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SandyBouattick t1_iu74lrn wrote

It must be wild living in the "western MA" of large states. You can easily drive from one end of MA to the other in a few hours. Imagine what living in remote rural Texas is like.

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zdigrig t1_iu7ah8u wrote

Can confirm, Pittsfield native living In centex. My idea of far was so skewed before I came here

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NoeTellusom t1_iu9ivnq wrote

Pittsfield, MA here, too!

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zdigrig t1_iu9safg wrote

I remember thinking driving to williamstown was far, now I drive an hour(~70 miles) each way to work

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NoeTellusom t1_iua456m wrote

I went to college in North Adams, so driving to Williamstown on the weekend was pretty common. :D

My sis makes the Pittsfield to Williamstown commute pretty regularly.

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suhhhdoooo t1_iu9i3l4 wrote

Moved from central MA to CA. CA is not what you think it is. Once you get an hour plus outside any of the 3 big cities, you might as well be in Texas. At least in SoCal and Central Cal. NorCal is probably more like Vermont (talking out of my ass though)

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notthesethings t1_iu8z92j wrote

It takes about 9 hours to drive from one end of kentucky to the other. Eastern ky and western ky are so much more remote than western ma it’s ridiculous.

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scientist4321 t1_iu9gohc wrote

Yeah, but it’s all Kentucky …

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notthesethings t1_iu9h312 wrote

Sort of. The cultures are very distinct.

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scientist4321 t1_iu9jotf wrote

It just shows my ignorance about all things Kentucky. Almost all things, I know BBQ is supreme, though.

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notthesethings t1_iu9kz1x wrote

That’s true in the western part of the state. It’s pretty bad in central and doesn’t really exist in eastern.

Edit: talking about bbq

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scientist4321 t1_iu9nh4w wrote

Moving forward I’ll stop talking about things I don’t know sooner. I have plenty of strong opinions about things I do know…

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EagleRose1971 t1_iu9wlv7 wrote

The city limits for Houston alone is the distance between Boston and Worcester

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Current-Photo2857 t1_iu6mku2 wrote

But they made damn sure to include the Quabbin, can’t forget the four western MA towns they drowned so eastern MA could have water…

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu6ms81 wrote

Three. One was evacuated but would have survived if it hadn't been

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Current-Photo2857 t1_iu6mzse wrote

Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott no longer exist as towns, so I count it as 4 even if the land of one is still “technically” there.

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu6n32g wrote

Dana never went under. Imagine getting forced out of your home and then boom, it would have survived

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MrRemoto t1_iu7st5p wrote

Not just survived... lake front property.

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darksideofthemoon131 t1_iu7jn6o wrote

The parts of Dana that didn't flood are a very spooky area now. Roads, sidewalks, all exist but no homes or businesses. It's like a strange pre-fab neighborhood before the homes get delivered.

Was out there last week, worth the day trip. The whole region is stunning thus time of year.

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thedirtyfozzy84 t1_iu6whcw wrote

We are the best part of the state, keep crying, your tears sustain me eastoids

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AatroxIsBae t1_iu7ip03 wrote

If there were more biotech jobs in western mass i would move back so fast.

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Seaworthiness222 t1_iu6or67 wrote

413

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MrRemoto t1_iu7swnx wrote

Who was that lineman from the Pats who had a giant 413 tattoo?

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RagingBone69 t1_iu989sn wrote

It was probably Ron Brace! Although he was with the pats for a short time, he was fun to watch and it was cool seeing someone from Western Mass on the team.

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Ok_District2853 t1_iu8a78i wrote

I don’t understand why we have to choose one over the other. I’m just glad to live in Massachusetts. Everywhere is great. West and east. Just because I like chocolate ice cream doesn’t mean coffee ice cream is gross. I just had to choose one.

By the way the ice cream out west is world class. In this case you should go with coffee. Holy god it is good.

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SabersSoberMom t1_iu72kwu wrote

We just drove past I-91, and it's desolate and unsettled. We use movie sets and holographs to create the illusion of cities and towns during September and October for the Big-E and leaf peeping.

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Emergency_Address_51 OP t1_iu6m4ck wrote

counties* fml!

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu6mqn3 wrote

The state refers to them sometimes as The Abolished Counties, which I like because it makes WMA sound like something from The Lord of the Rings.

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jrdnmdhl t1_iu6stu9 wrote

There are towns west of Worcester?

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nataphoto t1_iu7bkm1 wrote

Staying on 90 after the 84 split is ill advised

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kw66 t1_iu93lbj wrote

Nope. It’s a barren wasteland. And there’s ghosts.

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[deleted] t1_iu78o9j wrote

Been in Western MA for 25 years, gotta say, traveled and stayed all over new england, Western MA is one of my favorites, fairly normal, no political extremes, people are just friendly enough not to start an unprecedented conversation with you, but also not get road rage if you need to move over a lane lol. It has a great mix of city and "countryside" to it. Fairly safe, just quiet enough to enjoy it but not feel super isolated. Still got dunks every 3 blocks, I'm an hour from Worcester, 1hr 30 to boston and 45 min from the Berkshires. It's really quite the spot.

