Higher education is a huge industry in the Boston region that has long contributed to its growth and economic power. Also, while Maine is much larger in area than the other states, a significant share of its land is owned by paper companies and not intensively used.
The better education point is very true, my mom grew up in New Hampshire and we are living in Maine right now and she told me that she’s literally never lived somewhere that cares so little about education, its insane, tho it’s not as much like that in urban Maine
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 Wow ! That may explain why a sizeable number of people from Oregon relocate to Maine as a destination. I spent some time in Oregon and the people are not only not very well educated; they are also backward in some ways. Also their largest city is named Portland.
@@smesui1799 I don’t want to sound too cynical, but living in small town Maine I’m convinced it just attracts a certain kind of person, I always just see the most obnoxious people who have no care for others or education or really anything, The only exception was when I did cross country because all the kids and coaches were great I’m sure there’s nice people, but they probably just keep to themselves like me (not to say im great or anything, i just like learning so i spend most my time on UA-cam)
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 I'm originally Turkish ( from Turkiye 🇹🇷 ). Going from eastern U.S. to western U.S., outside of New England, I spent some time in Florida, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington state. Of these, the most racist was Oregon. Aside from the Anglo culture they are acquainted with the Hispanic culture, simply due to their dominance, but outside that they are void of others. However, they hide this from others well. I only learned when I got there, that their original state constitution was based on exclusion. Just only recently did they change it.
My mother was born in Maine in 1908. She married and moved to NY State. We spent a week visiting Maine every summer. As she put it, "you can take a Mainer out of Maine but you can't take Maine out of a Mainer."
One important geographic factor for Massachusetts that wasn’t really reflected on the map is the abrupt transition between the coastal plain and hills, a fall line that created the hydropower for the mills-particularly in the Merrimack valley. The proximity of those mills to the port of Boston was ideal.
Yeah, Mass has at least some coastal plain before the fall line. North of that there is nothing. The south has huge plains below the fall lines, and not as steep a fall line in most cases.
Imagine your are an industrialist coming here to the northeast? water rich water accessible timber rich soil good not exceptional workable and indigenous human population has no value. Yahoo
He mentions Vermont weather being colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. I grew up outside Boston,, now live in Northern Vermont. Winters definitely are colder. But summers are much nicer up here, less hot and humid, than Boston.
I remember real spring and summer coming sooner to VT than Boston--a day in May or June in northern Vermont can be sunnier than cloudy gray coastal Boston.
You would have loved last July here! 90-100 everyday and humidity 85+% the entire month! And sprinkle in some rain. I don’t live IN Boston (but you knew that and I know you probably lived in Framingham or Burlington) but there’s a park in town that has a great skyline of Boston making it so we get the same weather (although sometimes it will rain here but not the town over)
I should add I don’t buy the weather being a big factor in why Boston is more of a city than Burlington because Montréal is a large city comprable to Boston just north of Vermont.
Boston has a natural harbor similar to San Francisco, and during the 18th century little ice age it was the closest ice free harbor to facilitate trade between North America and England. Geography and proximity to an economic powerhouse was a major factor. Maine has a rugged coastline for much of this length which makes shipping difficult, and it tends to freeze over regularly. Meanwhile, the other 2 are too mountainous. Another thing to note is that most of New Hampshire's population is concentrated in the southeastern portion, which falls within the Boston MSA.
@@Ibelikemj Very true. And manufacturing during the 50s made CNY the wealthiest place on Earth. I believe Rochester was #1 and Buffalo and Syracuse were top 10. Now it looks like a massive Detroit.
In New England, all roads lead to Boston. It is the epicenter of New England and always has been. Many, many well-paying jobs in higher education, medicine, biotech and other industries that require a well-educated work force. And Boston is a cool city. It has so much charm and character. Personally, I prefer northern New England where it's a bit more quiet with more breathing room but Boston's urban sprawl is spreading this way and seems all but unstoppable.
Boston is overrated and a mess. The state has revolved around it when it could put airports and transportation in places like Worcester and Springfield to help Bostons traffic, but they keep focusing on Boston a place not made for modern times.....
In CT all roads lead to NYC, we barely even consider ourselves New England and act more like a metropolitan part of NYC. True New England does not start till the accent changes over the border of CT.
@@inkman996 Exactly. Many more people in CT wear Yankees hats rather than Red Sox hats. Just one more piece of evidence that they consider themselves closer to NY than New England.
@@americanflyer4126 I’ve noticed that any place west of Hartford, and New Haven, are all pro New York and most people are Yankee fans. And anything east of Hartford and New Haven, you start seeing more pro New England and Red Sox fans. Ironically, the geographic locations of both those cities being in the middle of part of the state, splitting the state in half and makes them look like the unofficial border crossings from New York into New England.
I grew up in Vermont. I think that Vermont doesn’t encourage growth because we like our state rural. The problem is there is very limited opportunity for anyone. Housing and making a living is a huge challenge. If the internet connection improves people could work remotely. Most of my graduating class has left the state. I left for college and never moved back. I do love to visit though
Sounds kinda similar to the situation here in maine. rurally we have a culture of hating the city, hating education, and taking pride in being rural… i hate it, so I’ll probably be like the rest of the young people and get out to go somewhere with more opportunity and a culture of opportunity
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 According to some metrics, Vermont, and particularly one county in Vermont, is the best place to live with the continuing climate change. I've heard some people who can afford to and can work from anywhere, are already moving to Vermont.
In this part of small town Vermont young people may say they hate it but they don't leave. Most that leave for college don't go far and come back to perpetuate the odd mix of fierce pride and self loathing small mindedness. The mountains and climate are nice tho :)
@@bobwiegers as a young guy in new England a lot of us notice or are just infuriated by the problems are communities have, but we can’t really fix them, and we also can’t really leave because are social networks are in those communities, idk if thats the situation there but if it is maybe talk to them about why there so unsatisfied by there communitys and you might get some useful information
New Hampshire is already gaining lots of transplants from Massachusetts due to lower costs, no state income tax, and no sales tax. New Hampshire makes up for it with its high property taxes though.
@@virginiansupremacy Meh not really. New Hampshire is more so just independent if anything. Live free or die. Don't tread on me type of people, but it's actually more liberal there than one would think. Especially in southern New Hampshire.
@@dubreil07 Pennsylvania is probably the closest to a "Texas of the Northeast" with its large and fairly conservative rural population. Even down to its oil history. It's just that the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas equal it out from a political perspective.
I am from New Hampshire and recently there have been so so many transplants from New York And Mass, since Covid really. They are pricing locals out of their homes like crazy in an area that already has an extreme housing crisis. The worst are the ones with lake houses they only use for 2 months. I have no clue how I will afford to say here after college.
"They are pricing locals out of their homes like crazy in an area that already has an extreme housing crisis." Yup! The number of new home being built along Rt. 119 is impressive! It's a hard market to get into.
I feel you housing here is getting unattainable especially for young people. In in some counties half the homes are vacant seasonal homes. I heard Vermont is even worse.
As a young guy I lived in Boston's North Shore suburbs from 1984 until I moved out here to Seattle in 1998. I adored New England back then and to this day I still miss it. Today at age 61 I'm too old to change jobs but I still hope some day to return to a region of the country that I will always love.
I made the mistake of retiring early and moving to New Mexico. I miss home every day with an actual, physical ache. I've never even missed a person the way I miss Massachusetts.
Interesting fact about Maine is that it is the only deurbanizing state in the country. The state's urban population share has consecutively decreased every single Census from 1950 (when it was 51.7% urban) to 2020 (when it was 38.6% urban). Would be curious to see why the trend in Maine has been the reverse of every other state when it comes to urbanization.
Maine’s industrial cities were limited to a few cities by the coast. And like most New England industrial cities, they have been dying out for many decades. (I grew up in southern New England, which has lots of dying, depressing cities.) Apart from bedroom communities, there’s not a lot of urban left in much of New England.
But know this: summer weekends, especially the long holiday weekends, lots of people from Massachusetts, plus Rhode Island, Connecticut, and even New York, there's lots of traffic heading north into New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.
A large part of Maine (the Northwestern part) is owned by lumber companies: private roads owned by the lumber companies. Hardly anyone lives in that part of Maine.
Maine also has a very rocky coast which is why there are basically no major ports outside of Portland. You rarely hear anyone talk about Maine's beautiful beaches lol.
@@maxpowr90- We went to Ogonquin ME on vacation a few years back in October. The beaches were beautiful and the water was nice refreshing and cold. We lucked out with 70 degree weather when we went
I was born, raised in and have resided in Massachusetts for my entire life and I can tell you that education (Harvard, MIT and Tufts just to name a few) has been a major incentive for young people to pursue career opportunities in Massachusetts.
Im kinda jealous, I visited Massachusetts a month or so ago, literally never felt more at home and such a strong sense of belonging, and I hear so many good things about the schools that i just wanna go there again… it’s probably not perfect but seems more my speed
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 If you are not afraid of snow and cold, Mass is a pretty good place to be. I personally like the cooler weather. To me, the "good" weather of Florida is a hell hole.
@@diffened i live in maine, and winter is my favorite time of year here, im talking barefoot running, sleeping with the window open, i love the cold man
I wish you talked more about modern day. This video definitely needs a part 2 that talks about the modern day industries and economic power of the northeast and its difficulties.
Boston is the hub of the World's ranking universities in the world i.e. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University surround the students with the world's best and brightest students and academics. It is also considered as the economically fastest-growing city across the world. Greater Boston, primarily Boston and Cambridge, is home to more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, ranging from small start-ups to billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies.
Then don't come here for employment. I cant tell you how many men drive to Boston to work without even paying any tolls. Thats reserved for folks that live west of Boston.
Geographically, the two Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are also part of New England. If history had turned out differently in the Revolutionary War or War of 1812 would both probably have done much better over time if they had been part of the US as New England states, rather than being on the extreme end of Canada, where they are mostly bypassed by transportation and freight that from that start has been going up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal instead.
Great point, though they’d still be much farther compared to the three states talked about, to the major US hubs. But I’m guessing there would have been better transport infrastructure today had they been made part of the US. Naturally they’re more of an extension geographically to US N England than to the rest of Canada.
@@marceloorellana5726 There was a war between Britain and the US over it, but it was settled with a peace treaty after that from 1815 the two countries developed into allies so another conflict was out of the question
@hirsch4155 Still poses a danger. We're getting suffocated by Canadian wild fires. Obviously Canada cannot manage the size of their country. The United States will eventually absorb Canada because it's subservient to US policy anyways. It's small population is European and speak English so they don't poise a cultural threat to the majority Anglo population of the USA which is over 220 million European transplants.
as someone who was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and raised in southern New Hampshire. Moved to Boston in 2018. The reason I moved is because of job opportunity and for the social aspect. There's plenty of adult sports leagues in the Boston area to meet new people and I'm not too much of a gun nut. I love the city and I just love the job opportunities around me. That's the main reason I live in the Boston area. There's just not much to do in Vermont New Hampshire in Maine when it comes to social aspects and convenience when it comes to shopping and basic things. Yes, the cost of living is high, but that is just a small factor for me personally. I just wanted to share my thoughts as someone who lives in the area. If anyone wants to ask me any questions in the comments about the area, I'm more than happy to answer as a lifelong resident born and raised
Yeah don't get me started. I don't really use the MBTA honestly I have a car because I live a little but outside the city. I've heard from friend it's literally quicker to take your car in rush hour traffic than it is to take the T Because of all the delays. It's a joke There's been decades worth of discussion regarding a commuter rail going to New Hampshire but, New Hampshire politicians hate it for some reason and it's always been shelved. That's also a minor factor why I moved. I hate the politics, in New Hampshire
@@robLV Most of the problems with the T concern its light rail (subways trolleys) which mostly affects Boston and the immediate area. Buses are good as is the commuter rail that stretches outwards from Boston into Central, Northern and Southern Mass.
