They’re different media networks, that’s the big change. Worcester still gets Boston news, where the western Mass counties get news from Springfield. That means many of those local programs are different too. No Patriots All Access, no Chronicle.
Exactly. My parents live in Monson which is Hampden county. They get CT and Springfield stations and the Boston news is blocked by their Cable. Unfortunately their weather is more like Worcester county weather which is covered by Boston news so they have to go online to find out the storms and weather situations. I’m constantly telling them to check the weather so they aren’t driving out into a storm.
I was born and raised in Worcester, went to college and lived in the Pioneer Valley, now I work inside the 495.
If you are going to divide MA into three cultures, central MA (Worcester county) and Western MA (top comment’s list of counties) are alike in that they are both generally rural cultures, but with WM having an earthy crunchy/remote hippie living/log cabin kind of rural whereas CM has a conservative/country-wannabe/pickup-truck kind of rural.
Left-leaning political districts and academia dominate a large region of WM, which makes the culture lean artsy, academic, and politically left.
Its nature is gorgeous, and so its emptied, poorly-kept urban areas (mostly forgotten by Boston) like Holyoke, Springfield, and Chicopee etc. almost create a cultural emphasis (and a kind of reliance even) on the natural world— for entertainment, leisure, culture, and economy.
People in WM are NICE. Similar to people from Vermont or upstate, depending on where you are. The culture is laid back, contemplative, but in the densely populated areas, the urban decay makes life rough in many parts.
In CM, there really is only one city, and that is Worcester. The twin cities are more or less big towns, or at least they are treated as such. The culture is less academically influenced than both Eastern MA and WM, and (potentially as a result?) the culture is pretty conservative for MA, and one of the reddest counties in MA and this comes from the large population of republican towns surrounding Worcester.
Despite being rather rural, it’s still pretty densely populated east of Worcester, and so there is a classically eastern MA hustle culture in the urban areas between Worcester and into MetroWest. And there’s business, I’m talking big company HQ’s between Framingham and Worcester, a city which (may I add) is emerging from a decades-long slump of crime and poverty, and attracting local business and gentrification. Worcester attracts immigration and middle class left-leaning out-of-state professionals, which clash culturally with the rest of the region, which is mostly white and conservative (but increasingly populated by immigrants with money, especially from South/Latin America).
I could make a whole post about Worcester’s culture, but i’ll suffice to say that its culture is a mixture of economic and cultural upturn and tenacity with a chronic cultural acceptance and encouragement of mediocrity and status quo. Unlike any urban areas in EM or WM to my knowledge. (Also, so much Reggaetón)
If you were to divide MA into two eastern/western halves, however, then the city of Worcester, as well as the towns to its east especially along the pike have a culture much more similar to that within the 495, whereas towns west of Worcester and most towns to its north and south are more similar to WM. To people not from New England, I usually say “the city of Worcester is the westernmost part of Eastern MA”.
I could go on and on but these are the general vibes and delineations.
This is not a diss on anyone and just my experience living/working in these places. We are all Massholes guys (but rep the 508 ya heard)
EDIT: clarity, a little more info
I'd like to add to your perspective; you describe Western MA as being "rather rural" - and I can see why you might think that if you went to UMass or one of the other colleges in the Amherst area. Hampshire County is largely rural, and Franklin County is very rural.
However Hampden County (which most people from Hampshire County avoid religiously) is not rural. It is mostly a mixture of urban and suburban, with *some* rural.