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oceansofmyancestors t1_iu7cu0y wrote

I also like that we can go to Hartford for the Bushnell, West. Hartford for dinner, plus Evergreen Walk and all that is just 45 minutes away.

We can get to RI and CT and NH beaches faster than the Cape. We can ski. We can get to NYC in a jiffy. We’ve got loads of colleges and lots and lots of nature. We’ve got a lot going for us.

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rolandofgilead41089 t1_iu8qocd wrote

As someone who has lived in the Pioneer Valley their entire life, I feel the 413 area code is true Western MA. The Berkshires are their own entity.

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8bitAdventures t1_iu8r8uc wrote

What area code do you think the Berkshires have?

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rolandofgilead41089 t1_iu8rvja wrote

Honestly didn't know it was also 413. I've always thought of Worcester county as central MA; Franklin/Hampshire/Hampden county as Western MA, and the Berkshires are the Berkshires. Probably silly as the Berkshires are the western most part of the state but in my head it makes sense.

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Beantownbrews t1_iu7923g wrote

I’m glad nobody knows or cares about central Mass. keep thinking it’s Worcester and stay out!

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squarerootofapplepie t1_iu7bihq wrote

I mean it’s not as good as Eastern or Western MA, I don’t think that’s too controversial. We’ve got a lot of apples though.

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NativeMasshole t1_iu7nibs wrote

I thought it was, until all the Bostonians started killing our housing market. I mean, it's pretty much central to all of southern New England. You get the best of both worlds.

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Occams_Fear t1_iu8nxll wrote

as long as none of y'all get the cute idea to stay in Maine after buying your cheap weed, we good!

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suhhhdoooo t1_iu9izbf wrote

Always curious what people think central MA is. I'm from the 508/774 just east of Worcester and we always called it central MA. I had an ex that maintained that anything west of Framingham was western MA lol

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bigolebucket t1_iu8hl2g wrote

I also grew up in Berkshire County, and I’m with Denise on this one.

Only the Shire is definitely Western MA to us. Honorable mention to some parts of Hampden/Hampshire/Franklin. Springfield-Quabbin = Central. Worcester = Outer Suburb of Boston

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PolarBlueberry t1_iu8zwqa wrote

The Berkshires is the Berkshires. It starts to become more like New York so they have their own region. They drive to Albany for the big city and root for NY sports teams.

Western Mass are the 3 counties in the CT River valley and the hill towns directly east and west. They have their own media outlets based out of Springfield that almost exclusively talk about the I-91 corridor, with some stories from The Berks, but they also get Albany news.

Central Mass is Worcester County, which is now part of the Boston media network so they are not Western Mass, but Eastern Mass doesn’t accept them, they are their own.

then you have Eastern Mass which is subdivided by North Shore and South shore, with The Cape and Islands as their own region as well.

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surprisekitten t1_iu954hw wrote

I’m as someone who grew up in the Berkshires (10m from ny boarder), if we went to a city it was NYC or Boston, who goes to Albany?

Can attest we did get tristate area news which was annoying, especially around elections.

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bigolebucket t1_iu95ts1 wrote

Yeah “the city” was NYC to us. We got Albany TV before satellite hence the heavy NY influence.

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Fit-Anything8352 t1_iu8nomv wrote

It's kind of funny because since Greylock is technically part of the Taconic mountains, Berkshire County doesn't even include the actual peak of the Berkshires (Crumb Hill, Monroe, Franklin County)

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LadyTigerBomb t1_iu8mbyk wrote

That’s cool. We will keep our more affordable living out here.

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Emergency_Address_51 OP t1_iu78uni wrote

Above anything, this video is HILLARIOUS. you should watch his other videos https://twitter.com/MattWBZ . They're the best 'guy-on-street' interviews i've ever seen while also being good-hearted, 'real' and unpretentious.

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ihiwidid t1_iu7d3f9 wrote

And let’s keep it this way. Shhh!

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darksideofthemoon131 t1_iu7l2n7 wrote

Being in Worcester, I've always considered us the beginning of Western MA. I drive west of the city and it starts getting very rural and the forests get more expansive. I drive east and it's more congested. Politically the state demographic changes about 2 towns over from Worcester as well.

Technically Rutland is the geographical center of the state (they have a tree that marks the center in town, worth the stop and picture) and I think that once you get 2- 3 towns west of Rutland you start the beginning of Western MA.

84 and the CT River are the best boundaries to really delineate where the west starts. The proposal to make WMA its own state always started at that marker.

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Comrade-SeeRed t1_iu9p7zf wrote

Is there an Eastern Massachusetts? I’ve heard of this fabled city called Boosetown, where the streets are all one-ways and people say, “youse” but I’m convinced it’s a myth.