Massachusetts born and raised, and nearly lifelong resident here. MA is a great place to raise a family. Outstanding education and healthcare here. Jobs are pretty plentiful and the quality of life is extremely high. Great place to call home!
My wife and I grew up in the Chicago area and moved to Southern NH in the mid 70s. For most of my professional career I worked in Mass. In the aftermath of COVID we have seen an influx of folks fleeing urban areas driving up home prices. As others have mentioned taxes in general are low but so is availability of state services. Tax revenue is mainly generated from property taxes that vary widely depending on the local mix of residential, commercial and industrial base. NH has its share of foibles but we have been happy living here, raising our family and our adult children continue to live in NH. For a fairly rural state NH has pretty decent access to high speed internet. In fact our daughter has a 100% remote access job.
I took high speed internet access for granted, having grown up Worcester-adjacent. We were looking at houses in the Berkshires in 2020 and none of them had high speed internet access, and several of them only had satellite. We were looking so far west because you'd be hard pressed to find a ranch for less than $400k in central MA. Many folks aren't fleeing the urban areas, they are being priced out by outrageous rent and $5 loaves of bread.
As someone who lived in Northern Maine the only reason I left was to help my ailing mother before she died ! Maine is just so beautiful and a nice cool weather !
Don't do it man. I grew up in a "rainy and cool small town" in MA. I live in Boston now, since when I was growing up, I f*king hated my life since there was nothing to do and no jobs. If you've got kids (or want a career), go to Boston or go somewhere else in the USA. Cost of living here in New England is obscene anywhere you go, but at least in Boston I can make bank!
@@berrywarmer11 Boston is surrounded by small towns that do exceedingly well. I live about 23 miles outside of Boston and can take an express train that gets me into the city in 30 minutes. I have a Logan Express 5 miles from my house that can take me to an international airport in about 30-45 minutes and from there almost anywhere in the world. I have the best of both worlds - lots of bucolic New England charm with old stone walls and beautiful Fall foliage - and quick and easy access to the city.
Rainy and cool? I live in New England and it's not regularly rainy any particular time. It's actually hot and humid from May- October. It is very pretty though.
new england summers are just as humid as down south, just cooler a little cooler on average. Southern New England usually gets insanely hot during july. You should totally check out New England as a vacation destination. If you rent a car and are willing to drive, you can get from Boston to New York City in ~4.5 hours. You could literally spend a couple weeks checking out all of New England. Start with a few days in New York City. Then hit up New Haven CT for some pizza and ethnic foods, go to Rhode Island for the beaches and see the mansions on Newport. See Martha's Vineyard, then take the ferry into Boston. Stay there for a couple days or so, then head north into Maine or New Hampshire. Get a taste for the rural small towns and our big cities and their suburbs. If it wasn't so far out of the way, I'd highly recommend Burlington VT. Lake Champlain is absolutely breathtaking and Burlington has a lot of Charm. It just sucks that it is the most remote urban center in New England.
Totally forgot Western Massachusetts metro at almost 700k! It's a pretty significant area with schools and other cool features. Maybe make a video on the forgotten section of Western New England.
Boston has the best natural harbor in New England. In addition the neighboring major river basins, the Merrimack and the Connecticut, don't have good natural harbors at their mouths so Boston is the natural point of transhipment for a large swath of New England. The Merrimack and Connecticut basins represent a very large share of the industrial and agricultural potential of New England. Finally once a city grows large its size alone becomes a growth driver.
don;t forget fall river and new bedford, as ports for the fishing and whaling trade. This article skirts the benefits of the sandy beachs and coves and inlets that made it easy for the sailing trade to transport goods. ( and , er perhaps hide from the British.) New Bedford has a huge number of people of Portugese descent with a tradition of fishing.
It is important to know that Boston metro is the hub of the Biopharma industry in the world and that Boston hosts almost all of the major tech companies in America. Robotics to a lesser extent also prop up the Boston economy. It has been said that the hard engineering and scientific questions are worked on and solved in Boston and then other parts of the US put them into action.
@@BlownMacTruck I don't have any data, but can explain that tons of companies open facilities here and do development work, utilizing all the educated students coming out of the schools. Amazon has a big presence here working on warehouse robots, auto shopping carts, etc.
@@DBMIAMI. It sounds like you're injecting some personal bias in this all... The educated "worker bees" stay because there's better job opportunities here. The wealth generated here is also taxed here. I'm not sure where you're getting the "all the wealth goes to the south" idea from, that seems again like your personal idea. Also, there is a higher percentage of millionaires in Mass, NY, and Cali than all the southern states, so more made up info from you. It is possible that rich, generational wealth moves to lower tax areas, but certainly a large share of new wealth is created in areas with high GDP output like the states mentioned. Then of course the obvious problem with moving to low tax states is the worse schools, worse public services, etc. My last comment is that America is great because of the diversity of our states and what they have to offer for different industries. More R&D work happens in Mass, and more manufacturing happens in Florida. No need to say one is better than the other. I for one will be staying here in New England.
Cambridge software developer resident here. We've got a Google office right near MIT in Cambridge, as is Akamai. Broader in the area, we've got other high impact but low visibility hard engineering firms with Boston Dynamics as an outlier here. On top of that, as mentioned by OP, we're literally brimming with biopharma and biotech; at the end of my street is a biopharma company with a household name (won't name for privacy reasons). OP isn't lying! I'm just glad I didn't have to go out of state to move to a place to work (I'm from the Cape originally - which is a deadzone for building a career in, as is most of New England IMHO)
Id definitely argue that the presences of quite a few of the most "prestigious" universities in the country makes a huge difference. College students alone make up around 20% of the Boston population, which means that they are likely to support Boston's existing as a major center cor academia and related jobs (biotech companies, etc.) All if which just keep it growing.
Yeah, I was surprised this wasn't mentioned. Boston has the highest number of students per capita in North America, and they're incentivised to stay there by the abundance of hospitals, biotech companies, tech startups, and university-backed research. Will be interesting to see how the cost of living crisis in Massachusetts impacts demographics. Lower income folks have long been priced out of Boston, and Worcester is becoming increasingly gentrified, pushing folks further west. People are commuting longer and longer distances to service and education jobs in areas they themselves can't afford to live.
Mass also has some political geography, historically. For example, as part of the colony annexing Maine and Plymouth colonies, they would have the colony assembly meet in Boston towards the end of the year's harvest, with the term ending sometimes in September or October, which in New England meant that if you lived outside the immediate Boston area, you'd have to travel home in the snow, very unsafe, so further townships did not send their representation to Boston. If you wanted to have power, you needed to be near Boston.
I have never gone down this far into the comments without seeing someone say something wildly offensive and/or completely irrelevant. Definitely gonna spend more time around here.
I lived in Vermont and they are quite happy that they do not have a hugh influx of people in the State...i would assume the feeling is the same in NH and Maine....Flatlanders are welcome to the ski slopes in VT...just visit and then go home............👍👍
Massachusetts has Boston and slightly closer proximity to New York City. Brutal winters in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, with a lot of mountainous regions. Vermont doesn't seem inviting to transplants, due to housing restrictions. Also, Massachusetts has a lot more universities.
Yeah the housing situation is really bad in Vermont. Of course it's important to preserve nature and the character of the state, but NIMBYs there have prevented so much development that it has harmed the state's economy and population growth.
@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong Look at how much unrestricted population growth has harmed California, Texas and Florida. Not all population is needed and/or wise.
@@Vaxxedhole Eh, other than like New York City nowhere in the US is as densely populated as much of the world is. The benefits of population growth outweigh the negatives, and the negatives of a stagnant or decreasing population outweigh the positives.
I was also surprised firearms weren't mentioned. Winchester Repeating Arms Company was headquartered in Connecticut and had factories in other parts of New England. Not to mention, Smith and Wesson, Colt Manufacturing, and Remington Munitions were also in New England.
I noticed that too. "Gun Valley" they called it: Smith and Wesson, Colt, HR, Savage, to name a few. Lot's of people are afraid to mention guns these days.
Yes, firearms manufacture has always had a significant presence in New England. The American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT has a wonderful display of how early firearms evolved and how they were made. On another note, not many realize that the piano industry played a major role in manufacturing in New England, and elsewhere, prior to radio and TV. Around the turn of the century, Boston alone was home to at least twenty piano manufacturers, and it seemed most New England cities had one or more piano factories. Numerous foundries, veneer plants, parts manufacturers, etc. employed thousands of workers in support of the industry. Ivoryton, CT got its name from the ivory trade that supplied elephant tusks for the piano industry. Thankfully ivory is now a protected commodity, but old pictures out of Ivoryton show tusks piled high like logs at a sawmill.
He also forgot to mention that Maine was a huge source of Timber for the sailing ships back in the day. With the advent of steel ships and less sail, Maine lost a lot of it's momentum. Our white pines are classic mast trees, and we had TONS of them.
Great video. Heads up for future reference: Concord, MA, and the one in NH while we’re at it, are pronounced with the second syllable sounding like “erd” rather than “ord”.
great video as always-one minor error though-Puerto Rico is, in fact part of the US, so the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the US is San Juan Puerto Rico which was founded in 1521.
@@barrackobamar im sure you're right, that's usually the case, but this is ostensibly educational content, which I believe is held at a higher factuality standard than an average conversation, so i was hoping to let the creator of this content know that there was a factually incorrect statement. He could have specified, just as you have, that he meant the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement *on the mainland* , or *in the lower 48* , but he didn't, so it was inadvertently an error.
Four comments: 1. I find it interesting your map of british claims in n. America and of french claims leave out a significant portion of new france which extended south to ticonderoga (ft. Carillion) in new york state. 2. Having lived in northern new york state and CT, one could argue western CT is more similar to southern new york state than to the new england states, and that northern new york is more similar to new england, esp vermont, than it is to regions further south in the same state...with additional influences in language and custom from its french neighbour to the north. 3. Your map depicting the Appalachian mtns overlayed over n.e. Usa is incorrect. The Adirondack mtns , which you map overlayed, are not part of the Appalachians and are a separate, much, much older mountain range, with significantly different mountain geography than the Appalachians. 4. In no universe can southern new England climate be considered "sub tropical" as your video states. The sub tropics in the eastern usa extend aprox from the florida keys north to cape hatteras.
I would agree with you on #4 based upon what I was taught in grade school. Massachusetts has a humid continental climate. Alas, I was in grade school forty years ago. The Koppen system uses different criteria and the east coast of Massachusetts going towards Rhode Island indeed are classified as humid subtropical. Cape Cod and the Islands are classified as oceanic. My own perception going back to the 1970s is that the climate overall is warmer and harsh winters in the southeastern suburbs of Boston (where I am from) have become relatively uncommon.
@@bradc6199 Actually, that is not correct. In New York State, the Catskills are part of the Appalachian Mountain range. The Poconos (PA), Berkshires (MA), Green Mountains (VT) and White Mountains (NH, ME) are the northeastern terminus of the Appalachians. The rocks that make up the Adirondacks are about one billion years old, making them significantly older than the Appalachians. The best way to think about the Adirondacks is that they are an extension of the Canadian Shield. The Iron Range of Minnesota and Wisconsin are also part of this shield. From a geological point of view, the Adirondacks and the rest of the Canadian Shield is way more interesting.
One of the best companies I worked for practically owned MA & RI, plus part of CT at one time. It was Raytheon Company ( a defense/aerospace government contractor ). I was a senior systems/software engineer. Fresh with PhD-level in hand, I was later precured to the west-coast ( California ) where aerspace was booming even bigger with players like Lockheed, Grumman, Boeing, etc. . Unfortunately, that's all dried-up now but I was fortunate when fortunes were good.
Burlington proper really doesn't have any vacant land to build on. That is all in South Burlington, Winooski, Colchester, Essex, and Williston. Most of the land in Burlington is either commercial or owned by UVM for the school and medical center.
