Hingham's not working for me anymore... (Cambridge, Needham: living in, yard, company)

[pennyone]

Originally Posted by Partial Observer

Careful - I think you just described a fair number of OPs who come to the Massachusetts forum looking for advice:

- Stay-at-home-mom to two or three school-aged children
- Husband needs to commute to Lexington/Westborough/Boston/[insert place here]
- Great schools and "community feel" are very important [Read: "Where can we find people exactly like us?"]
- Budget is $800K-1.2M, but we could go higher for the right spot
- We've been looking, but can't seem to find anything suitable in our price range

That's basically the template for three of the next five threads you'll see in this forum. Maybe we should direct them to Hingham if Belmont and Arlington don't work out?

My sense is that Belmont and Arlington are a bit more intellectually substantial than the description for Hingham.

[notsobkcuf]

Originally Posted by Partial Observer

Careful - I think you just described a fair number of OPs who come to the Massachusetts forum looking for advice:

- Stay-at-home-mom to two or three school-aged children
- Husband needs to commute to Lexington/Westborough/Boston/[insert place here]
- Great schools and "community feel" are very important [Read: "Where can we find people exactly like us?"]
- Budget is $800K-1.2M, but we could go higher for the right spot
- We've been looking, but can't seem to find anything suitable in our price range

That's basically the template for three of the next five threads you'll see in this forum. Maybe we should direct them to Hingham if Belmont and Arlington don't work out?

[jan0105]

[quote=hingham-x;42611031]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

'Sometimes being snobby isn't a bad thing....'

Hingham wasn't always this way. It has evolved over the years and since I've lived here. The train came, the commuter boat schedule increased, the shipyard was developed, Derby Street shopping area was built, the harbor was developed, and a number of high-end housing developments were built. It became the place to live if you're on the way up.

Your kids can try to fit in by wearing Lululemons, North Face, and Vineyard Vines. But the Hingham kids are very savvy: they know each season's styles immediately by color and design, so unless you can keep up your child will be humiliated and told they belong in Weymouth, not Hingham. Electronics? Recreational activities? Forget it! There is no limit to the snobbery.

If you make it through middle school, great, but you've really just begun: the high school kids have TONS of cash. Drugs and alcohol are everywhere here. Parents look the other way. Older kids buy for all the younger ones. Most Hingham kids don't work and they look down on kids who do. They have multiple activities such as ski team, sports, dance, their tutors (every one has one), so there is no time to work and they don't need money. They all have cars. Everyone has SAT prep classes and college coaches. The college competition is beyond belief. State schools? Don't even think about it. And when they finish their '4-year vacation', guess what? They are all living back at home as soon as the credit cards are pulled because they haven't the faintest idea how to fend for themselves or live on their own.

Some of the girls will go to grad school but most will get married within a few years of graduating from college to the man they think has the best looks and highest earning potential. They will never work outside the home again except as a volunteer, but will strut around with an exaggerated respect for their own high social position and evident wealth only seeking to associate with those above them socially, barely able to contain their dislike for people, activities, or possessions they regard as lower-class. And everything they do and say on social media will reflect these values. This is Hingham.

That is, WITH THE EXCEPTION of the people whom I consider my friends and most of the townies. And this group is by far only a tiny, tiny percentage of the population. I guess in all fairness, I could be considered a reverse snob. Now I need to find someplace that I feel comfortable living, if it even exists.

I am now having a nervous breakdown, thinking about my kids going to middle school and high school here! And yes, I'm a townie, but only first generation, which some people think doesn't count

Pennyone, I would definitely agree that Arlington and Belmont have a more intellectual bent than Hingham (or really anywhere on the South Shore).

[traffic_lover]

Originally Posted by Partial Observer

Careful - I think you just described a fair number of OPs who come to the Massachusetts forum looking for advice:

- Stay-at-home-mom to two or three school-aged children
- Husband needs to commute to Lexington/Westborough/Boston/[insert place here]
- Great schools and "community feel" are very important [Read: "Where can we find people exactly like us?"]
- Budget is $800K-1.2M, but we could go higher for the right spot
- We've been looking, but can't seem to find anything suitable in our price range

That's basically the template for three of the next five threads you'll see in this forum. Maybe we should direct them to Hingham if Belmont and Arlington don't work out?

Here we go with the SAHM bashing. Who would you rather use this board? Ex-heavy metal singers seeking poor drug infused slums with crumbling schools & gangs & bad pizza, worse than Lil caesars? Sheesh LOL

[Whatsnext75]

I think hingham has always been a hot place to live. I went to a private high school in the 90s and a lot of people were from hingham. Being from milton wasn't too shabby but hingham was a class ahead of us. My boyfriend at the time lived on main street and my mom would drool driving by all the houses every time she dropped me off.

