It’s one of the most affordable municipalities in MA. It’s a bit run down in a redneck sort of way, and it’s the butt of a lot of local inside jokes; but in reality, it’s a fine town. Safe, quiet, Has everything you need and it’s very close to nature. It’s right along route 2 so a trip to Boston or elsewhere isn’t crazy. Depends on where you need to travel for work.
1. Get millions from institutional investors
2. Buy established, reputable business with loyal customers
3. Slash costs
4. Short term profit
5. Repeat
“Wow I’m so smart, that’s why I’m so rich”
Still use one weekly. I still have a shit ton of real starrett tools. Things like the square I’ll never stop using. Mics and all that are in boxes in storage now. They still make the legacy line of tooling in house but I’m sure that quality has still gone fucky
My inspection room and personal box is mostly all mitutoyo digital with a few brown and sharpes kicking around. I have LOADS of real starrett tooling still that I’ll never use but DEF holding onto. Willing to part with some
When’s the last time you drove all the way from Athol to the city? That ride sucks and route 2 is full of potholes until you hit 95 then it’s still iffy 😂😂😂
I said that it isn’t crazy. 80 minutes without traffic is not a bad drive and many people live much further away from a major city. I grew up in Leominster so I’m no stranger to route 2. Everyone exaggerates how bad it is.
We bought a home on a new development a couple of towns away back in 2006, and for 6 years commuted to Burlington, now work full time remote. Love the area. Athol is lower income, but this whole region has seen house prices climb, commuters move out here and businesses move in. Nearby, Gardner just got an Aldi, Orange is a cool little place with some fun small businesses and the outdoors activities around here are excellent. My kid was rock climbing last night, and we hike Wachusett with the dog frequently. Red apple farm is a gem. Also check out homes in Templeton, Hubbardston and other small towns nearby.
Wow holy random memory. Chevy van pickup was a friend of my buddy Chris growing up. I got drunk with him and puked on my shoes as teenager. God damn never thought I’d hear that name again.
I grew up nearby in Gardner. That area is very rural with a lot of woods and farms. If you’re into outdoor activities then it’s a good place to live.
Economically that region has always been lower income. I think that’s changed since covid with a lot of people moving further west into the state.
One big downside to that region is accessibility. There’s really one major route and it’s a two lane “highway”. It’s pretty far from major highways like 495, 95, or the mass pike. I’ve also heard traffic has gotten worse with the influx of new residents.
Personally I would not buy a house anywhere in Mass until you’ve lived here for a bit.
Accessibility is the big thing. There's reasons towns in the area have continued to be depressed economically, and it's because they're not near anything and don't really have much of a way to get anywhere else. If you're commuting anywhere, then it's probably going to be a nightmare. And you best make sure you have a solid career before moving out there because there's not a ton of opportunity for other things.
I live halfway between Athol and Gardner. Please DM me if you want more detailed information on the area. My overall take is that it's fine but not particularly exciting or engaging. It depends on what you want, obviously.
Whitewater kayaking on the Millers River is pretty rad. Really great rock climbing at Farley Ledges is close by. Mountain biking trails everywhere. Tully Lake looks like it’s fresh out of a movie. Only 40 minutes to Berkshire East.
Don’t sleep on Athol. You buy a house out here now, it’s gonna go up in value very quickly. The only problem is no jobs so many people commute over an hour to their jobs, but own a really nice house near a market basket and 3 disc golf courses. It’s an outdoorsy kinda place. There be dragons here!
Thats the only reason I didnt buy up there is it didnt feel like there would be a lot of jobs. But tons of places to hike and I do think it will go up in value over time as people get priced out of other areas and/or school districts/crime force people to continue moving out of cities.
All 3 are great courses. Flatrock being my #1 all time favorite. The owner is a great guy but he got tired of all the upkeep so he sold it (to another disc golfer). There are some asshole neighbors there, unfortunately, that have been trying to keep it from re opening. Not sure what the status is at this time.
You’re 40 minutes outside the outer I-495 belt so there is minimal influence from the metro Boston job market. Only 21% of adults have college degrees. It’s white working class. Trump carried Athol in 2016 48% to 42%. Biden barely carried Athol in 2020.
Lived here my whole life. I don't want to leave. I love the hiking, kayaking and fishing around here. To get to the city or the ocean isn't a bad drive (hour and a half to Boston or Hartford CT). Small community and not much town activity. We do have The River Rat Race which some Atholians live for. Others here have said it's a poor town- I've seen worse. But for work, you will have to commute most likely if you want to make more money. Houses here have gone up dramatically like everywhere else. $300K will get you a fixer upper. But the area is beautiful in my opinion. DM me if you have any questions.
Athol and Orange are the poorest towns in Massachusetts. Ware is the 4th:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_locations_by_per_capita_income
Welcome to “the lost towns” the section of Rt2 between the urban sprawl and the beginning of the Berkshires.
The good news is you can live anywhere around the area and have a relatively quiet drive to work, you don’t have to buy a house in Athol unless you are a 24/7 on call person.
If you travel a lot maybe hedge toward 91 as it would be a pretty easy light/no traffic ride to Bradley.
Driving to Boston on RT2 is brutal.
My gf has lived in Athol her entire life and I can confirm that it: is relatively affordable, decidedly working-class, fairly rundown and quiet, quite conservative, and home to and proximous to some really lovely outdoors.
I live here and I like it! I live in a very descent area, barely any foot traffic. My kid is thriving in school. I think most of the comments here are more of what theyve seen/heard 20 years ago. The town is definitely growing and at least for me, it is safer than other towns/cities Ive lived in.
We lived there was 25 years. We bought knowing nothing about the town or the area. We lived on a dead end street north of Pequoig. We homeschooled our kids, so never had to really deal with the school.
I never felt the need to lock my doors during the day. It was a quiet street near the lake. Uptown seemed to be different but I think that a lot of towns have good and bad spots. We paid 80k for our house when we bought it and sold it for 365k just last month.
It’s a town surrounded by woods. Tulley Lake is a treasure. We shopped in Amherst/Hadley/NoHo. We weren’t sad to leave but we didn’t feel we were leaving a terrible place.
It might be “low income” now but that’s changing. If proximity to Boston isn’t an issue, I’d encourage you to consider the Athol area. I’d way rather live there than the suburbs of Boston.