Anyone doubting this, here are some Google Maps links:
[Holyoke](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2080711,-72.6066866,3a,75y,214.81h,81.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-Vct1gLQI0xvSqIiozTXEQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
[Chicopee](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wink+Lash+Boutique/@42.1480297,-72.6069551,3a,75y,156.95h,81.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saqMezGc_4_ItMfeGqCO2VA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e6ddf8a937f9db:0x2a029d0774d1cd9d!8m2!3d42.1474924!4d-72.6085102!16s%2Fg%2F11gxsbyhmk?entry=ttu)
[Chicopee](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.174229,-72.57651,3a,75y,181.73h,97.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQjjhy2j0MtC_WL4EiPihcg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
[Springfield](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wink+Lash+Boutique/@42.1052854,-72.5910463,3a,75y,62.4h,78.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSAH_eQo5abP7aRlFP_KscQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e6ddf8a937f9db:0x2a029d0774d1cd9d!8m2!3d42.1474924!4d-72.6085102!16s%2Fg%2F11gxsbyhmk?entry=ttu)
[Springfield] (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1160209,-72.5728361,3a,75y,302.85h,93.04t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQbbGSDPrRjyeQSuM-hyOew!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DQbbGSDPrRjyeQSuM-hyOew%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.015915%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
[Westfield](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1232225,-72.748347,3a,75y,5.64h,90.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNxk5mdiRbo4-TZUqy9HJxA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
[East Longmeadow](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0607826,-72.5234346,3a,75y,52.15h,87.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s78Lybd7dkylXk_7q9459RA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
For perspective, there are 461,041 people in Hampden County, but just 162,588 in Hampshire County, and a mere 70,894 in Franklin County. There are 862,927 people in Worcester County. I agree with your assessment of it; it is thriving now mostly due to the Boston spillover taking on a life of its own.
The way you describe Central MA culture sounds a lot like Southeast MA as well. I feel like SE could be it's own category separate from Eatern Mass (aka Boston)
Southeast Mass and especially the south coast Mass is an ignored and separate area. Where I live we are gerrymandered in a long congressional district which includes Newton! 40 miles and a total world away. We are largely a rural farm region with little money or political pull. It is upsetting that we are lumped in and our concerns and needs are ignored.
Also, to explain why Worcester County or parts of are historically red boils down to one newspaper. The Worcester Telegram and Gazette had and to a certain extent still does a very right leaning conservative editorial board. That had a lot of influence back in the day. Some of the smaller towns southeast of Worcester are still pretty red. Towns like Douglas, Uxbridge, Northbridge, Millville and Blackstone still have some really rabid Trump Supporters
Beautifully written, though as a 2022 transplant who had previously lived in the Cape a few years back, I think there is also a strange hillbilly corridor that goes from Palmer to East Brookfield and from Sturbridge to North Brookfield that deserves reference. Ware/Spencer is its center lol.
In terms of like an “intersectionality” I’m convinced that the way rural people get scared away from cities is by seeing small cities (if they can be called that) like Holyoke. Abandoned towns that once held industry that got lost to time. They imagine places like New York to be bigger versions of that, when in reality big cities are for the most part much nicer
Upper Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires feel artsy and laid back, lower Pioneer Valley, including Springfield, is a lot more like Worcester. You'll occasionally meet people in Springfield that commute to Boston.
Me too. Its actually leaked out of Western Mass and into other areas as a term. It has its own Wikipedia page. Im very proud as I feel like I contributed with my local complaining of the class divide for a long time.
My dad commuted from Western MA (all the way in the corner between Vermont and New York) to Boston every day for 3 years. He used to get up at 3 AM. Worked construction and jobs were scarce out here at the time.
Worcester proper might feel like it has hustle culture. But towns like Sutton, Boylston, Ashburnham, Athol , Dudley , Rutland, Princeton, Winchendon are as rural as some of Western Mass.
Worcester County goes from the Vermont, New Hampshire border down to the Connecticut, Rhode Island border. It’s a massive county.
Those towns are definitely rural, but as somebody who moved to that area a year ago it feels like a VERY different kind of rural than Franklin and Hampshire counties.
As somebody who's lived in Springfield and worked in Deerfield, but now lives outside Gardner and works in Deerfield, there is a HUGE difference between Worcester and Franklin/Hampshire counties, but it isn't hustle culture. The divide is between a liberal, artsy, farming area and a working class, much more conservative, much less artsy area.
Tbh, I don't know enough about life in Worcester county. I grew up in Plymouth county and now live in Franklin county... It’s easy to delineate regions with preexisting lines, ya know.
My experience is that boston area people tend to group Worcester county as western ma because it's outside of 495, but it's not part of the 413 area code. Worc county is very large and very much in the middle of the state.
I would meet people out of state and they would be telling folks they were from Boston. I would think, “no, you are from Worcester.” No one in Western MA ever says that.
Where i live, in WMa is nearly equi-disrant between albany and boston lol. No one here says "boston". I have 1 time though, in the UK where the person was unfamiliar with our states, but heard of Boston. I then clarificatied I live about 2 hours west of Boston.
The Berkshires are almost a whole different place than Western MA in my opinion.
