neighbors with creating a friendly atmosphere.

The street, which forms a loop off of River Street in Norwell’s Church Hill neighborhood, has about 50 houses. Many of the homes boast in-ground swimming pools and even tennis courts, but houses on the street are generally more affordable than nearby Shrine Road or Tara Drive.

The neighborhood was a poultry farm before World War II, Warner said, but it was developed as a subdivision in the 1970s by convenience store magnate Ralph Tedeschi.

Tedeschi lived nearby on Tara Drive in a Georgian-style mansion until his death in 1998.

The homes along Riverside Drive are mostly colonials, with several Cape-style and contemporary homes, said Pam Basso, a real estate agent with Jack Conway Realty in Norwell.

Homes are valued in the $600,000 to $800,000 range – considerably less than in past years, Basso said.

In 2004, a Riverside Drive home sold for $1.2 million.

“In terms of land, all of the (plots) have at least an acre, with beautiful yards and very nice houses,” Basso said.

The neighborhood’s proximity to the North River and downtown Norwell makes the street a desired located.

Homes are surrounded by “almost more trees than they need,” Warren said.

Children on the block attend Vinal Elementary School, Basso said.

For Warner, the simple things make Riverside Drive a place she doesn’t want to leave, despite offers to buy her home.

“It’s a safe, pleasant place and people take care of their lawns,” she said.