Summit and nearby: Summit is in the foothills west of New York City. It was a resort town in the 1800s and is now a city of about 20,000 with many amenities, where the average house price is between one and two million dollars. It's leafy and lovely and walkable, with sidewalks and a "destination downtown"with many restaurants, shops, theatres, a wonderful library, parks and playgrounds (the Independence Day fireworks, in Memorial Field, just a block away, can be viewed from our decks or balcony) and the Reeves-Reed Arboretum, plus the New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts. The city government website is cityofsummit.org and entering "Summit, New Jersey" online brings up lots of information from Wikipedia, summitdowntown.org, a New York Times article from 2015, Flickr, realtors, and others. The Watchung Reservation, a 2,000 acre nature preserve is just up the street from our house.

The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is seven miles from Summit. Near it, there's the Raptor Trust, premiere US wild bird rehab center with many birds of prey to view. On the north side of town, the Mall at Short Hills is one of the fanciest in the nation, with Chanel, Dior, Tiffany, and Neiman Marcus. All around Summit are other old, historic, interesting suburbs, with museums and shops, and lovely countryside. Nearby are two National Park Service Historical Parks, the Great Falls of the Passaic River, and Thomas Edison's laboratory, home, and early movie studio in West Orange.

Our exchange partners have enjoyed much to see in addition to New York City and have been impressed with the attractiveness and variety of things to do in Summit. That's why partners from the Cotswolds, Yorkshire, and Scotland have repeated exchanges here many times.