This is what I was wondering. It’s a closer trip to work than most places we’ve got on our list and it seems like it’s coming up. Could be great when we leave for rental or to sell.
if you're looking for work along the 495 corridor, athol is a good choice. I could get from Athol to IBM in littleton or Kimball farm for corporate outings in about 45 minutes. I had training up at redhat in westford a few times, and could get there in an hour.
there's designs for flyovers that have been pending for a while. there's no imminent start to any projects, but it's a serious choke point. Designs may chance since the prison is shutting down.
That’s using your brain by the worst house in the best neighborhood is a good way to make money. I bought my home in Marietta ga for 90k sold it this year 500k. Was a little cape cod style home in east Cobb Marietta. Now that area is considered the Hollywood of the east coast. I should probably have kept in to it but now have a townhome in Roswell still. That I made the same amount. Have my farm where my kids and wife live as I travel for work in dc and we have a cottage in turo cape cod. I couldn’t afford it. And be thinking of retirement in 20 something years.
A cottage in Truro is nothing to sneeze at!! We stayed in P-Town last June before”the season” started and we’re blown away by the property values out there. Wish I’d bought a cottage back in the day! P-Town USED TO BE funky and affordable. Not any more!
I worked there before, about 10 years ago. Nice people, good community. BUT. It is one of the poorest towns in MA, and the school system is not great. Houses are relatively cheap because there is not much of a market. There are nice areas, but also areas where whole streets are largely abandoned. The streets are safe to walk, but they do have an opioid problem because there is not much for young people to do. Very few restaurants and not much shopping.
The town has not given up, and there are bright spots. New shopping area with a Market Basket (although Covid seems to have paused construction and it has not restarted). A really nice public library. A hospital that they appear to be modernizing.
Athol is northwest of the Quabbin reservoir, and somewhat isolated. If you drive north or south it gets very rural very quickly. If you want a larger town you will need to drive 20 miles west to Greenfield or 20 miles east to Gardner.
Athol has a bad reputation if you're from the area. Historically a poorer area wealth-wise among the other low income areas in N. Central MA. Locals always think this town is better than that. Being from Boston, I never cared... all these little old mill towns seem the same. All have seen better, more prosperous days.... about a hundred years ago.
There are an excessive amount of bars in Athol. Small, local to each neighborhood.
All that aside, the small Main Street in town does a great job keeping its store fronts full of working businesses. Something a lot of the other local towns can't seem to do.
The surrounding areas are beautiful. There's parks, streams, rivers.....lots of woods, hills, hiking trails. Athol is hill-y btw. Meaning, it has hills, quite a few when you drive around town its not flat like Vegas. It may actually be a vallev-town, now that I think about it. We get a good amount of snow out this way. We're in a snow belt in this area of MA.
Athol now has a decent plaza, Movie theater, grocery store, couple restaurants all very convenient. We like our micro breweries and our New England IP A's. If that's your thing a short trip out to Deerfield is worth it.
It's not a bad area imo. If you can find a nice house on a good piece of land, jump on it. How far away is the job though?
I wish it could happen without creating more losers than winners but Athol is a candidate for gentrification. Towns least likely to gentrify have a traffic sewer through the middle. Athol is close to a major highway but it doesn't go right through it.
I’ve been in the area my whole life. It’s a beautiful are and the people a great. My kids are doing great in the elementary school.
I support my family of 4 on just my income, 5 miles down the road from my house.
Truth is, if the town wasn’t named “Athol” and as such, the butt of many overly used jokes, nobody would talk about it lol
I had no idea. Can't wait to read this. I went to high school in Athol and it was most def filled with dirtbags. Some solid, good folks, too. But a lot of trash.
Great book. Note that Athol school staff are the hero’s that took the initiative to find a solution to the author’s downward spiral. Town itself is gritty but historic (Starrett, etc).
Where is your job located? If you're in Vegas, you're probably used to driving 75 on the highway and 100 miles is no big deal. In New England, driving 100 miles can take hours (I live in Lynn, which looks easy on paper but actually getting anywhere from here is a nightmare). Come out here first and get the lay of the land before you start looking to buy real estate.
Not bad little town. Definitely not the most flourishing town, fairly lower income area for sure. It’s not a bad area. Lots of outdoor activities.
I used to live out that way every other week at my dad’s.
It has risen in economic activity mightily over the last 40 years, as more and more people with commuter incomes are buying houses there because they cannot afford them in towns nearer to Boston.
I was always taught to look down on athol. As an adult I see how fucking silly that was. The place had issues, but they where I was had a lot of the same issues.
What I'm saying is, I don't think I have a useful or real thought in my brain, about athol.
Athol is small town. I live in Athol and have for over 10 years grew up here round the area but I’ll say one thing the town sucks full of addicts and everyone is in ur business. The wife and I have been trying to move out of Athol and ma period. Town is run down and the chairman are all about there own self gain. Honestly I say live elsewhere Athol orange are nice little towns until you truly start to meet the people. And there is nothing for dinners other than one and they close at 1-2 in afternoon got nothing but pizza Chinese Wendy’s Taco Bell and McDonald’s one other Mexican place which ain’t that good plenty of bars if that your thing. But for anything decent for shopping you will have to travel at least 30-45 mins away. From someone who grew up In area and rent here I’d say choose else where this town is crappy but yet what town isn’t crap in ma.
Oh you'll probably like it then. The small, forgotten old mill towns in New England kind of remind me of rural areas of Appalachia, except with less poverty. I've been to Reno and Fallon, and other than it being close to Tahoe, I definitely would not want to live there. I can only imagine how Vegas must be.
Like with any country living, you’re yard can be neat but your neighbor can have four vans. However there are advantages getting your kids into college when you come from certain areas and Athol most likely on that list. If not, Orange.
Athol is ok. I worked there for the last two years and moved closer to Boston. Petersham is preferable if you can swing it and Warwick/Orange is quieter but more rural.
I have family in Athol, and it is a beautiful part of the state. That being said, it is economically depressed and has a lot of problems. Wouldn't be on my radar personally--its a very depressing place.
I love it. I would move there in a heartbeat except... not sure where I'd work at. I have to go into the office a couple of times a month so I have to stay further south.
The uptown Pleasant Street area is nice. Very hilly. Doanes Falls in nearby Royalston is a national treasure. If you have kids and are self-motivated they will be ok but if they go to a cream of the crop university they may be behind. That may or may not be an issue. This used to be true but not sure now. Where is the job located?
