West Orange

West Orange

West Orange offers a variety of quality housing and some unparalleled historical, cultural, and recreational activities within its 12-square miles.

The township of West Orange is unique in the amount of open space it affords as it is home to two large county park offering acres of open space, hiking trails, an ice rink and golf courses. The township also is home to the impressive Turtle Back Zoo and a national historic site. West Orange, with a population of 49,000, has a large town pool, a robust recreation and youth sports program and good schools. About 15 miles from Manhattan, West Orange is served by buses that go to the Port Authority Terminal in midtown. Commuters can also pick up the NJ Transit train in neighboring South Orange and Orange.

The township began in a valley before post-war development went “up the hill’ into the foothills of the Watchung Mountains. Main Street snakes through that valley. It is an older neighborhood of multi-family homes and a variety of smaller shops and restaurants.

Downtown West Orange has something found nowhere else – The Thomas Edison National Historical Park on Main Street, which is just north of Llewellyn Park – a gated Victorian-era community where Edison lived.

Also in the valley is the burgeoning Valley Arts District anchored by the Luna Stage Theater Company. While your down there pick up some locally roasted coffee at Harper’s Café.

There is a mix of style and price point for most every buyer in neighborhoods like Pleasant Valley, St. Cloud, Gregory and Pleasantdale. West Orange also offers some more recent luxury condominium and townhome communities.

You can catch a spectacular view of lower Manhattan and a 9/11 memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation. The summit is also home to The Highlawn, a high-end restaurant and banquet hall that draws diners from throughout the region. For something less formal, try the Chit Chat Diner on Eagle Rock Avenue, with its colorful and whimsical décor, big menu and NYC view, or head back down the hill to Jimmy Buff’s, for an iconic Italian hot dog.