Thoughts on Western Mass (Boston, Springfield: best suburbs, amusement park, neighborhoods)

[mbtrom]

Can anyone from the Boston area give me your thoughts on living in a nice suburb in the Springfield area? We have a business opportunity that is attractive but after living in Florida and Charlotte, NC, I am worried about the "small-town" living. I am hoping the public schools are better than those in the best suburbs of Charlotte (they are still lacking). I am worried about the lack of things to do, lack of culture, etc. Any thoughts?

[missionhill]

Having lived in both I'd say that, as to culture, it depends upon how top-drawer your culture has to be. From Northampton down to Hartford, there's a lot going on but most are community and academic events. Springfield itself has a symphony orchestra and I think still a theatre company. Hartford has more. There's no BSO or Boston Ballet, of course. There are first-rate art museums in the area. Schools are good in Longmeadow and probably pretty good in many towns. However Connecticut doesn't have the property tax cap and so you get better funded schools there but probably have higher taxes too (towns like Enfield and Suffield are very close to Springfield).

[mbtrom]

Will my kids enjoy living there? Are Mass public schools in good suburbs that much better than the south? How bad is the weather? Thanks for any input.

[cartgy]

There are more things to do for the younger kids here then the older kids, like middle school and older.

The weather is unpredictable. The winters are snowy and cold, and the summers are hot and humid.

[missionhill]

Can't say whether schools better than NC or Fla. Mass students rank higher than most states but I don't know what that tells you. If you don't know already, everything is town-by-town in Mass and Conn; the counties have no effective government so schools, libraries, and other public services are provided by the town. The best school systems in Western Mass are Longmeadow and Amherst but Amherst is not a suburb and not very convenient to Springfield for daily commuting. There's so much to do in the area! Swimming (in ponds, lakes, pools), hiking, bike riding--lots of beautiful parks near and far, including Forest Park which Springfield shares with Longmeadow. Autumn is a wonderful season in New England. Skiing and sledding in the winter--we used to have Mt Tom right in Holyoke--alas no more but there's good skiing in the Berkshires and of course in Vt. It's a lot colder than NC and Fla but snow and ice have their attractions--lots of kids love ice skating. West Springfield has a great ag fair in September and there's a Six Flags amusement park in Agawam. Very safe--no gated communities because there's no need for them (outside of inner-city Springfield neighborhoods)! In summer you have a gazillion cultural attractions an hour's drive west, in the Berkshires. You're 60-90 minutes from nice beaches on Long Island Sound and 3 hours to Cape Cod. New York and Boston are close enough for day trips.