HALIFAX /Cranberry Drive
Peaceful setting makes it great for families

By MAUREEN McCARTHY
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 17.33 square miles

POPULATION
2000: 7,500
2007: 7,819

Density: 484 res./square mile
Median age: 39
Median household income: $66,814

FINANCES
Tax rate (2007): $11.78
Town budget: $15.732 million
Average water bill: $170/year

HOUSING
Median home price (#sales)
2007: $310,500 (42)
2008: $270,000 (17 through April)
Median condo price
2007: $211,000 (28)
2008: $152,500 (5 through April)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 724
Elementary teachers: 45
Median SAT score (2006 at Silver Lake): 1,524

The Cranberry Drive neighborhood has about 60 homes and none look alike. The horseshoe-shaped street, which branches off into Headwaters Drive, has colonials, contemporaries, ranches and multi-level homes, all accented by mature landscaping and wooded lots.

The neighborhood off Route 106 was built in the 1990s.

"What is nice about Cranberry Drive is that there aren't any duplicates," said Bruce Benner, who has lived 20 years in the neighborhood. "...All the lots are protected and do not run into each other."

Bordering a sea of cranberry bogs, the child-friendly neighborhood has a combination of young families, families with teens and empty-nesters.

"From a commuting standpoint, it is just perfect for me. It is 15 minutes to Plymouth and Brockton," said Benner, who owns a business in Brockton. His family also owns a summer house in Bourne. "To me, it is in the center of where I want to be."

Benner and his wife, Mary Ann, have been married 32 years and have two adult sons. The Benners say they have wonderful memories of raising their boys in the neighborhood and appreciate the long-lasting friendships they have developed.

"Everyone got along well, and the kids in the neighborhood had good relationships," Benner said. "We took several trips together, had block parties, and our annual horseshoe tournament is still going on."

Cranberry Drive is close to Halifax Elementary School, Holmes Public Library and town hall.

Real estate broker Marcia Solberg of Macdonald & Wood Sotheby's International Realty said Halifax is a place where you can get "a lot of house for less money."

"Halifax is attractive because the town is still fairly rural and non-commercialized," Solberg said. "It is quiet and has that small-town appeal. Everybody knows each other."

Construction of the Route 44 connector and the Hanson commuter rail being within a few miles of the neighborhood makes Boston much more accessible, Solberg said.

Grocery shopping, a large department store, a pharmacy, dry cleaners and local eateries are within walking distance, too.

Recent sales include a 3,000-square-foot Cranberry Drive colonial which sold last July for $473,000. In the adjacent Bosworth Farm neighborhood, a 2,100-square-foot home sold last June for $425,000.

A colonial is currently on the market in the neighborhood for $447,500.

The Benners said they like being surrounded by cranberry bogs, walking trails and woods. Equally important, is the small-town feeling - making it a great place to raise a family, they said.

"It takes a village to raise a child and that is true in Halifax," Bruce Benner said. "Everyone watches out for each other."

See more Neighborhood stories at http://tinyurl.com/patriotledger-neighborhoods.