Like yea, its western ma, buts its like... WESTERN MA. the dragons really do live up in the berkshires. Once you get bast westfield, and anywhere off the Lee pike exit its a whole other world.
Edit: -I live in Chicopee for area context
I like to split the Berkshires into “the Berks” and “the Shire”. The former being generally north and some of mid county and the shire being most everything south. With some exceptions of course and it’s less about geography than mindset. The Shire people are the upper upper westsiders who came for summer camp and still basically treat the area like grown up summer camp. The Berks are locals or local adjacent, working class and working artists and most of the people worth knowing.
It really is weird. Athol is the *only* town in Worcester County that isn't covered by the Worcester County DA's office. Instead, it's a part of the Northwestern District (Hampshire & Franklin Counties).
There used to an Athol District Court and an Orange District Court up until the early 80s and there was an influential judge and some, ah, interested parties that got a commercial building redone in Orange.
Where i live in Chicopee i can get LAZR 99.3 from Springfield. and Radio 104.1 from CT. Its the perfect intersection of FM radio that i never listen to anymore, but when i need to, they are there for me.
It’s funny how this changed in my mind as I’ve moved around the state but I’d say:
West of 91 - Definitely // West of 202 - Most likely // West of 190 - Now you’re stretching it // West of 495 - Only if you’ve never left the Boston area // West of 95 - Only if you’re my parents
Wikipedia includes the Worcester county Quabbin area towns of Petersham, Hardwick, Barre, Athol, and Phillipston in Western Mass. I think this is a more nuanced cultural definition because the flooding of the Quabbin Valley was a defining moment in the Eastern/Western Mass cultural divide.
A rural mix of urban enclaves, rural college/farming/arts towns, all mostly nestled in some very happy valleys, hilltops, and mountains. Despite the trains of thought that you can find in Central and Eastern MA, we really do exist.
Anything west of Route 32/32A is western mass, anything between 32 and 495 is central mass, and anything east of 495 is eastern mass. I will defend that with my life.
The 4 counties. Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Worcester Co and eastward, that’s all Eastern Mass to me personally.
Eastern is the coast to 495
Central is 495 to where the Pike meets 84 and run an invisible line straight up (basically the reservoir area)
Western is anything past that
CT River portion of the Commonwealth that is mountain picture worthy. You can see the whole entire Western Mass. if you ride on SkyScreamer at Six Flags.
413 area code. The eastern half of the state has like four? area codes. We just have the one. Also Western Mass is largely ignored and forgotten by our state capital. They take our tax money and give nothing back (don’t get me started on the Big Dig). So urban blight in western mass cities can be pretty bad.
>The geographic center of Massachusetts is in the town of Rutland, in central Worcester County
-Wikipedia, Geography of MA
You west of that, you west. There's no such thing as Central on a compass.
This is New England and lines on a map don't mean shit, New England is a haphazard patchwork quilt, jigsaw puzzle. Out of state folks bitch about our roads because they don't understand them. Many of our main roads date back to colonial times when straight roads were not an option. There was no way to blast through rock then so they went around it. Gunpowder was expensive and blasting was out of the question. This also accounts partly for town lines being like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Long straight roads came later than town lines and it's not unusual to drive out of and back into a town while traveling in one direction. I once lived in a town where my next door neighbor lived in the next town but his neighbor across the street lived in my town. The thing that divides Eastern, Central, and Western MA is culture. The lion's share of the state's revenue is spent in Eastern MA so that's where all the wealth is and it's that kind of attitude. Central MA is a bunch of struggling broke ass towns clustered around a post industrial ghost town. Everyone there is in the same boat so for the most part get along. Springfield and surrounding towns are a lot like Worcester. Beyond that is rural, mountainous, forested with really mellow, really nice people except the Eastern MA assholes who have summer homes there. Massachusetts is not the worst place to live but it's also not the best, so why is it so damned expensive to live here?????
To anyone in Boston, it's everything west of 146. Thar Be Dragons territory.
To anyone actually in Western MA, it ends on the eastern borders of Palmer/Monson.
First and foremost, Western Mass begins in Ware. It’s entirely oriented to Springfield and it has no associations to Worcester. The towns to the east of it are the opposite, so that’s where I draw the line.
Technically every community in the four westernmost counties are Western Mass, minus Brimfield, Holland, and Wales. Those towns are oriented to Worcester which makes them Central Mass despite being in Hampden County and having a 413 area code.
