What do you consider Western Mass? (Boston: areas, places, town)

[crista72]

The Berkshires are beautiful, from what I remember. I was also born and raised in Western Massachusetts in a small Irish community that is no longer there. How times have changed, and I still miss it there.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by crista72

The Berkshires are beautiful, from what I remember. I was also born and raised in Western Massachusetts in a small Irish community that is no longer there. How times have changed, and I still miss it there.

True, the Berkshires are beautiful. When I lived in WMass we used to go to the Berkshires to attend Tanglewood concerts. I wonder where your Irish community was. In the colloquial area known locally as western MA or in the much larger geographical part of of the state that is the western part of MA. I know western MA pretty well, having lived there most of my life in Hampden and Hampshire Counties but I don't remember an Irish community unless it was somewhere in Springfield.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Yes the river is a good visual marker but the fact is that people in both Springfield and W Springfield are both going to tell you they're from W MA because that's how folks identify on each side of river.

There's a governmental employee in w. springfield that in a conversation with me said of springfield
"Them?! They're at the other side of the river"

Then again a friend of mine used to work on the cape and there's plenty of seasonal employees there that act like the Bourne Bridge is checkpoint charlie.

[crista72]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

True, the Berkshires are beautiful. When I lived in WMass we used to go to the Berkshires to attend Tanglewood concerts. I wonder where your Irish community was. In the colloquial area known locally as western MA or in the much larger geographical part of of the state that is the western part of MA. I know western MA pretty well, having lived there most of my life in Hampden and Hampshire Counties but I don't remember an Irish community unless it was somewhere in Springfield.

As a kid, I grew up in Springfield, MA, it was known as "hungry hill" area. It was middle class back then, a pretty safe area, but tough. We used to go to Tanglewood to see concerts too! Haven't been home in nearly 20 years.

[G1..]

Originally Posted by crista72

The Berkshires are beautiful, from what I remember. I was also born and raised in Western Massachusetts in a small Irish community that is no longer there. How times have changed, and I still miss it there.

???What would that be ?

[G1..]

Great forum question ,I have been fighting this for years and no I'm not from Mass or even NE .I grew up on the New Jersey shore ,1) there is no place called the "Jersey Shore"!Yet I would spend my time in the Berkshires during the summers (12years) and then went to college at Dean in Franklin .I being an outsider say the from Worcestor to the Berkshire is central MA ,why must it go straight from the Boston area to "Western MA ,the Berkshires and west to NY border are Western MA at least to me anyway .I do want to ask though way does everyone say the Berkshires are there own thing ,from Great Barrington to ,Lenox ,Lee, Stockbridge ,Pittsfield up to Williams ,Mt Greylock some of the nicest country and landscape in the country .

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by crista72

As a kid, I grew up in Springfield, MA, it was known as "hungry hill" area. It was middle class back then, a pretty safe area, but tough. We used to go to Tanglewood to see concerts too! Haven't been home in nearly 20 years.

Yes, I know where that is and I was wondering if that was what you meant. I was born in Springfield. It's very sad what's happened but I wouldn't go near Springfield these days. Don't go back, I warn you. It doesn't exist anymore. Sometimes it's just better to remember things as they used to be.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by mdovell

There's a governmental employee in w. springfield that in a conversation with me said of springfield
"Them?! They're at the other side of the river"

Then again a friend of mine used to work on the cape and there's plenty of seasonal employees there that act like the Bourne Bridge is checkpoint charlie.

In all my years of living in WMass I never heard of anyone even caring about which side of the river you lived on. That valley (well, most of it) is WMass and there's just a bridge in between the two cities.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by G1..

Great forum question ,I have been fighting this for years and no I'm not from Mass or even NE .I grew up on the New Jersey shore ,1) there is no place called the "Jersey Shore"!Yet I would spend my time in the Berkshires during the summers (12years) and then went to college at Dean in Franklin .I being an outsider say the from Worcestor to the Berkshire is central MA ,why must it go straight from the Boston area to "Western MA ,the Berkshires and west to NY border are Western MA at least to me anyway .I do want to ask though way does everyone say the Berkshires are there own thing ,from Great Barrington to ,Lenox ,Lee, Stockbridge ,Pittsfield up to Williams ,Mt Greylock some of the nicest country and landscape in the country .

That's because you're from out of state. The reason I didn't know there's no place called the Jersey Shore is that I'm from out of NJ.

Worcester IS in central MA. When you get past the Quabbin area somewhere it all becomes geographically the western part of the state or western MA. But (and this is what confuses outsiders) within the larger general area where we are speaking of directions like north, east, south, west, there is a mini area that is LOCALLY known as WesternMA. Several posters on this megathread have defined it well--it's the 413 area code or the cities and towns along the Connecticut River Valley, Hamden, Hampshire, and Franklin County, and a few other definitions. The mini area that we locals refer to is NOT the Berkshires. That area is called The Berkshires, Berkshire County.

People from EMass, most of whom have probably never even been to WMass (although they have driven through it on the Mass Pike to get to the Berkshires to go to Tanglewood) don't know the nuances, the local names that are used. It's just the same as someone like me, not from EMass, thinking that anything east of Worcester, is called Boston. That's what I used to think. Now I know better and I narrow it down but I will never be able to narrow it down as well as an EMass native. I can't narrow down places in Boston AT ALL. I am pretty clueless about Boston, it's all Boston to me. Same thing as people from EMass not realizing that there's a small area within western Massachusetts that is really called WMass by the locals. If you live there, you narrow it down, as I guess anybody, anywhere, narrows down their own home territory.

[G1..]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

That's because you're from out of state. The reason I didn't know there's no place called the Jersey Shore is that I'm from out of NJ.

Worcester IS in central MA. When you get past the Quabbin area somewhere it all becomes geographically the western part of the state or western MA. But (and this is what confuses outsiders) within the larger general area where we are speaking of directions like north, east, south, west, there is a mini area that is LOCALLY known as WesternMA. Several posters on this megathread have defined it well--it's the 413 area code or the cities and towns along the Connecticut River Valley, Hamden, Hampshire, and Franklin County, and a few other definitions. The mini area that we locals refer to is NOT the Berkshires. That area is called The Berkshires, Berkshire County.

People from EMass, most of whom have probably never even been to WMass (although they have driven through it on the Mass Pike to get to the Berkshires to go to Tanglewood) don't know the nuances, the local names that are used. It's just the same as someone like me, not from EMass, thinking that anything east of Worcester, is called Boston. That's what I used to think. Now I know better and I narrow it down but I will never be able to narrow it down as well as an EMass native. I can't narrow down places in Boston AT ALL. I am pretty clueless about Boston, it's all Boston to me. Same thing as people from EMass not realizing that there's a small area within western Massachusetts that is really called WMass by the locals. If you live there, you narrow it down, as I guess anybody, anywhere, narrows down their own home territory.

I apologize if you thought I was being snippy about the "jersey thing" it was a bad attempt at humor .I fight with people from New Jersey who call it "Jersey"all the time ,my view is they don't call it York or Hampshire , it's New York ,it's New Hampshire it is New Jersey and if you are from NJ you go "down the shore" and if you live "down the shore " you go to the beach .I really do find it interesting on why people who live in certain areas call things ,places what they do .