Western Massachusetts

Western Massachusetts is a loosely defined geographical region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts which contains the Berkshires, the Pioneer Valley, and some or all of the Swift River Valley. The region is always considered to include Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, and the eastern parts of the Quabbin Reservoir watershed are sometimes included. The largest city in Western Massachusetts is Springfield, Massachusetts, the region's economic, historic, and cultural capital.

Read more about Western Massachusetts:  Geography, Demographics, Colleges and Universities, Tourism Sites, Outdoor Recreation

Famous quotes containing the word western:

    One of the oddest features of western Christianized culture is its ready acceptance of the myth of the stable family and the happy marriage. We have been taught to accept the myth not as an heroic ideal, something good, brave, and nearly impossible to fulfil, but as the very fibre of normal life. Given most families and most marriages, the belief seems admirable but foolhardy.
    Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)