When my wife and I moved from our Philadelphia apartment to Mantua, we didn’t know what to expect of our new community. I had once lived in nearby Washington Township for several years so I was somewhat familiar with the town, but my wife hails from Pennsylvania originally so she was still getting used to jughandle turns, let alone South Jersey. [Side note: The first time my wife asked me to explain jughandle turns to her, I began to, and then as more words came out of my mouth I discovered that there is no explanation for them that could ever make sense.]
What we quickly found after just a few short days is that the place we were to now call home was a great place to live. Our neighbors quickly introduced themselves and immediately made us feel as if we’ve lived on the street for years. It was nice to feel welcomed and it was a shining example of what a great place South Jersey is.
There are countless communities across Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties that are similar; places where civic pride runs deep and lasting relationships are formed at the Little League fields, during town fundraisers, in school parking lots or at the table of a great restaurant. While each town has its own vibe and is decidedly different, the one common theme that makes South Jersey great is the people.
On Page 60, we unveil this year’s Top Towns after crunching the numbers on property values, property taxes, crime rates and school performance. The data resulted in what you would expect: that South Jersey is a tremendous place to live, work and play.
This issue also contains our first-ever Best Breakfasts—32 dishes you can eat in the morning, but you’ll be thinking about all day long. In addition, we catch up with Congressman Donald Norcross, chat with actress Jane Seymour, and reveal our list for the area’s Best Doctors for Women.
As we enter the summer months, we have even more exciting things on tap that we can’t wait to share with you. Like the area, we think the magazine is pretty great. Why else would we name it after South Jersey?
Kind regards,
Peter J. Proko
Editor-in-Chief
Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 2 (May, 2015).
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