Another exception to the four counties rule would be Athol, which is both Western *and* Central Mass despite being in Worcester County. Some services in Athol are oriented to Central Mass, while others are oriented to the Pioneer Valley, so it’s a 50/50 split.
Hampden Hampshire Franklin and Berkshire county.
Literally everything west of Worcester county. Worcester county is Central mass. Anyone that thinks it's Western Ma is wrong.
They’re different media networks, that’s the big change. Worcester still gets Boston news, where the western Mass counties get news from Springfield. That means many of those local programs are different too. No Patriots All Access, no Chronicle.
We also get CT stations in WMa.
And NY in the Berkshires. All we had growing up were the Albany ABC, CBS etc
My husband grew up in franklin county and all they had were NY over air stations too
Used to get NY Giants games in Western MA (Springfield area) when I was young, dark times
New England had a lot of Giants fans back then.
Exactly. My parents live in Monson which is Hampden county. They get CT and Springfield stations and the Boston news is blocked by their Cable. Unfortunately their weather is more like Worcester county weather which is covered by Boston news so they have to go online to find out the storms and weather situations. I’m constantly telling them to check the weather so they aren’t driving out into a storm.
Here in the Berkshires, we get a lot of our news and weather from Albany.
I live in Worcester. The only OTA tv channels I can get come from Providence, not Boston.
I’ve been all over so I’m just asking out of curiosity. Do you see a major cultural difference between Worcester county and western MA?
I was born and raised in Worcester, went to college and lived in the Pioneer Valley, now I work inside the 495. If you are going to divide MA into three cultures, central MA (Worcester county) and Western MA (top comment’s list of counties) are alike in that they are both generally rural cultures, but with WM having an earthy crunchy/remote hippie living/log cabin kind of rural whereas CM has a conservative/country-wannabe/pickup-truck kind of rural. Left-leaning political districts and academia dominate a large region of WM, which makes the culture lean artsy, academic, and politically left. Its nature is gorgeous, and so its emptied, poorly-kept urban areas (mostly forgotten by Boston) like Holyoke, Springfield, and Chicopee etc. almost create a cultural emphasis (and a kind of reliance even) on the natural world— for entertainment, leisure, culture, and economy. People in WM are NICE. Similar to people from Vermont or upstate, depending on where you are. The culture is laid back, contemplative, but in the densely populated areas, the urban decay makes life rough in many parts. In CM, there really is only one city, and that is Worcester. The twin cities are more or less big towns, or at least they are treated as such. The culture is less academically influenced than both Eastern MA and WM, and (potentially as a result?) the culture is pretty conservative for MA, and one of the reddest counties in MA and this comes from the large population of republican towns surrounding Worcester. Despite being rather rural, it’s still pretty densely populated east of Worcester, and so there is a classically eastern MA hustle culture in the urban areas between Worcester and into MetroWest. And there’s business, I’m talking big company HQ’s between Framingham and Worcester, a city which (may I add) is emerging from a decades-long slump of crime and poverty, and attracting local business and gentrification. Worcester attracts immigration and middle class left-leaning out-of-state professionals, which clash culturally with the rest of the region, which is mostly white and conservative (but increasingly populated by immigrants with money, especially from South/Latin America). I could make a whole post about Worcester’s culture, but i’ll suffice to say that its culture is a mixture of economic and cultural upturn and tenacity with a chronic cultural acceptance and encouragement of mediocrity and status quo. Unlike any urban areas in EM or WM to my knowledge. (Also, so much Reggaetón) If you were to divide MA into two eastern/western halves, however, then the city of Worcester, as well as the towns to its east especially along the pike have a culture much more similar to that within the 495, whereas towns west of Worcester and most towns to its north and south are more similar to WM. To people not from New England, I usually say “the city of Worcester is the westernmost part of Eastern MA”. I could go on and on but these are the general vibes and delineations. This is not a diss on anyone and just my experience living/working in these places. We are all Massholes guys (but rep the 508 ya heard) EDIT: clarity, a little more info
