Western MA towns (Northampton / West Springfield) (Revere, Amherst: apartment complex, crime, how much)

[RiverBird]

I second in–newengland's suggestion of Hatfield. Two of my kids went to school there, very small schools and agricultural community (potato farms). Pricey to buy into though, and the schools are not culturally diverse in terms of the student population, but it's right next to I-91and a skip into Northampton.

ETA: if your family has any allergies, you may want to look into the factor of the corn fields, plus the spraying, in Hatfield. One of my students just moved there and is having an allergic reaction to the corn fields.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by newenglandgirl

I second in–newengland's suggestion of Hatfield. Two of my kids went to school there, very small schools and agricultural community (potato farms). Pricey to buy into though, and the schools are not culturally diverse in terms of the student population, but it's right next to I-91and a skip into Northampton.

ETA: if your family has any allergies, you may want to look into the factor of the corn fields, plus the spraying, in Hatfield. One of my students just moved there and is having an allergic reaction to the corn fields.

Well, I guess we've settled that, lol. Hatfield is good.

One of the reasons I bypassed purchasing a cute house out in Whately was the potato fields with the spraying going on right near the house. You have to take things like that into consideration in the agricultural communities.

[RiverBird]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Well, I guess we've settled that, lol. Hatfield is good.

One of the reasons I bypassed purchasing a cute house out in Whately was the potato fields with the spraying going on right near the house. You have to take things like that into consideration in the agricultural communities.

Hatfield is charming nonetheless. I used to walk the loop of several miles around the town, as did a lot of the townies there. The neighborhoods are all beautiful, it's old New England. You cannot beat the location, and even better are the super low property taxes there, probably because of the farmlands.

[Raiderman]

I moved from the Bay Area in California to Hatfield in the mid-1980s. I think it is a great little town! I went to Smith Academy, before we built a house in Sunderland and I finished out school in S. Deerfield.

If you're looking for a sleepy little town, yet convenient to Northampton and Springfield, it's a gem.

My last commute before leaving W. Mass was from Colrain to Chicopee every day, so I understand how that can get old.

Good luck with your move!

[Tupaloop]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Well, I guess we've settled that, lol. Hatfield is good.

One of the reasons I bypassed purchasing a cute house out in Whately was the potato fields with the spraying going on right near the house. You have to take things like that into consideration in the agricultural communities.

Hi in_newengland! I know this is an old thread but would you be so kind as to tell me what you know about pesticide usage in the agricultural hilltowns and if they have negatively impacted residents? With farming activities being so well protected in many of your wonderful towns, is there a conflict with those concerned about their health and potentially breathing pesticides?

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by Tupaloop

Hi in_newengland! I know this is an old thread but would you be so kind as to tell me what you know about pesticide usage in the agricultural hilltowns and if they have negatively impacted residents? With farming activities being so well protected in many of your wonderful towns, is there a conflict with those concerned about their health and potentially breathing pesticides?

Tupaloop,

I can't answer your questions above, but since you show interest in our area, I wanted to suggest that Leeds might be a good place for you to look into. It is technically part of Northampton, but on the outer-skirts and more rural.

Northampton overall is a very liberal town and there are a number of vegan restaurants too. You should also check out our local food co-op, it's fabulous and they are opening another big store in Easthampton in July! Additionally, we have a weekly farmer's market in downtown Northampton and another in downtown Florence (another in-town suburb).

You should visit sometime. I think you'd like us! btw, I grew up in NJ (Ridgewood area) and lived in NYC for many years.

[Tupaloop]

Originally Posted by bizcuit

Tupaloop,

I can't answer your questions above, but since you show interest in our area, I wanted to suggest that Leeds might be a good place for you to look into. It is technically part of Northampton, but on the outer-skirts and more rural.

Northampton overall is a very liberal town and there are a number of vegan restaurants too. You should also check out our local food co-op, it's fabulous and they are opening another big store in Easthampton in July! Additionally, we have a weekly farmer's market in downtown Northampton and another in downtown Florence (another in-town suburb).

You should visit sometime. I think you'd like us! btw, I grew up in NJ (Ridgewood area) and lived in NYC for many years.