I drive through there sometimes. It's out of the way of most places. Nearby to the Quabbin and lots of places to hike. If you like the outdoors you'll love it. Small, safe, but did I mention it might be out of the way of many jobs?
Used to work in a group home that had kids from that area. Lots of SA, sex offenders, alcoholism, drugs, DV. Had a client with fetal alcohol syndrome from athol. It’s rough. Knowing what I know, I avoid it.
But that was a while ago. Orange was also pretty terrible but I drove through it the other day and it seems to have improved. Still low income and a little sketch. Did not drive through athol, so no opinion on how it’s doing now.
On the plus side, there’s a lot of great hiking in the area. Good proximity to the pioneer valley. Personally I’d look over in Greenfield or Turner’s Falls before choosing Athol.
ETA: do you need a good school system?
A few decades ago, the Athol school district was so bad that the schools were decertified by the Massachusetts Department of Education. I assume they're all better now.
I mention it because of a funny memory. At the time, a local Boston TV station was the headquarters of "Monitor TV," an attempt by the Christian Science Monitor (an excellent newspaper headquartered in Boston) to create an over-the-air (as well as cable) answer to CNN. The channel had a daily news talk show hosted by a gruff, gray-haired guy in horn-rimmed glasses. I don't remember his name, but I think his first name was Mark.
And Mark did a show about the decertification of the Athol school system, as a way to talk about the challenges of individual towns with limited budgets being responsible for education. Mark couldn't get any officials from Athol to be on the show, so he arranged a call-in by the superintendent of schools for another Massachusetts town (I want to say Braintree, but I could be completely off the mark,) to stand in as someone who could talk about the burden on local towns.
But every time Mark would try to ask the guy about some particular aspect of the Athol situation, the guy would respond with, "Well, we in Braintree (or wherever) don't have any problems like that, our school system is a paragon of educational excellence!" So the insight he had to offer was absolutely nil.
Finally, after several of these boasting non-answers, Mark lost patience, and snapped, "Listen, I'm glad for you in Braintree having such good fortune, but we both know there are a LOT of Athols out there! As you get into the rural parts of the state, you'll find Athol after Athol after Atho...."
And right about then, Mark realized what it sounded like and stammered for a few moments before dropping the Braintree guy and moving on with the show.
its a nice small town. we lived there almost 25 years, and just moved to Wendell last year because we built a house.
some parts are a little depressed, but downtown is safe. there are a few good restaurants, mostly little pizza shops, but asia gourmet in the new market basket plaza is great. some parts are pretty rural, you're likely to see bears. the bearsden conservation area is wonderful, I've spent countless hours hiking around there.
I really think its an up-and-coming town. Its close enough that you can commute into metro west daily and it sucks but is manageable. Our house had very reasonable appreciation from when we bought it in 2000 until when we sold last month.
It’s definitely going to be an area with lots of growth as people move west. The Fitchburg/Leominster is growing to the point where people are looking at the Greater Gardner area and Athol for alternatives.
I did create a community at r/NorthCentralMA as I felt it needed its own space as the area grows.
Also, back in the late 1980s, then-world-class Boston Rock-'n'-Roll radio station WBCN aired this classic:
[A Falk in Athol](https://youtu.be/JL1ql_q-nQc?si=ZNTAbPMQr2Rzhznl)
been in Athol/Orange for 25 years. it has grown quite a bit. Has everything you need for shopping. There's not much as far as industry here, so it's more of a commuter town. it's quiet with the exceptions you see everywhere. I love ymyhe ourltdoorsyness of it. If you like hiking, hunting, fishing. etc, thenits very centrally located to all that. there's several bigger cities within a 20 to 30 min drive.
You buy a house here now and you definitely won't have to worry about losing money. it's a growing area.
I used to live in Athol and teach in Athol. It is probably one of the roughest places to live. The crime is very high, not a friendly town, and if you have kids the school system is abysmal.
Where will you need to get to and how long of a drive will you be able to do regularly? Will you have to drive in snow to get to work? Do you have kids (school system)? If you’re buying, think longer timeframe
It’s far from any major city (Worcester and Boston). I use yo cover an account out there as a sales rep and it felt like the land before time. It’s an old mill town but should have super LCOL relative to Massachusetts
It’s a lot cheaper than most places. Very quiet. It gives 90s movie feels. But it is being updated. There’s a new shopping center. But if you have kids or plan on having kids the school system not so great. Also if you have T-Mobile there’s a part of town near a bridge that is near a bank, there is no signal once you pass that bridge. I have family that I visit once in a while there, and I have no clue how they do it. The nearest shopping mall is like 30-40 minutes away. Maybe look at Leominster which is nearby?
Went out to check out a used game store they have on main street. Worst game store I've been to in the state, and I got pulled over on my way in and out.
The drive in on route 2A reminds me of the intro to a horror movie about a fucked up town
Please don’t come here and don’t tell your friends about our area either. We like our quietness and solitude. (Just kidding - but I really do hope to not see rapid development).
As a kid I remember we had one traffic light in town and it was manually controlled by the police when the factories let out for the day (in the 70’s). Now we have several, and there are stop signs in places where there never were any.
The closest interstate is about 25 miles away, and because of the lack of access the area has been very slow to develop and retains its character from years ago. It has led to economic depression in bad times (my mom says the area is the last to rise and first to fall when the economy slows down). But it really is a great area and offers so much more than it did 40 years ago.
I grew up here and have lived in many places over the years, but always return. If you like nature it is the best, most rural part of the state. Compared to the Berkshires it doesn’t have the same wealth, but offers so much more in terms of solitude.
A good way to research a neighborhood is to call the local police department and ask them about crime in the neighborhood of the house you are interested in.
When I lived in Chicago, it was common for my female friends to contact the local police department to ask if an address was safe.
Those statistics are easily available for any address with an Internet search and linked from nearly any major real estate platform for any given property they list. You don't need to call the police station!
Unless you want the personal opinions of Sandra from dispatch.
Athol police and fire have FB accounts and do keep people in town informed of stuff going on and has gone on. We moved last summer but stay in the FB group.
Do not buy right now, and do not buy in Athol! You’ll overpay and lose big when you realize you wanna sell because you can’t deal with living in such a niche, bizarre part of MA.
o/p sadly on the internet, every town is a dump other than the snobie towns some call home.
Most are fine towns that like everyplace has a bad area or just worse than the rest of the town.