Come on, Burlington has plenty of room. If Burlington were as dense as Montreal (I’m not talking Singapore here), it would be able to house three times as many people. And for those “character of the city” people, the vast majority of that could be achieved without towers by just building four-plexes. Even sprawly Denver is actually quite a bit denser than Burlington. It would be nice if South Burlington and the regional suburbs decided to upzone as well, but mainly what Burlington needs is to get serious about upzoning and actually building housing on the land it already has. (Also, fixing the absurd mismanagement that led to, for example, the giant pit…)
With Portugal, it's not the "mainland" people that immigrated to Massachusetts, but Azoreans. The Azores was/is a popular shipping port crossing the Atlantic; as the first/last land west of Europe.
Good point! The video missed out about talking about the Portuguese population and their relation with southern MA. I am from the Cape, and back in the 1800s the Cape as well as the New Bedford area saw huge amounts of immigrants - especially folks from the Azores - come over for opportunities in the whaling industry. Worth a topic of its own!
@@berrywarmer11 Like most UA-cam "Geographers", they completely gloss over history and not understand the why. The amount of repetition of basic facts that happens in videos is astounding and others will clap like harbor seals. Shows that Geoff never watched any Anthony Bourdain and his love of Azorean cuisine when he worked as a chef in MA.
At one time just about every small town had a mill. today most of those mills have become either apartments or small mom and pop stores with an occasional restaurant.
Thank you for your video. I am thankful to have always lived here in massachusetts. My children have received a wonderful education and now successful careers. The physical and mental healthcare available is superb.
My wife I went to Ogonquin Maine for vacation and we skirted along southern VT, southern NH and into Maine. Everything up there had a Boston vibe to it. NH and VT lack any major cities and it’s almost desolate in the north. There’s only one major east west thoroughfare through these states, only two to four lanes and even at that the traffic wasn’t bad. It was beautiful
If you enjoyed ( or didn't ) " Walden Pond " by Henry David Thoreau, then you should also look at " One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey " by Dick Proenneke. Dick Proenneke is the person who TRULY lived alone in the woods ( of Alaska ) away from civilization, from 1968 to 1998 ( 30-years ). He wrote a complete account of his experience. Book: " One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey " Sadly Richard ( Dick ) Proenneke passed-away at the age of 86 on April 20, 2003 in Hemet, California.
Here’s another factor: transportation. Note all the definitions of the “Northeast megalopolis,” also known as “BosWash.” It is “BosWash” because it also corresponds to the Northeast Corridor rail line, which ends in Boston because there is no link between the two principal train stations in Boston. They have attempted to build a North-South Rail Link, but as with anything involving infrastructure in these parts, it has proven to be remarkably difficult. If there were a link, and it were relatively simple to get to Portland, then that area would probably grow to a larger degree. Similarly, a significant chunk of New Hampshire’s population is within the so-called “Golden Triangle” (per one definition) between the state line and two major highways: Interstate 93 and the Everett Turnpike, including the cities of Manchester and Nashua 15 miles apart, both of which were industrial centers and have a combined population of around 200,000. This definition also includes the towns of Merrimack, Bedford, Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry, and Hooksett (where the two highways intersect north of Manchester). Litchfield has no crossings of the Merrimack River within its limits and no other main thoroughfares; thus, although it borders Manchester, its population is much smaller than any of the other municipalities nearby.
The BosWash has little to nothing to do with the train corridor and everything to do with economic activity of the area running between Boston and Washington DC.
I remember a survey of successful people pointing to one city in particular that disprportionately produces success stories was Boston. I was wondering beyond the pedigree and plenty of it institutions. Was there a geographic advantage to Boston producing so many success stories.
Many people who come to Boston from elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad for education end up staying afterwards. That's what my parents did. I myself moved just outside of New England but I visit Boston a few times monthly. Of American cities, Boston is held in high regard abroad. My cousins from England came to visit us in Boston but refused to visit relatives in Texas because of their perceptions. Boston is closer to Europe and the east than any other major American city. It is relatively clean. It is relatively safe for an American city. Institutions tend to work well in New England which is generally well integrated economically and culturally with Atlantic Canada, Quebec and New York State. And Boston and New England are pretty.
@@arifshahabuddin8888 I can second this perception factor. I'm from Texas but go to school in Massachusetts and my Pakistani roommate said he always wanted to visit/live in cities like Boston, NYC, and San Francisco whereas he considered Texas a racist backwater and never even considered applying to schools there.
Vermont and New Hampshire has a lot of mountains and internet can be spotty at times or even cut off. Both states have insane scenery it feels really isolated at times when I visited both states.
Maine has had a weird colonial relationship with Massachusetts that continues today. Part of our population issue is young people moving to the “mother country” for better opportunities and school. Those families only return when they have enough money for a lake house or to visit the beach for a weekend.
Love the content as a lifer from Mass. NE is the best place to live in the spring summer and fall…not so much in winter. We have the ocean, mountains, rivers, world class cities and sports teams. diverse communities, etc. NE is also an expensive place to live with Mass leading the way. Median houses are over $500K.
My wife is from Massachusetts, the South Coast area in particular. I lived there for a few years, overall as someone from Colorado I found the population density suffocating. I did however enjoy the northern NE states. Maine in many ways is it's own region entirely, rugged coast mixed with an sparsely populated inland region. NH and VT on the other hand feel more like the rural mountainous offshoots of Massachusetts. NH does lack the tax burden of most other NE states, but all in all it's just a vacation/retirement destination for Massachusetts. VT is similar albeit more of the Quebecois influence. However it may seem, I actually really enjoyed NE, I'm just not a huge fan of the eastern seaboard urban areas, way to many people with not enough convenient transportation. Boston realistically should be 45 minutes from Providence but it always ends up being 2 hours or so.
I agree. I come from a town about ten miles north of Boston. I moved to Rhode Island as a young adult, then moved back to the north shore to finish college. I couldn't wait to move back to Rhode Island. MA had too many people, too many cars, too much congestion everywhere. Traffic everywhere. There have been times when it has taken three hours to drive from Reading MA to Warwick RI. Southern New Hampshire is almost just as bad. And moving to New Hampshire because of no state tax makes no sense. A friend who moved to a little tiny town in New Hampshire, not the lakes region or the ski region, just a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, paid a small fortune in property tax for a house on a small plot of land. It was worth it to him because of the seclusion, but he sure wasn't saving any money. But I absolutely love New England.
I take it you aren't from the Denver area or haven't been there in a while. Denver is way more suffocating than any part of New England. Can't wait to get out of there when I visit.
Can agree. I’m from CT and was stationed in Colorado while in the military. The I-25 corridor is the most suffocating place I have ever been in my life. I hate Colorado lol
As a MA resident I will tell you, it gets cold. Most people don’t want to deal with the snow and cold. Also NH though has no sales tax, they get you elsewhere weather it be property tax, income tax. There’s also just not much up there. Not even in the mountains go to Concord or Manchester NH those are your major cities (Nashua too, but that’s Massachusetts in my opinion, maybe because we would play a Nashua team in lacrosse for some reason) same to say about ME and VT. At least in Massachusetts there’s no area that isn’t occupied by suburbs. There’s also 3 main cities to stretch across the state into NY. There are places in MA you can be, City or suburb. It is cool though that I’m just under 2 hours away from reaching more moose, deer and bears than people. Long story short. Those three states have generally high taxes even if there’s no tax in some areas, and there’s nothing there, no place to live other than the cities, because of that real estate is wicked high (to live in the middle of nowhere?) oh and it’s really cold and snowy which adds to the frustration to that there’s no where to go meaning it’s likely roads are closed for the winter as nobody can get there to plow
"As a MA resident I will tell you, it gets cold." Not as much as it used to. A few years ago Christmas day was so warm we could have eaten dinner on the patio!
@@ronmoore6598 I'm in CT and we have cold winters and mild winters. We have snowy winters and some with barely any. I'm almost 50 and it's been the same since I was a kid.
@@ronmoore6598 It has not. People do like to say that though. We have had some extremely snowy and freezing winters in the last 10 years in New England. It is what it is, despite the media hype.
The population difference between Mass. and northern New England has a lot to do with economic changes. For example, in 1840 Maine's population was quite close to Mass. (500k/700k respectively). This was because farming was still big in Maine and the development of mills (New England has a LOT of waterpower) there. After the Civil War, many people left northern New England in particular for the better farmland in the midwest, and deindustrialization gradually killed the mills. In the 21st century, our society is concentrating in cities, in large part because there is more economic opportunity there than in rural areas. This explains the population disparity today.
Correct. The civil war brought many changes ( + & - ) to both the north & south. Many New Englanders, as well as others from the east, were California bound or on the Oregon Trail for new government induced settlements.
One major reason Massachusetts (Boston in particular) grew in population rapidly is the Hoosac Tunnel in northwestern MA. It's a railroad tunnel several miles long, cutting through the rugged terrain of the region. This direct rail link to Boston in the 1800s enabled it to become the dominant city in New England. It is said that had the Hoosac not been built, Providence would have likely taken the title, as railroads would not have had the challenging terrain to construct through and underneath. ua-cam.com/video/tvYOlx9wIw0/v-deo.html
Vermont is an expensive state in which to live for one reason: taxes. The state taxes all income, including SS benefits, and property taxes in VT are generally well above the national average. New Hampshire property taxes are extremely prohibitive, even though it has no state income tax. Massachusetts, while not inexpensive, offers a better bang for the buck, outside of Boston, which has a very high COL.
If only Massachusetts had more tax advantages and quality housing for seniors/retirees I'd retire there in a heartbeat. I went to college there, vacation there and find a lot of recreation opportunities there.
My draw to New England from upstate NY ( Buffalo region ) was after I read " Walden Pond " * by Henry David Thoreau in high school. Its setting is in the Concord, MA area. * or, also known as: " Life in the Woods "
I'm enjoying the civil discourse amongst fellow New Englanders here. Even though Geoff is from that STRANGE remote place called Portland, Oregon; I think it be wise of him to do more indepth videos about the New England ( NE ) area. He may actually learn a thing or two himself ? 😮
You might want to check your numbers. You say that the entire state of RI has a population of 1.1 Million (8:44), then quote the city of Providence with a population of 1.7 Million (9:06). Did I misinterpret something?
Puerto Rico wasn’t apart of Britian or the United States until after the Spanish-American war so that’s why he didn’t mention San Juan during that time
Massachusetts whaling was a major part of why it became such an economic powerhouse. Massachusetts had its Qatar moment in the 17th century being perfectly located right in the migration path of the juiciest of whale species and chocked full of some of the deepest ice free natural ports in the known world at the time. Business used to stop when the sun went down then Massachusetts came along with clean burning lamp oil on a scale no one had ever imagined. By the mid 18th century whale oil/products from Massachusetts were responsible for 53 pence of every pound sterling earned in export from the northeast colonies and the industry was still a century away from its peak. The private navies of new england with warships that were designed/built and funded to protect the whaling ships from piracy went to fight the royal navy during the revolution and kept them at sea and prevented overwhelming force of superior soldiers from disembarking and crushing the revolution. It's pretty wild that you didn't even mention the single most important industry to the development of the Colony. Which ironically was founded with the signing of the mayflower compact on November 11th 1620 while anchored in Provincetown Harbor a place that would later become extremely important to the industry. It can be argued that without whale oil lighting the dark and lubricating the machines the industrial revolution would have never happened. Whaling was America's first time up to bat as a world leader.
I grew up in Burlington Vermont. Even though this is the largest city in Vermont, there is definitely an anti urban attitude there. Burlington infrastructure could easily accommodate twice the size, but everyone would freak out. Instead South Burlington, Shelburne and other suburbs have doubled in size. So much farmland lost unnecessarily. And so much driving to get anywhere. 😢
Because Those three have the Artic Blast every winter... Eastern Mass especially Cape Cod where I grew up, has the heating and cooling of the Gulf Stream... Temps Seldom much below 32 degrrees... while Maine & etc go down to zero frequently...