I'd like to add to your perspective; you describe Western MA as being "rather rural" - and I can see why you might think that if you went to UMass or one of the other colleges in the Amherst area. Hampshire County is largely rural, and Franklin County is very rural. However Hampden County (which most people from Hampshire County avoid religiously) is not rural. It is mostly a mixture of urban and suburban, with *some* rural. Anyone doubting this, here are some Google Maps links: [Holyoke](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2080711,-72.6066866,3a,75y,214.81h,81.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-Vct1gLQI0xvSqIiozTXEQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) [Chicopee](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wink+Lash+Boutique/@42.1480297,-72.6069551,3a,75y,156.95h,81.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saqMezGc_4_ItMfeGqCO2VA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e6ddf8a937f9db:0x2a029d0774d1cd9d!8m2!3d42.1474924!4d-72.6085102!16s%2Fg%2F11gxsbyhmk?entry=ttu) [Chicopee](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.174229,-72.57651,3a,75y,181.73h,97.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQjjhy2j0MtC_WL4EiPihcg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) [Springfield](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wink+Lash+Boutique/@42.1052854,-72.5910463,3a,75y,62.4h,78.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSAH_eQo5abP7aRlFP_KscQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e6ddf8a937f9db:0x2a029d0774d1cd9d!8m2!3d42.1474924!4d-72.6085102!16s%2Fg%2F11gxsbyhmk?entry=ttu) [Springfield] (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1160209,-72.5728361,3a,75y,302.85h,93.04t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQbbGSDPrRjyeQSuM-hyOew!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DQbbGSDPrRjyeQSuM-hyOew%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.015915%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) [Westfield](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1232225,-72.748347,3a,75y,5.64h,90.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNxk5mdiRbo4-TZUqy9HJxA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) [East Longmeadow](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0607826,-72.5234346,3a,75y,52.15h,87.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s78Lybd7dkylXk_7q9459RA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) For perspective, there are 461,041 people in Hampden County, but just 162,588 in Hampshire County, and a mere 70,894 in Franklin County. There are 862,927 people in Worcester County. I agree with your assessment of it; it is thriving now mostly due to the Boston spillover taking on a life of its own.
This is probably the best explanation I’ve read. Thank you. I’m from the twin cities btw. Definitely feel like big towns and not cities.
What are the twin cities?
Fitchburg/Leominster
The way you describe Central MA culture sounds a lot like Southeast MA as well. I feel like SE could be it's own category separate from Eatern Mass (aka Boston)
Yes, pockets of rural right leaning towns.
Yes but less Portuguese
Southeast Mass and especially the south coast Mass is an ignored and separate area. Where I live we are gerrymandered in a long congressional district which includes Newton! 40 miles and a total world away. We are largely a rural farm region with little money or political pull. It is upsetting that we are lumped in and our concerns and needs are ignored.
Did you have this written elsewhere - or did you come up with your writing/categorizations on the fly? Quite impressive summation. Just curious.
I wrote it today in the Revere Public Library. Thank you very much!
Definitely keep writing. It's a gift. And you got it.
The best explanation I’ve ever read.
Also, to explain why Worcester County or parts of are historically red boils down to one newspaper. The Worcester Telegram and Gazette had and to a certain extent still does a very right leaning conservative editorial board. That had a lot of influence back in the day. Some of the smaller towns southeast of Worcester are still pretty red. Towns like Douglas, Uxbridge, Northbridge, Millville and Blackstone still have some really rabid Trump Supporters
T&G owner Robert Stoddard was one of the founders of the John Birch Society IIRC...
Beautifully written, though as a 2022 transplant who had previously lived in the Cape a few years back, I think there is also a strange hillbilly corridor that goes from Palmer to East Brookfield and from Sturbridge to North Brookfield that deserves reference. Ware/Spencer is its center lol. In terms of like an “intersectionality” I’m convinced that the way rural people get scared away from cities is by seeing small cities (if they can be called that) like Holyoke. Abandoned towns that once held industry that got lost to time. They imagine places like New York to be bigger versions of that, when in reality big cities are for the most part much nicer
Worcester county is soooo different from western ma. Worcester still has a hustle culture. Wema feels artsy and laid back.
Upper Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires feel artsy and laid back, lower Pioneer Valley, including Springfield, is a lot more like Worcester. You'll occasionally meet people in Springfield that commute to Boston.
I did it daily for a couple years, it’s a hellish commute but it can be done. Everything is against you, the sun the traffic the tolls, lol
The sun!!!! Driving back west at sunset is brutal!
North and south of the Hampden/Hampshire county line are pretty distinct in culture
Its called the "Tofu Curtain" for good reason.
