Amhurst/Northampton~ insight? (Pittsfield, Westfield, Holyoke: house, schools, university)

[lasttimewemove]

Hello all, this is a spin off from my original post so apologies if re-reading.

Amhurst/Northampton was suggested based on the criteria i provided and i am interested to find out more specifically about this area. It was said to be "artsy/creative" and I am wondering how so? Does it attract artists for a certain reason? Is this all one big area, or a bunch of small towns referred to as Amhurst/Northampton? because i seldom hear one referenced without the other? and if they are 2 separate areas, do they each have a "downtown" or hub of activity? what is it like? what is the lifestyle like? How far a drive to water? Also, any specifics on the smaller outlying towns of: Conway, Ashfield, Leverett and Pelham? How are they different? is one better for families kids? i have researched the schools and they are similarly rated. what will we find in this area? what do people do there in the summer..winter that is unique? Thanks in advance, visiting in a month and need to target areas! thanks!!!

[ScituateAl]

Amherst and Northampton are two college towns that are part of the five college network that includes UMass/Amherst, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College. Someone can provide the stats, but the combined colleges probably house a total of 30k-40k students; the vast majority of which are at UMass. Students are allowed to take classes at the other colleges and the local public transportation has been set up with students in mind. The area has been shaped by this, of course, and the colleges serve to provide jobs, students with lots of spending $$, a magnet for researchers and academics, etc. etc..

Despire the size of UMass, Northampton has the larger downtown. It's main street was simply designed to be wider, buildings taller, etc. say 100 years ago. While Amherst sees plenty of activity, students, parents, etc. will travel to Northampton specifically for shopping and resturants.

The general area is very liberal. I've heard it said that folks respect all sorts of opinions - as long as they're liberal! (And I tend to be liberal, so i get to say that, lol).

I'll need to defer to others for specifics on the local surrounding towns.

[missionhill]

What Al said. Amherst and Northampton are separate towns but they're mentioned as one because together they form the hub of the immediate area. Northampton is a small city; Amherst seems more like a town, but each has about the same population--30,000 or so people. Both have lively commercial centers. Amherst's is dominated by students, Northampton's by the many 20-30 somethings who live in and about. Amherst, by the way, is pronounced with a silent "h" (unlike the one in New York). In between is Hadley with its shopping malls and many acres of farming fields. I don't know the source of the artsiness-- certainly the university and colleges have something to do with it. The five institutions sponsor many cultural events and each has its museums and galleries. But this area was prosperous and productive way back--the poet Emily Dickinson lived with her family in Amherst in the middle 19th century and they were embedded in a local society that appreciated literature and the arts. Lots of areas in New England like that; Stockbridge is another one, and so are Concord, MA, and Litchfield, CT. Anyway it's not so much artsy as alternative life style--cohousing developments, lesbians, organic farming, solar panels on the roof, and so on. Leverett, Wendell, and Pelham are very woodsy country towns north and east of Amherst with lots of alternative-y types. Ashfield and Conway are similar country towns a bit north and west of Northampton with a similar scene but I think more affluent overall, and more farms and open fields than the other three. People live in the country for obvious reasons but it limits the mobility of your children and neighbors may not be very close. Both Amherst and Northampton are fantastic for people 8-16 years old because you can get around easily without a car and there's lots to do. How far to the water? For day trips, it's a two-hour drive to Connecticut beaches, a bit more to Rhode Island where you reach beaches with surf. The Connecticut River is suitable for boating and even swimming above the Holyoke dam. Lots of swimming in the smaller rivers west of the Connecticut, such as the Westfield and the Deerfield Rivers. The state operates a nice park with lake and beach in the Daughters of the American Revolution State Forest along Route 9 in Goshen. Lots of people in the area will go down to Cape Cod for a week or more in the summer, others go into the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire, Vt, and N.Y. State.

[lasttimewemove]

Thanks to you both, such great information! Missionhill thanks for the pronunciation, i had it wrong and would have hated to irk the locals asking for directions. We have a day planned to look there, hopefully it will be enough time to see it all.

now...what constitutes the "Berkshires"?

[missionhill]

It's a little unclear. People seem mostly to mean what's in fact the valley of the Housatonic River, where you'll find the classic Berkshire towns of Pittsfield, Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, Egremont, Great Barrington, and Sheffield. Northern towns like Adams, North Adams, and Williamstown are also in the Berkshires. The mountains west of the Housatonic are the Taconics, a range which may include the highest peak in Massachusetts, Greylock. The so-called hill towns of Hampshire and Franklin Counties are on the Berkshire Plateau, which gets up to 2000 feet or so, but I never heard people call places like Cummington and Chesterfield "the Berkshires." Yet Otis, a bit farther west, is in "the Berkshires." Go figure.

[western mass and love it]

i have never considered Otis "the Berkshires" ,more in the line of a hill town.but that is just me.but you are spot on with the rest of the towns

[ScituateAl]

The western-most county in the state is Berkshire Country. Having grown up there, I would say that any town in the county can call itself the Berkshires. This very much includes Otis....though I would very much agree that the main touristy Berkshires is found along Rt7 that runs north/south across the county. It is interesting....Columbia County NY, just over the border is most definatly NOT the Berkshires (officially). There was even some contention a few years back about some tourist organization promoting the "Berkshire Hills" in NY. True, yes, the hills do cross state lines....but just don't call them the Berkshires, lol.