I also spent some time on Long Island, NY. Talk about a damp bone-chilling cold ... it was there. Surrounded by water but no Gulf-stream warming effect to speak of.
@@Marquipuchi Which is why I stayed in San Diego upon retirement ! I do miss most things New England however. If I had the money I would spend every Indian summer on the Cape... it's really nice September through thanksgiving...
I was born and raised in NH. Anything past Concord felt like a rural dream. I left for a decade and moved back in 2023 but to a rural area half way between Concord and Lebanon. It’s beautiful but the amount of residents that live in NH from MA originally is crazy like 1:4 residents are MA born.
Also a factor: We have two seasons...Winter and Bug. We prefer Winter. Southern NH has become a bedroom colony of Massachuetts or has benifited from jobs development in NH bleeding across the border from more expensive cost of living ( and doing bysiness ) MA. That small southern region has nearly 1 million people growing 20-30% since 1990. More than half came north from MA.
I grew up in VT. I've also lived in NH, MA, CT, NC, FL, WI, AZ, NM, and Vegas. I've tried Mexico and I've been in Europe the past five years. I spent mot of my life working in healthcare. The best healthcare I've ever had was in MA. I didn't live in Boston but west along the 91 hwy corridor. I hate snow but if I were to move back I'd be in MA or RI.
Meanwhile the Canadian Atlantic provinces are even less populated than those 3 states :( Problem is they’re not in proximity to any major city unlike the 3 states which have NYC and Boston as neighbours.
I have a beach house in Maine that was passed down from my grandfather and I can comfortably say I would never want to live there full time. There is nothing to do outside of the beaches, and even then, the crowd is much older. There isn't much industry, so ambitious young professionals are limited to the few technical opportunities in Portland -- instead, they all leave for other states. Another reason is that the entire coast is dotted with homes that are only occupied for a few weeks per year and the towns that they are found in are equally seasonal, closing down when it's not summer. Something like 90% of the rest of the state is covered in virgin forest and is too remote for most peoples' tastes. Oh, and it's cold as hell for 10 months of the year. Summer temperatures don't begin until July and you'll probably still be wearing sweatshirts on the beach at night.
The Massachusetts people have destroyed their own state with development, so now they are pushing up into New Hampshire and Maine spreading their development destruction here
Uhh, thats a cynical way of looking at it, some developments are more intrusive than others, like the suburbs, but I actually think more development would be really good for all the states in New England, not development in growing the population but in land efficiency, reclaim some wilderness and stop urban sprawl
I cant speak for vermont or maine, but New hampshire, at least in the winter, fall, and spring, is a cold, empty, miserable place, especially thr northern part where I live. I can see why people would rather live in mass.
Correct !!!!!! I also spent some time out west during my college years. One of the COLDEST places I ever experienced was Laramie, Wyoming ( WY ) !!!!!!
A famous toast to Boston by Dr. John Collins Bossidy in 1907: "And this is good old Boston, the home of the bean and the cod. Where the Lowells speak only to the Cabots and the Cabots speak only to God".
As someone who lives in New Hampshire I can give an easy answer. Simply put, Vermont, NH, & Maine are mostly mountains & wilderness where Mass has been more industrialized
Manchester, NH became one of the biggest textile cities in the world. Many of the stagecoaches and wagons used in the old west were manufactured in Concord, NH. The White Mtn National Forest was the first in America and is the most visited national forest. Boston is a world class education and medical center and one of the best in the world. Boston had the first subway system in America. You should have mentioned these things in this video but maybe next time.
Comparatively, they used to be much larger, reflected by their far higher electoral vote counts during the 18th and 19th centuries. They just never grew much more than that, and the weather hasn’t done a good job of helping drive immigration to the area.
One way to look at it is how until Maine became a state in 1820, Massachusetts was like Michigan in that it consisted of two geographically separate landmasses. Maine is less built-up for much the same reason that the UP is less built-up.
I live in Southern NH and we have been flooded with MA folks.. it sucks. We have no sale tax nor income tax, are way cheaper and nicer... Mass wins in opportunity, but most of it is insanely overpriced, run down, and just gross.
Basic civilization rules for establishment - Commerce first, settlement second. Inversions often fail -Water access preferred [in service to commerce]: river or ocean -Arable land & rainfall: in hand or nearby for trade -Intersecting trade routes. Istanbul is a great case study in time
@GeographyByGeoff You should do an episode on Atlanta or Georgia. I had no idea that Boston was so small, metro Atlanta itself is only 10% less population than the entire state of Massachusetts.
@@seanthe100 Georgia is near 11 million population. If you add up the full populations of all the states in the Boston CSA (Massachusetts,NH, Rhode Island, Maine) the total population is 10.7M en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population
@@infiniteloop5449 Boston CSA includes 1 county in Connecticut and Portland is not in all definitions. So its around 8.5m without ME, and around 9m if you include southwestern Maine. However Atlanta CSA is only 6.8m, not much change from its 6.2 MSA.
It's a no-brainer 🧠 as to why New England ( NE ) has always had a high standard of education. It's part of the NE culture handed down by the first English settlers; the Puritans. Others have tried to mimic NE schools, but none have duplicated them.
Too this day it is the only deepwater port in the region. The main reason is was a hub for industry, shipping and immigration was the particularly good harbor in Boston, which you don’t really have elsewhere except Portland - which is smaller and was less navigable inland. Part of Western Mass. being less populated is the ability to transport stuff along a river to a port. The next comparable harbor was down to New York. The plains meant the river was wider and slower for more distance, so the harbor could serve further inland a bit, but it all comes down to that harbor.
@@robertb6889 seriously people never think the natural geography enough in this country, like no matter how hard-working you are you need soil to farm, were lucky (and imperialist) to have one of the largest stretches of absurdly fertile soil in the world, Plus the Mississippi plus natural harbors! We got minerals in the Rockies, tropical plants in the south berries in the north, there’s not much you don’t have when it comes to the United States natural geography (Plus the crops indigenous people cultivated)
Higher education is a huge industry in the Boston region that has long contributed to its growth and economic power. Also, while Maine is much larger in area than the other states, a significant share of its land is owned by paper companies and not intensively used.
Great education۔ Attended U. of Colorado for a time and what a downgrade۔ All my degrees are from the east-coast.
The better education point is very true, my mom grew up in New Hampshire and we are living in Maine right now and she told me that she’s literally never lived somewhere that cares so little about education, its insane, tho it’s not as much like that in urban Maine
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 Wow ! That may explain why a sizeable number of people from Oregon relocate to Maine as a destination. I spent some time in Oregon and the people are not only not very well educated; they are also backward in some ways. Also their largest city is named Portland.
@@smesui1799 I don’t want to sound too cynical, but living in small town Maine I’m convinced it just attracts a certain kind of person, I always just see the most obnoxious people who have no care for others or education or really anything, The only exception was when I did cross country because all the kids and coaches were great
I’m sure there’s nice people, but they probably just keep to themselves like me (not to say im great or anything, i just like learning so i spend most my time on UA-cam)
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 I'm originally Turkish ( from Turkiye 🇹🇷 ). Going from eastern U.S. to western U.S., outside of New England, I spent some time in Florida, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington state. Of these, the most racist was Oregon. Aside from the Anglo culture they are acquainted with the Hispanic culture, simply due to their dominance, but outside that they are void of others. However, they hide this from others well. I only learned when I got there, that their original state constitution was based on exclusion. Just only recently did they change it.
As a Maine resident I am very happy to let southern New England have all the people. I like rural and quiet.
My mother was born in Maine in 1908. She married and moved to NY State. We spent a week visiting Maine every summer. As she put it, "you can take a Mainer out of Maine but you can't take Maine out of a Mainer."
Hating America gets easier everyday doesn't it ? lol
Saaaaaaame.
Absolutely. I don't care why so many more people live in MA, as long as they stay there.
@@tonyjackson5115 100%
One important geographic factor for Massachusetts that wasn’t really reflected on the map is the abrupt transition between the coastal plain and hills, a fall line that created the hydropower for the mills-particularly in the Merrimack valley. The proximity of those mills to the port of Boston was ideal.
Yeah, Mass has at least some coastal plain before the fall line. North of that there is nothing. The south has huge plains below the fall lines, and not as steep a fall line in most cases.
agreed the water richness and temperate climate has a lot to do with it
The Industrial Revolution began in earnest in Mass. for the reasons you wrote.
Imagine your are an industrialist coming here to the northeast? water rich water accessible timber rich soil good not exceptional workable and indigenous human population has no value. Yahoo
LMAO… I spent the worst ten yrs of my life in this Communist State. I’m free now in the Carolinas living the Dream. 👍👍🇺🇸
He mentions Vermont weather being colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. I grew up outside Boston,, now live in Northern Vermont. Winters definitely are colder. But summers are much nicer up here, less hot and humid, than Boston.
I remember real spring and summer coming sooner to VT than Boston--a day in May or June in northern Vermont can be sunnier than cloudy gray coastal Boston.
You would have loved last July here! 90-100 everyday and humidity 85+% the entire month! And sprinkle in some rain. I don’t live IN Boston (but you knew that and I know you probably lived in Framingham or Burlington) but there’s a park in town that has a great skyline of Boston making it so we get the same weather (although sometimes it will rain here but not the town over)
@@robLV I do agree that because of the sea breeze May and early June can b warmer in N Vt.
I should add I don’t buy the weather being a big factor in why Boston is more of a city than Burlington because Montréal is a large city comprable to Boston just north of Vermont.
But the flies... YIPES
Boston has a natural harbor similar to San Francisco, and during the 18th century little ice age it was the closest ice free harbor to facilitate trade between North America and England. Geography and proximity to an economic powerhouse was a major factor. Maine has a rugged coastline for much of this length which makes shipping difficult, and it tends to freeze over regularly. Meanwhile, the other 2 are too mountainous. Another thing to note is that most of New Hampshire's population is concentrated in the southeastern portion, which falls within the Boston MSA.
What I saw of San Francisco was a HUGE homeless problem which extends to its harbor. 💩~ was everywhere !
England used the NY harbor because Boston was a revolutionary city. That is why NY has 3 times as many people.
@@beng4647that and the Erie Canal expanded trade into upstate and made the state an Empire
@@Ibelikemj Very true. And manufacturing during the 50s made CNY the wealthiest place on Earth. I believe Rochester was #1 and Buffalo and Syracuse were top 10. Now it looks like a massive Detroit.
In New England, all roads lead to Boston. It is the epicenter of New England and always has been. Many, many well-paying jobs in higher education, medicine, biotech and other industries that require a well-educated work force. And Boston is a cool city. It has so much charm and character. Personally, I prefer northern New England where it's a bit more quiet with more breathing room but Boston's urban sprawl is spreading this way and seems all but unstoppable.
There are far more people in New England that get by without relying on the greater Boston metropolitan area than do.
Boston is overrated and a mess. The state has revolved around it when it could put airports and transportation in places like Worcester and Springfield to help Bostons traffic, but they keep focusing on Boston a place not made for modern times.....
In CT all roads lead to NYC, we barely even consider ourselves New England and act more like a metropolitan part of NYC. True New England does not start till the accent changes over the border of CT.
@@inkman996 Exactly. Many more people in CT wear Yankees hats rather than Red Sox hats. Just one more piece of evidence that they consider themselves closer to NY than New England.
@@americanflyer4126 I’ve noticed that any place west of Hartford, and New Haven, are all pro New York and most people are Yankee fans. And anything east of Hartford and New Haven, you start seeing more pro New England and Red Sox fans. Ironically, the geographic locations of both those cities being in the middle of part of the state, splitting the state in half and makes them look like the unofficial border crossings from New York into New England.
