Annual Block Party, Amherst, Massachusetts

Life in Amherst

Come One, Come All

The community gathers at the 2019 Annual Block Party in Amherst.

You don’t just go to school here. You live here.

Meet Amherst, Massachusetts: home to UMass Amherst, and one of the best college towns in America. Located in the picturesque Pioneer Valley, Amherst offers endless opportunities for cultural events, miles of hiking and biking trails, and is the birthplace of literary and artistic giants. But the hidden gems, the spots that take years to uncover, truly make our little corner of the world special.

Find your own freedom to express your creativity in the very town where Emily Dickinson penned the poems that forged her place in history. Discover new forms of expression in the art museums rich with famed collections or in the underground storytelling nights that happen in a tiny restaurant somewhere near campus.

In Northampton, just a few miles away, you’ll find a haven for creatives, artists, and the kind of people who like to push boundaries just to see what happens. In Hadley, you can rise to a new challenge at the area's largest climbing gym. You will find some of the best-kept secrets of the Pioneer Valley off the beaten path. Tucked in a valley with 40,000 books and a waterfall, the Montague Book Mill serves up “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.” 

There is also the great outdoors. The miles and miles of hiking trails that cut across rocky peaks and dive deep into quiet woodlands. The bike paths that run from one town to the next on the old rail lines that first defined New England. Find healing, inspiration, and motivation in the trails and paths that carry ancient stories, and see if you don’t find new possibilities for yourself along the way.

Explore Amherst, and find a home for your revolutionary journey.

Start Exploring

Begin your exploration and find the corner of the Pioneer Valley that's just right for you.