KINGSTON /Winter Street
Small-town neighborhood has grown up

By TERI BORSETI
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 20.39 sq. mi.

POPULATION
2000: 11,780
2007: 12,320

Density: 665 res./sq. mi.
Median age: 39
Median household income: $61,204

FINANCES
Tax rate: $10.31
Town budget: $33.8 million
Avg. water bill: $300/yr.

HOUSING
Median home price
2006: $365,000 (154 sales)
2007: $315,000 (127)
Median condo price
2006: $275,000 (12)
2007: $228,636 (10)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 1,150
Number of teachers (K-6): 27
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: n/a
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: n/a
Median SAT score (2006) at Silver Lake: 1524

Leo and Dolly Laliberte moved from Boston to Kingston in 1969. The couple initially looked for a house on the North Shore but prices there were a bit too high for their budget. When they learned houses in Kingston could be built starting at around $20,000, they and their three children left the city for small-town life.

“We’d never ever heard of Kingston except for Kingston, N.H.,” Dolly Laliberte said. “When we first drove down here to have a look, we felt like we were in the woods,”

Almost 40 years later, with their kids grown and out on their own and the town population having more than doubled – it’s now about 12,300 – the Lalibertes have never regretted the move. Winter Street, where they live, is a well-known shortcut that connects Route 27 to Route 53. Half the street is in Kingston and half is in Duxbury.

Many of the split-level ranch homes, now customized with a variety of additions, were built in the early 1970s as starter homes. There are a few colonials and the occasional cape. Halfway up the street is a cranberry bog that Laliberte said her kids used to skate on in winter.

“When we moved here, there was no cable, no train, no red lights,” Laliberte said. “And to call someone in town, we only had to dial the last four digits of their phone number.

“The only stores we had back then were Stone’s in Pembroke, Grants in Plymouth and Giant in Marshfield. I used to drive to the IGA in Plymouth to shop.,” she said.

People are flocking to Kingston to buy houses that range in price from $350,000 to more than $1 million.

About 11 years ago, Marcia and John Petrosevich left Rockland to move into a colonial on Winter Street. Marcia Petrosevich said her husband has always been a big fan of gardening and longed for a place where he could spend summers growing all the vegetables he wanted.

“It was an easy place to adapt to. It’s quiet, and I have good neighbors here,” Marcia Petrosevich said.

Now an employee of the Silver Lake School system, the special education aide works at the high school just a short drive from her house. “I have such a rewarding job, and it takes less than five minutes to get to work,” she said.

Since Winter Street was developed one other neighborhood in the area has been born. Nottingham Drive runs from Winter Street to Route 27 and is lined with a variety of capes, ranches, colonials and a few custom designs. Just past the cranberry bog is the start of Brookdale Street which has remained rural despite the growth around it.

The Nava family owns 20 acres of fields, meadows and pasture that make up Timber Hill Stable on Brookdale Street.

Stephen Nava said his family wouldn’t think of moving. “People always tell us they love driving by and seeing the pastures with horses, and in fall we have pumpkins, squash and all kind of veggies,” he said.

One of the older homes in area – it was built in 1945 – is currently up for sale on Winter Street. The three-bedroom ranch with a two-car garage and almost an acre of land is listed at $339,000 with Dave Wood of Jack Conway & Company Real Estate in Bridgewater.

The average price of a house in the neighborhood is from the upper $300,000s to mid-$400,000s, Wood said.