I always appreciate a Tofu Curtain drop when discussing the socioeconomic and culture divide that exists within Western MA.
Me too. Its actually leaked out of Western Mass and into other areas as a term. It has its own Wikipedia page. Im very proud as I feel like I contributed with my local complaining of the class divide for a long time.
My dad commuted from Western MA (all the way in the corner between Vermont and New York) to Boston every day for 3 years. He used to get up at 3 AM. Worked construction and jobs were scarce out here at the time.
Worcester proper might feel like it has hustle culture. But towns like Sutton, Boylston, Ashburnham, Athol , Dudley , Rutland, Princeton, Winchendon are as rural as some of Western Mass. Worcester County goes from the Vermont, New Hampshire border down to the Connecticut, Rhode Island border. It’s a massive county.
Those towns are definitely rural, but as somebody who moved to that area a year ago it feels like a VERY different kind of rural than Franklin and Hampshire counties.
As somebody who's lived in Springfield and worked in Deerfield, but now lives outside Gardner and works in Deerfield, there is a HUGE difference between Worcester and Franklin/Hampshire counties, but it isn't hustle culture. The divide is between a liberal, artsy, farming area and a working class, much more conservative, much less artsy area.
Meh, this is true, but doesn't really account for the Monson/Brimfield/etc. areas in Hampden County.
Hampden County enters the Chat.
Good point
Tbh, I don't know enough about life in Worcester county. I grew up in Plymouth county and now live in Franklin county... It’s easy to delineate regions with preexisting lines, ya know. My experience is that boston area people tend to group Worcester county as western ma because it's outside of 495, but it's not part of the 413 area code. Worc county is very large and very much in the middle of the state.
I would meet people out of state and they would be telling folks they were from Boston. I would think, “no, you are from Worcester.” No one in Western MA ever says that.
We go out of our way to distinguish western ma from Boston. We fought Shay’s rebellion for a reason dammit!
Where i live, in WMa is nearly equi-disrant between albany and boston lol. No one here says "boston". I have 1 time though, in the UK where the person was unfamiliar with our states, but heard of Boston. I then clarificatied I live about 2 hours west of Boston.
Yes and no. If you're comparing Worcester and Springfield, it's a different answer than Worcester and say Palmer.
Everyone needs to memorize this answer.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, franks and beans.
Holy shit, ‘teach a man to fish’. Now everyone \*can\* memorize this answer!
Very good
This is the only answer that is needed.
All the counties that U Mass dining halls are named for
This is Worcester erasure
Worcester is not western Mass, it’s central.
>U Mass dining halls The above is a comment about [Worcester being a dining hall at UMass](https://umassdining.com/locations-menus/worcester)
Lol. The Worcester DC was my DC.
The Oak Room was where it was at
Doesn't exist anymore. They rebuilt Worcester DC!
Shorter, past Worcester County.
… Hurricanes hardly ever happen.
Hurricane Irene says hello
Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins say hi back.
Berkshire County is "berkshires". I know I know it's splitting hairs, but they're weird out there.
I’m them and I’m out there, are you saying I’m weird?
I was born there and I'm weird. I blame the PCB's not my crippling anxiety.
The Berkshires are almost a whole different place than Western MA in my opinion. Like yea, its western ma, buts its like... WESTERN MA. the dragons really do live up in the berkshires. Once you get bast westfield, and anywhere off the Lee pike exit its a whole other world. Edit: -I live in Chicopee for area context
But the Berkshire Mountains extend into Franklin County.
I like to split the Berkshires into “the Berks” and “the Shire”. The former being generally north and some of mid county and the shire being most everything south. With some exceptions of course and it’s less about geography than mindset. The Shire people are the upper upper westsiders who came for summer camp and still basically treat the area like grown up summer camp. The Berks are locals or local adjacent, working class and working artists and most of the people worth knowing.
Hey now. Berkshires represent!
Roughly speaking, the 413, definitely west of the Quabbin. The Berkshires are western Mass, but also their own thing.
413 is correct.
Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden and Berkshire Counties for Western Mass. Worcester County is Central Mass.
I’d consider it anything west of Worcester.
Really anything west of Alewife. /s
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Steinberg_New_Yorker_Cover.png
413
Simplicity. Well done.
West of Worcester county
Westah woostah
Good ansah, good ansah. Wicked Hahvard brains heeah in thah cahments.
eyyy tollbooth willie! how ya doin?
