“It’s like a little community within itself,” resident Lori Nunes says. “People really embrace the river.” She says the diversity of houses makes the neighborhood “affordable for almost everybody.” This house is off Fairview Avenue.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

Residents say that Laurel Park, a neighborhood built on the hills near the Warren end of the Kickemuit River, is a friendly place, a mix of long-established families and newer arrivals who get together at neighborhood association parties, beach cleanups and children’s events.

Laurel Lane, a main road that leads to the Laurel Park Improvement Association’s playground and beach, is accessed from Metacom Avenue, but this quiet neighborhood is a stark contrast from Metacom’s multiple traffic lanes, fast-food restaurants and strip malls.

“It’s like you’re in a completely different world” from Metacom Avenue, according to Lori Van Amberg, who recently moved to Bay Road with her husband and their young children.

Van Amberg said her husband, who is a chiropractor, works on Metacom Avenue; they are renting a house facing the river that is owned by Lynn Babbitt.

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Van Amberg said her mother-in-law met Babbitt in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and that is what ultimately led to her move to Laurel Park. The Babbitts are one of the families that has deep roots in Laurel Park; the MacDougall family is another, she said.

The Laurel Park Improvement Association was established in 1925, in the days when the area was a summer cottage community. Though it is largely a year-round neighborhood today, it still has the feel of “a funky little summer neighborhood… with a great view,” said Mark Bosco, a builder and a musician who owns property in Laurel Park.

Last week, Bosco was working on the renovation of a sunny two-family house on a hill at 17 Fairview Ave. Bosco said he and his business partner, Frank Correia, plan to rent the apartments in the 1926 house and use the detached garage building as a music studio.

Lori Nunes built her house on Third Street in Laurel Park after the death of her 17-year-old son, Jason M. Nunes, in a drag-racing car accident in 2003.

She said the neighborhood has been “a healing place” for herself and her two daughters. In the years since the accident, Nunes has also worked with state legislators to toughen penalties for street racing. But Nunes said it’s time for change in her life, and she is planning a move to North Carolina. Her three-bedroom Colonial is on the market at $319,900.

Nunes said that although many residents have built large waterfront houses or added on to older houses, the neighborhood’s smaller cottages “add that little summer flair.” She said the diversity of house sizes and styles also make the neighborhood “affordable for almost everybody.”

“It’s like a little community within itself,” Nunes said. “People really embrace the river.”

Many of the neighborhood association events are held near the water. Every spring, around the time of Earth Day, volunteers join in a beach cleanup. An annual cookout and fireworks display takes place on the night before Independence Day. There is an ice cream social in August, a chowder cookoff in September and a Halloween party for children in October. December brings a Yule fire on the beach.

Nunes said the neighborhood also has a kayaking club, and a posted notice near the playground invites residents to join the Laurel Park Book Club.

“There are also events for older, retired people,” she said. “The neighborhood is very family-oriented… Because it’s at the end of the river, it’s very private. You just sit down on the beach, and it’s incredible.”

Only a handful of properties were listed for sale last week in Laurel Park, starting at a price of $179,900 for a 1935 Colonial with 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath and 1 half bath at 10 Terrace Ave. Listings also include a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house to be built next door, at 12 Terrace Ave., for $299,900. The most expensive house on the market was a 4-bedroom, 3-full-bath 1940 contemporary house at 4 Bay Rd., with 3,954 square feet of living space, and a list price of $599,000.

POPULATION:

(Warren, 2000) 11,360

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Warren, 2007) $280,000

INTERESTING FACT:

The Luther Memorial Playground on Laurel Lane was named in honor of the late Henry W. Luther, an early association leader who was beloved in the neighborhood

cdunn@projo.com