Western Mass: Will be working in Holyoke, should I live there too? Driving conditions?

[snowboots]

THank you to everyone who replied!
I hope to find the time to come out and visit once more around May and hope to find something good!

[mig2x]

snowboots

Im going to be an intern at baystate and I was looking for apartments in the area near the hospital. I was in Ingleside last week, stayed there for 6 days, and saw the apartments at devonshire place. Very nice apartments, the area is very close to the mall, it looks like a quiet, peaceful place. It has an elementary school rigth beside it which I saw during the weekdays that there were no traffic problems, same with having Holyoke mall so close by. What I like was the proximity of the apartments to I-91. You already know about the mall and it has all the big stores sears, jcpenney, macy, it has bank of america, CVS, Pizzeria Uno etc etc. Theres a shell gas station 1 minute away from Devonshire and a Barnes and Nobles too.

About the apartments: very nice place. they have covered parking for the winter months, the access to the lobby is with a key and it has an intercom that connects to your telephone landline for visits. They have a guard after office hours and some state troopers live in the apartments which is a plus. I saw one of them during my visit.

I took the apartment due to its proximity to Baystate. the Holiday Inn is very well kept and its very close to the apartments and there's a barre and crackel restaurant/store next to the hotel. so its a very nice place.

[westernmass101]

Northampton is a great city and I'm glad you fell in love with it.

Honestly, it's not that bad to commute from Northampton to your job near the mall. I-91 is the easiest way, however there is a good road that is Northampton Street/ Mt. Tom Road. It runs parallel to I-91.

The state and local governments are really good at cleaning the roads in the winter. I drive through ti in winter to go to Northampton and I find it relatively easy.

But, before you decide on living in the apartments, think about this. Which by the way the apartments I have heard really good comments on them. But, you did state that you fell in love with Northampton. If that's your choice you want to live there than you should. I'm just assumign you would like to live in downtown Northampton. Well, Northampton Street gives you direct access to the mall and downtown Northampton.

Hopefully, I have helped you in you decision making.

[I Like Taxes]

I live in Northampton for about a year back in 2003-2004. Its a great place.

Your commute should be fine once you get onto I-91, but unless traffic has changed, the exits can become very congested, so you may have to take that into consideration during peak traffic hours.

[77apple]

I am a 64 year old female.Moving from western Colorado. Insight into the Granby,South Hadley areas? Need to have open space,bike routes,health clubs,culture,within 30 minuttes of Amherst.

[missionhill]

The Norwottuck railtrail runs from South Amherst to Northampton and connects with the N'hampton bikeway out to Florence. This is the major bikes-only facility in the area although there are many country roads with not too much traffic. Of the two towns you mention Granby is more rural and quieter for biking. Both So Hadley and Granby have open space but very little of it accessible to the public or developed for public use-- i.e., a lot of the undeveloped land is farms or wooded/swampy land that you can't easily get into. Amherst has several mapped walking/hiking trails over public and private land, and other towns may as well. South Hadley has the Mt Holyoke College campus which has nice walking around the ponds and over Prospect Hill. Both towns run up against the Holyoke range of hills which has fairly rugged and scenic trails which you reach from the "notch" along Rte 116 or at Hockanum along Rte 47. Not sure about health clubs but probably not so hard to find. South Hadley and Granby are more oriented to the Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke area of depressed factory towns. Lots of Reagan Democrats and hard-working people in whats left of the blue-collar economy. North of the Holyoke range everything is oriented to the Northampton-Amherst educational and alternative lifestyle complex. Some really lovely towns up that way include Ashfield and Conway. Also nice and closer to Amherst are Wendell and Leverett. Belchertown (more suburban) and Pelham (more country) both border the Quabbin Reservoir which has vast (for Massachusetts) woodlands and many hiking trails. Both are close to Amherst.