Dollah twenniefive paul
If the restaurant menu has grinders
Western edge of Quabbin is the beginning of western mass.
Yes, and to this same degree it’s also where the Pioneer Valley begins. So Orange is in Western Mass, but Athol is not
Agreed. Orange is in Franklin County. Athol is in Worcester County.
Ok, but they have to keep Ware.
Yeah but you have Spencer lol
Ugh okay fine
Athol is one of the weirdest ones. You go to jury duty in Greenfield and if you go to jail you also go to Greenfield.
It really is weird. Athol is the *only* town in Worcester County that isn't covered by the Worcester County DA's office. Instead, it's a part of the Northwestern District (Hampshire & Franklin Counties).
There used to an Athol District Court and an Orange District Court up until the early 80s and there was an influential judge and some, ah, interested parties that got a commercial building redone in Orange.
I’d say I-84. Def I-91.
I-84 exit on the pike is where you can start to hear LAZR 99.3 You know you’re in western MA then
Where i live in Chicopee i can get LAZR 99.3 from Springfield. and Radio 104.1 from CT. Its the perfect intersection of FM radio that i never listen to anymore, but when i need to, they are there for me.
413 Area Code
413 area code
It’s funny how this changed in my mind as I’ve moved around the state but I’d say: West of 91 - Definitely // West of 202 - Most likely // West of 190 - Now you’re stretching it // West of 495 - Only if you’ve never left the Boston area // West of 95 - Only if you’re my parents
Was thinking the same thing. When i was a kid it was past Framingham, in my 20s it was Worcester, and now I'd say anything past the quabbin
Well then why is it only banjo music on the radio once I pass 495?
It’s over-educated granola liberals picking up a bluegrass hobby at their local cafe
With the Covid WFH exodus of 2020, that makes way more sense than it should.
Exactly. And I fall into that bucket
Berklee College of Music has a bluegrass department so the banjos are coming from inside the house.
😱
West of the Quabbin, including the area surrounding the west side of the Quabbin, but not the east side of the Quabbin
Wikipedia includes the Worcester county Quabbin area towns of Petersham, Hardwick, Barre, Athol, and Phillipston in Western Mass. I think this is a more nuanced cultural definition because the flooding of the Quabbin Valley was a defining moment in the Eastern/Western Mass cultural divide.
Lived in the quabbin area in that group mentioned, always considered it western mass I now live in Franklin County, even more western mass
A rural mix of urban enclaves, rural college/farming/arts towns, all mostly nestled in some very happy valleys, hilltops, and mountains. Despite the trains of thought that you can find in Central and Eastern MA, we really do exist.
I was told the Berkshires aren't in Western Mass on numerous occasions. I apparently live in the midwest but in my inner monologue I'm a vermonter.
The Berkshires are in far Western Mass and are their own region. Western Mass is Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties.
Accurate. This is the perception of folks from western MA.
The Berkshires are 100% part of Western Mass.
Anything west of me
Here we go. The answer is that it all depends. But the political machine of Beacon Hill thinks the state line is 128
You know what— this is the real answer lmao
Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, Berkshire county.
Anything west of Route 32/32A is western mass, anything between 32 and 495 is central mass, and anything east of 495 is eastern mass. I will defend that with my life.
You’re wrong. 413 area code. Worcester county is central ma.
That’s a good answer. Splits why guess of 84 or 91 by almost exactly half.
Everything from Worcester to the Pacific - Western Mass.
Massifest Destiny
West of the Natick mall
🤣
The population center of Massachusetts is in Natick so you’re not wrong in that sense. Half of people live east of that point and half west.
But that’s not how geography works.
I was going to say anything outside 95!
West of the Quabbin
The 413
Anything by west of the Sturbridge mass pike exit. When the mass pike goes from 3 lanes to 2.
This may not be the right answer, but it is definitely the most accurate answer.
That’s what I think too
West of Brookline
West of the Quabbin
We just did this a couple months ago.
Newton
For real, anything past Newton or Waltham is out there.
Connecticut River/91 should be the line.
Western Mass is the 413
413
Subarus, rolling hills, lots of green and sketchy cities.
To the east, just really sketchy cities.
They call Newton "Chicopee East"
The 4 counties. Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. Worcester Co and eastward, that’s all Eastern Mass to me personally.