I grew up in Vermont. I think that Vermont doesn’t encourage growth because we like our state rural. The problem is there is very limited opportunity for anyone. Housing and making a living is a huge challenge. If the internet connection improves people could work remotely. Most of my graduating class has left the state. I left for college and never moved back. I do love to visit though
Sounds kinda similar to the situation here in maine. rurally we have a culture of hating the city, hating education, and taking pride in being rural… i hate it, so I’ll probably be like the rest of the young people and get out to go somewhere with more opportunity and a culture of opportunity
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 According to some metrics, Vermont, and particularly one county in Vermont, is the best place to live with the continuing climate change. I've heard some people who can afford to and can work from anywhere, are already moving to Vermont.
In this part of small town Vermont young people may say they hate it but they don't leave. Most that leave for college don't go far and come back to perpetuate the odd mix of fierce pride and self loathing small mindedness. The mountains and climate are nice tho :)
@@bobwiegers as a young guy in new England a lot of us notice or are just infuriated by the problems are communities have, but we can’t really fix them, and we also can’t really leave because are social networks are in those communities, idk if thats the situation there but if it is maybe talk to them about why there so unsatisfied by there communitys and you might get some useful information
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 Numerous spelling mistakes…
New Hampshire is already gaining lots of transplants from Massachusetts due to lower costs, no state income tax, and no sales tax. New Hampshire makes up for it with its high property taxes though.
texas of new england
The Texas of the northeast?
@@virginiansupremacy Meh not really. New Hampshire is more so just independent if anything. Live free or die. Don't tread on me type of people, but it's actually more liberal there than one would think. Especially in southern New Hampshire.
NH is the second least religious state in the country. Texas it is not.
It’s more like the Nevada of New England.
@@dubreil07 Pennsylvania is probably the closest to a "Texas of the Northeast" with its large and fairly conservative rural population. Even down to its oil history. It's just that the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas equal it out from a political perspective.
I am from New Hampshire and recently there have been so so many transplants from New York And Mass, since Covid really. They are pricing locals out of their homes like crazy in an area that already has an extreme housing crisis. The worst are the ones with lake houses they only use for 2 months. I have no clue how I will afford to say here after college.
They pay taxes too
"They are pricing locals out of their homes like crazy in an area that already has an extreme housing crisis." Yup! The number of new home being built along Rt. 119 is impressive! It's a hard market to get into.
@@joelar17 If they don't live there (not their primary redicence,) then no.
I feel you housing here is getting unattainable especially for young people. In in some counties half the homes are vacant seasonal homes. I heard Vermont is even worse.
And all the transplants that are here part time BRAG ABOUT THE FACT THAT THEY VOTE IN TWO STATES. WISH MASSACHUSETTS WOULD KEEP THEM.
As a young guy I lived in Boston's North Shore suburbs from 1984 until I moved out here to Seattle in 1998. I adored New England back then and to this day I still miss it. Today at age 61 I'm too old to change jobs but I still hope some day to return to a region of the country that I will always love.
That's funny my daughter (and our family) gre up on the north shore. She just moved to Seattle in June after graduation for a job.
I made the mistake of retiring early and moving to New Mexico. I miss home every day with an actual, physical ache. I've never even missed a person the way I miss Massachusetts.
@@zoponex3224 May I ask what part of Massachusetts you were from?
I've lived all over the country but when I finally retired, I went straight back to Massachusetts. I love everything about it.
Interesting fact about Maine is that it is the only deurbanizing state in the country. The state's urban population share has consecutively decreased every single Census from 1950 (when it was 51.7% urban) to 2020 (when it was 38.6% urban). Would be curious to see why the trend in Maine has been the reverse of every other state when it comes to urbanization.
Maine’s industrial cities were limited to a few cities by the coast. And like most New England industrial cities, they have been dying out for many decades. (I grew up in southern New England, which has lots of dying, depressing cities.) Apart from bedroom communities, there’s not a lot of urban left in much of New England.
Thats interesting. I guess thats one of the reason reasons why I love visiting Maine. 😁
It's because we're being invaded by Massachusetts en masse into non-urban areas. Southern Maine is practically entirely massholes at this point.
@@Jon_Nadeau_Only in summer. I've lived in Portland for a couple of years. It's pretty bleak - and empty - in winter.
@@huntcheerio9214 The rest of Maine is loaded with drunks, pill junkies, video game addicts and losers.
But know this: summer weekends, especially the long holiday weekends, lots of people from Massachusetts, plus Rhode Island, Connecticut, and even New York, there's lots of traffic heading north into New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.
Don't forget winter as well in regards to Skiing!
A large part of Maine (the Northwestern part) is owned by lumber companies: private roads owned by the lumber companies. Hardly anyone lives in that part of Maine.
Maine also has a very rocky coast which is why there are basically no major ports outside of Portland. You rarely hear anyone talk about Maine's beautiful beaches lol.
@@maxpowr90 Beautiful beaches, but the water is cold in the 50s in the summer.
irving oil is the largest land owner in maine not the paper companies most of wich have shut down
@@az0970449Irving actually uses the land for paper making. They have paper mills in Canada that they export the trees from Maine to
@@maxpowr90- We went to Ogonquin ME on vacation a few years back in October. The beaches were beautiful and the water was nice refreshing and cold. We lucked out with 70 degree weather when we went
I was born, raised in and have resided in Massachusetts for my entire life and I can tell you that education (Harvard, MIT and Tufts just to name a few) has been a major incentive for young people to pursue career opportunities in Massachusetts.
As a fellow masshole, I totally agree!
Im kinda jealous, I visited Massachusetts a month or so ago, literally never felt more at home and such a strong sense of belonging, and I hear so many good things about the schools that i just wanna go there again… it’s probably not perfect but seems more my speed
@@nerdwisdomyo9563 If you are not afraid of snow and cold, Mass is a pretty good place to be. I personally like the cooler weather. To me, the "good" weather of Florida is a hell hole.
Yes but to succeed in those schools you have to be real smaht.
@@diffened i live in maine, and winter is my favorite time of year here, im talking barefoot running, sleeping with the window open, i love the cold man
I wish you talked more about modern day. This video definitely needs a part 2 that talks about the modern day industries and economic power of the northeast and its difficulties.
Boston is the hub of the World's ranking universities in the world i.e. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University surround the students with the world's best and brightest students and academics. It is also considered as the economically fastest-growing city across the world. Greater Boston, primarily Boston and Cambridge, is home to more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, ranging from small start-ups to billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies.
People from Mass: "Think we'll go north for the weekend."
People from VT, NH, and ME: "Be a lot cooler if you didn't.."
its cool we don't like you 3 swamping us even more
all year long lol
Then don't come here for employment. I cant tell you how many men drive to Boston to work without even paying any tolls. Thats reserved for folks that live west of Boston.
@@pickettmandi I agree to your terms; I'll be a happy man if I never have to step foot in that cursed state for the rest of my days.
Geographically, the two Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are also part of New England. If history had turned out differently in the Revolutionary War or War of 1812 would both probably have done much better over time if they had been part of the US as New England states, rather than being on the extreme end of Canada, where they are mostly bypassed by transportation and freight that from that start has been going up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal instead.
Great point, though they’d still be much farther compared to the three states talked about, to the major US hubs. But I’m guessing there would have been better transport infrastructure today had they been made part of the US. Naturally they’re more of an extension geographically to US N England than to the rest of Canada.
Nope untrue
The natural border of the USA should be the St. Lawrence River. Never understood why the USA let Canada keep all that land.
@@marceloorellana5726 There was a war between Britain and the US over it, but it was settled with a peace treaty after that from 1815 the two countries developed into allies so another conflict was out of the question
@hirsch4155 Still poses a danger. We're getting suffocated by Canadian wild fires. Obviously Canada cannot manage the size of their country. The United States will eventually absorb Canada because it's subservient to US policy anyways. It's small population is European and speak English so they don't poise a cultural threat to the majority Anglo population of the USA which is over 220 million European transplants.
as someone who was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and raised in southern New Hampshire. Moved to Boston in 2018. The reason I moved is because of job opportunity and for the social aspect. There's plenty of adult sports leagues in the Boston area to meet new people and I'm not too much of a gun nut. I love the city and I just love the job opportunities around me. That's the main reason I live in the Boston area. There's just not much to do in Vermont New Hampshire in Maine when it comes to social aspects and convenience when it comes to shopping and basic things. Yes, the cost of living is high, but that is just a small factor for me personally.
I just wanted to share my thoughts as someone who lives in the area. If anyone wants to ask me any questions in the comments about the area, I'm more than happy to answer as a lifelong resident born and raised
Massachusetts is the highest US state on the human development index. But that could change with recent degradation in transportation infrastructure.
Yeah don't get me started. I don't really use the MBTA honestly I have a car because I live a little but outside the city. I've heard from friend it's literally quicker to take your car in rush hour traffic than it is to take the T Because of all the delays. It's a joke
There's been decades worth of discussion regarding a commuter rail going to New Hampshire but, New Hampshire politicians hate it for some reason and it's always been shelved. That's also a minor factor why I moved. I hate the politics, in New Hampshire
@@robLV Most of the problems with the T concern its light rail (subways trolleys) which mostly affects Boston and the immediate area. Buses are good as is the commuter rail that stretches outwards from Boston into Central, Northern and Southern Mass.
Massachusetts born and raised, and nearly lifelong resident here. MA is a great place to raise a family. Outstanding education and healthcare here. Jobs are pretty plentiful and the quality of life is extremely high. Great place to call home!
As someone who is being priced out of the Portland, Maine area…I can tell you that there is already a huge migration of people moving out of Boston.
Push & shove ay ? Happening everywhere !
My wife and I grew up in the Chicago area and moved to Southern NH in the mid 70s. For most of my professional career I worked in Mass. In the aftermath of COVID we have seen an influx of folks fleeing urban areas driving up home prices. As others have mentioned taxes in general are low but so is availability of state services. Tax revenue is mainly generated from property taxes that vary widely depending on the local mix of residential, commercial and industrial base.
NH has its share of foibles but we have been happy living here, raising our family and our adult children continue to live in NH. For a fairly rural state NH has pretty decent access to high speed internet. In fact our daughter has a 100% remote access job.
My wife and I loved New Hampshire when we went on vacation
I took high speed internet access for granted, having grown up Worcester-adjacent. We were looking at houses in the Berkshires in 2020 and none of them had high speed internet access, and several of them only had satellite. We were looking so far west because you'd be hard pressed to find a ranch for less than $400k in central MA. Many folks aren't fleeing the urban areas, they are being priced out by outrageous rent and $5 loaves of bread.
As someone who lived in Northern Maine the only reason I left was to help my ailing mother before she died ! Maine is just so beautiful and a nice cool weather !
Have you been to fort fairfield?
quick note, Massachusetts bay colony and Plymouth colony were separate entities until 1691
I'd love to live in New England. Somewhere rainy and cool, in a small town.
It’s awesome here. Unfortunately I have to move West bc my wife doesn’t like it here, but I I was always be a New Englander😢
Don't do it man. I grew up in a "rainy and cool small town" in MA. I live in Boston now, since when I was growing up, I f*king hated my life since there was nothing to do and no jobs. If you've got kids (or want a career), go to Boston or go somewhere else in the USA. Cost of living here in New England is obscene anywhere you go, but at least in Boston I can make bank!
@@berrywarmer11 Boston is surrounded by small towns that do exceedingly well. I live about 23 miles outside of Boston and can take an express train that gets me into the city in 30 minutes. I have a Logan Express 5 miles from my house that can take me to an international airport in about 30-45 minutes and from there almost anywhere in the world.
I have the best of both worlds - lots of bucolic New England charm with old stone walls and beautiful Fall foliage - and quick and easy access to the city.