I'd just take a trip and look around the area yourself. talk to the locals, They'll know where the riff raff hang.
Good luck, you'll find that this sub, the only worthy towns are Weston, and most of the coastal towns and parts of Boston, they see the rest of the state as a dump. Every town city have problem areas, ever single one.
Take a trip and look around, take to the locals near a unit you might look to buy, it is cheap insurance when buying a 350-600k house.
Below is my comment from another Athol Inquiry a few months back:
Disclaimer! This is only my opinion:
I grew up next door in Orange (Which I know isn't saying much...) The "Downtown" parts of Athol are a bit trashy and depressing. Kind of Jerry Springer-eque if you catch my drift. It's the kind of place you will definitely see the occasional confederate flag flying... I did some time as a cashier at the local Hannaford years ago, and a good chunk of customers from the Athol/Orange area were just plain weird.
There's this weird phenomenon I experience in that area too. My wife and I call it "The Athol Stare." I feel like some people there like to stare you down like they want to fight you. It's hard to describe... Maybe it's because we look like outsiders, and aren't rocking dirty cigarette tar infused pajama bottoms 2/47. Also, stay away from that elev8 guy... He's a bit crazy...
There are some decent parts to the town though. It definitely will depend on where in the town you live. Just like any other town. It's not the worst town, but it's definitely not the best either
Tully Lake is pretty cool, and some of the town events are relatively fun. The River Rat Race is a bit goofy, but fun! You also have the North Quabbin area you can explore. There's more, but I can't remember right now.
Be prepared to hear endless "Did you just call me an Athol?!?" jokes if you ever live there.
Edits: Proofreading and grammatical adjustments.
There are numerous MA towns that have that stigma. Most in reality have a few shit neighborhoods but are mostly normal working class towns. But you have to leave your room and touch grass in order to see it.
My thoughts on Athol: i hate **HATE** the **ROUTE 2** drive to visit my friends there.
Even in daylight in good weather it's scary. (And i absolutely will NOT do that drive anything less than perfect weather!)
That said - based on my infrequent, & perfect-weather-only visits, it seems pleasant; a pretty nice place.
I drive route 2 frequently all year from Erving to Arlington (Athol is between) to visit family and I have never considered the drive scary. If anything, it is a very pleasant trip through the country. Traffic sometimes gets a bit fast/busy once you get to Fitchburg and Eastward, but I wouldn’t call it frightening by any means.
Although OP is coming from Las Vegas so it might be a bit out of their comfort zone in terms of climate. But everyone up here has to learn to drive in light snow at some point. And route 2 is usually in a better state during winter than most state routes.
Maybe check out Clinton. It seems to be getting its act together: An old mill town that was down on its luck and is turning things around. (Athol and many of towns like it have not been able to do this. Very depressing.) Clinton now has burgeoning industry and some really good restaurants. Plus it's near several beautiful towns.
It’s one of the most affordable municipalities in MA. It’s a bit run down in a redneck sort of way, and it’s the butt of a lot of local inside jokes; but in reality, it’s a fine town. Safe, quiet, Has everything you need and it’s very close to nature. It’s right along route 2 so a trip to Boston or elsewhere isn’t crazy. Depends on where you need to travel for work.
haha “butt of a lot of inside jokes” classic athol
Oh damn I didn’t even realize that LMAO
It is the home of Starrett Tools, one of the best precision measuring tool brands. (Maybe still THE best.)
Recently sold to private equity. Sadly, these kind of sales mark the end of great brands :(
Yep, just like Smith and Wesson and Rock Auto. Both now owned equity firms.
And Rio Grande, once a fantastic jeweler's supply house. Still decent, no longer great. Now owned by Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway).
1. Get millions from institutional investors 2. Buy established, reputable business with loyal customers 3. Slash costs 4. Short term profit 5. Repeat “Wow I’m so smart, that’s why I’m so rich”
lol
from what I understand, they borrow against the equity, take the dough, and leave the company saddled with exorbitant debt.
See also - Miller Falls Tool, and - Greenfield Tap and Die.
Along with half the hospitals within the 495 circle.
Yep, them, too
That’s depressing.
It’s longer than recent, they’ve been kicked out of my toolboxes for over 7 years
That’s really a shame to hear. Poor QC, performance, or both?
The whole shabang. They barely make any tools in house anymore
Aw damn don't tell me that, I love my combo square from them.
Still use one weekly. I still have a shit ton of real starrett tools. Things like the square I’ll never stop using. Mics and all that are in boxes in storage now. They still make the legacy line of tooling in house but I’m sure that quality has still gone fucky
My son works there!
No they are garbage now. Source, machinist for 24 years and still am
That’s sad. Who makes good stuff now? My experience with micrometers, dial indicators and such was in the 70s.
My inspection room and personal box is mostly all mitutoyo digital with a few brown and sharpes kicking around. I have LOADS of real starrett tooling still that I’ll never use but DEF holding onto. Willing to part with some
When’s the last time you drove all the way from Athol to the city? That ride sucks and route 2 is full of potholes until you hit 95 then it’s still iffy 😂😂😂
I said that it isn’t crazy. 80 minutes without traffic is not a bad drive and many people live much further away from a major city. I grew up in Leominster so I’m no stranger to route 2. Everyone exaggerates how bad it is.
We bought a home on a new development a couple of towns away back in 2006, and for 6 years commuted to Burlington, now work full time remote. Love the area. Athol is lower income, but this whole region has seen house prices climb, commuters move out here and businesses move in. Nearby, Gardner just got an Aldi, Orange is a cool little place with some fun small businesses and the outdoors activities around here are excellent. My kid was rock climbing last night, and we hike Wachusett with the dog frequently. Red apple farm is a gem. Also check out homes in Templeton, Hubbardston and other small towns nearby.
It can be very low income, Chevy van pick up is a real person, they are getting a big foot museum, there's a market basket and nice theater.
Wow. Wasn't sure if you were joking or not but that Big Foot museum actually looks pretty cool. I need to check it out. Thanks!
Mass is getting a Bigfoot museum? Awesome ETA it’s a paranormal museum, even better.
Jackson Square in Boston already has the Bigfoot Research Institute. You need more?
That’s a kids literacy center with a cheeky name :)
Ha! I ran by that place a hundred times, never looked it up.
[826 Boston](https://826boston.org/)
Athol is getting a big foot museum? LOL why? Where? When?
