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I’ll go back to Western MA, but I’m still surprised that people aren’t at least mentioning places like Northampton, Amherst or East Longmeadow as places that would appeal to a good number of people.
I lived in Northampton for a while years ago. That’s flat Connecticut River valley agricultural land, not mountains. Mount Tom used to have a little ski area but it’s only around 1,200 feet and the glacier scraped most of the terrain away tens of thousands of years ago. Cigar wrapper leaf, not mountains.
My Killington place was 2 hours and Okemo & Mount Snow 90 minutes. Brattleboro around 45 minutes. The Vermont mountains were pretty close.
Yeah, plus as much as I like Boston. NYC blows the doors off compared to Boston when it comes to culture. Being 90 min from NYC vs 90 min from Boston is like being 90 min from the Rockies vs the Poconos. A lot comes down to how you prioritize the various factors.
Yeah but if your close to New York you’re far from lakes and serious mountains.
Sure like Kingston is close ish to the Catskills and closeish to New York.
The gap between Boston and New York is kind of like the Catskills vs the Whites.
And for the area that is comparable for mountains/lake access you basically don’t have access to New York City
Like Old Forge is maybe in a comparable setting to Sunapee NH but instead of being 1:45 from New York it’s 4+ hrs. So it’s might as well be in Kansas.
Yeah but if your close to New York you’re far from lakes and serious mountains.
Sure like Kingston is close ish to the Catskills and closeish to New York.
The gap between Boston and New York is kind of like the Catskills vs the Whites.
And for the area that is comparable for mountains/lake access you basically don’t have access to New York City
Like Old Forge is maybe in a comparable setting to Sunapee NH but instead of being 1:45 from New York it’s 4+ hrs. So it’s might as well be in Kansas.
If you’re in Woodstock, the Ashokan Reservoir is right there. It’s a vibrant summer community with tons going on because of all the rich New Yorkers. I-87 is a few minutes away. New Hampshire is very downscale by comparison. There are some expensive lakefront homes. Wolfeboro. Moultonboro Neck. Squam. It’s nothing like the scene in the Catskills. You don’t get the New Hampshire double-wides with cars up on blocks in the front yard.
If you’re in Woodstock, the Ashokan Reservoir is right there. It’s a vibrant summer community with tons going on because of all the rich New Yorkers. I-87 is a few minutes away. New Hampshire is very downscale by comparison. There are some expensive lakefront homes. Wolfeboro. Moultonboro Neck. Squam. It’s nothing like the scene in the Catskills. You don’t get the New Hampshire double-wides with cars up on blocks in the front yard.
The Catskills are not remotely comparable to the Whites. They more resemble the Berkshires.
You don’t get the full offering anywhere. Anywhere with natural amenities comparable is much much more isolated from society.
There is a reason NH is the fastest growing state in the Northeast. Because it’s the only region that offers everything Jobs, mountains, lakes, woods, etc.
The Catskills are not remotely comparable to the Whites. They more resemble the Berkshires.
You don’t get the full offering anywhere. Anywhere with natural amenities comparable is much much more isolated from society.
There is a reason NH is the fastest growing state in the Northeast. Because it’s the only region that offers everything Jobs, mountains, lakes, woods, etc.
You’re confused. The fast growing part of New Hampshire is the metro Boston suburbs. That’s not remotely close to mountains. I lived in Portsmouth for a decade. Gunstock is more than an hour as the closest hill with more than 1,000 feet of vertical. I worked in the border towns for decades. It’s an hour+ up I-93 before you see anything remotely resembling a mountain. The closest skiing is Sunapee. That’s mile marker 20 on I-89 and then another 10 minutes. 60 miles of highway driving from Nashua or Salem. A friend of mine owns a house on the lake. I’ve skied there a couple of times. I did some midweek beer league racing at Gunstock when I worked in Salem right off Exit 2. That was 75 minutes.
My favorite Vermont vs New Hampshire flame was a Boston Globe editorial by Mike Barnicle written ages ago. He called New Hampshire “Arkansas with snow”. I had it in one of my office boxes for a bunch of years. Someone put it up on the web so I tossed my copy.
