My sense of place in my home town Mendon Massachusetts developed mostly during my childhood. Growing up in a secluded white picket fence neighborhood before the age of ipads and video games, the entire block would spend their days outside together. The kids would all bike around, play baseball or basketball, or just spend the day outside. Having the forest surrounding on almost all sides along with multiple brooks and large boulders from the ice age we found ourselves with a playground in nature. By spending so much of my childhood outside I developed a deep connection to the landmarks around me in the area I could get to by foot. I live in a small rural town that consists of a drive-in and a car dealership along with one stoplight and cows down the street. Having lived in such a small town for my entire life I have been able to learn where all the streets lead to developing a mental map of the area. This is something that I have not done as much in Burlington, other than UVM campus and the main street leading to church street. The large difference in size of these areas, Burlington at around 40,000 people while Mendon has 5,000, it feels like I’m living in a city. I could never walk downtown and explore growing up and was dependent on a parent driving me with their car. Now I can walk downtown and can explore the fun and lively city. Similar to Vermont, Massachusetts was majorly farm land as well. About a 5 minute walk from my house in the woods are the same type of stone walls and old foundations that are remnants of the farm life before. Old paths through the woods that are part of the town’s public forests are based on the old roads to farmlands. Having historic landmarks along with some of the old buildings downtown gave my childhood an endless imagination as I thought of the people before me. My sense of place in my hometown is where I developed my love for nature. If I had grown up in a city or a more urban area I do not think I would have spent as much of my childhood outside and since my parents were never big on hiking or camping I would not of experienced the outdoors like I did here. Along with the access to the outdoors, part of my sense of place developed with a sense of community as we would all be outside playing together. It has developed who I am as I am the kind of person who wants to know my neighbors and learn about the environment around me.