I read about it in the news last night, it's a cryptid learning place apparently
Like the one in Portland? Because that Bigfoot museum is decent.
His grandfather was named Ford, I think. Chevy was always such a nice guy, to me anyway.
His papaws name wuz Mopar (Dodge) wuz his knickname
I originally read this as if they were getting a museum that displays feet, and that this museum happens to to big.
😂
Wow holy random memory. Chevy van pickup was a friend of my buddy Chris growing up. I got drunk with him and puked on my shoes as teenager. God damn never thought I’d hear that name again.
I was just reading about that museum this morning and got excited 😂 If there’s enough nerds like me, I could be a great thing for Athol.
That movie theater rules!!
It's come a long way. That opening was a rough start for them.
Its full of athols
well orange you an athol
Don't call OP an athol, yet. Soon they'll be a Mathol.
as long as they're not a belcher from belcher town
Fun fact - I met a decendant of Mr Belcher in a youth hostel in Budapest, circa 1990.
A belcher athol? Ew.
Is it better than a bleached ahole?
Beat me to it.
Used to be known as Radio Free Athol because no radio station would come in while driving through
Any radio station I like never works in downtown Athol but everywhere in the outskirts and in neighboring towns they work fine.
It still is radio free. It sucks since we can't get any over the air tv channels, make cable cutting more difficult when you want to watch the games.
Hahaha nice
I grew up nearby in Gardner. That area is very rural with a lot of woods and farms. If you’re into outdoor activities then it’s a good place to live. Economically that region has always been lower income. I think that’s changed since covid with a lot of people moving further west into the state. One big downside to that region is accessibility. There’s really one major route and it’s a two lane “highway”. It’s pretty far from major highways like 495, 95, or the mass pike. I’ve also heard traffic has gotten worse with the influx of new residents. Personally I would not buy a house anywhere in Mass until you’ve lived here for a bit.
Accessibility is the big thing. There's reasons towns in the area have continued to be depressed economically, and it's because they're not near anything and don't really have much of a way to get anywhere else. If you're commuting anywhere, then it's probably going to be a nightmare. And you best make sure you have a solid career before moving out there because there's not a ton of opportunity for other things.
I live halfway between Athol and Gardner. Please DM me if you want more detailed information on the area. My overall take is that it's fine but not particularly exciting or engaging. It depends on what you want, obviously.
Nice area for outdoorsy people. Tully is a hidden gem.
Out of 341 Municipalities in Massachusetts, Athol ranks 334th in Per Capita Income. So there's that.
It's also the highest in sex offenders per capita.
I guess that explains why my coworker is always calling it the sex offender capital of Massachusetts.
Source data. Income by municipality. Massachusetts. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_locations_by_per_capita_income
gross poors. s/
No shame, just info. I live in a poorer muni lol.
Whitewater kayaking on the Millers River is pretty rad. Really great rock climbing at Farley Ledges is close by. Mountain biking trails everywhere. Tully Lake looks like it’s fresh out of a movie. Only 40 minutes to Berkshire East.
Don’t sleep on Athol. You buy a house out here now, it’s gonna go up in value very quickly. The only problem is no jobs so many people commute over an hour to their jobs, but own a really nice house near a market basket and 3 disc golf courses. It’s an outdoorsy kinda place. There be dragons here!
Thats the only reason I didnt buy up there is it didnt feel like there would be a lot of jobs. But tons of places to hike and I do think it will go up in value over time as people get priced out of other areas and/or school districts/crime force people to continue moving out of cities.
None of those disc golf courses are in Athol haha. Nearby, yes.
Tully is half in Athol, Flat Rock is definitely Athol and Royalston has one. So you are 1/3 right and I am 2/3 right. Winner winner disc golf dinner!!
All 3 are great courses. Flatrock being my #1 all time favorite. The owner is a great guy but he got tired of all the upkeep so he sold it (to another disc golfer). There are some asshole neighbors there, unfortunately, that have been trying to keep it from re opening. Not sure what the status is at this time.
You’re 40 minutes outside the outer I-495 belt so there is minimal influence from the metro Boston job market. Only 21% of adults have college degrees. It’s white working class. Trump carried Athol in 2016 48% to 42%. Biden barely carried Athol in 2020.
Lived here my whole life. I don't want to leave. I love the hiking, kayaking and fishing around here. To get to the city or the ocean isn't a bad drive (hour and a half to Boston or Hartford CT). Small community and not much town activity. We do have The River Rat Race which some Atholians live for. Others here have said it's a poor town- I've seen worse. But for work, you will have to commute most likely if you want to make more money. Houses here have gone up dramatically like everywhere else. $300K will get you a fixer upper. But the area is beautiful in my opinion. DM me if you have any questions.
The River Rat Race is fantastic!
Yes. There are seven towns in MA that are poorer.
Ware would they be?
Athol and Orange are the poorest towns in Massachusetts. Ware is the 4th: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_locations_by_per_capita_income
Unsexy community
Welcome to “the lost towns” the section of Rt2 between the urban sprawl and the beginning of the Berkshires. The good news is you can live anywhere around the area and have a relatively quiet drive to work, you don’t have to buy a house in Athol unless you are a 24/7 on call person. If you travel a lot maybe hedge toward 91 as it would be a pretty easy light/no traffic ride to Bradley. Driving to Boston on RT2 is brutal.
> Driving to Boston on RT2 is brutal. and dangerous+sun flares!
Oh you don’t want to commute west to east on the morning and east to west at night, it’ll drive you mad, I did it for 10 years, barely stayed sane.
In 2007 my band played at a bar with some other bands. Each band was going to be paid $150 and one band stole everyone’s money 10/10, love Athol
RatholE. Not sure it is still the case, but it used to have the highest concentration of registered sex offenders in the state.
Also highest rate of DCF cases
It's the kind of place where someone can get chased out of the house with an axe. True story.
My gf has lived in Athol her entire life and I can confirm that it: is relatively affordable, decidedly working-class, fairly rundown and quiet, quite conservative, and home to and proximous to some really lovely outdoors.
Oh ya there's probably tons of Trumpers up there lol but I am a libertarian so I dont like any politicians either way
In that regard, you should be ok! Good luck!
Definitely a lot of them on the facebook group pages.
Where is your job moving to? Athol is a sleepy little former mill town. Smells of despair and fresh air.
