Sharing a long border with Montclair, Glen Ridge, NJ -- on of the shortest and best Midtown Direct commutes to NYC -- is also renowned for its superior school system and quaint, gas-lit streets lined with stately Victorians, Tudors and colonials. Imbued with a rich country feel, it's as old-fashioned a small town as you'll find in Essex County, yet one with that incredible access to New York City.  

Recently I came upon a 1933 booklet on the town that proclaimed it as "A Pleasant Place to Live...a Residence Community adhering to American traditions...an environment that is consistent with the highest ideas of modern suburban life!"  

The introduction to this paean to all things leafy and lovely went on to describe the aim of the town -- to "encourage residents to own their own homes, rear their families in a delightful atmosphere, educate their children in schools ranking among the best, and cultivate a neighborliness that is neither strained nor superficial, but genuine in its cordial hospitality." 

A decade ago, after 13 fine years in Montclair, we saw a house in Glen Ridge that we fell in love with. We traded an in-town Victorian on a small city lot in Montclair for a colonial on a huge swath of countrylike land in Glen Ridge. It's quieter here, with lots of birds and squirrels, but close enough to the constant commotion in Montclair (5 minutes, to be exact, to the town's little cluster of shops, 2 minutes more to downtown Montclair!) to feel as if we never left. 

Glen Ridge has a blip of a shopping district consisting of two banks, post office, restaurant, sandwich shop, florist, pharmacy, restaurant, and gift and party shop. The town now also shares Glenmont Square, a pleasing new strip mall, with Montclair. (Not so incidentally, Glenmont Square is home to my Keller Williams Metro Group offices!) 

Glen Ridgers are proud of their tiny enclave, "smaller in actual area than Central Park," so close to the City, yet so distinctively separate. 

The school system includes all-day pre-kindergarten, for which families are charged $1000 per child. Montclair, just down the street, provides most services, including fire department, ambulance, public pools, nursery schools, entertainment and restaurants. 

Glen Ridge's schools rank 4th in the most recent NJ Monthly poll. With very little housing inventory, many homes brought to market receive multiple offers, even in a depressed market.  

Like neighboring Montclair and Bloomfield, Glen Ridge attracts talented ex-New Yorkers to its midst -- performers, writers, artists. In one half-block area in the town, we counted 3 award-winning authors and two noted journalists.  

Midtown direct trains operate out of the exquisitely renovated Glen Ridge Station located in the middle of the town; jitney service is provided to and from the station during commuting hours. Permit parking is also available, about a block from the train station. Frequent buses to Manhattan, Newark and Wayne, NJ, are available, as well. The South End Association unites homeowners living South of Bloomfield Ave. and hosts a cocktail party in the spring where newcomers can meet their neighbors. A town pool club, funded by private memberships, brings together Ridgers in an informal atmosphere, as does the Glen Ridge Country Club. 

Lush Freeman Gardens is open year-round to Glen Ridgers, as are the new Carteret park playing field, playground, and platform tennis facilities at the north end of town. The mid-town area adjacent to the train station, historically known as "The Glen," once utilized as a mill stream (Toney's Brook), was reborn not long ago as a pocket park and nature walk. 

In the Glen Ridge train station, facilities and events for senior citizens are also available, with jitney service to special events. 

In 2006, two new and condo developments opened, The Reserve and The Glen, both within a block of the train station. The Glen remains primarily a rental village. There are very few multi-family homes in Glen Ridge. 

In matters political and educational, the town has always gone its own way. Members of the town council and board of education in Glen Ridge -- which has always prided itself in being "utterly non-political" --are not chosen from the ranks of the major political parties.  

If you're looking for serenity, Glen Ridge is the place to be. I look forward to showing you its nooks and crannies.