what are North Adams people really like? (Springfield, Williamstown: middle-class, home)

[ihynes]

I once visited my husband's relatives in North Adams and although it's in a pretty location, Berkshires yada yada (they go on and on about it), I found the locals to be dour, indifferent, overweight smokers. (Speaking of size, though, the trees were breathtaking!! I think they might be the biggest trees I've seen outside of the California redwoods.) Is my impression of the locals far off the mark? Seems like you have to be one of "them" to be acknowledged.

[meltinjohn]

Simpletons.
Really tho, the people in most places are similar only Western MA Id equate to states like OH or PA. Id rather focus on other things than to ask questions like what are the people like. Theres good and bad everywhere.

[litlux]

Well, I am overweight, but don't smoke. And yes, many of the locals do seem to be extremely reserved and not too adventurous. But remember they were the grist that powered the old mills, and most learned not to make waves. So if you are an amphibian, you will find the area pretty parched for intellectual stimulation.

However.

There are lots of bright people in the area, and we are not in the WalMart, McDonalds or running the interminable 50-50 raffles which seems to be the most creative way they can think of to raise money.

Most of us new residents have found other new residents to keep our minds active and get out a lot to many other parts of the Berkshires. It is glorious here, but not if you sit on your duff talking about your relatives and neighbors.

Hell, you can do that in Indiana and Ohio too sans the mountains.

[plainslife]

It appears that because it is so difficult to find work in North Adams of the kind that will generate a middle-class income, many of the brightest and talented people leave to find and develope their careers elsewhere. Why would anyone with a costly undergraduate or graduate degree come back to an area that offers them no opportunity, and such little hope in the foreseeable future that their situation will improve? Why would a talented kid with a trade stay here as well? Family considerations? A love of a beautiful area? Affordable housing?

Perhaps because there is so little industry, and a declining need for professional managers, this maybe why it is that so many people work locally as electricians, roofers and plumbers, as well as at a variety of jobs related to home repair, or as clerks in retail stores. That is, if they work at all. How many electricians does a community the size of North actually Adams need? I can't say for sure, but there are an over-abundance of such workers, and they are cutting the income pie into smaller and smaller slices. This maybe one of the reasons why the individual and family incomes in North Adams are so low. There are may nurses and medical professionals residing in North Adams that have been the traditional primary family wage-earners. However, with deep and truly unpardonable cuts to service and staff at all professional levels at the local hospital (North Adams Regional Hospital), the economic calculus is further eroded, informing the next generation of bright North Adams and Clarksburg kids that it would probably be wiser for them to seek their fortune elsewhere.

The people of North Adams are generally decent and friendly. The isolating geography of the Northern Berkshires tends to make them appear clannish to the outsider. Their culture is unique, and in some ways colorful, but also insular. Thus someone with roots in the community is at a clear advantage, and outsiders would be best advised not too make the mistake of feeling too accepted, or even too welcomed. (But unfortunately lack of acceptance is universal almost anywhere you go.)

Most of North Adams's neighborhoods are probably better, or at least as liveable as most places in the Northeast, if not for the miserable employment situation.

I should add that MassMOCA is truly a jewel in North Adams's crown, and that the North Adams Library is excellent.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I can't answer for North Adams itself as I've only visited there a handful of times, but there are many, many old mill cities like it across the state, a few of which I'm more familiar.

Unless one is a "townie" (meaning that your family's been there for generations), one doesn't necessarily gravitate to such places unless it's for a a cheaper place to live. Cheaper places to live in an generally expensive state such as MA usually, but not always, means it tends to attract those who are disadvantaged in some way, which results in some sort of socioeconomic domino effect.

North Adams also bears the burden of isolation. There's no direct service to it from the eastern MA (I honestly don't know about central MA or Springfield) -- it takes effort to get there, preferably in 4WD. Isolation breeds its own domino effect, so adding that to the socioeconomic...

[seeriously]

Originally Posted by ihynes

I once visited my husband's relatives in North Adams and although it's in a pretty location, Berkshires yada yada (they go on and on about it), I found the locals to be dour, indifferent, overweight smokers. (Speaking of size, though, the trees were breathtaking!! I think they might be the biggest trees I've seen outside of the California redwoods.) Is my impression of the locals far off the mark? Seems like you have to be one of "them" to be acknowledged.

Sounds like this is an argument you're dying to have with your husband about his roots but instead chose to take it to this forum. There are fatties and smokers everywhere.

[macmacmac]

Originally Posted by ihynes

I once visited my husband's relatives in North Adams and although it's in a pretty location, Berkshires yada yada (they go on and on about it), I found the locals to be dour, indifferent, overweight smokers. (Speaking of size, though, the trees were breathtaking!! I think they might be the biggest trees I've seen outside of the California redwoods.) Is my impression of the locals far off the mark? Seems like you have to be one of "them" to be acknowledged.

You're correct on every point. They all moved to the Berkshires from Illinois.

[sinking]

I lived a few towns away and never felt comfortable venturing into North Adams and Adams. I always got a creepy feeling there and I had the feeling that is where I would die. I somehow often found myself dating girls that went to the college there so it was difficult to get out of going. I believe my one friend that still lives there may be the only normal person left. If you put a group of Berkshire residents in a room I could easily pick out which ones were from North Adams. They emit a different kind of pheromone or something.

[thenewtexan]

It makes you wonder why incomes in nearby Williamstown are so much higher. It's only about half the size and is equally as isolated. Sure, there's Williams College but...is the entire town full of college professors?

[KazamaSmokers]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

It makes you wonder why incomes in nearby Williamstown are so much higher. It's only about half the size and is equally as isolated. Sure, there's Williams College but...is the entire town full of college professors?

Yup. Pretty much.