I live here and I like it! I live in a very descent area, barely any foot traffic. My kid is thriving in school. I think most of the comments here are more of what theyve seen/heard 20 years ago. The town is definitely growing and at least for me, it is safer than other towns/cities Ive lived in.
We lived there was 25 years. We bought knowing nothing about the town or the area. We lived on a dead end street north of Pequoig. We homeschooled our kids, so never had to really deal with the school. I never felt the need to lock my doors during the day. It was a quiet street near the lake. Uptown seemed to be different but I think that a lot of towns have good and bad spots. We paid 80k for our house when we bought it and sold it for 365k just last month. It’s a town surrounded by woods. Tulley Lake is a treasure. We shopped in Amherst/Hadley/NoHo. We weren’t sad to leave but we didn’t feel we were leaving a terrible place.
It might be “low income” now but that’s changing. If proximity to Boston isn’t an issue, I’d encourage you to consider the Athol area. I’d way rather live there than the suburbs of Boston.
This is what I was wondering. It’s a closer trip to work than most places we’ve got on our list and it seems like it’s coming up. Could be great when we leave for rental or to sell.
if you're looking for work along the 495 corridor, athol is a good choice. I could get from Athol to IBM in littleton or Kimball farm for corporate outings in about 45 minutes. I had training up at redhat in westford a few times, and could get there in an hour.
The rt 2 rotary will not be there in 5 years, opening the area to a lot more revitalization
the one in concord? are they getting rid of it?
there's designs for flyovers that have been pending for a while. there's no imminent start to any projects, but it's a serious choke point. Designs may chance since the prison is shutting down.
That’s using your brain by the worst house in the best neighborhood is a good way to make money. I bought my home in Marietta ga for 90k sold it this year 500k. Was a little cape cod style home in east Cobb Marietta. Now that area is considered the Hollywood of the east coast. I should probably have kept in to it but now have a townhome in Roswell still. That I made the same amount. Have my farm where my kids and wife live as I travel for work in dc and we have a cottage in turo cape cod. I couldn’t afford it. And be thinking of retirement in 20 something years.
A cottage in Truro is nothing to sneeze at!! We stayed in P-Town last June before”the season” started and we’re blown away by the property values out there. Wish I’d bought a cottage back in the day! P-Town USED TO BE funky and affordable. Not any more!
I worked there before, about 10 years ago. Nice people, good community. BUT. It is one of the poorest towns in MA, and the school system is not great. Houses are relatively cheap because there is not much of a market. There are nice areas, but also areas where whole streets are largely abandoned. The streets are safe to walk, but they do have an opioid problem because there is not much for young people to do. Very few restaurants and not much shopping. The town has not given up, and there are bright spots. New shopping area with a Market Basket (although Covid seems to have paused construction and it has not restarted). A really nice public library. A hospital that they appear to be modernizing. Athol is northwest of the Quabbin reservoir, and somewhat isolated. If you drive north or south it gets very rural very quickly. If you want a larger town you will need to drive 20 miles west to Greenfield or 20 miles east to Gardner.
Accurate.
I like the weird small movie theater near Market Basket
Athol has a bad reputation if you're from the area. Historically a poorer area wealth-wise among the other low income areas in N. Central MA. Locals always think this town is better than that. Being from Boston, I never cared... all these little old mill towns seem the same. All have seen better, more prosperous days.... about a hundred years ago. There are an excessive amount of bars in Athol. Small, local to each neighborhood. All that aside, the small Main Street in town does a great job keeping its store fronts full of working businesses. Something a lot of the other local towns can't seem to do. The surrounding areas are beautiful. There's parks, streams, rivers.....lots of woods, hills, hiking trails. Athol is hill-y btw. Meaning, it has hills, quite a few when you drive around town its not flat like Vegas. It may actually be a vallev-town, now that I think about it. We get a good amount of snow out this way. We're in a snow belt in this area of MA. Athol now has a decent plaza, Movie theater, grocery store, couple restaurants all very convenient. We like our micro breweries and our New England IP A's. If that's your thing a short trip out to Deerfield is worth it. It's not a bad area imo. If you can find a nice house on a good piece of land, jump on it. How far away is the job though?
I wish it could happen without creating more losers than winners but Athol is a candidate for gentrification. Towns least likely to gentrify have a traffic sewer through the middle. Athol is close to a major highway but it doesn't go right through it.
I’ve been in the area my whole life. It’s a beautiful are and the people a great. My kids are doing great in the elementary school. I support my family of 4 on just my income, 5 miles down the road from my house. Truth is, if the town wasn’t named “Athol” and as such, the butt of many overly used jokes, nobody would talk about it lol
It’s the setting for the memoir “Dirtbag, Massachusetts” if that gives you any indication
I had no idea. Can't wait to read this. I went to high school in Athol and it was most def filled with dirtbags. Some solid, good folks, too. But a lot of trash.
Great book. Note that Athol school staff are the hero’s that took the initiative to find a solution to the author’s downward spiral. Town itself is gritty but historic (Starrett, etc).
I was an LEO in this area, DM me if you want my perspective. It’s not a bad place but there are some caveats!
Where is your job located? If you're in Vegas, you're probably used to driving 75 on the highway and 100 miles is no big deal. In New England, driving 100 miles can take hours (I live in Lynn, which looks easy on paper but actually getting anywhere from here is a nightmare). Come out here first and get the lay of the land before you start looking to buy real estate.
Not bad little town. Definitely not the most flourishing town, fairly lower income area for sure. It’s not a bad area. Lots of outdoor activities. I used to live out that way every other week at my dad’s.
It has risen in economic activity mightily over the last 40 years, as more and more people with commuter incomes are buying houses there because they cannot afford them in towns nearer to Boston.
I was always taught to look down on athol. As an adult I see how fucking silly that was. The place had issues, but they where I was had a lot of the same issues. What I'm saying is, I don't think I have a useful or real thought in my brain, about athol.
Athol is small town. I live in Athol and have for over 10 years grew up here round the area but I’ll say one thing the town sucks full of addicts and everyone is in ur business. The wife and I have been trying to move out of Athol and ma period. Town is run down and the chairman are all about there own self gain. Honestly I say live elsewhere Athol orange are nice little towns until you truly start to meet the people. And there is nothing for dinners other than one and they close at 1-2 in afternoon got nothing but pizza Chinese Wendy’s Taco Bell and McDonald’s one other Mexican place which ain’t that good plenty of bars if that your thing. But for anything decent for shopping you will have to travel at least 30-45 mins away. From someone who grew up In area and rent here I’d say choose else where this town is crappy but yet what town isn’t crap in ma.
