2024.12.31 Areas of Massachusetts: overview

This is one article in a series. Click for a table of contents of the full series. The table will be updated with links as the articles are published.

Here we go with yet another Massachusetts map! This is the one I’ve spent the most time on yet by far. I was inspired to start on it at the end of March 2024 and have been working on it off and on ever since. This is a map of local areas of the state, bridging a gap in scale between individual municipalities on one hand and large regions of the state on the other, and with each area being internally cohesive in some way. The criteria for cohesiveness are discussed below the map.

You can resize the map and toggle map layers with the controls below. The areas’ colors blur into each other; the intent thereof is to emphasize that these are by no means hard and fast definitions. After all, in reality, a given town or parts of it may easily be considered part of two or more areas, and the perceptual transition from one area to the next may be gradual and/or ambiguous.

Note that, when you’re viewing the map on a non-touchscreen computer and the map is zoomed in, you’ll need to use the scrollbar at the bottom of the map to pan horizontally, or use shift + mouse scroll wheel. I’d like at some point to make it possible to move around the map by clicking and dragging.

Read on below the map for more on how I defined and named the areas, what inspired the map, and further observations.

Map size:

 

Manual size

Map layers:

Municipal borders:      

Area labels:      

Town border classification: very strongly separated very strongly connected strongly separated strongly connected moderately separated moderately connected neutral DARTMOUTH FAIRHAVEN MASHPEE FALMOUTH MATTAPOISETT BARNSTABLE FALL RIVER RICHMOND BOURNE FREETOWN NEW BEDFORD ORLEANS DIGHTON WELLFLEET PLYMOUTH ATTLEBORO NORTON NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH EAST BRIDGEWATER DUXBURY PLAINVILLE MANSFIELD BLACKSTONE ROCHESTER RAYNHAM TRURO EAST LONGMEADOW WHITMAN PEMBROKE MARSHFIELD SEEKONK TAUNTON HALIFAX DOUGLAS FOXBOROUGH GRANVILLE HANOVER NORWELL AUBURN RUSSELL GRAFTON LEICESTER HULL NORTH BROOKFIELD SHREWSBURY STOCKBRIDGE WESTHAMPTON CHARLTON SUTTON EGREMONT HINGHAM QUINCY WEBSTER WALES BROCKTON HANSON AGAWAM FRANKLIN MENDON NORFOLK HOPEDALE NORTHBRIDGE STURBRIDGE MEDWAY BRIMFIELD NANTUCKET LEOMINSTER AYER DEERFIELD WENDELL WILMINGTON MONTAGUE TEMPLETON GARDNER BUCKLAND SHIRLEY ERVING ADAMS ROCKPORT ASHBY HEATH GROVELAND HAVERHILL ASHBURNHAM TEWKSBURY SAVOY GROTON TOWNSEND WINCHENDON DUNSTABLE BOXFORD GEORGETOWN AMESBURY SALISBURY MILTON SALEM MILLVILLE MILLIS RANDOLPH LUDLOW HOLLISTON BROOKFIELD PALMER MONTGOMERY HOPKINTON SHERBORN DEDHAM CHESTER MEDFORD CHELSEA BERLIN REVERE RUTLAND NAHANT SAUGUS STOW BARRE GOSHEN ACTON NEW SALEM PETERSHAM WINDSOR LANESBOROUGH DANVERS WASHINGTON BOLTON PITTSFIELD IPSWICH WESTPORT LEYDEN COLRAIN ROWE ROWLEY NEWBURY ALFORD OXFORD BROOKLINE LITTLETON DUDLEY SPRINGFIELD SANDISFIELD EAST BROOKFIELD WATERTOWN HAMPDEN ROCKLAND