The other USA - rural activism in Western Mass

by Mike Novack Tue Mar 04, 2008 20:57

Northampton is a vibrant college town* (Smith) and one of the larger URBAN concetrations in Western Mass. There is indeed a lot of rural activism in the hill towns (townships) -- in some of which Bush came in THIRD in 2000. But Northampton isn't rural by our standards. Not hardly. It's the nearest "city shopping" place for many of us rural folks (if we're into the ritzier stores)

I live in one of the more populous hilltowns (Buckland) but it's populous (~2000) mainly because the village of Shelburne Falls lies half in Buckland, half in Shelburne. Plenty of the other hill towns have populations under 1000 and some barely 500.

We hill folks don't consider places like Greenfield (~10,000) or Northampton (~20,000) to be rural. Why they have supermarkets, more than one gas station, etc. Might still be a truck farm or two running a farm stand, but no field many acres of corn, dairy herds, sugaring houses,. etc. like we have in the rural towns of Western Massachusetts.

* Northampton on one side of the river (Connecticut) and Amherst on the other are known as the "five college" area. Within less than a ten mile radius......... Smith, Mt Hoyoke, Amherst, Hampshire, and U Mass

by Andrew Tue Mar 04, 2008 21:04

I get your point but I did upload the introduction from NYC and in comparison North Hampton seems pretty rural!

by Mike Novack Thu Mar 06, 2008 13:40

A gathering we have been attending for >25 years includes many from the "Big Apple". Although now held on a more rural site, for many years at a campground, a nice campground mind, but in sound of the Turnpike (NY Thruway). Point is that to the folks from New York City area, wow, we're way out in the country. But to us, well there were more people staying at this campground than the total population of the town (township) in which we lived and the total land area of the campground less than that of our own property.

So yes, to them a place like Northampton is "in the country".

I was just trying to make things clear for you at a distance. Muchof Western Mass would be sort of like the wildest, least inhabited parts of Ireland. We have bear and moose on the property here as well as the more obvious critters like deer, turkeys, etc. Last October a WOLF was killed in a sheep farm next town over (say 10 kms from here) -- lab results just reported it was a wild wolf, not an escaped pet.

There is a very active "buy local" campaign --- aka "local hero" -- go out of your way to buy agricultural products produced here instead of "imported".