I was sitting in my dentist’s office in Needham the other day flipping through the latest issue of Boston Magazine, the annual “Top Places to Live” in the Boston area issue, the one where one of the most unaffordable towns in the entire United States always ends up on top. This year the top spot among 141 towns evaluated went to Brookline where the median price of a single-family home is close to a whopping $3 million.
The other usual suspects – Newton, Weston, Wayland, and Wellesley among them — also fare well every year because with money come amenities such as good schools, good restaurants, lots of open space, top notch public services, and fancy wine and cheese shops. Dover, where I lived before moving to Plymouth a little over a year ago, doesn’t excel when it comes to retail — a Dunkin’ in the town center is, surprisingly, about as high end as it gets — but it is one of the area’s wealthiest towns and one of its most beautiful. Dover, in many places, looks like the Berkshires. And don’t get me started on the Dover DPW’s prowess at clearing the streets after a snowstorm. Remarkable.
So, as I flipped through the pages looking at which towns top the various lists – for schools, quality of life, affordability and so forth – I was surprised to see the most walkable town in all of Boston Metroland, according to Boston Magazine is, wait for it…Plymouth…