Rainy and cool? I live in New England and it's not regularly rainy any particular time. It's actually hot and humid from May- October. It is very pretty though.
new england summers are just as humid as down south, just cooler a little cooler on average. Southern New England usually gets insanely hot during july.
You should totally check out New England as a vacation destination. If you rent a car and are willing to drive, you can get from Boston to New York City in ~4.5 hours. You could literally spend a couple weeks checking out all of New England. Start with a few days in New York City. Then hit up New Haven CT for some pizza and ethnic foods, go to Rhode Island for the beaches and see the mansions on Newport. See Martha's Vineyard, then take the ferry into Boston. Stay there for a couple days or so, then head north into Maine or New Hampshire. Get a taste for the rural small towns and our big cities and their suburbs.
If it wasn't so far out of the way, I'd highly recommend Burlington VT. Lake Champlain is absolutely breathtaking and Burlington has a lot of Charm. It just sucks that it is the most remote urban center in New England.
Totally forgot Western Massachusetts metro at almost 700k! It's a pretty significant area with schools and other cool features. Maybe make a video on the forgotten section of Western New England.
It’s beautiful there, I was in the Great Barrington area only had one day to visit, hope to come back one day.
went to UMass, the main Amherst campus. Loved it.
Yeah originally from around Springfield but too much crime.....no Springfield Ski Club no Mt Tom
@@edwil111drug capitol of the North East
@@edwil111 "ZooMass"!
Massachusetts has Boston, a huge city. The other 3 states don't have any large cities or metro areas. Especially Maine and Vermont.
Boston itself is less than 700,000 people, not really huge.
It's is said that there are two parts to New England... Boston and not Boston, LOL.
New Hampshire and Rhode Island really don't either. By most definitions, Manchester and Providence are part of the Boston Combined Statistical Area.
Gloucester is amazing too. And of course Cape Cod.
Boston has the best natural harbor in New England. In addition the neighboring major river basins, the Merrimack and the Connecticut, don't have good natural harbors at their mouths so Boston is the natural point of transhipment for a large swath of New England. The Merrimack and Connecticut basins represent a very large share of the industrial and agricultural potential of New England. Finally once a city grows large its size alone becomes a growth driver.
don;t forget fall river and new bedford, as ports for the fishing and whaling trade. This article skirts the benefits of the sandy beachs and coves and inlets that made it easy for the sailing trade to transport goods. ( and , er perhaps hide from the British.) New Bedford has a huge number of people of Portugese descent with a tradition of fishing.
It is important to know that Boston metro is the hub of the Biopharma industry in the world and that Boston hosts almost all of the major tech companies in America. Robotics to a lesser extent also prop up the Boston economy. It has been said that the hard engineering and scientific questions are worked on and solved in Boston and then other parts of the US put them into action.
Most of the major tech companies? What’s the data behind that statistic?
@@BlownMacTruck I don't have any data, but can explain that tons of companies open facilities here and do development work, utilizing all the educated students coming out of the schools. Amazon has a big presence here working on warehouse robots, auto shopping carts, etc.
@@curtis545454 I mean that’s a lot of places. It’s why I asked for data.
@@DBMIAMI. It sounds like you're injecting some personal bias in this all... The educated "worker bees" stay because there's better job opportunities here. The wealth generated here is also taxed here. I'm not sure where you're getting the "all the wealth goes to the south" idea from, that seems again like your personal idea. Also, there is a higher percentage of millionaires in Mass, NY, and Cali than all the southern states, so more made up info from you. It is possible that rich, generational wealth moves to lower tax areas, but certainly a large share of new wealth is created in areas with high GDP output like the states mentioned.
Then of course the obvious problem with moving to low tax states is the worse schools, worse public services, etc.
My last comment is that America is great because of the diversity of our states and what they have to offer for different industries. More R&D work happens in Mass, and more manufacturing happens in Florida. No need to say one is better than the other. I for one will be staying here in New England.
Cambridge software developer resident here. We've got a Google office right near MIT in Cambridge, as is Akamai. Broader in the area, we've got other high impact but low visibility hard engineering firms with Boston Dynamics as an outlier here. On top of that, as mentioned by OP, we're literally brimming with biopharma and biotech; at the end of my street is a biopharma company with a household name (won't name for privacy reasons). OP isn't lying! I'm just glad I didn't have to go out of state to move to a place to work (I'm from the Cape originally - which is a deadzone for building a career in, as is most of New England IMHO)
Impressed that you said "Worcester" correctly, great video!
Woostah
Id definitely argue that the presences of quite a few of the most "prestigious" universities in the country makes a huge difference. College students alone make up around 20% of the Boston population, which means that they are likely to support Boston's existing as a major center cor academia and related jobs (biotech companies, etc.) All if which just keep it growing.
Plus, many of the college students become Red Sox fans! Go Sox!
@@patlynch6517GO SOX! GO PATS! Ughh I’m missing football season. Just a week or 2 until training camp starts!
Dartmouth in Hanover, NH is an overlooked ivy league school
Yeah, I was surprised this wasn't mentioned. Boston has the highest number of students per capita in North America, and they're incentivised to stay there by the abundance of hospitals, biotech companies, tech startups, and university-backed research. Will be interesting to see how the cost of living crisis in Massachusetts impacts demographics. Lower income folks have long been priced out of Boston, and Worcester is becoming increasingly gentrified, pushing folks further west. People are commuting longer and longer distances to service and education jobs in areas they themselves can't afford to live.
Mass also has some political geography, historically. For example, as part of the colony annexing Maine and Plymouth colonies, they would have the colony assembly meet in Boston towards the end of the year's harvest, with the term ending sometimes in September or October, which in New England meant that if you lived outside the immediate Boston area, you'd have to travel home in the snow, very unsafe, so further townships did not send their representation to Boston. If you wanted to have power, you needed to be near Boston.
Here in Atlantic Canada, New England was traditionally called "The Boston States." There has been a lot of historical emigration to the area.
I have a lot of friends here in Massachusetts who say they have Nova Scotian and Labradorian roots.
I live in New Hampshire, or the woods North of Boston.😁
I can even sense the positive, civilized cultural difference here in this UA-cam comments section where fellow New Englanders have coherced. 😊
We are the most educated people in the country!
@@annenyman678 Correct ! ... All my education is from east-coast schools and Im grateful for it !
I have never gone down this far into the comments without seeing someone say something wildly offensive and/or completely irrelevant. Definitely gonna spend more time around here.
@@gregcircanow Outside of New England, the rest of the U.S. is garbage and continues to be so.
Civilized? Far too many new Englanders are uptight, conformist, miserable, authoritarian and exceptionally passive-aggressive.
I lived in Vermont and they are quite happy that they do not have a hugh influx of people in the State...i would assume the feeling is the same in NH and Maine....Flatlanders are welcome to the ski slopes in VT...just visit and then go home............👍👍
As long as they leave their money too 😅
@@smesui1799 Yes...
Massachusetts has Boston and slightly closer proximity to New York City. Brutal winters in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, with a lot of mountainous regions. Vermont doesn't seem inviting to transplants, due to housing restrictions. Also, Massachusetts has a lot more universities.
Mass owns NE & always will. CT & RI unfortunately are becoming parts of that place to the south called the NYC complex.
Yeah the housing situation is really bad in Vermont. Of course it's important to preserve nature and the character of the state, but NIMBYs there have prevented so much development that it has harmed the state's economy and population growth.
@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong Look at how much unrestricted population growth has harmed California, Texas and Florida. Not all population is needed and/or wise.
@@Vaxxedhole Eh, other than like New York City nowhere in the US is as densely populated as much of the world is. The benefits of population growth outweigh the negatives, and the negatives of a stagnant or decreasing population outweigh the positives.
@Captain-Sum.Ting-Wong By "world" you mean majority non-white countries outside of the West.
In listing the manufacturing of New England, you left out firearms production in the Connecticut valley. Springfield Armory comes to mind.
I was also surprised firearms weren't mentioned. Winchester Repeating Arms Company was headquartered in Connecticut and had factories in other parts of New England. Not to mention, Smith and Wesson, Colt Manufacturing, and Remington Munitions were also in New England.
And Hartford
I noticed that too. "Gun Valley" they called it: Smith and Wesson, Colt, HR, Savage, to name a few. Lot's of people are afraid to mention guns these days.
Yes, firearms manufacture has always had a significant presence in New England. The American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT has a wonderful display of how early firearms evolved and how they were made. On another note, not many realize that the piano industry played a major role in manufacturing in New England, and elsewhere, prior to radio and TV. Around the turn of the century, Boston alone was home to at least twenty piano manufacturers, and it seemed most New England cities had one or more piano factories. Numerous foundries, veneer plants, parts manufacturers, etc. employed thousands of workers in support of the industry. Ivoryton, CT got its name from the ivory trade that supplied elephant tusks for the piano industry. Thankfully ivory is now a protected commodity, but old pictures out of Ivoryton show tusks piled high like logs at a sawmill.
He also forgot to mention that Maine was a huge source of Timber for the sailing ships back in the day. With the advent of steel ships and less sail, Maine lost a lot of it's momentum. Our white pines are classic mast trees, and we had TONS of them.
Great video. Heads up for future reference: Concord, MA, and the one in NH while we’re at it, are pronounced with the second syllable sounding like “erd” rather than “ord”.
I'm from Central MA, and it's pronounced "id" as in KONK-id. 😉
@@MrTPF1 Con-kerd and KONK-id :)
great video as always-one minor error though-Puerto Rico is, in fact part of the US, so the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the US is San Juan Puerto Rico which was founded in 1521.
When people are talking about European settlements in the us they’re talking about in the contiguous 48 states
@@barrackobamar im sure you're right, that's usually the case, but this is ostensibly educational content, which I believe is held at a higher factuality standard than an average conversation, so i was hoping to let the creator of this content know that there was a factually incorrect statement. He could have specified, just as you have, that he meant the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement *on the mainland* , or *in the lower 48* , but he didn't, so it was inadvertently an error.
Four comments: 1. I find it interesting your map of british claims in n. America and of french claims leave out a significant portion of new france which extended south to ticonderoga (ft. Carillion) in new york state. 2. Having lived in northern new york state and CT, one could argue western CT is more similar to southern new york state than to the new england states, and that northern new york is more similar to new england, esp vermont, than it is to regions further south in the same state...with additional influences in language and custom from its french neighbour to the north. 3. Your map depicting the Appalachian mtns overlayed over n.e. Usa is incorrect. The Adirondack mtns , which you map overlayed, are not part of the Appalachians and are a separate, much, much older mountain range, with significantly different mountain geography than the Appalachians. 4. In no universe can southern new England climate be considered "sub tropical" as your video states. The sub tropics in the eastern usa extend aprox from the florida keys north to cape hatteras.
I would agree with you on #4 based upon what I was taught in grade school. Massachusetts has a humid continental climate. Alas, I was in grade school forty years ago. The Koppen system uses different criteria and the east coast of Massachusetts going towards Rhode Island indeed are classified as humid subtropical. Cape Cod and the Islands are classified as oceanic. My own perception going back to the 1970s is that the climate overall is warmer and harsh winters in the southeastern suburbs of Boston (where I am from) have become relatively uncommon.
Adirondacks are lart of the Appalachian Mountain range.
@@bradc6199 Actually, that is not correct. In New York State, the Catskills are part of the Appalachian Mountain range. The Poconos (PA), Berkshires (MA), Green Mountains (VT) and White Mountains (NH, ME) are the northeastern terminus of the Appalachians. The rocks that make up the Adirondacks are about one billion years old, making them significantly older than the Appalachians. The best way to think about the Adirondacks is that they are an extension of the Canadian Shield. The Iron Range of Minnesota and Wisconsin are also part of this shield. From a geological point of view, the Adirondacks and the rest of the Canadian Shield is way more interesting.