Hi Bizcuit! Thanks for the rec! I already like you guys! It's so funny you mentioned this place because last night we watched a bunch of videos about Northampton on youtube. We were so excited watching it just knowing that will probably be our go-to town when we want to be in civilization. I think we high fived (and I screamed) when the narrator said 95% of the population were registered Democrats. That's mind-blowing! And when I saw the Tibetan shop and restaurant that pretty much sealed the deal. I will put Leeds on my list of towns to research, thank you so much!

Ridgewood is way up north! So did you leave NJ specifically to move to beautiful MA? How do you like it up there and how does it compare to your (our) home state?

[mdovell]

Sometimes the definition of democrat might vary. The ones in western mass are more to the left than eastern. Western democrats tend to view other ones as moderate republicans. But this isn't like California where someone might get in your face about a protest attendance.

For the most part things are pretty calm politically. Mass usually has a few ballot measures during elections but we know about them ahead of time. They can pass (banning dog racing, legalizing marijuana) or deny (ranked choice voting) Some issues are more debated but mass was pretty much for the first for health care and for same sex marriage.

Some areas have more immigrants. Lowell is very high for Cambodians, Fall River and New Bedford for Portuguese speaking, Irish in Holyoke, Polish in Chicopee, Puerto Rican (I know not technically immigrants) in western Mass, Italians in Springfield, Chinese in Quincy. Technically there's more active churches in western mass. As waves of immigrants came in many were Catholic so it stayed fuller longer. Growing up in south east Mass we could care less what some local Priest said but there's much more sway out west where they still own a fair amount of land and schools. All of this of course translates to more festivals and events.

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by Tupaloop

Hi Bizcuit! Thanks for the rec! I already like you guys! It's so funny you mentioned this place because last night we watched a bunch of videos about Northampton on youtube. We were so excited watching it just knowing that will probably be our go-to town when we want to be in civilization. I think we high fived (and I screamed) when the narrator said 95% of the population were registered Democrats. That's mind-blowing! And when I saw the Tibetan shop and restaurant that pretty much sealed the deal. I will put Leeds on my list of towns to research, thank you so much!

Ridgewood is way up north! So did you leave NJ specifically to move to beautiful MA? How do you like it up there and how does it compare to your (our) home state?

Oh, I got out of NJ as soon as I possibly could. I loved living in NYC though, until I didn't anymore. Moved to NH, lived there for 13 years and then moved to this area for a job about two and a half years ago.

Yes, this town is mostly democrats. I believe it is (arguably) the most liberal town in the US.

btw, you may not see Leeds as a town in your search as it is technically Northampton. You may need to search with Northampton as the town, but keep in mind the different subsections, Northampton proper, Bay State Village, Florence and Leeds.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Tupaloop

Hi in_newengland! I know this is an old thread but would you be so kind as to tell me what you know about pesticide usage in the agricultural hilltowns and if they have negatively impacted residents? With farming activities being so well protected in many of your wonderful towns, is there a conflict with those concerned about their health and potentially breathing pesticides?

I don't know that much about the pesticide use but I'd think most people would be against it and more into organic gardening. Small farms have largely gone out of business and I said No to a house that backed up against a small farm due to the possibility of pesticide spraying. You can never be 100% sure but most people wouldn't use pesticides. Of course these were the serious farms that probably need to use pesticides, not the "hobby" type farms though and not the newer co-ops that are organic. Hadley had a lot of farming and there's still some there but it's gone over more to students and strip malls along rte 9 now. Still a lot of cows though and in spring you can smell the cow manure.

I think I would be more concerned about pesticides used in the past when the area was largely into farming. It was called tobacco valley and there were fields and fields of tobacco plants and you can still see the old barns where they hung it to dry. The pesticides they must have used back then! Hadley still grows a lot of sweet corn in the fields and probably pesticides are used by those farmers. Probably there is residue from pesticides in the formerly rural towns.

Another concern is that some towns used to be industrial so you get industrial pollution. Easthampton had to shut down their water system a few decades ago due to a chemical called TCE. New England has a lot of old mill towns--even out in places like Williamsburg there were mills. My late aunt and uncle worked in a mill in Florence (long ago.) There were mills in Northampton and, to me, the water in N'ton has always tasted terrible. But I met some people from NYC who thought it tasted great!

I rented once from a jerk in Sunderland (northern, towards Deerfield) who was an old time redneck and sprayed pesticides all over the place. You will always get a few crazies no matter where you go but about all you can do is to casually ask around and be observant and careful. Use a water quality website to check about what's in the water.