Photo Tour: Beverly, MA. north shore

[kz1000ps]

This is of Beverly, MA, just north of Salem. My mom grew up here.

And sorry about the snow, but they were taken in February (right after the Valentine's Day snow/rain/ice storm), so that's what ya get! That ice was not fun to walk on.

a shoe factory that my grandfather used to work at turned office & retail complex

condo conversion

interesting mash-up

City Hall

Beverly Common

looking south, power plant on Salem Neck

looking west towards downtown Beverly

last one, Rantoul St heading north towards the commuter rail station.. this stretch has lately (and still is) seeing extensive residential growth

 

[castevens]

I knew Beverly was north of Boston, but I didn't think it was THAT far north!!

 

[PerfectHandle]

I particularly like these two. Nice photos.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Man, I love the North Shore.

 

[DudeUrSistersHot]

Absolutely no need to apologize for snow or winter photos. New England is at its best in the winter, these shots are beautiful. My dad grew up in Salem.

While most are understandably focused on the actual city of Boston here, much of what it makes it so unique and interesting is the suburbs. Salem, Gloucester, Beverly, Quincy, every town in the Boston area has a town center that's unique. Even the most boring towns in the area (Dover comes to mind) have town centers. And not only are they unique and interesting, they're almost categorically safe and clean, which is not something you can say about downtown Boston. Having lived in both Atlanta and Boston, this is one of the biggest reasons I would never want to live outside the Boston area. All of Atlanta's suburbs are, IMO, complete shitholes.

 

[Ron Newman]

Somerville doesn't really have a town center. It has two central business districts -- Davis and Union squares -- but its city hall and central library are somewhere else entirely.

Some town centers are places you wouldn't want to spend much time in. Malden, Woburn, Billerica, and Burlington all come to mind. Lynn at least used to be in this category, but may be improving.

Lincoln's town center is pretty, but entirely non-commercial. All the businesses are in or near the shopping center next to the railroad station.

 

[BostonSkyGuy]

Some town centers are places you wouldn't want to spend much time in. Malden, Woburn, Billerica, and Burlington all come to mind. Lynn at least used to be in this category, but may be improving.

I disagree about Billerica. I think commerically, it's not a place that you'd necessarily "hang out" or anything like that in. I find the architecture there like the Bennett Library, the churches, and some of the houses awesome. It always reminds me of how a New England town should feel. Especially in winter, it's a great place to drive through.

Burlington in the center by the fire station has sort of the same feel. I don't think commerically these towns are anything different than normal US towns, but in terms of some of the quaint buildings and houses I don't think there's many around like these anymore.

 

[kennedy]

Marblehead. No specific town center, more like a general area that the Design Review Board coins the "Uptown Business District." And then Oldtown. One of these days, I'll put up pictures of around town.

 

[atlantaden]

Nice pics but a quick question. Why the beach front chain-link fence? There's a picture of benches and infront of the benches is a chain link fence. I would say to keep people off the rocks but there are people on the rocks.

 

[Corey]

Thanks for sharing! Looks like a nice town in which to take a stroll.

 

[singbat]

a shoe factory that my grandfather used to work at turned office & retail complex

i used to work at "the shoe" (in its modern office park form). it apparently was at one time the largest factory in the world. more recently purchased out of serious disrepair by Cummings for roughly half a million (i could be off a bit, but not an order of magnitude). Cummings later hoisted his name on Tufts Vet School with a $50 million gift -- so I guess he did alright.

in its own industrial way its a beautiful set of buildings -- but probably better before the office park overlay.

 

[kz1000ps]

Nice pics but a quick question. Why the beach front chain-link fence? There's a picture of benches and infront of the benches is a chain link fence. I would say to keep people off the rocks but there are people on the rocks.

The chain-link fence marked where the 7-foot tall seawall was. In other words, it needed to be there.