NEW ASHFORD TYRINGHAM OAK BLUFFS WARREN SHEFFIELD CHILMARK MARION WESTON HATFIELD WINCHESTER TYNGSBOROUGH FLORIDA WEST TISBURY AVON MILLBURY OAKHAM WESTMINSTER LAKEVILLE MILFORD WORTHINGTON LINCOLN STONEHAM SOUTHAMPTON WEST BROOKFIELD WESTBOROUGH NEEDHAM MIDDLETON BOSTON NATICK BECKET WARE BELCHERTOWN NEWTON WINTHROP NORTHAMPTON LEE MIDDLEFIELD WAYLAND WALTHAM LENOX HADLEY AMHERST CHESTERFIELD MALDEN PERU SWAMPSCOTT STERLING HINSDALE SHUTESBURY SUNDERLAND PRINCETON LANCASTER HUBBARDSTON HARVARD HUDSON MELROSE CHATHAM WRENTHAM LEVERETT BEVERLY TOPSFIELD HANCOCK WESTFORD HAMILTON BOXBOROUGH DALTON ESSEX PEPPERELL METHUEN BEDFORD PEABODY CARLISLE BELLINGHAM EASTHAMPTON ABINGTON UPTON HARDWICK WOBURN CONWAY WEST SPRINGFIELD WELLESLEY LYNNFIELD CAMBRIDGE LYNN TISBURY BERKLEY EASTON BRAINTREE SCITUATE GOSNOLD WORCESTER BRIDGEWATER REHOBOTH BERNARDSTON BELMONT BLANDFORD WEST BOYLSTON CLINTON WILBRAHAM OTIS CHARLEMONT BURLINGTON AQUINNAH TOLLAND MEDFIELD FRAMINGHAM HUNTINGTON NORTHFIELD SOUTH HADLEY READING LAWRENCE HAWLEY LONGMEADOW LUNENBURG ROYALSTON CLARKSBURG WILLIAMSBURG WENHAM WHATELY MARLBOROUGH WESTFIELD ARLINGTON WAKEFIELD MONROE SOUTHBRIDGE NEW MARLBOROUGH CHESHIRE SOMERVILLE EASTHAM BOYLSTON WAREHAM CARVER GLOUCESTER HOLLAND GRANBY SHELBURNE DRACUT SUDBURY SOUTHBOROUGH FITCHBURG WEST BRIDGEWATER CHICOPEE HOLYOKE PHILLIPSTON WEYMOUTH MAYNARD BREWSTER HARWICH SANDWICH HOLBROOK SPENCER EVERETT MIDDLEBOROUGH SOMERSET YARMOUTH KINGSTON WEST NEWBURY UXBRIDGE ASHLAND CUMMINGTON EDGARTOWN DENNIS MOUNT WASHINGTON PROVINCETOWN CONCORD PLYMPTON MONTEREY MONSON ACUSHNET NEW BRAINTREE MARBLEHEAD ATHOL GREENFIELD NORTH READING GREAT BARRINGTON COHASSET NORTHBOROUGH PELHAM BILLERICA NORTH ANDOVER MERRIMAC ASHFIELD MANCHESTER- BY-THE-SEA PLAINFIELD WARWICK HOLDEN PAXTON ORANGE NEWBURYPORT SWANSEA GILL SOUTHWICK LEXINGTON LOWELL CHELMSFORD ANDOVER STOUGHTON WALPOLE CANTON DOVER WESTWOOD SHARON NORWOOD NORTH ADAMS WEST STOCKBRIDGE WILLIAMSTOWN Hoosic Valley Upper Mohawk Trail Lower Mohawk Trail Westfield Hills South Berkshire Tanglewood Greater Pittsfield Berkshire Hills Hampshire Hills Greater Springfield Upper Montachusett Upper Pioneer Valley Central Pioneer Valley Quinebaug Hills Three Rivers Lower Montachusett Wachusett-Nashoba North Quabbin Greater Worcester Wachusett- Quinapoxet French Valley Central Blackstone Valley East Quabbin Nashoba- Merrimack Central Merrimack Valley Merrimack Estuary Metro North Nashoba-Walden Nashoba-Nashua Outer North Shore Inner North Shore Metro South Satucket- Hockomock Charles-Neponset Blackstone- Charles Inner South Shore Greater Boston Outer Metro West Inner Metro West West Buzzards Bay Upper Cape Taunton Valley Cranberry Country Hockomock West Outer South Shore South Shore Ponds Central South Shore Mid-Cape Outer Cape Lower Cape Martha’s Vineyard Nantucket Quaboag Valley Westfield Valley West Pioneer Valley Farmington Hills Mt. Hope Bay HV GP TW SB FH HH WH WV WP LT UP CP GS TR NQ EQ QV QH FV GW WQ UM LM WN BC CB OW NW NM CM ME ON IN MN GB IW CN HW MS IS CS SP SH OS TV CC WB UC MV MC LC OC NT NN BH UT MH