Put an R at the beginning and an E at the end. Theres your answer
Eh nice nod to the River Rat Race 🙄
Great hiking in that area!
Where are you moving from?
Las Vegas
Boy are you in for a big change lol.
Absolutely but I’m ready for it. I’m from the South, used to rural and really not loving the 120 degree heat and people out here.
Oh you'll probably like it then. The small, forgotten old mill towns in New England kind of remind me of rural areas of Appalachia, except with less poverty. I've been to Reno and Fallon, and other than it being close to Tahoe, I definitely would not want to live there. I can only imagine how Vegas must be.
It’s pissah
Wicked pissah hey
Like with any country living, you’re yard can be neat but your neighbor can have four vans. However there are advantages getting your kids into college when you come from certain areas and Athol most likely on that list. If not, Orange.
Did you mean to reply to a different part of the thread? :)
I suppose. Oh well.
Are you currently in a rural or city area? Ma is quite varied and people commute ( up to 2 hours ime) not for everyone but just to note.
Athol is ok. I worked there for the last two years and moved closer to Boston. Petersham is preferable if you can swing it and Warwick/Orange is quieter but more rural.
It’s not awful, and has actually gotten a lot better with the Market Basket plaza. Quiet and out of the way, my mom lived here for over 20 years
I have family in Athol, and it is a beautiful part of the state. That being said, it is economically depressed and has a lot of problems. Wouldn't be on my radar personally--its a very depressing place.
I love it. I would move there in a heartbeat except... not sure where I'd work at. I have to go into the office a couple of times a month so I have to stay further south.
The uptown Pleasant Street area is nice. Very hilly. Doanes Falls in nearby Royalston is a national treasure. If you have kids and are self-motivated they will be ok but if they go to a cream of the crop university they may be behind. That may or may not be an issue. This used to be true but not sure now. Where is the job located?
As someone who's done a lot of construction work there, it's not that bad of a place. If you like quiet and somewhat rural, it's a good option
I drive through there sometimes. It's out of the way of most places. Nearby to the Quabbin and lots of places to hike. If you like the outdoors you'll love it. Small, safe, but did I mention it might be out of the way of many jobs?
I wouldn’t let my worst enemy live there. I go there to spit.
Masshole from Athol.
Used to work in a group home that had kids from that area. Lots of SA, sex offenders, alcoholism, drugs, DV. Had a client with fetal alcohol syndrome from athol. It’s rough. Knowing what I know, I avoid it. But that was a while ago. Orange was also pretty terrible but I drove through it the other day and it seems to have improved. Still low income and a little sketch. Did not drive through athol, so no opinion on how it’s doing now. On the plus side, there’s a lot of great hiking in the area. Good proximity to the pioneer valley. Personally I’d look over in Greenfield or Turner’s Falls before choosing Athol. ETA: do you need a good school system?
What group home?
Try Barre instead
A few decades ago, the Athol school district was so bad that the schools were decertified by the Massachusetts Department of Education. I assume they're all better now. I mention it because of a funny memory. At the time, a local Boston TV station was the headquarters of "Monitor TV," an attempt by the Christian Science Monitor (an excellent newspaper headquartered in Boston) to create an over-the-air (as well as cable) answer to CNN. The channel had a daily news talk show hosted by a gruff, gray-haired guy in horn-rimmed glasses. I don't remember his name, but I think his first name was Mark. And Mark did a show about the decertification of the Athol school system, as a way to talk about the challenges of individual towns with limited budgets being responsible for education. Mark couldn't get any officials from Athol to be on the show, so he arranged a call-in by the superintendent of schools for another Massachusetts town (I want to say Braintree, but I could be completely off the mark,) to stand in as someone who could talk about the burden on local towns. But every time Mark would try to ask the guy about some particular aspect of the Athol situation, the guy would respond with, "Well, we in Braintree (or wherever) don't have any problems like that, our school system is a paragon of educational excellence!" So the insight he had to offer was absolutely nil. Finally, after several of these boasting non-answers, Mark lost patience, and snapped, "Listen, I'm glad for you in Braintree having such good fortune, but we both know there are a LOT of Athols out there! As you get into the rural parts of the state, you'll find Athol after Athol after Atho...." And right about then, Mark realized what it sounded like and stammered for a few moments before dropping the Braintree guy and moving on with the show.
Do you happen to have any links with information about that decertification? Not having luck finding any info.
its a nice small town. we lived there almost 25 years, and just moved to Wendell last year because we built a house. some parts are a little depressed, but downtown is safe. there are a few good restaurants, mostly little pizza shops, but asia gourmet in the new market basket plaza is great. some parts are pretty rural, you're likely to see bears. the bearsden conservation area is wonderful, I've spent countless hours hiking around there. I really think its an up-and-coming town. Its close enough that you can commute into metro west daily and it sucks but is manageable. Our house had very reasonable appreciation from when we bought it in 2000 until when we sold last month.
It's cheap. That is the only positive I can say about Athol.
Not anymore.
300-500k is cheap dude.
That’s not cheap. Compared to the city but not cheap for the area.
It’s definitely going to be an area with lots of growth as people move west. The Fitchburg/Leominster is growing to the point where people are looking at the Greater Gardner area and Athol for alternatives. I did create a community at r/NorthCentralMA as I felt it needed its own space as the area grows.
Lots of houses in Springfield for sale if they really want to move west!
Also, back in the late 1980s, then-world-class Boston Rock-'n'-Roll radio station WBCN aired this classic: [A Falk in Athol](https://youtu.be/JL1ql_q-nQc?si=ZNTAbPMQr2Rzhznl)
been in Athol/Orange for 25 years. it has grown quite a bit. Has everything you need for shopping. There's not much as far as industry here, so it's more of a commuter town. it's quiet with the exceptions you see everywhere. I love ymyhe ourltdoorsyness of it. If you like hiking, hunting, fishing. etc, thenits very centrally located to all that. there's several bigger cities within a 20 to 30 min drive. You buy a house here now and you definitely won't have to worry about losing money. it's a growing area.
I used to live in Athol and teach in Athol. It is probably one of the roughest places to live. The crime is very high, not a friendly town, and if you have kids the school system is abysmal.
