Article and Photo by Eric H.Medfield, MA, about a half hour southwest of Boston, has a classic Leave it to Beaver look with sunny, tree-lined streets, a downtown right out of the 1950s, and friendly neighbors (and some of the best public schools in the state). While Medfield features some very large old and newer homes, the overall feel is more working class. People we've met from Medfield don't try to impress us that they live in Medfield, just that they really enjoy the town. You won't see a lot of people here walking around in top hats and monocles!
The downtown sets the tone for Medfield -- informal, pleasant and old-fashioned. Lord's Department Store brings back the days of Woolworths's and even features an luncheonette called Coffee Sensations. Park Street Books, Friendly's Ice Cream, Casabella Pizza. Noon Hill Grill (excellent for lunch and dinner restaurant in a restored train station), Master's Touch store for home remodeling, and some hair salons, an old school barber shop and banks are just a few of the services that keep the town center quite busy. Off the main drag on North St., there's Zebra's (an upscale restaurant serving New American cuisine) Honey's Cafe and Bakery for baked goods and breakfast and lunch, Medfield Seafoods for wonderful take-out seafood, and Thai World for some of the freshest Thai food in the Boston area. Add a church with a tall white steeple, a gazebo and town green, ancient town hall building and inviting brick public library and you have a small town with a true New England look.
The side streets off Main Street feature some beautiful old Colonial and Victorian homes, as well as a swimming pond and playground on Green St. Farms grace the outskirts of town, as well as ponds, brooks and streams. You'd never know you were so close to Boston. Maybe that's what makes Medfield such an appealing place -- sort of an oasis in the middle of a rapidly growing suburban area. Wally and Beaver could have been very happy living here!