Inspiration

The direct inspiration for this map was a Boston Globe column by Billy Baker, published on March 29, 2024, which asks: what exactly constitutes the North Shore of Massachusetts? It explores the various parameters of the question: does the North Shore only include towns directly on the coast? How far up and down the coast? If inland towns are included, just how far inland do you have to go before you’re just in the northern suburbs of Boston and no longer the North Shore? Are the towns at the mouth of the Merrimack part of the Merrimack Valley or the North Shore — or both?

The column also features a really fun map by Baker and Ally Rzesa that groups the towns of North Shore and adjacent areas by various humorous characteristics. In addition, lots of commenters offer various opinions. No consensus is reached.

This sort of thing is like catnip to me. The questions raised in the column, and the areas shown on the accompanying map, started me down this months-long (and ongoing) rabbit hole of thinking about areas of the state in general.

Criteria for defining areas

Ground rules

First, here are the ground rules I’ve used. They’re intended to keep the area definitions as simple as possible, even where in reality it would make more sense not to follow them:

Cohesion

Following are criteria I’ve used for judging cohesion of areas. Where a group of two or more adjacent municipalities has at least some of the following characteristics, it makes sense to include them in one area. Unsurprisingly, the criteria often conflict with each other, so I had to use my judgment and have made lots and lots of adjustments as different criteria have come to seem more or less important in particular locations.

Scale/extents

Other criteria I’ve used for defining the areas relate to scale, and they’re perhaps more personal preferences of mine than the above cohesion criteria:

Other influences

The following features also informed my thinking, albeit less directly than the above criteria:

One explicit non-criterion worth mentioning is population consistency. The areas vary wildly by population, and that’s fine by me.

Naming criteria

Most of the area names I’ve used fall within the following types, which intersect quite a bit:

Observations and notes

With totals of 351 municipalities, 57 areas, and 8 or so regions in Massachusetts, we arrive at proportions of roughly 6 municipalities per area, 7 areas per region, and of course 8 regions per state. So the areas do bridge fairly well between municipal and regional scale.

Working on this map has helped me thoroughly memorize all 351 municipalities. In order to think through the entire set, it works well for me to go region by region, enumerate all the areas in a region, and then to think of all the towns in each area. It seems that the moderate size of the scale jumps (around 7 to 1) is very useful for this: it’s much easier to remember a group of six towns in an area, and then to do the same for each area in a region, than to remember all 40 to 50 towns in the region in a single grouping. (It is admittedly helpful that I have a good memory for geographic shapes, so I can visualize each area and how the towns fit into it.)

Feel free to reach out (to jbdowse at the google mail service) if you’re more familiar with various locations than I am — this is likely to include much of the southern tier of the state — and have different ideas of local areas there; or in general if any of the areas in this map feel markedly inaccurate to you. Of course, if you just like the map a lot, I’m happy to get word of that too!

References used

This is an incomplete selection of the sources I’ve referred to in my research.

More upcoming

I plan to write about each area and justifications for it in upcoming posts, with one post for each region, as listed in the table of contents. Note that the regions chosen for these posts are certainly not the most canonical ones; they’re just chosen in order to keep the number of areas per region as even as possible.