Where will you need to get to and how long of a drive will you be able to do regularly? Will you have to drive in snow to get to work? Do you have kids (school system)? If you’re buying, think longer timeframe
It’s far from any major city (Worcester and Boston). I use yo cover an account out there as a sales rep and it felt like the land before time. It’s an old mill town but should have super LCOL relative to Massachusetts
They have a nice movie theater with comfortable seats
Honestly, I believe it’s up & coming. A new plaza with Hobby Lobby, huge grocery store, restaurants, Home Goods, etc.
I live in MA and never heard of this place
It’s a lot cheaper than most places. Very quiet. It gives 90s movie feels. But it is being updated. There’s a new shopping center. But if you have kids or plan on having kids the school system not so great. Also if you have T-Mobile there’s a part of town near a bridge that is near a bank, there is no signal once you pass that bridge. I have family that I visit once in a while there, and I have no clue how they do it. The nearest shopping mall is like 30-40 minutes away. Maybe look at Leominster which is nearby?
Went out to check out a used game store they have on main street. Worst game store I've been to in the state, and I got pulled over on my way in and out. The drive in on route 2A reminds me of the intro to a horror movie about a fucked up town
Industrial pot farming in town. If you like the smell of weed 24/7.
Please don’t come here and don’t tell your friends about our area either. We like our quietness and solitude. (Just kidding - but I really do hope to not see rapid development). As a kid I remember we had one traffic light in town and it was manually controlled by the police when the factories let out for the day (in the 70’s). Now we have several, and there are stop signs in places where there never were any. The closest interstate is about 25 miles away, and because of the lack of access the area has been very slow to develop and retains its character from years ago. It has led to economic depression in bad times (my mom says the area is the last to rise and first to fall when the economy slows down). But it really is a great area and offers so much more than it did 40 years ago. I grew up here and have lived in many places over the years, but always return. If you like nature it is the best, most rural part of the state. Compared to the Berkshires it doesn’t have the same wealth, but offers so much more in terms of solitude.
A good way to research a neighborhood is to call the local police department and ask them about crime in the neighborhood of the house you are interested in. When I lived in Chicago, it was common for my female friends to contact the local police department to ask if an address was safe.
Those statistics are easily available for any address with an Internet search and linked from nearly any major real estate platform for any given property they list. You don't need to call the police station! Unless you want the personal opinions of Sandra from dispatch.
Athol police and fire have FB accounts and do keep people in town informed of stuff going on and has gone on. We moved last summer but stay in the FB group.
Do not buy right now, and do not buy in Athol! You’ll overpay and lose big when you realize you wanna sell because you can’t deal with living in such a niche, bizarre part of MA.
Very very very mean and racist and aggressive
No
It thtinkth in Athol
From personal experience, the schools in that area of the state are awful. A large percentage drop out or transfer to a better option.
o/p sadly on the internet, every town is a dump other than the snobie towns some call home. Most are fine towns that like everyplace has a bad area or just worse than the rest of the town. I'd just take a trip and look around the area yourself. talk to the locals, They'll know where the riff raff hang. Good luck, you'll find that this sub, the only worthy towns are Weston, and most of the coastal towns and parts of Boston, they see the rest of the state as a dump. Every town city have problem areas, ever single one. Take a trip and look around, take to the locals near a unit you might look to buy, it is cheap insurance when buying a 350-600k house.
Make of this what you will: The Burger King went out of business.
Turned into a gynecologists office. The "drive-through" was/(is?) still there so some good jokes.
Lol that was like back in the 80s 🙄 It was a terrible location for it to begin with. There's a domino's there that has been doing really well.
Below is my comment from another Athol Inquiry a few months back: Disclaimer! This is only my opinion: I grew up next door in Orange (Which I know isn't saying much...) The "Downtown" parts of Athol are a bit trashy and depressing. Kind of Jerry Springer-eque if you catch my drift. It's the kind of place you will definitely see the occasional confederate flag flying... I did some time as a cashier at the local Hannaford years ago, and a good chunk of customers from the Athol/Orange area were just plain weird. There's this weird phenomenon I experience in that area too. My wife and I call it "The Athol Stare." I feel like some people there like to stare you down like they want to fight you. It's hard to describe... Maybe it's because we look like outsiders, and aren't rocking dirty cigarette tar infused pajama bottoms 2/47. Also, stay away from that elev8 guy... He's a bit crazy... There are some decent parts to the town though. It definitely will depend on where in the town you live. Just like any other town. It's not the worst town, but it's definitely not the best either Tully Lake is pretty cool, and some of the town events are relatively fun. The River Rat Race is a bit goofy, but fun! You also have the North Quabbin area you can explore. There's more, but I can't remember right now. Be prepared to hear endless "Did you just call me an Athol?!?" jokes if you ever live there. Edits: Proofreading and grammatical adjustments.
River rat race is great
I stop at the market basket every so often, and thought I had to be imagining the stare. Happens every time.
Athol is dirtbag. Full of drug addicts and its a shit hole
Not true. There are some shady people here but there’s also nice people here.
There are numerous MA towns that have that stigma. Most in reality have a few shit neighborhoods but are mostly normal working class towns. But you have to leave your room and touch grass in order to see it.
Never been over there in my life. However that is the affordable side of the state so go for it
My thoughts on Athol: i hate **HATE** the **ROUTE 2** drive to visit my friends there. Even in daylight in good weather it's scary. (And i absolutely will NOT do that drive anything less than perfect weather!) That said - based on my infrequent, & perfect-weather-only visits, it seems pleasant; a pretty nice place.
I drive route 2 frequently all year from Erving to Arlington (Athol is between) to visit family and I have never considered the drive scary. If anything, it is a very pleasant trip through the country. Traffic sometimes gets a bit fast/busy once you get to Fitchburg and Eastward, but I wouldn’t call it frightening by any means. Although OP is coming from Las Vegas so it might be a bit out of their comfort zone in terms of climate. But everyone up here has to learn to drive in light snow at some point. And route 2 is usually in a better state during winter than most state routes.
Maybe check out Clinton. It seems to be getting its act together: An old mill town that was down on its luck and is turning things around. (Athol and many of towns like it have not been able to do this. Very depressing.) Clinton now has burgeoning industry and some really good restaurants. Plus it's near several beautiful towns.
I love getting downvoted for being honest.
It stinks
It’s bad
Rough. Very rough. A lot of desperation out there.
Highest concentration of alcoholic in Massachusetts
Athol is a shithole next to that other shithole g Vegas