I wished I had remember details with my trouble call out. I would have been interested if it was that QLT company. Cedar Knolls is local to a number of more affluent towns in Morris County New Jersey.
During my time with Verizon, I spent a considerable amount of time in the Morristown, Madison, Whippany, Bernardsville, and Mendham CO areas. There are many wealthy people in this area not to mention many Vz/NJB/BA current/ retired execs in the area especially in the Bernardsville and Morristown call areas. These area cover Basking Ridge (HQ location for Verizon) and Harding (really wealthy people) all had a high number of execs plus the attitude to go with.
For those not from New Jersey, we have a large pocket of wealth here in the state from northern section of state down to the south. The top side of that wealth starts on either side of Morristown in Morris County. Morris township is more affluent than morristown as it borders townships like Harding to the east, Harding township is a mix of old and new money and everyone has pretty large houses and estates. It was not uncommon to be dealing with a subscriber with a 50 million dollar property on one call and the next call was in the holler where the section 8 apartments were on the next in Morristown ( Service from the same CO) Madison is further east of morris township as well as Chatham. Chatham wasn’t as affluent still rich but not Scrooge Mc Duck Money bin rich. Chatham was near Short Hills section of Millburn and Summit. Which like older money well at the time it. Millburn, Chatham, Madison and Summit were good for really old cables as they part of the “original” foot print of the phone company. They are older areas in town.
To the west is Mendham boro and township. Boro is pretty well to do. Township is like Harding. Large homes on some spralling estates. Big money there. Boro is very similar to Madison in feel. Small town feel. Madison I would say is more bustling with an active main street and stores. Mendham borders Bernardsville. Pretty much near the town line of Mendham and Harding is also the home of Jockey Hollow aka the campsites of Washington’s army during the revolutionary war. Washington and his aides stayed in Morristown itself not to far away. Mendham is where the former governor, Chris Christie was from. A little further to the west is Chester boro and township. Not serviced by Verizon mostly. Chester boro is similar vibe as Mendham and Madison. Chester township is well off its more of a border town to the really affluent areas.
Travelling further south you come to Bernardsville, Bernards Township, Peapack- Gladstone, Far Hills,and Bedminster Townships. This is Somerset county. These areas are pretty freaking affluent. Bernardsville has a nice town center. That is probably where the “poorest” people live. Similar vibe as Madison and Mendham boro. Those who live on the outskirts of town are more well to do. Lots of rich folks there. I worked on an estate for a trouble call. It was like guard shack at the main entrance with a gate. Drove to the office. The office was nice like the size of a banking branch. The owner of the property had a glass case with a number of private jets. The point of contact said those are the airplanes the owner and the company owns very casually. She also asked why so and so wasn’t out here for the call since they handle the repairs in the cable which was always the issue. I was escorted to a location on the property by a maintenance guy. Basically it a phone terminal on the estate with its own 50 pair cable from years ago. Only half the terminal was wired up. All the pairs were shot. The line to be fix. Their pool phone! The maintenance guy told me they are the largest estate in town at something like 600 acres
Bernards township AKA Basking Ridge. This is the home of Verizon’s HQ. Also a mix of modestly spaced out homes with a high price tag. There are a few estates in the township but nothing like Bernardsville, Harding, Mendham township, or the next ones to discuss.
Far Hills, Peapack Gladstone are pretty much similar. Both have really small main streets. Far Hills is on the main local drag, Route 202. PG has a main st like set up. Pretty well to do. Outside of the main streets, big sprawling homes. Big money. My parent’s neighbor (if he is still alive) moved in his daughter in Peapack. Her and her husband moved there years ago. I think he is some big shot guy. I met him once seemed OK. However, PG is pretty affluent. Far Hills is known for it’s huge rummage sale that is a yearly thing. Also has steeple chase annually as well. Its a pretty huge thing. Basically all the local townships are involved in which the horses and their riders run though this huge course over many miles. It ties up traffic if you don’t remember or realize it’s happening.
Next to that is Bedminster. Currently known for a particular individual who is a pretty divisive, Donald Trump. Trump golf course is there. He visits regularly. There is a protesting spot on the corner of 206 and Lamington Rd for the protesters. During his first term, there was more space. I drove past recently and it looked smaller but it could have been due to weather. Anyway, big money here. Like Harding there seems a divide between new and old money. Snooty types and down to earth folks. Also a large number of horse stables in this area. Lots of horses. The US Equestrian Team is located in Bedminster. They got a large farm. During my time in Bedminster, I met a couple of really cool people. One guy was a chef with the NASCAR circuit back in the 80s and 90s when I was into it. We had a pretty great conversation. He took me through his basement of NASCAR memorabilia. He showed me photos with different drivers and him. Different people with the community and the like. He said never liked the people in town since his family was an outsider from back in the 70s. His family came into some money. His dad bought property with the intent to build out a spot for him and his kids. Town didn’t like it. The family always thought it was because they were from Somerville originally. Eventually he said the town decided to make people do weird sub division with property. His dad’s intent was build a couple of houses for the kids and then sell off the other land for building. The township at the time changed how houses were going to be built out. It went from like 5 acres to 25 overnight. Bedminster has a large amount of estates on acres. Back then houses were in the millions for smaller places like in the 80s and 90s. Bedminster was always known where the rich people live.
From my understanding, at one time, this section of New Jersey was considered one of the most wealthiest areas in the whole country. It was within a very reasonable commute into New York. From my understanding many executives lived in these areas. A number of entertainment personalities also live in this area as well. Another thing, I found interesting and got use to over time. Service entrances. Many of the larger homes and estates had service access locations. Like I would have to drive onto a side street of the side street to gain access to the property. Then use a service door to gain access to the residence. Speaking of that, I worked around many mansions in these areas. Bernardsville had a number of mansions on top of the hill we would call it. Some old mansions and some newer. Some of the richest folks in the state, especially in HQ territory had some of the worst phone copper networks. 🙂