One of the best companies I worked for practically owned MA & RI, plus part of CT at one time. It was Raytheon Company ( a defense/aerospace government contractor ). I was a senior systems/software engineer. Fresh with PhD-level in hand, I was later precured to the west-coast ( California ) where aerspace was booming even bigger with players like Lockheed, Grumman, Boeing, etc. . Unfortunately, that's all dried-up now but I was fortunate when fortunes were good.
Best? Uuuuuh they were directly responsible for a near-genocide of the Middle East. Rethink your morals and priorities
The number of Raytheon mugs and coffee tumblers I see in thrift stores around here...
@@emilytetreault2516 A lot of the former Raytheon engineers and other employees have now sadly passed-away.
Also Vermont has NO HOUSING. The last new house in Burlington, I kid you not, was built 20 years ago!
Lol, what??
You forgot about those small houses for the homeless in the North End that are the new drug haven for the city.
Burlington proper really doesn't have any vacant land to build on. That is all in South Burlington, Winooski, Colchester, Essex, and Williston. Most of the land in Burlington is either commercial or owned by UVM for the school and medical center.
Come on, Burlington has plenty of room. If Burlington were as dense as Montreal (I’m not talking Singapore here), it would be able to house three times as many people. And for those “character of the city” people, the vast majority of that could be achieved without towers by just building four-plexes. Even sprawly Denver is actually quite a bit denser than Burlington.
It would be nice if South Burlington and the regional suburbs decided to upzone as well, but mainly what Burlington needs is to get serious about upzoning and actually building housing on the land it already has. (Also, fixing the absurd mismanagement that led to, for example, the giant pit…)
With Portugal, it's not the "mainland" people that immigrated to Massachusetts, but Azoreans. The Azores was/is a popular shipping port crossing the Atlantic; as the first/last land west of Europe.
Good point! The video missed out about talking about the Portuguese population and their relation with southern MA. I am from the Cape, and back in the 1800s the Cape as well as the New Bedford area saw huge amounts of immigrants - especially folks from the Azores - come over for opportunities in the whaling industry. Worth a topic of its own!
@@berrywarmer11 Like most UA-cam "Geographers", they completely gloss over history and not understand the why. The amount of repetition of basic facts that happens in videos is astounding and others will clap like harbor seals.
Shows that Geoff never watched any Anthony Bourdain and his love of Azorean cuisine when he worked as a chef in MA.
At one time just about every small town had a mill. today most of those mills have become either apartments or small mom and pop stores with an occasional restaurant.
or apahtmints.
Thank you for your video. I am thankful to have always lived here in massachusetts. My children have received a wonderful education and now successful careers. The physical and mental healthcare available is superb.
My wife I went to Ogonquin Maine for vacation and we skirted along southern VT, southern NH and into Maine. Everything up there had a Boston vibe to it. NH and VT lack any major cities and it’s almost desolate in the north. There’s only one major east west thoroughfare through these states, only two to four lanes and even at that the traffic wasn’t bad. It was beautiful
3:03 I like telling tourists that you can still smell the tea during a very low tides.
If you enjoyed ( or didn't ) " Walden Pond " by Henry David Thoreau, then you should also look at " One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey " by Dick Proenneke.
Dick Proenneke is the person who TRULY lived alone in the woods ( of Alaska ) away from civilization, from 1968 to 1998 ( 30-years ). He wrote a complete account of his experience. Book: " One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey "
Sadly Richard ( Dick ) Proenneke passed-away at the age of 86 on April 20, 2003 in Hemet, California.
Here’s another factor: transportation. Note all the definitions of the “Northeast megalopolis,” also known as “BosWash.” It is “BosWash” because it also corresponds to the Northeast Corridor rail line, which ends in Boston because there is no link between the two principal train stations in Boston. They have attempted to build a North-South Rail Link, but as with anything involving infrastructure in these parts, it has proven to be remarkably difficult. If there were a link, and it were relatively simple to get to Portland, then that area would probably grow to a larger degree.
Similarly, a significant chunk of New Hampshire’s population is within the so-called “Golden Triangle” (per one definition) between the state line and two major highways: Interstate 93 and the Everett Turnpike, including the cities of Manchester and Nashua 15 miles apart, both of which were industrial centers and have a combined population of around 200,000. This definition also includes the towns of Merrimack, Bedford, Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry, and Hooksett (where the two highways intersect north of Manchester). Litchfield has no crossings of the Merrimack River within its limits and no other main thoroughfares; thus, although it borders Manchester, its population is much smaller than any of the other municipalities nearby.
The BosWash has little to nothing to do with the train corridor and everything to do with economic activity of the area running between Boston and Washington DC.
I remember a survey of successful people pointing to one city in particular that disprportionately produces success stories was Boston. I was wondering beyond the pedigree and plenty of it institutions. Was there a geographic advantage to Boston producing so many success stories.
Boston is just better
Many people who come to Boston from elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad for education end up staying afterwards. That's what my parents did. I myself moved just outside of New England but I visit Boston a few times monthly. Of American cities, Boston is held in high regard abroad. My cousins from England came to visit us in Boston but refused to visit relatives in Texas because of their perceptions. Boston is closer to Europe and the east than any other major American city. It is relatively clean. It is relatively safe for an American city. Institutions tend to work well in New England which is generally well integrated economically and culturally with Atlantic Canada, Quebec and New York State. And Boston and New England are pretty.
@@arifshahabuddin8888 I can second this perception factor. I'm from Texas but go to school in Massachusetts and my Pakistani roommate said he always wanted to visit/live in cities like Boston, NYC, and San Francisco whereas he considered Texas a racist backwater and never even considered applying to schools there.
How about progressive policies attracting illegal immigrants 😅.
@@thewelcomer5698so the roommate swallowed Progtard propaganda.!
Vermont and New Hampshire has a lot of mountains and internet can be spotty at times or even cut off. Both states have insane scenery it feels really isolated at times when I visited both states.
Maine has had a weird colonial relationship with Massachusetts that continues today. Part of our population issue is young people moving to the “mother country” for better opportunities and school. Those families only return when they have enough money for a lake house or to visit the beach for a weekend.
Maine used to be part of Massachusetts up until 1820 when Maine became its own state.
@@kenb3552 and the Barbarian hordes from the bay state have invaded ever since.
@@patsfreak Uhhm - just like your original post states - it's the other way around.
@@kenb3552 you’re saying Maine isn’t flooded with Massachusetts plates every summer?
@@patsfreak I'm saying the video and comments are about where people LIVE not where they vacation.
Love the content as a lifer from Mass. NE is the best place to live in the spring summer and fall…not so much in winter. We have the ocean, mountains, rivers, world class cities and sports teams. diverse communities, etc. NE is also an expensive place to live with Mass leading the way. Median houses are over $500K.
My wife is from Massachusetts, the South Coast area in particular. I lived there for a few years, overall as someone from Colorado I found the population density suffocating. I did however enjoy the northern NE states. Maine in many ways is it's own region entirely, rugged coast mixed with an sparsely populated inland region. NH and VT on the other hand feel more like the rural mountainous offshoots of Massachusetts. NH does lack the tax burden of most other NE states, but all in all it's just a vacation/retirement destination for Massachusetts. VT is similar albeit more of the Quebecois influence. However it may seem, I actually really enjoyed NE, I'm just not a huge fan of the eastern seaboard urban areas, way to many people with not enough convenient transportation. Boston realistically should be 45 minutes from Providence but it always ends up being 2 hours or so.
I agree. I come from a town about ten miles north of Boston. I moved to Rhode Island as a young adult, then moved back to the north shore to finish college. I couldn't wait to move back to Rhode Island. MA had too many people, too many cars, too much congestion everywhere. Traffic everywhere. There have been times when it has taken three hours to drive from Reading MA to Warwick RI. Southern New Hampshire is almost just as bad. And moving to New Hampshire because of no state tax makes no sense. A friend who moved to a little tiny town in New Hampshire, not the lakes region or the ski region, just a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, paid a small fortune in property tax for a house on a small plot of land. It was worth it to him because of the seclusion, but he sure wasn't saving any money. But I absolutely love New England.
I take it you aren't from the Denver area or haven't been there in a while. Denver is way more suffocating than any part of New England. Can't wait to get out of there when I visit.
Can agree. I’m from CT and was stationed in Colorado while in the military. The I-25 corridor is the most suffocating place I have ever been in my life. I hate Colorado lol
Who knew geography would be so stress relieving .
Your videos are outstanding, should be on TV, keep up the great work!
As a MA resident I will tell you, it gets cold. Most people don’t want to deal with the snow and cold. Also NH though has no sales tax, they get you elsewhere weather it be property tax, income tax. There’s also just not much up there. Not even in the mountains go to Concord or Manchester NH those are your major cities (Nashua too, but that’s Massachusetts in my opinion, maybe because we would play a Nashua team in lacrosse for some reason) same to say about ME and VT. At least in Massachusetts there’s no area that isn’t occupied by suburbs. There’s also 3 main cities to stretch across the state into NY. There are places in MA you can be, City or suburb. It is cool though that I’m just under 2 hours away from reaching more moose, deer and bears than people. Long story short. Those three states have generally high taxes even if there’s no tax in some areas, and there’s nothing there, no place to live other than the cities, because of that real estate is wicked high (to live in the middle of nowhere?) oh and it’s really cold and snowy which adds to the frustration to that there’s no where to go meaning it’s likely roads are closed for the winter as nobody can get there to plow
"As a MA resident I will tell you, it gets cold." Not as much as it used to. A few years ago Christmas day was so warm we could have eaten dinner on the patio!
@@ronmoore6598 I'm in CT and we have cold winters and mild winters. We have snowy winters and some with barely any. I'm almost 50 and it's been the same since I was a kid.
@@rebeccaa2433 I'm almost 60 and it's changed since I was a kid.
@@ronmoore6598 It has not. People do like to say that though. We have had some extremely snowy and freezing winters in the last 10 years in New England. It is what it is, despite the media hype.
@@rebeccaa2433 It has. There have been more Christmas day over 45degF since 2005, than from 1960 to 2005 in my area.
The population difference between Mass. and northern New England has a lot to do with economic changes. For example, in 1840 Maine's population was quite close to Mass. (500k/700k respectively). This was because farming was still big in Maine and the development of mills (New England has a LOT of waterpower) there. After the Civil War, many people left northern New England in particular for the better farmland in the midwest, and deindustrialization gradually killed the mills. In the 21st century, our society is concentrating in cities, in large part because there is more economic opportunity there than in rural areas. This explains the population disparity today.
Correct. The civil war brought many changes ( + & - ) to both the north & south. Many New Englanders, as well as others from the east, were California bound or on the Oregon Trail for new government induced settlements.
As someone from Mass, we do not need our ego boosted anymore
lol agreed
Thank you for pronouncing Worcester correctly. 😊 you must be from MA.
From what is known; he is from Portland, Oregon.
But he pronounced Concord wrong.
@@stephensmith7887 yeah i noticed that
No one cares
One major reason Massachusetts (Boston in particular) grew in population rapidly is the Hoosac Tunnel in northwestern MA. It's a railroad tunnel several miles long, cutting through the rugged terrain of the region. This direct rail link to Boston in the 1800s enabled it to become the dominant city in New England. It is said that had the Hoosac not been built, Providence would have likely taken the title, as railroads would not have had the challenging terrain to construct through and underneath. ua-cam.com/video/tvYOlx9wIw0/v-deo.html
Nope
How can Providence have a population of 1.7 million when you just said the entire state of RI only has 1.1 million people 😂
a lot of metro providence is in massachusetts
Vermont is an expensive state in which to live for one reason: taxes. The state taxes all income, including SS benefits, and property taxes in VT are generally well above the national average. New Hampshire property taxes are extremely prohibitive, even though it has no state income tax. Massachusetts, while not inexpensive, offers a better bang for the buck, outside of Boston, which has a very high COL.
