yeah i'm not from there thank god but from that county
entire county peaked in the 19th century because it apparently had ideal rivers for mills - so pre-electricity it was a great place to do small scale manufacturing - iirc my town has the only surviving horse and buggy whip factory in america - which at one point was one of the biggest industries
re: GE - pittsfield population of about 50k and 10k worked directly for GE, never personally verified but local legend said Pittsfield was a top nuke target during cold war due to the GE manufacturing there was so crucial
GE then left abruptly leaving thousands unemployed and it led to a domino effect where businesses failed en masse
they also left the river so polluted that you can't swim nor fish in it, so they basically wrecked shop on there way out
not to date him but it's really heartbreaking reading here that Ray Zee said that was the best east coast fishing he'd ever done as I'm a very avid fisherman and we always had to drive a good distance to find places safe to fish when we had that river right there
crazy thing is like nobody left after GE shutdown, population has only gradually declined to about 40k today - but now there's massive amounts of crime, crack and heroine - all in a very small urban center otherwise surrounded by the weekend home mansions of new yorkers
the berkshires was a very interesting place to grow up - basically no middle class, you either had a weekend home there or worked as a landscaper on the weekend home - GE leaving killed the middle class of the entire county
125k county population in 2020
go back 100 years and it's
115k county population in 1920
it's always funny reading american history as i'll constantly see mentions of important people being born, living in or visiting the berkshires and yet today it's just nothing
but they literally have their own currency to encourage people to buy locally so i guess that makes up for it all
does mamaRG sometimes go by "the smasher" perchance
That music is so distinct, so bad. I could be someplace and faintly hear it in the distance and would know that Hawk is about to arm wrestle the Smasher in the back of a trucker bar/restaurant.
That music always pops into my head whoever I walk into a crowded, **** kicking bar.
Weirdo is as weirdo does. It's all good. No offense intended to Captain. I am honestly having fun watching the interaction. Mrs. RG isn't a little girl anymore. She holds her own with the best.