What’s it like living in a picturesque rural town?
Hear from residents of Westhampton, Massachusetts who share their experience of living in a small farm town.
Visit one of Westhampton’s central meeting points, Outlook Farm, in our full-length feature on the 100-year-old marketplace.
Read the full transcription:
James Roberts, Westhampton Resident: It’s — it’s a good community. It’s — it’s a good community. I’m from basically Easthampton, which is down the hill when I was born, but I’ve been up here for the last 30 years, anyway. And, you know, it’s — it’s out a little bit, but it’s still, you know, you got the city of Northampton is down the road seven or eight miles, and Southampton and Easthampton are close by.
So — so, it’s a — it’s a nice area.
Jean Webster, Westhampton Resident: When we first moved here in ’77, they had the Bicentennial in Westhampton. And they — in the parade, they had famous name peoples. And who would believe that Roy Rogers lived here? My husband was Daniel Webster. They had Orville Wright, Esther Williams.
Now, folks in my generation would know who these folks were, in the old days. The younger kids probably wouldn’t. And we had Dick Tracy, who was a farmer. He wasn’t a detective, but he was a farmer. And it was wonderful.
And people in this town just are very friendly.
Brad Morse, Outlook Farm: Westampton is pretty much a bedroom community for, you know, Northampton or Springfield or wherever the main jobs are. There’s not that much business or activity in Westhampton itself, so it is pretty much a, you know, home community.
But it’s a, you know, close knit town. It’s 1,700 people or so. Good schools. Good place to live. The center of town, community type thing and all that.
And so, yeah, it’s just it’s just an average, good town to live in.
