Foley first came to Hillside Farms in 1988, intending to stay only a few years, then move down to East Greenwich. His plans changed when his three daughters were born. When Foley moved in, most of his neighbors were newlyweds, but quickly the backyards began to fill with swingsets, and minivans replaced sports cars in the driveways. Now it's all T-ball and soccer. It's great if you're looking for an old-style neighborhood where kids can play and you don't have to be looking out the window all the time.
Every house has two to four kids.
It's like a playground. There are 13 kids in the five houses near us. It's not unusual, he says, to have 10 children playing in the yard one minute, then to find out they've all moved down the street to a neighbor's yard. It feels safe, he says, to let the children loose on the neighborhood, because everyone watches out for everyone else's kids. They watch out for the adults, too, banding together when a neighbor is in crisis.