You’re confused. The fast growing part of New Hampshire is the metro Boston suburbs. That’s not remotely close to mountains. I lived in Portsmouth for a decade. Gunstock is more than an hour as the closest hill with more than 1,000 feet of vertical. I worked in the border towns for decades. It’s an hour+ up I-93 before you see anything remotely resembling a mountain. The closest skiing is Sunapee. That’s mile marker 20 on I-89 and then another 10 minutes. 60 miles of highway driving from Nashua or Salem. A friend of mine owns a house on the lake. I’ve skied there a couple of times. I did some midweek beer league racing at Gunstock when I worked in Salem right off Exit 2. That was 75 minutes.
Belknap, Merrimack and Carrol County (home of Conway) all grew ~6% from 2010-2020, all faster than Hillsborough county and this was before remote work.
Grafton County, NH also had population growth abiet slow, 2.2%
But if that whole swath between the Boston Suburbs, south of Manchester and Canada were stagnant or declining like the Berkshires or rural Upstate, it would significantly hit NH’s population as that’s ~30% of its population
Yeah but if your close to New York you’re far from lakes and serious mountains.
Sure like Kingston is close ish to the Catskills and closeish to New York.
The gap between Boston and New York is kind of like the Catskills vs the Whites.
And for the area that is comparable for mountains/lake access you basically don’t have access to New York City
Like Old Forge is maybe in a comparable setting to Sunapee NH but instead of being 1:45 from New York it’s 4+ hrs. So it’s might as well be in Kansas.
There are lakes in the Catskills and parts of the Hudson Valley are within an hour or so of the beaches on the Long Island Sound.
Kingston is actually minutes from the Catskills(Hunter Mtn is 40-45 minutes away) and NYC is 100 miles away.
Old Forge is similar to Sunapee in that both are just under an hour from a decent sized city within the same state. Old Forge also has this for families with kids: https://www.watersafari.com/ Also, Utica is a city with a good food scene due in part to its very diverse ethnic makeup(especially Italian, but also Eastern European, Caribbean(Spanish, Jamaican, etc.), African(East and West), African American, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.). You can take this from Utica’s Union Station to Old Forge: https://adirondackrr.com/ Utica also has this museum associated with the Pratt Institute: https://www.mwpai.org/
What people have to realize is that there is more criteria than mountains in the OP. So, where does the other criteria come into this for the other states/regions? Where are the quaint small towns in these other states/regions? What about employment for some of these other states/regions? What other culture does Western MA, VT, NH and ME offer?
Also, in terms of an “extra”, Upstate NY has amusement parks scattered all over. So, besides the example given that is in Old Forge and the previously mentioned Sylvan Beach, you have these in Queensbury just outside of Glens Falls: https://www.sixflags.com/greatescape...siness+Profile
To be honest, I'm really surprised that Western MA is not really getting mentioned in this thread. Why is that?
It's a great area, it just doesn't compete with the entirety of ME, NH, and VT and the giant area that is upstate NY. The Berkshires are not in the same stratosphere as the Adirondacks, Whites, Greens, or Western ME Mountains + Katahdin. With all due respect to Northampton and the cutesy Berkshire towns, there's more in ME, NH, VT, and NY. There's no recreational lake like Moosehead Lake, Winnie, Lake George, etc. in Western MA. It actually has better Whitewater Rafting than any New England state aside from ME (I'm not sure how it compares to NY), but that's pretty niche. It just doesn't really win in any category even though it's not terrible in any of them either.
It's a great area, it just doesn't compete with the entirety of ME, NH, and VT and the giant area that is upstate NY. The Berkshires are not in the same stratosphere as the Adirondacks, Whites, Greens, or Western ME Mountains + Katahdin. With all due respect to Northampton and the cutesy Berkshire towns, there's more in ME, NH, VT, and NY. There's no recreational lake like Moosehead Lake, Winnie, Lake George, etc. in Western MA. It actually has better Whitewater Rafting than any New England state aside from ME (I'm not sure how it compares to NY), but that's pretty niche. It just doesn't really win in any category even though it's not terrible in any of them either.
Got it...What about the Springfield portion of Western MA, given that it would be the biggest area out of the New England selections? It seems like it is an area that gets maligned by those from the region in this forum, but what redeeming qualities does the area have that could appeal to anything the OP mentioned?
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