 | Pioneer Valley: Encyclopedia II - Pioneer Valley - Economy
Pioneer Valley - Economy
The Pioneer Valley has a broadly varied economic base.
Pioneer Valley - Franklin County
Franklin County in the north serves as a significant agricultural region despite its size, due to the rich topsoil found in the area. The valley's sweet corn and asparagus are considered, especially among New Englanders to be some of the world's finest. Cow Corn, potatoes, and shade-grown tobacco are also major crops. Fields of all sort, particularly corn and tobacco fields, as well as numerous farmhouses and tobacco barns dot the landscape.
Two major corporations, Channing Bete and Yankee Candle, are headquartered in South Deerfield and Greenfield. Both corporations are currently wracked by fights as to whether to allow the proliferation of big box stores such as Wal-Mart. Greenfield received national attention when it decided to prevent Wal-Mart from opening up a store in town.
The country also garners tourism due to such attractions as a Butterfly Garden located in South Deerfield, and Historic Deerfield.
Pioneer Valley - Hampshire County
With five colleges, including the state university, UMass Amherst, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, and Amherst College, Hampshire County has a thriving industry catering to college students, including numerous independent bookstores and stationery shops.
The area is also home to many restaurants, ranging in class from sports bars to steakhouses. Northampton (also known as NoHo) is the culinary capital of Western Massachusetts as well as having a reputation as a lesbian Mecca. The act of adding candy, crushed cookies, and nuts to ice cream was invented by Steve Herrell at Herrell's, his ice cream parlor in Northampton.
With the exception of a few supermarkets, almost all of the big-box retailers in Hampshire County are located in the town of Hadley with the rest of the region being a land of "mom and pop" stores and a spattering chain convenience stores.
Pioneer Valley - Hampden County
With most of the large cities in Western Massachusetts, Hampden County generally has a more commercial-industrial economy than anywhere else in the region, a land of big-box retailers and heavy industry.
Tourism is also popular, particularly from the rest of New England, due to the historic museum, observatory and fine dining in Springfield, and the theaters and frequent attractions such as The Big E, and Six Flags New England, an amusement park in Agawam. Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield are also popular destinations for shopping.
Outlying towns such as Tolland are sparsely populated and close enough to the Berkshires that outdoor activities such as camping make up a large part of their economy.
Other related archivesAgawam, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, Audubon Society, Chicopee, Connecticut River, Connecticut River Valley, Cow Corn, Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss Memorial, East Longmeadow, Eric Carle, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Franklin County, Greenfield, Greenfield, Massachusetts, Hadley, Hampden County, Hampshire College, Hampshire County, Hill Towns, Historic Deerfield, Holyoke, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Lake Hitchcock, Latino, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke College, Mt. Holyoke College, New England, New Englanders, Northampton, Northampton, Massachusetts, Pixies, Six Flags New England, Smith College, South Deerfield, South Hadley, Southwick, Springfield, Springfield, Massachusetts, The Big E, The Five Colleges, The Odyssey Bookshop, Tolland, UMass Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Wal-Mart, West Springfield, Western Massachusetts, Westfield, Wilbraham, amusement park, asparagus, basalt, big box stores, camping, convenience stores, counties, deltas, dinosaur, ice cream, lifestyle, mom and pop, outdoor, sports bars, state university, steakhouses, subduction, supermarkets, sweet corn, tectonic plate, the Berkshires, tobacco, topsoil, varves
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Economy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
