Where does the South Shore end and MetroWest begin? (Boston: real estate, living in)

[jayrandom]

My wife and I just moved to Westwood, and this leaves me wondering what part of the Boston metropolitan we should tell people we've moved to. From what our real estate agent told us, this is the South Shore, but we're so far from the shore that that doesn't quite make sense. The only other option known to me is MetroWest, which doesn't seem quite right either.

Wikipedia says that we're in neither:
MetroWest, Massachusetts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
South Shore (Massachusetts) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a relatively new resident, I'm asking where does the South Shore end and MetroWest begin? Is Westwood in either? If not, is there some clever name I can tell people other than, "oh, it's by Dedham, yeah, southwest of Boston, right by 128". I'm sure the natives or near-natives have a better idea of what is where than I do, so thanks for your input. If you ever need to know about the Florida parishes, I can return the favor ;-)

[CaseyB]

NOT the South Shore, not exactly Metrowest, more just suburban Boston.

[haberstroh]

I have the same question living in Walpole, although I know it is for sure not the South Shore. To all our non-MA friends I just say "35min south of Boston" :-)
The Boston Globe has us in the South of Boston Category.

[findingmesomeday]

I would never place Westwood in "South Shore" category! Canton---maybe on a stretch!

Westwood seems like metrowest to me. Or maybe as someone suggested it's just "suburban Boston". But not South Shore!

To me, SS starts at Weymouth.

[Ragdoll Kitty Lover]

Westwood was "out past Canton" or " in the 128 loop" and Walpole was "West of here" when I was a kid in Brockton. I lived "in Plymouth County" "noth (drop the R) of the Cape". The term South Shore used to mean anything south of Boston and the North Shore was anything north of Boston. MetroWest is a term created in the last 20 or so years to describe the lands to the West of Boston that are suburbs. Southwestern Mass is a term that has been used, and you aren't quite in the Blackstone Valley. You can always just say Norfolk County! Good luck and enjoy Westwood. It's a beautiful place to live.

[europa7]

I live in Walpole, and Dedham, Westwood, Norwood, and Walpole have been classified as both "south" and "west" of Boston. The Verizon phone directory places the first three towns in the Boston South directory, along with towns between Canton and Scituate, the latter arguably being the "heart" of the South Shore. Walpole is in the Milford phone directory.

All four towns are in the westernmost part of the "Boston Sunday Globe's" "South Weekly" circulation area and, likewise, are in the westernmost circulation area of what used to be called "Ledgerland," the circulation area of the Quincy-based "Patriot Ledger," definitely a South Shore newspaper.

When asked by out-of-towners where I live, I state that I am 20 miles south-west of downtown Boston and 25 miles north-east of downtown Providence. I have more of an affinity with Newton and Natick (both definitely west) than with Quincy or Braintree (both definitely south), even though the Natick "Collection" (formerly the Natick Mall) and South Shore Plaza, Braintree, are the same distance from my house. [I dislike shopping malls in general; I'm just using them as a frame-of-reference]

Using Route 128 as another frame-of-reference, Exit 15 (Route 1/Providence Hwy) on the Dedham/Westwood line, is roughly half-way between Route 3/I-93 (Southeast Expressway, the major route from the South Shore into downtown Boston) and I-90 (The Mass Pike, the major route from the western suburbs into downtown Boston). There are two other exits for Dedham and Westwood. Exit 14 (East St/Canton St) is slightly closer to the Southeast Expressway, while Exit 16 (Route 109) is closer to the Mass Pike.

Hope this helps.

[ogre]

You may be out of luck if you want to use a catchy term for Westwood's general area. You could make up something, but I don't know of any term for that section that is traditionally used in the Boston area.

As Ragdoll K L points out, Metrowest is a coined term, not an old traditional reference that dates way back like North Shore and South Shore. Since there is no precise definition, I'm sure people include various towns. I usually think of Metrowest as Framingham and the towns largely within its local economic orbit, sort of like Framingham's "suburbs," if you think of Framingham and vicinity as a small metro area within a larger metro.

I definitely would not consider Westwood to be part of the South Shore. Probably just the "southwestern suburbs."

[baystater]

Originally Posted by findingmesomeday

To me, SS starts at Weymouth.

That sounds about right to me. In fact, as a landmark, you could say you hit the south shore when Rt -3 narrows down to two lanes at Weymouth.

[jayrandom]

One term I heard recently that I like for the general Dedham/Westwood/Norwood area is the "Neponset Valley".

[speedracer77]

jayrandom, you live in Greater Boston. Check a topographical map to see if you are in the Neponset Valley, I like that too.