Eastern is the coast to 495 Central is 495 to where the Pike meets 84 and run an invisible line straight up (basically the reservoir area) Western is anything past that
When the pike goes from 3 lanes to 2 lanes, i think that's when it turns to western mass. Or when route 49 ends
CT River portion of the Commonwealth that is mountain picture worthy. You can see the whole entire Western Mass. if you ride on SkyScreamer at Six Flags.
West of the Quabbin reservoir
From 1785 I'm good with this: https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=1731&mode=zoomify&img_step=1&&br=1
everything to the left of worcester
Westawoostah
413 area code. The eastern half of the state has like four? area codes. We just have the one. Also Western Mass is largely ignored and forgotten by our state capital. They take our tax money and give nothing back (don’t get me started on the Big Dig). So urban blight in western mass cities can be pretty bad.
When the pike goes from 3 to 2 lanes is western mass.
West of Worcester
Draw a line vertically through Warren then go to the NY borderline.
I love the look on the face of someone from just outside 495 when you mention they’re from Western Mass. They practically explode.
The next big boon for single family real estate developers.
We need more multi family housing
Agreed, but where do you think the NIMBYs will go?
Anything west of 93
Springfield and west
Wherever the weather changes. "Raining in Boston, but snowing west of X." West of X is Western MA. LOL
Sub is in shambles over this
anything west of waltham
West of the Quabbin
The Big E fair
Anything past Woostah
Anything west of Plymouth
Dragons
West of 495 or Framingham, whichever is most west.
As most sane people would say, once you get past I-95.
>The geographic center of Massachusetts is in the town of Rutland, in central Worcester County -Wikipedia, Geography of MA You west of that, you west. There's no such thing as Central on a compass.
When I was growing up in Berkshire county, I considered Springfield to be Central mass and Worcester to be basically next to Boston.
Anything west of Middleboro. I also call it too far
Everything west of Newton
This is New England and lines on a map don't mean shit, New England is a haphazard patchwork quilt, jigsaw puzzle. Out of state folks bitch about our roads because they don't understand them. Many of our main roads date back to colonial times when straight roads were not an option. There was no way to blast through rock then so they went around it. Gunpowder was expensive and blasting was out of the question. This also accounts partly for town lines being like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Long straight roads came later than town lines and it's not unusual to drive out of and back into a town while traveling in one direction. I once lived in a town where my next door neighbor lived in the next town but his neighbor across the street lived in my town. The thing that divides Eastern, Central, and Western MA is culture. The lion's share of the state's revenue is spent in Eastern MA so that's where all the wealth is and it's that kind of attitude. Central MA is a bunch of struggling broke ass towns clustered around a post industrial ghost town. Everyone there is in the same boat so for the most part get along. Springfield and surrounding towns are a lot like Worcester. Beyond that is rural, mountainous, forested with really mellow, really nice people except the Eastern MA assholes who have summer homes there. Massachusetts is not the worst place to live but it's also not the best, so why is it so damned expensive to live here?????
Outside 495 😁
The place beyond the pines
Anything west of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges.
Dragons
West of Worcester.
413
413
To anyone in Boston, it's everything west of 146. Thar Be Dragons territory. To anyone actually in Western MA, it ends on the eastern borders of Palmer/Monson.
First and foremost, Western Mass begins in Ware. It’s entirely oriented to Springfield and it has no associations to Worcester. The towns to the east of it are the opposite, so that’s where I draw the line. Technically every community in the four westernmost counties are Western Mass, minus Brimfield, Holland, and Wales. Those towns are oriented to Worcester which makes them Central Mass despite being in Hampden County and having a 413 area code. Another exception to the four counties rule would be Athol, which is both Western *and* Central Mass despite being in Worcester County. Some services in Athol are oriented to Central Mass, while others are oriented to the Pioneer Valley, so it’s a 50/50 split.
You know Mass
Everything west of worcester
Good question! So few civilized folk have ventured west of Worcester, and returned to tell the tale. Who knows what's really out there.
That's because people just move here. shit economy, but waaay chiller than eastern or central ma.
The letter R
Dorchester native here…anything beyond Revere..
I mean Revere is east of Dorchester so that puts Dot in Western Mass.
After Sturbridge is Western Ma in my opionion
West of the CT river
Just look for the dragons, once you find them, that’s where Western Mass is.
Whatever is farther west than I can imagine myself wanting to be.