You know you are from Massachusetts...

Gary Blanchard

Gary Blanchard

beloved, local musician
when this is your sense of the world.
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(I live in the midwest)
 
:grin:
I spent three weeks in the Midwestern town of Westford for training once. I explored from Rhode Island to mid New Hampshire by bike and car. I had a great time as is was harvest season and the roadside stands had plenty of fresh produce.
 
Tiltsta said:
I'm surprised to not see Lowell, Lawrence and Methuen labeled as 'wasteland'.
Click to expand...
I went to a meeting with Dept. of Social Services in Lawrence; it was in one of the mill buildings from the Bread and Roses strike. I loved the history of it. Lowell, of course, is now best known as the birth place of Andy's namesake.

Mill towns have had a rough go of things, for sure.
 
I suppose it's no different than anywhere else. Most people are too busy dealing with existence in their own part of the world to get too excited about day to day life anywhere else. Let's see . . . I guess that would make me a Tennehole. :wink:
 
Someone actually told me Lowell was pretty nice these days. Apparently, the old mills are fancy loft/condos, and the tenements are now newer homes. When I lived there in the late 80's, it was probably the most dangerous city in Massachusetts.
 
I have family in Springfield. It was a nice enough area back in the '80s
 
I've lived in Lowell for most of my life, and it has gotten a lot better. When I was a little kid, it was really run down, dirty, and full of buildings that needed a wrecking ball. Then the computer revolution cranked up and the city got back on it's feet. High tech grew outward from the burbs in Boston out into our hinterlands. While all that was going on, courtesy of one of our politicians we inherited a gigantic influx of people from southeast asia. 90% of them were Cambodian, Vietnamese and Laotian refugees fleeing all the violence in that part of the world. Now, we have the biggest Cambodian community in the States except for Long Beach CA.

That being said, the map Gary put up is highly inaccurate. North of the state line where it's labelled Canada is called New Hampshire. Why is that important? For starters since there is no sales tax in NH, anyone who lives south within 40 miles or so will make a weekly trip north to stock up on beer, cigarettes and booze. And oh yes.... the state sells booze at state liquor stores right on the highway. Ditto for big ticket items like furniture, jewelry, and musical gear. On big ticket items that are to be delivered to a Mass address, Mass sales tax is added on. In some cases stores have been known to eat the sales tax to keep shoppers from buying somewhere else. In the summer, there is a nightly exodus of people headed for the seacoast too. Much like New Yorkers, we also have the 'Hamptons'. It's more like the Jersey shore without the turds on the TV show. Then there are always the dining establishments where you can get massive plates of fried seafood. You can always tell who the tourists are if they are eating a lobster. They will always wear one of those silly plastic bibs, and will eat only the meat out of the claws & tail. About 90 minutes north of Manch Vegas lie the White Mts. They have 12,000 miles of hiking trails through some of the most incredible scenery in the country. BTW, leaf peeping season is right around the corner.
 
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