Boundaries of MA's regions (Boston, Worcester: live in, rail, commuter)

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Tightlines

Too funny, yet I agree with you. Everyone in greater boston believes that the regions west of 495 consider it Western Mass. Pushing it, many think Springfield is Western Mass, though many in "western" mass consider Springfield more Central Mass. Curiously, although North of Springfield, I (as a real western Mass person) always thought more of Amherst as Western Mass, while Springfield Central.

Springfield isn't central, regardless of whether you're considering Cape Cod's land mass or not. As someone actually living in central MA (Sterling), I can say that it's pretty to common to believe everything east of 495 is eastern MA, and everything west of Quabbin (e.g., Amherst) is western MA, albeit the fringe. Or put another way, the area between 202 and 495 is central MA. Additionally, we believe anyone who claims the Berkshires are not Western MA most simply be pretension transplants from NYC.

[western mass and love it]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Springfield isn't central, regardless of whether you're considering Cape Cod's land mass or not. As someone actually living in central MA (Sterling), I can say that it's pretty to common to believe everything east of 495 is eastern MA, and everything west of Quabbin (e.g., Amherst) is western MA, albeit the fringe. Or put another way, the area between 202 and 495 is central MA. Additionally, we believe anyone who claims the Berkshires are not Western MA most simply be pretension transplants from NYC.

Well going by the area between 202 and 495 as Central Mass , that puts a huge area of the Springfield metro in Central Mass. Which we all know isn't true. Central Mass is Worcester County. Western Mass is Franklin , Hampshire and Hampden County. The Berkshire's while in the far western end of the state are not considered Western Mass. It is called the Berkshires, even when talking about the weather on the news the news anchor will differentiate the two areas. Really not that hard to grasp.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

Well going by the area between 202 and 495 as Central Mass , that puts a huge area of the Springfield metro in Central Mass. Which we all know isn't true. Central Mass is Worcester County. Western Mass is Franklin , Hampshire and Hampden County. The Berkshire's while in the far western end of the state are not considered Western Mass. It is called the Berkshires, even when talking about the weather on the news the news anchor will differentiate the two areas. Really not that hard to grasp.

Except to people born and raised in Great Barrington and surrounding towns, to them it is Western MA,.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Except to people born and raised in Great Barrington and surrounding towns, to them it is Western MA,.

Well, actually what choice do they have? Call themselves Almost New York State or Nearly off The Edge?
I'll forgive them because their location is almost out of state but they still wuv us and want to be a part of our great state. Seems that almost everybody else gets to call themselves Something+MA. EMass, Central MA, WMass. They get stuck with the ambiguous "Berkshires" and in the summer when they get flooded with NYers, the poor things probably get their MA identity practically destroyed.

But to anyone else, no excuse to call The Berkshires WesternMA. Yes, they are located in the western section of the state but not in the area known as WMass.

[Cloudship]

I guess I just don't get it - why are the Berkshires so adamant about not being part of Western Mass.? I mean, if they are west of places they consider Western Mass., they have to be either Western Mass. themselves, or extreme Western Mass. That and the Berkshires are not exclusive terms - Berkshires is a specific part of Western Mass.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Cloudship

I guess I just don't get it - why are the Berkshires so adamant about not being part of Western Mass.? I mean, if they are west of places they consider Western Mass., they have to be either Western Mass. themselves, or extreme Western Mass. That and the Berkshires are not exclusive terms - Berkshires is a specific part of Western Mass.

I can't understand it either, at least in geographic terms. Hell, even the Berkshire's "official" tourism org states it's western MA The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts | The Berkshires Official

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Cloudship

I guess I just don't get it - why are the Berkshires so adamant about not being part of Western Mass.? I mean, if they are west of places they consider Western Mass., they have to be either Western Mass. themselves, or extreme Western Mass. That and the Berkshires are not exclusive terms - Berkshires is a specific part of Western Mass.

You've got it backwards. Someone just said that the people in the Berkshires DO say that they're from Western MA. What I said is I don't blame them for saying that because they are almost in NY state and it's hard to come up with a name for them. If they say, The Berkshires, most people have never even heard of it. If they say, Almost over the edge into NY State, it takes kinda a long time to say.

That's probably why they just say, in general, that they come from western MA. And here's the technical explanation again: western Mass is a geographical area of the state of Massachusetts, something like the western third. WMass is a specific area inside the geographical western Mass part of the state. It's more of a colloquialism than anything. If you come from WMass, you do not think The Berkshires are a part of it. You think of The Berkshires as a mountainous region at the far end of the state, bordering on NY state.

If I knew the "Boston" area better, maybe I could think of an analogy. Something like if some of us outsiders called Fall River "Southie." We could argue until we're blue in the face that Fall River is to the south so it should be called "Southie". But it takes a local to define what the terms actually mean in local terms.

[FCMA]

Somebody PLEEEEASE talk about a different region in Mass. These threads so often devolve into these Berkshire vs WMass distinctions.

How about where does the South Shore end and Southeastern Mass begin?

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Somebody PLEEEEASE talk about a different region in Mass. These threads so often devolve into these Berkshire vs WMass distinctions.

How about where does the South Shore end and Southeastern Mass begin?

Those in the know can fight that one out. I thought they were the same thing!

I know they like to fight about what is the north shore.

[massnative71]

^The South Shore (really meaning shore south of Boston) is an area totally distinguished from the South Coast. The South Shore is basically the shore of Massachusetts Bay from Quincy to Plymouth, while the South Coast is the region from Seekonk to Wareham consisting of the Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay watersheds (and a small area in Westport which is totally on the Atlantic). Cape Cod is another totally separate region. SE Mass is generally Bristol and Plymouth (excluding Hingham, Hull and a few of those towns that sort of jut out there) counties, and does not usually include the Cape. The Cape and Islands kind of disown SE Mass in a similar manner that the Berkshires do with the rest of W Mass (at least according to some on this forum).

The South Shore and SE Mass do overlap, although in most of those towns ie. Plymouth and Duxbury "South Shore" supercedes "SE Mass" as I guess it's a more prestigeous address. "SE Mass" tends to be more associated with the inland area of that region, and the South Coast which nobody wants any part of.