Hampshire County
Community Story Archive
Sharing Stories, Creating Change
AMANDA
Amanda Emerson has lived in Williamsburg, MA for her whole life and is part of a family who has lived there for generations. She is a wonderful, articulate storyteller and has strong and lively opinions of her community, town, and of the pandemic. She shares gardening wisdom and how living a simpler life can be beneficial. Amanda also speaks of how the community came together during the pandemic; how it’s been helpful and how, in some ways, it could have been better.
"I call my farm my sane asylum…it was a wonderful excuse during Covid to get out of the house, take the mask off and just dig and weed and plant… Don't let them terrify you into not living."
Check out some interview excerpts below:
"There's the food pantry down on the steps of the Grange Hall. It is wonderful, you don’t have to sign up. You don’t have to be scrutinized about are you poor enough to accept this stuff or if you contribute something, is your contribution good enough?... It feels good to contribute…People learn to take care of one another and that's lovely."