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Past-Adhesiveness150 t1_iuaidhd wrote

When your from eastern MA, you just say your from Boston.

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Comrade-SeeRed t1_iuarmbx wrote

When you tell your out-of-state friends you’re from western MA, they ask, how close is that to Boston?

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Comrade-SeeRed t1_iuarbt2 wrote

Is it pronounced like Bow-stone or Boss-ton? Didn’t something famous happen there once?

Just kidding, of course. I’m just mocking the obliviousness of some of the Bostonian respondents.

I grew up in Miami, FL and we would say the same thing if you asked us about Orlando, Tallahasee or Jacksonville but those at their closest are a 4 hours drive away. Western MA is less than an hour and a half, two hours at most. That’s like driving from Miami to West Palm Beach. Driving to Jacksonville from Miami is the equivalent of driving to Canada from Boston.

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LocalSalesRep t1_iu77w18 wrote

I too think you’re not truly on the cape until wellfleet

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individual_328 t1_iu7osi2 wrote

It's kinda weird to just own your ignorance and not care. I feel bad when I don't know about things near me. It makes my world feel small and my experiences limited.

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larabeezy t1_iu7l2wq wrote

Misspelled Williamstown lol

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ShinigamiRyan t1_iu7o3by wrote

As a southcoast guy, I just presume the west folks have it handled and leave it at that. I already try to avoid going north, I have no intentions of going west, since that implies Rhode Island for me.

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VacateBiscuitPie t1_iu8rn0a wrote

Good. They can all stay in their enclaves with their protective rock salt circle of 128 keeping them safe from “western mass.”

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Past-Adhesiveness150 t1_iuahtby wrote

The truth is that when you are from Boston, born n raised...anything west of 495 is "western".

There is no reason to go west of 495.... I mean really, 95(128 for you stubborn old bastards) is about as far as you need to go. But since the marathon starts out that way, Bostonians consider it close enough to care about.

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu6mw3f wrote

This is the attitude that made WMA create the need for a constitution.

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Emergency_Address_51 OP t1_iu6qgbs wrote

No, western mass is in such a good position. boston SHOVELS us money.. like no other poor area of any other state in the us. we have it made. To be forgotten in massachusetts is very lucrative indeed

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu6qk9v wrote

Boston has also engaged in policy that crippled western mass for centuries. Springfield and Pittsfield really could have been something.

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Emergency_Address_51 OP t1_iu74c8g wrote

80% of Holyoke's $100 million dollar school budget comes from chapter 70 funding. Even if the school's failing, $100 million dollars is A LOT of great paying jobs, that in turn create more jobs. Massachusetts Schools are so fantastically financed that even "failing" school systems still make their communties better off.

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu74vap wrote

Boston sucking the life out of WMA to fuel its own economic boom is always bad

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Emergency_Address_51 OP t1_iu75c80 wrote

https://www.statista.com/statistics/248063/per-capita-us-real-gross-domestic-product-gdp-by-state/#:~:text=Out%20of%20all%2050%20states,GDP%2C%20at%2035%2C374%20U.S.%20dollars.

​

Mass is practically tied for state with the highest per capita income.

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu75es2 wrote

And the distribution is awful because all the benefits go to Boston

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oceansofmyancestors t1_iu7c6yj wrote

Springfield WAS something, look at the history of the city. It was a very important city, it’s location made it so. City of invention and it just got crushed.

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Banea-Vaedr t1_iu7c9l5 wrote

Exactly. City was sacrificed and reciecwd exactly 0nhelp until it was too late.

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aaronmackenzie3 t1_iu7b04x wrote

You’re not wrong. I have a municipal job that pays the same as a job in an Eastern town but my cost of living is waaaay less. Sounds like winning to me

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plastroncafe t1_iu7ruoy wrote

And here I would have said the Connecticut River.

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Techn0dad t1_iuadeyp wrote

Still have my “Paris of the 80s” T-shirt.

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tripper21 t1_iu6nj11 wrote

I don’t see the issue here, you have 4 of the most well known western mass towns. Maybe you could have included Amherst or Deerfield.

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Branson175186 t1_iua24gx wrote

The way I see it anything west of the Connecticut River is Western Mass

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Past-Adhesiveness150 t1_iuai9g5 wrote

If your that far west, we consider you as part of VT. Cause once you cross the river your not from there... you just moved there to get away from everyone.

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MattinglyDineen t1_iud4atm wrote

As someone from Connecticut who is less than 30 minutes from the Massachusetts border, I pretty much concur. I'll give all of Springfield to Western Mass, but that is the easternmost limit. Anything east of Springfield to me and it seems I'm getting too much into the Boston sphere of influence.

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Valuable-Baked t1_iu8h5eu wrote

Western Mass where the Boston accent stops + the Midwest Aaaccent kicks in dontyaknow

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zdigrig t1_iuapcnt wrote

Pittsfield native dk why you got downvoted your comment hit home with me

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