Farmington Hills
The suburban cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills lie between State Highway 5 and Interstate 696. Both are prosperous and pleasant, the necessities of suburban life sprinkled in patches amid well-landscaped residential areas with tree-lined streets. These two cities often feature in the top 50 "Best Places to Live" surveys published in various periodicals, and both contrast with the economic disaster zone immediately to the southeast. As if to mock the less fortunate, Farmington and Farmington Hills are well-situated in Oakland County, the wealthiest county in Michigan; in terms of income, the two cities rank twenty-fifth (the much larger Farmington Hills) and thirty-seventh (Farmington).
The environment matches those statistics: public buildings are either new or picturesque, streets are wide and well-paved, and dilapidated strip malls are few and far between. Many of the shopping centers have been built or remodeled recently. The residential areas, all of them endowed with plenty of green space, range from affluent to a little more affluent; some of the gated communities here contain sprawling mansions.
Golf courses, nature preserves and expansive parks abound. The largest of these is Heritage Park, a 211 acre oasis featuring plenty of areas for various sports and a stretch of forest with extensive hiking and cross-country trails.
- Heritage Park: A narrow but well-kept road leads into Heritage Park, the largest green space in Farmington Hills. The area around the park entrance and near the buildings and roads is landscaped, but plenty of the 200-acre park consists of broad fields and wooded areas.
- back to Royal Oak Suburbs
