Why are Dallas and Hiram called "country?" Arent they just typical sprawl you see in most of the metro? (Atlanta: loans, neighborhoods)

[travbo]

It's very much suburban and i'd hardly call the Hiram/Dallas/Powder Springs area "country" today, maybe 10-15 years ago. I drive from Edgewood to Dallas Hwy for work every single work day and the commute isn't as bad a most would think due to the reverse commute nature. I-20 to Thornton. It's 35-45 minutes out of the city to my office in the morning, 40-60 minutes back into the city and home in the evenings. Driving in/out of midtown from our home in Edgewood is easily 15-25 minutes in the morning, 25-40 minutes evenings. Distance is significant, but i rarely get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.

[bhammaster]

To piggyback off OldschooChevy; all I know is that when I used to go to Douglasville to the 7 venue, this area definitively reminded me of Alabama.

It's one of the only places in the metro I see people just wearing hunting camo as regular clothes.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

Culturally that side has always been the country side in the ATL metro. That's nothing that you could actually find data on, but if you're familiar with the city then I think you might agree. Douglas, Paulding, Cobb and even intown Westside ATL has a more suburban layout, more conservative politics and it's less diverse with not just ethnic groups but also transplants. I'm the only person in my family who was born here, and every last one of my cousins, aunts or uncles who has moved here ends up in Gwinnett or Dekalb, or eastside ITP like Emory or 4th Ward. And growing up on the westside I was the only one of my friends who didn't have parents that were from Atlanta, rural Georgia or Alabama. So basically what I'm saying is that the west metro is the countriest (is that a word?) side. Maybe because its closer to Alabama, maybe its because its not as diverse or maybe both. But it's not just the lack of interstate access in places like Hiram, its the overall culture of the area IMO

Originally Posted by bhammaster

To piggyback off OldschooChevy; all I know is that when I used to go to Douglasville to the 7 venue, this area definitively reminded me of Alabama.

It's one of the only places in the metro I see people just wearing hunting camo as regular clothes.

My mom's side of the family is from that area (well, south Cobb decades ago and Douglasville/Villa Rica) and they are definitely the southern side of the family (as opposed to my dad's side which fits in with suburban Gwinnett). You just don't have the amount of transplants like other places. I see the same thing in a lot of Barrow county. You end up with a more country feel than Gwinnett.


I had a good post last night but my internet went crazy and it didn't save.
Basically, Dallas/Hiram are really exurban, not rural but I understand the "country" feel. I imagine eventually Paulding county will continue to get bleed over from Cobb (not so much from Douglas) and get a more diverse suburban feel, similar to how Forsyth has transformed over the last couple of decades.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

My mom's side of the family is from that area (well, south Cobb decades ago and Douglasville/Villa Rica) and they are definitely the southern side of the family (as opposed to my dad's side which fits in with suburban Gwinnett). You just don't have the amount of transplants like other places. I see the same thing in a lot of Barrow county. You end up with a more country feel than Gwinnett.


I had a good post last night but my internet went crazy and it didn't save.
Basically, Dallas/Hiram are really exurban, not rural but I understand the "country" feel. I imagine eventually Paulding county will continue to get bleed over from Cobb (not so much from Douglas) and get a more diverse suburban feel, similar to how Forsyth has transformed over the last couple of decades.

That is a really good assessment of the direction that Paulding County is headed in.

The more diverse suburban feel that you speak of is already showing up in a noticeable way in Paulding County in an area like Hiram where minority students already make up a majority of the student body at Hiram High School.

Minority students currently make up 52% of the student body at Hiram High School, a statistic which is an indicator that the growth in the population as a whole in the Hiram area of Paulding County seems to be trending towards "majority-minority" status in the not-too-distant future.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

My mom's side of the family is from that area (well, south Cobb decades ago and Douglasville/Villa Rica) and they are definitely the southern side of the family (as opposed to my dad's side which fits in with suburban Gwinnett). You just don't have the amount of transplants like other places. I see the same thing in a lot of Barrow county. You end up with a more country feel than Gwinnett.


I had a good post last night but my internet went crazy and it didn't save.
Basically, Dallas/Hiram are really exurban, not rural but I understand the "country" feel. I imagine eventually Paulding county will continue to get bleed over from Cobb (not so much from Douglas) and get a more diverse suburban feel, similar to how Forsyth has transformed over the last couple of decades.

I guess that it also should be noted that Paulding County has already begun to acquire the more diverse suburban feel that has transformed and continues to transform a Northside outer-suburban county like Forsyth.

On the basis of demographics alone, Paulding County has already transformed dramatically over the past 27 years with the county going from being 95% non-Hispanic white in 1990 to 73% non-Hispanic white as of 2015.

(...Forsyth County's population has transformed from being 99% non-Hispanic white in 1980 (when the 1980 Census recorded only one black person living in the entire county) to 75% non-Hispanic white in 2015.)

sedimenjerry makes an excellent point that an outer-suburban/exurban county like Paulding has benefitted heavily from growth bleeding over and spilling over from a much more developed and urbanizing county like neighboring Cobb. And with home prices continuing to rise significantly, the chances are that a county like Paulding will continue to experience much growth from people seeking more affordable home prices that might not found as easily as they might have been in a neighboring county like Cobb when it was less developed and urbanized.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Please, no more freeways.

I don't see why not. It's not cutting through neighborhoods and an interstate from Atlanta to Memphis would be beneficial. Georgia has a severe lack of freeways considering we're the largest state in the east in terms of land area.

[Clayton white guy]

I am not sure I would call Paulding County, "country", I would simply call it "inconvenient" due mostly to the aforementioned lack of expressways. It is probably true that Paulding County has many of the same amenities as Clayton and Henry Counties, but it lacks having interstate access to the City of Atlanta and the rest of Metro Atlanta making it seem, for lack of a better word, far, really, really far. The no interstate comparison would jive with Fayette County, except Fayette is extremely high income and rather convenient to high paying airport area jobs. I am certain that Paulding County is quite a nice, pleasant place to live, but it would go on my list of "I would have to live AND work there" places because of access issues. So perhaps I would consider Paulding IF I worked there or in adjacent Western Cobb County.

[Southern Soul Bro]

With Paulding, IMO the lack of direct interstate access doesnt make it seem far out, since there's development pretty much from exit 44 all the way until you get in Hiram. If it were a case where one exits and had to drive 20-30 miles down an undeveloped road until finally seeing signs of life once arriving in Paulding, then I'd understand

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by demonta4

I don't see why not. It's not cutting through neighborhoods and an interstate from Atlanta to Memphis would be beneficial. Georgia has a severe lack of freeways considering we're the largest state in the east in terms of land area.

Those are good points about an Atlanta-Memphis interstate (by way of Huntsville), which would seem to have the potential to be particularly beneficial from an economic development standpoint.

But from a purely logistical standpoint, road trip times between Atlanta and Memphis have already improved dramatically with the recent completion of the new Interstate 22 between Birmingham and Memphis.

From a purely logistical standpoint, the completion of I-22 between Birmingham and Memphis seems to have at least slightly lessened the need (but not necessarily the desire) for an Atlanta-Huntsville-Memphis interstate because of how the completion of I-22 has helped to improve travel within the Atlanta-Memphis corridor.

[JAS]

I think you're defining Hiram/Dallas/Paulding based on Hwy 278 and its big-box stores, which is the major thoroughfare through the county. Once you get away from that, there is a lot of rural area.