Essex Fells, N.J.: âItâs Very Norman Rockwellâ With its highly regarded schools, grand old homes and close-knit community, the borough is one of Essex Countyâs most desirable areas. Feb. 17, 2021 After spending much of her adult life working abroad, then moving to Brooklyn and starting a family, Christina PioCosta-Lahue discovered she could go home again. Last summer, she moved back to Essex Fells, the tiny northern New Jersey suburb where she grew up. Ms. PioCosta-Lahue, 42, and her husband, Emmett Williams, 58, who have a toddler son and another child on the way, traded a small apartment in the brownstone they own in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a stucco colonial on 1.26 acres, paying $1.087 million. They had also searched in Montclair, about five miles east, but found comparable houses more expensive and on smaller lots.