I like the amenities of city life. Boston has great cultural resources, great restaurants, lots of bookstores, interesting neighborhoods. My job can only be done in a few cities in the country, and this is one of them.
I like the change of seasons. The summer is gorgeous, fall is beautiful, and I've learned to enjoy the winters from the warm side of the living room window.
I didn't grow up here, but I am a northerner through and through. I grew up in the deep New Jersey exurbs and I love having moved to a place where there's a city 1 mile to the south, beaches 5 miles to the east, forests 15 miles to the west, and mountains not far beyond. You can drive a short distance and be in a totally different zone where the stars shine brightly. The metro area isn't growing much so there isn't as much suburbanization.
I love going apple-picking in October. The "square" down the hill has Indian, Peruvian, Korean, bad Chinese, Peruvian, and Mexican restaurants along a Brazilian bakery, a coffee shop, and three Irish pubs, yet I have a big enough backyard to host barbecues and grow a vegetable garden.
My house is 100 years old and has details I never dreamed were possible when growing up in a 1970 suburban special.
Local politics is remarkably diverse for what it is; everyone's a Democrat, but there are plenty of conservatives. It's interesting and takes some getting used to. It's easy to tune out our federal officials when it's a hopeless cause. Taxes are actually pretty low for our level of income; that's the biggest myth about Massachusetts.
So that's why I stay.
I grew up in very rural central VA, foothills of the Blue Ridge, which is also apple country, and has a change of season, including maples with their red leaves.
Now live in Miami (NY south), but miss the fall up north, and all the cider, chill in the air, etc. that comes with it.
You have a Victorian house? Cool!