I think hingham used to have a more waspy feel where people had money and wanted their kids to do well but they weren't as crazed as they are now about everything. Now it's like you have to be good at everything and look 25 when you're 40, be in the right circle of people...but again it's like this in many places just on different levels.

I've also noticed that the people I went to high school with always seems to end up moving back there...but there are plenty of new transplants in hingham too. Some of them the locals who have been there for a while probably think of them as riff raff. Just overall cheesy people...at least the wasps and old Irish ones had some class.

[alidmc]

Originally Posted by traffic_lover

Here we go with the SAHM bashing. Who would you rather use this board? Ex-heavy metal singers seeking poor drug infused slums with crumbling schools & gangs & bad pizza, worse than Lil caesars? Sheesh LOL

Amazing! As for the OP, the towns that popped into my head when I read your initial post were Ipswich and Essex. I can appreciate living in a truly beautiful town- it was one of my wants when I looked for a house. In addition, the people are very down to earth.

[hingham-x]

[quote=Partial Observer;42611409]Careful - I think you just described a fair number of OPs who come to the Massachusetts forum looking for advice:

I hope I have helped someone - to find the place that they belong. You should embrace who you are and find your own place in the world. And if it's not working for you, keep looking.

Hingham is an awesome place is so many ways and most people who live here and embrace this lifestyle LOVE it. If they don't, the leave. You (in general, not PO), may be one of those people.

If you like sailing and boating, fine dining and excellent shopping, beautiful New England homes, proximity to the water, formal entertaining, great schools, unlimited activities for your kids, indoor exercise, sports galore including state championships in a number of them, an active historical society, fantastic library, great playgrounds, active Newcomer's and Mother's clubs, and unlimited opportunity to socialize and volunteer - Hingham is for you all the way!

Guys - You can expect amazing dining, a fantastic commute to Boston by boat or train complete with coffee, beer, and lots of opportunity for networking and reading the newspaper. You'll probably find a house within walking distance to your boat and if you don't have one yet you will. Maybe you'll share it. There are numerous landscape services here with very reasonable rates, and they do everything - gutters, screens, mulching - whatever you need. Trash pick-up, too. Handymen are readily available and affordable, everyone has at least two or three. There is a vibrant downtown you can take the kids for yogurt (not gelato, though). The women are all educated, beautiful, and well-dressed, like your wife, and they feel the love and support from others just like them that they need to survive your hectic travel schedule holding down the fort with the kids and the dog. With Fresh Market, Whole Foods, The Fruit Center, and Trader Joe's there will always be a tasty assortment of food in the fridge when you get home late. Your social calendar will be filled to capacity with invitations by friends, neighbors, potential employers, and guys who can support you in every way. Lots of scotch and cigars here, sports cars, too, and conservative values. And kids - you must love kids, all kids, not just your own.

Why am I on this forum? I'm looking for a new place to live. Because Hingham isn't doing it for me anymore.

For me personally, the competition and social strata has worn me down. I'm bored to death here. I no longer feel relaxed and happy so I think it's time for me to move on.

What interests me? Creating a capsule wardrobe, following Marie Kondo, streamlining my possessions, simplifying my life, learning a new skill, embracing technology, digging in the dirt, making compost, reading great books, finding meaning in life, in relationships, listening to and discussing NPR (National Public Radio), celebrating achievements, however small. I'm a liberal democrat. I'm interested in freedom, social justice, women's rights, rights of privacy, social change, the green movement, conservation, animal rights, discussing current events, finding purpose and meaning in life beyond myself. I like art and design and most of all beauty. I like to travel (but not to all-inclusive resorts at peak vacation times). Would I be welcome in your neighborhood?

[traffic_lover]

I've never been to Hingham. Hot SAHMs are fine by me, but the rest of the description is pretty obnoxious. What towns north of Boston would you put in the same category?

[Whatsnext75]

I'd say winchester is close to hingham comparatively.

Hingham-x yeah based on your description you don't sound like you'd fit in there. Have you thought about cambridge or somerville? Sounds like that's more your cup of tea...plenty of like minded people in those places.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by hingham-x

Wow! That place is perfect! You know your job! Spouse won't live that close to the ocean.

I have two others I really love, one in Norwell and one in Lincoln. But my spouse says that wherever we go we'll find more of the same so why leave? Do you think that is true?

Lincoln: https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/...d/pid_9046441/
41 Great South Road, Lincoln

Norwell: https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/...e/pid_7333112/
85 Harbor Lane, Norwell

We're not rich or from money, just working class people. But we care about other people: the poor, the elderly, the young, people who are different. We accept and embrace people not for what they have, but for who they are as a person. That is so not the case in Hingham, unless you're a salt of the earth townie.

Between these two homes, I like the layout of the Lincoln one better. The staircase of the Norwell one is very narrow and ends in a spiral. Not what I would pick for the home I was planning to retire and grow old in. My other concern is the open to second floor space if OP you plan to have small children as frequent visitors or if you are a pet owner.