My Hometown, Longmeadow, Mass.

Editor’s note: this is one in a series of “My Hometown” blog posts written by Zillow employees about the homes and towns where they grew up.

My hometown: Longmeadow, Mass.
My home’s value in 1970: $55,000
Zestimate today: $484,495

I started at Zillow about a month ago as the company’s first market manager and the first official San Francisco employee. So, if you live in the Bay Area and have any tidbits on the local real estate market, post a comment and I’ll be sure to follow up with you!

Originally I’m from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a small town of 15,000 residents located in Western Massachusetts, just south of Springfield on the Connecticut border. Doctors, lawyers and insurance professionals made their home there since it was easy to commute to Springfield or the insurance capital of the U.S. — Hartford, Conn. Longmeadow was settled in the mid-1600s on a site that Native Americans used as a grazing ground for their animals — the “long meddowe“. A pasture has been preserved from those days and today serves as the town green in the center of the city. The main route into Longmeadow brings you down Longmeadow Street, a winding, treelined road bordered by beautiful homes, many built in the 1700s and 1800s.

Between Longmeadow and Springfield is one of the largest urban parks in America, Forest Park, which occupies 735 acres (vs. Central Park at 840 acres) and contains a zoo, skating pond, lake and tons of recreational facilities. Forest Park played an important role in the life of Springfield’s most famous son, Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. His father was Forest Park’s Superintendent for 30 years. Did you ever read “If I Ran the Zoo?”

When my family moved to town in 1970, Longmeadow was in the midst of a housing boom. My parents bought a 3-year-old home for $55,000. When they moved in 1992, they sold their home for six times the amount they had paid in 1970. Not a bad investment! Today, its Zestimate is $484,495.

For me, the best part about growing up in suburbia was being able to play outside for hours on end. Longmeadow is heavily wooded and for all the kids in my neighborhood, the woods were our playground. We knew every square inch of that land — the quickest shortcuts to school, the best places to cross the babbling brook, and where you might get lucky enough to spy a lady slipper orchid (photo courtesy Wikipedia).

Longmeadow was a great place to grow up, quiet and lush. As an adult I prefer the hustle and bustle of a big city but I will always treasure my days in Longmeadow.

P.S. For all you New England Patriots fans, Tom Brady‘s girlfriend, Bridget Moynahan, also grew up in Longmeadow.