If only Massachusetts had more tax advantages and quality housing for seniors/retirees I'd retire there in a heartbeat. I went to college there, vacation there and find a lot of recreation opportunities there.
May I ask what part of Massachusetts you were from?
My draw to New England from upstate NY ( Buffalo region ) was after I read " Walden Pond " * by Henry David Thoreau in high school. Its setting is in the Concord, MA area.
* or, also known as: " Life in the Woods "
I'm enjoying the civil discourse amongst fellow New Englanders here. Even though Geoff is from that STRANGE remote place called Portland, Oregon; I think it be wise of him to do more indepth videos about the New England ( NE ) area. He may actually learn a thing or two himself ? 😮
You might want to check your numbers. You say that the entire state of RI has a population of 1.1 Million (8:44), then quote the city of Providence with a population of 1.7 Million (9:06). Did I misinterpret something?
San Juan Puerto Rico is actually the oldest city inhabited by Europeans in the U.S predating Saint Augustine by over 50 years
Perhaps he meant the CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES'.
Maybe he meant the continental US or only included states not territories
It seems Puerto Rico doesn’t want to be a state but enjoys its territorial status.
@@christophereichten9005 the Federal government would annex Puerto Rico into full statehood if they really wanted to.
Puerto Rico wasn’t apart of Britian or the United States until after the Spanish-American war so that’s why he didn’t mention San Juan during that time
Massachusetts whaling was a major part of why it became such an economic powerhouse. Massachusetts had its Qatar moment in the 17th century being perfectly located right in the migration path of the juiciest of whale species and chocked full of some of the deepest ice free natural ports in the known world at the time. Business used to stop when the sun went down then Massachusetts came along with clean burning lamp oil on a scale no one had ever imagined. By the mid 18th century whale oil/products from Massachusetts were responsible for 53 pence of every pound sterling earned in export from the northeast colonies and the industry was still a century away from its peak. The private navies of new england with warships that were designed/built and funded to protect the whaling ships from piracy went to fight the royal navy during the revolution and kept them at sea and prevented overwhelming force of superior soldiers from disembarking and crushing the revolution. It's pretty wild that you didn't even mention the single most important industry to the development of the Colony. Which ironically was founded with the signing of the mayflower compact on November 11th 1620 while anchored in Provincetown Harbor a place that would later become extremely important to the industry. It can be argued that without whale oil lighting the dark and lubricating the machines the industrial revolution would have never happened. Whaling was America's first time up to bat as a world leader.
Really enjoy your content, keep up the good work.
I grew up in Burlington Vermont. Even though this is the largest city in Vermont, there is definitely an anti urban attitude there. Burlington infrastructure could easily accommodate twice the size, but everyone would freak out. Instead South Burlington, Shelburne and other suburbs have doubled in size. So much farmland lost unnecessarily. And so much driving to get anywhere. 😢
Because Those three have the Artic Blast every winter... Eastern Mass especially Cape Cod where I grew up, has the heating and cooling of the Gulf Stream... Temps Seldom much below 32 degrrees... while Maine & etc go down to zero frequently...
I also spent some time on Long Island, NY. Talk about a damp bone-chilling cold ... it was there. Surrounded by water but no Gulf-stream warming effect to speak of.
Northeastern MA gets super cold, I think thats just a south shore thing. was -30 windchill this winter.
@@Marquipuchi Which is why I stayed in San Diego upon retirement ! I do miss most things New England however. If I had the money I would spend every Indian summer on the Cape... it's really nice September through thanksgiving...
I was born and raised in NH. Anything past Concord felt like a rural dream. I left for a decade and moved back in 2023 but to a rural area half way between Concord and Lebanon. It’s beautiful but the amount of residents that live in NH from MA originally is crazy like 1:4 residents are MA born.
MA also started out as a fishing industry hub with fishermen in boston and Gloucester and whaling in New Bedford.
Thanks for putting the Ariel shot of downtown Springfield in at 8:07
It’s hard to grow in Vermont with the green mountains in the way
Then how did a state like Colorado grow and continues to grow.
@@smesui1799
They have more flat land
It's the same issue in West Virginia the state is filled with Mountains but Vermont gets flat the more south u go
@@gordonkohl9083 Flat land on the eastern side of Colorado towards Kansas.
@@naptime0143 no the south is equally mountainous and rural
Also a factor: We have two seasons...Winter and Bug. We prefer Winter. Southern NH has become a bedroom colony of Massachuetts or has benifited from jobs development in NH bleeding across the border from more expensive cost of living ( and doing bysiness ) MA. That small southern region has nearly 1 million people growing 20-30% since 1990. More than half came north from MA.
I grew up in VT. I've also lived in NH, MA, CT, NC, FL, WI, AZ, NM, and Vegas. I've tried Mexico and I've been in Europe the past five years. I spent mot of my life working in healthcare. The best healthcare I've ever had was in MA. I didn't live in Boston but west along the 91 hwy corridor. I hate snow but if I were to move back I'd be in MA or RI.
Meanwhile the Canadian Atlantic provinces are even less populated than those 3 states :( Problem is they’re not in proximity to any major city unlike the 3 states which have NYC and Boston as neighbours.
I have a beach house in Maine that was passed down from my grandfather and I can comfortably say I would never want to live there full time. There is nothing to do outside of the beaches, and even then, the crowd is much older. There isn't much industry, so ambitious young professionals are limited to the few technical opportunities in Portland -- instead, they all leave for other states. Another reason is that the entire coast is dotted with homes that are only occupied for a few weeks per year and the towns that they are found in are equally seasonal, closing down when it's not summer. Something like 90% of the rest of the state is covered in virgin forest and is too remote for most peoples' tastes. Oh, and it's cold as hell for 10 months of the year. Summer temperatures don't begin until July and you'll probably still be wearing sweatshirts on the beach at night.
Finally, coverage of an area dear to me. Massachusetts !
I would double check your numbers. The 2020 census puts Worcester ahead of Providence in pop by a few thousand people.
I find this interesting since I've been considering moving to the New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine area
Don’t go to Maine! It was the worst mistake of my life… well at least rural Maine, urban maine is actually kinda nice
@nerdwisdomyo9563 I live in a very rural area in the south currently. I mainly wanna leave for better weather and better pay
@@kaitlyndanielle7889 all I know is that rural maine is kind of a backwater
@@kaitlyndanielle7889 Better weather/pay are in CT and RI
@@rebeccaa2433 but then you have to live in CT or RI
Being from mass this was really cool. My great grandparents came here from Portugal ended up settling in Brockton and west Peabody.
The Massachusetts people have destroyed their own state with development, so now they are pushing up into New Hampshire and Maine spreading their development destruction here
Uhh, thats a cynical way of looking at it, some developments are more intrusive than others, like the suburbs, but I actually think more development would be really good for all the states in New England, not development in growing the population but in land efficiency, reclaim some wilderness and stop urban sprawl
Left Massachusetts 15yrs ago for New Hampshire best move I ever made.
I cant speak for vermont or maine, but New hampshire, at least in the winter, fall, and spring, is a cold, empty, miserable place, especially thr northern part where I live. I can see why people would rather live in mass.
Correct !!!!!! I also spent some time out west during my college years. One of the COLDEST places I ever experienced was Laramie, Wyoming ( WY ) !!!!!!
A famous toast to Boston by Dr. John Collins Bossidy in 1907: "And this is good old Boston, the home of the bean and the cod. Where the Lowells speak only to the Cabots and the Cabots speak only to God".
Short answer: Massachusetts isn't as cold as the other 3 more northern states.
well… not entirely, that’s definitely part of it but A lot of it is to do with industry
And very few tornadoes and earthquakes.
@@CatholicTraditional that has nothing to do with it and MA has more tornadoes than the other 3. Look at the 1953 Worcester tornado
As someone who lives in New Hampshire I can give an easy answer. Simply put, Vermont, NH, & Maine are mostly mountains & wilderness where Mass has been more industrialized
On the whole a great video, but Pawtucket RI is considered the birth place of the American industrial revolution, not Lowell
Yes, Sam Slater’s Mill
Waltham has a good claim as well.
He said the second part of the industrial revolution, not the first
Manchester, NH became one of the biggest textile cities in the world. Many of the stagecoaches and wagons used in the old west were manufactured in Concord, NH. The White Mtn National Forest was the first in America and is the most visited national forest. Boston is a world class education and medical center and one of the best in the world. Boston had the first subway system in America. You should have mentioned these things in this video but maybe next time.
Comparatively, they used to be much larger, reflected by their far higher electoral vote counts during the 18th and 19th centuries. They just never grew much more than that, and the weather hasn’t done a good job of helping drive immigration to the area.
One way to look at it is how until Maine became a state in 1820, Massachusetts was like Michigan in that it consisted of two geographically separate landmasses. Maine is less built-up for much the same reason that the UP is less built-up.
I live in Southern NH and we have been flooded with MA folks.. it sucks. We have no sale tax nor income tax, are way cheaper and nicer... Mass wins in opportunity, but most of it is insanely overpriced, run down, and just gross.
And they suck at driving
And what about the thousands of NH folks that flood to Massachusetts every morning for work? Stfu.
Basic civilization rules for establishment
- Commerce first, settlement second. Inversions often fail
-Water access preferred [in service to commerce]: river or ocean
-Arable land & rainfall: in hand or nearby for trade
-Intersecting trade routes. Istanbul is a great case study in time
Isn't there a one-word answer to this question? "BOSTON"
What's so great about Boston?
Worcester and Springfield are also more populated than anywhere in northern New England though
@@elgatofelix8917 mostly the selection of higher education schools
@@elgatofelix8917 Not the traffic. I live about 50 miles south of Boston...Could not pay me enough to make that commute..
@@elgatofelix8917 Beans and chowdah
Hi
Great video.
I think there might be something unaccurate cause RI has 1.1 M and Providence has 1.7 M...😮
@GeographyByGeoff You should do an episode on Atlanta or Georgia. I had no idea that Boston was so small, metro Atlanta itself is only 10% less population than the entire state of Massachusetts.
CSA is huge though
@@seanthe100 Georgia is near 11 million population.
If you add up the full populations of all the states in the Boston CSA (Massachusetts,NH, Rhode Island, Maine) the total population is 10.7M
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population
@@infiniteloop5449 Boston CSA includes 1 county in Connecticut and Portland is not in all definitions. So its around 8.5m without ME, and around 9m if you include southwestern Maine. However Atlanta CSA is only 6.8m, not much change from its 6.2 MSA.
Nope
I am envious of New England having higher quality education, than here in my state of Louisiana.
It's a no-brainer 🧠 as to why New England ( NE ) has always had a high standard of education. It's part of the NE culture handed down by the first English settlers; the Puritans.
Others have tried to mimic NE schools, but none have duplicated them.
Shame on not mentioning the importance of the natural harbor in Boston in particular as part of its historic growth as a shipping port.
Everyone always neglects the natural harbors 🥲
Too this day it is the only deepwater port in the region. The main reason is was a hub for industry, shipping and immigration was the particularly good harbor in Boston, which you don’t really have elsewhere except Portland - which is smaller and was less navigable inland. Part of Western Mass. being less populated is the ability to transport stuff along a river to a port.
The next comparable harbor was down to New York. The plains meant the river was wider and slower for more distance, so the harbor could serve further inland a bit, but it all comes down to that harbor.
@@robertb6889 seriously people never think the natural geography enough in this country, like no matter how hard-working you are you need soil to farm, were lucky (and imperialist) to have one of the largest stretches of absurdly fertile soil in the world, Plus the Mississippi plus natural harbors! We got minerals in the Rockies, tropical plants in the south berries in the north, there’s not much you don’t have when it comes to the United States natural geography (Plus the crops indigenous people cultivated)