Central and/or Western MA: what do you like? (Boston: cinema, live in)

[Boston_Burbs]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Yes, Gardner is Central Mass., North Central to be more exact.

Yea I doubt many people from grander go west on rt 2. When I lived out that way it was still very Leominster, Fitchburg, and 128 centric

[massnative71]

Well to be fair, there are literally people in Boston who think Framingham is in Western Mass. LOL.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Well to be fair, there are literally people in Boston who think Framingham is in Western Mass. LOL.

LOL, that seems to be the attitude on this forum. WMass, to those of us who originally hail from the area, is the cities and towns up and down the Connecticut River Valley. Historically, those towns have always been bound together by our river. That means Hampden and Franklin counties. People who are not from the area originally tend to add the Berkshires (Berkshire country) into the mix. Literally, Berkshire Country is located in western Massachusetts, but colloquially to a WMass resident the Berkshires are not included in the area.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

LOL, that seems to be the attitude on this forum. WMass, to those of us who originally hail from the area, is the cities and towns up and down the Connecticut River Valley. Historically, those towns have always been bound together by our river. That means Hampden and Franklin counties. People who are not from the area originally tend to add the Berkshires (Berkshire country) into the mix. Literally, Berkshire Country is located in western Massachusetts, but colloquially to a WMass resident the Berkshires are not included in the area.

I asked about this when meeting with clients in Great Barrington and South Lee, and the two people I asked about it, both life long residents of the area, looked at my like I was nuts for saying I understand they don't consider themselves Western MA but the Berkshires. They were adamant they were Western MA.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Berkshire Country is located in western Massachusetts, but colloquially to a WMass resident the Berkshires are not included in the area.

You might want to people who actually hail from or live in the Berkshires on that.

[FCMA]

Yeah anything in Worcester County is Central Mass. An area often lumped in with western Mass when you ask a geographically challenged Bostonian, but a very distinct region of the state all its own stretching approximately from 495 to the Quabbin. Western Mass is anything west of the Quabbin Reservoir, or more simply the four western counties (Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, Berkshire). Arguable Western Mass towns in Worcester County include Athol (opinion is mixed), and Warren and Hardwick (Worcester County but with a 413 area code).

My earlier post was referring to things I love about western Mass, though projecting myself further west to when I used to live in Greenfield and Amherst. I'm infamous on this forum for being a horrible troll when it comes to my opinion on Central Mass, the northern slice in particular. But Gardner gets a pass, for the area it's civilized but N Central Mass civilized still comes with excellent mullet watching.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

You might want to [ask] people who actually hail from or live in the Berkshires on that.

I was thinking the same. I've known a few people hailing from the Berkshires and they all identify as being from "Western MA". Perhaps this is because they tend to be a moneyed crowd who can afford maps which clearly show that ... yes, the Berkshires are geographically in Western MA.

This said, I frequently am told by coworkers and friends that I too am a resident of western MA despite living in Sterling. I suppose from a population density standpoint, they might be correct.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

You might want to people who actually hail from or live in the Berkshires on that.

Nope, actually I don't have to ask people who come from the Berkshires. I know they think they live in WMass--and technically/geographically, they DO. To repeat: people from the CT River Valley call their own area WMass or western MA and do not consider the Berkshires to be part of it. It depends upon your point of view, just as Bostonians probably think of anything west of Framingham as WMass.

If you will go back and read what I said, you'd see.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Nope, actually I don't have to ask people who come from the Berkshires. I know they think they live in WMass--and technically/geographically, they DO. To repeat: people from the CT River Valley call their own area WMass or western MA and do not consider the Berkshires to be part of it.

My wife's extremely large extended family from Franklin County would disagree with your myopic way of thinking on this topic.

[Boston_Burbs]

Look at any list of "you grew up win western ma" not very often does it mention the berkshires.

Also the new stations in Springfield call them selves western mass local news 22 and 40 but do not have bershire country news and I don't think are available in some parts of Berkshire county.

I played hockey growing up in the greater Springfield league which spanned from monson to Westfield and north to greenfield. Berkshire county teams played out of Albany