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I would sure love to find it, my wish would be for a town with diversity, where everybody said hi, where your political party wouldn't matter, where you would pick the man not a party, where you could go for walks and see people on there porches, or working in there gardens,--- WOW I can almost smell aunt bees apple pies.
Yep, Mayberry is alive and well in some areas. During our last local elections here we had Dems backing Republicans and the other way around as well. Not unusual to talk to somebody and they were voting for the person and couldn't even tell you what party they were listed with.
Around here, you not only smell the pies, but the trees they picked the fruit from just before making the pie. Apple, Peach, Cherry, etc.... Have to admit that I live in a Mayberry town and wouldn't change it for anything.
Yep, Mayberry is alive and well in some areas. During our last local elections here we had Dems backing Republicans and the other way around as well. Not unusual to talk to somebody and they were voting for the person and couldn't even tell you what party they were listed with.
Around here, you not only smell the pies, but the trees they picked the fruit from just before making the pie. Apple, Peach, Cherry, etc.... Have to admit that I live in a Mayberry town and wouldn't change it for anything.
Sounds like some of the towns near the Finger Lakes and the Rochester area here in Upstate NY. Communities like Lyons, Sodus, Clyde, Newark, Williamson, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Penn Yan, Watkins Glen, Canandaigua, Palmyra, LeRoy, Caledonia, Medina, Albion, Brockport and Geneseo, among others would probably fit the bill. A lot of these towns are big when it comes to agriculture, especially in terms of picking fruit. Many of the communities are diverse due to many Black families and later Hispanic families moving from the South, the Caribbean and Downstate to work in the orchards and vineyards.
Was Mayberry all that diverse? I seem to remember it as mostly white Protestant people. It was tolerant, maybe even accepting, of odd and different people but I'm not sure that's the same.
I'd think a "Mayberry" town would be like one of the more liveable little towns in Virginia or North Carolina. There are claims that Mount Airy, North Carolina was an inspiration for Mayberry. Maybe Indiana or Iowa if you really extend the concept. Little hard for me to think of Upstate New York as "Mayberry", but maybe I'm seeing it a different way.
"Was Mayberry all that diverse? I seem to remember it as mostly white Protestant people. It was tolerant, maybe even accepting, of odd and different people but I'm not sure that's the same."
Well, the OP didn't say anything pro or con about a preference for diverse ethnic groups. Often it probably goes with the territory that there is less of a mix of ethnic groups in non-suburban small towns than there would be in metropolitan areas, though this may also vary depending on the town. In any case, you can't analyze the decidedly white population of the fictional town of Mayberry too closely, considering how rare it was to have non-white characters on television shows at the time. I've read that Andy Griffith and Don Knotts both expressed the idea that there should have been some black characters, in order for Mayberry to be a realistic representation of a small town in the South, but you just did not see this much on television shows of that era.
In fact, Mayberry was not totally realistic. I do think that it's possible to find a nice friendly small town that would be very similar to Mayberry, as long as you adjust the picture a bit to fit with reality, such as, for example, understanding that even in the most friendly small towns the local cops will carry guns all the time, not just when they know of a dangerous criminal on the loose in their area.
I also would say that in fact you can find a lot of these nice small towns in upstate New York. Upstate is a different world in many ways from the vicinity of NYC. You'd have to do some research to find the right town, because upstate NY does have some Rust Belt economic struggles, so some towns are kind of faded, but there are also many nice clean idyllic small towns there as well.
The same is true of rural New England, especially in the northern New England states. There have been economic struggles for a long time, so there are many gray and faded little towns, but there are also some gems as well, and the general tone is one of genuine small-town neighborliness (and in the right town this will also include an acceptance, a la Mayberry, of people's personality quirks, since people know they all have to get along in the intimacy of a small community), but you do have to do some looking to find a nice prosperous town.
This would also be the case in the upper Midwest. I'm going to guess that it's pretty much true anywhere in the U.S. that rural areas will have quite a few struggling, worn out little towns, but will also have some economically stable, and nice and neighborly towns as well. I feel more confident saying that such towns exist in the Northeast and Midwest than talking about other regions, because I'm more familiar with the Northeast and Midwest than other regions, but I bet that as long as you adjust your expectations to fit real life, you should be able to find some neighborly, Mayberryish small towns in the rural areas of any region. IndianMama, if you're really interested in finding a Mayberry, I think that's possible as long as you are realistic in the understanding that Mayberry is fictional, and adjust your expectations to fit with the real world. My suggestion would be to decide which regions and states are most appealing, and to do some thorough research on towns in those places, including some posts on City Data in the forums for states that you find appealing, asking people on those forums where the Mayberrys are found in their states.
I'd have to agree that you can find friendly places all over the country, mostly in smallish towns though I seriously doubt Mayberry was at all diverse nor are most small towns still.
Now as for the term diversity, one has to specify what is requested by that. There can be much cultural diversity in a town full of whites that has sections of Italians, Polish, and Irish heritaged people. Or does that mean you want a place with large or small populations of recently arrived Indians and Chinese, or less recently arrived Blacks and Mexicans, people of a different color or will pockets of Russians of late do, and so on. Different mixes are more likely to be found in different parts of the country. The term has become too generic.
"Mayberry" can be a tough place to break into, if you're not from there...Small towns that are built on history & community networks make it tricky to settle in and establish yourself.
There are new urbanist communities that are exactly like what you're describing. They seem contrived on paper, but after a few years they truly develop into communities. Best of all, everyone in them is "from off," and everyone has more or less chosen the lifestyle. (Unlike true "Mayberry" towns, where 1/2 the people are miserable and trying to plan their escape!) Each person brings a unique political perspective (based on past experiences wherever they came from), and economic diversity is there by design.
"Mayberry" can be a tough place to break into, if you're not from there...Small towns that are built on history & community networks make it tricky to settle in and establish yourself.
There are new urbanist communities that are exactly like what you're describing. They seem contrived on paper, but after a few years they truly develop into communities. Best of all, everyone in them is "from off," and everyone has more or less chosen the lifestyle. (Unlike true "Mayberry" towns, where 1/2 the people are miserable and trying to plan their escape!) Each person brings a unique political perspective (based on past experiences wherever they came from), and economic diversity is there by design.
Was Mayberry all that diverse? I seem to remember it as mostly white Protestant people. It was tolerant, maybe even accepting, of odd and different people but I'm not sure that's the same.
I'd think a "Mayberry" town would be like one of the more liveable little towns in Virginia or North Carolina. There are claims that Mount Airy, North Carolina was an inspiration for Mayberry. Maybe Indiana or Iowa if you really extend the concept. Little hard for me to think of Upstate New York as "Mayberry", but maybe I'm seeing it a different way.
Yeah, Upstate NY still has plenty of nice, small towns that are "Mayberry-ish".
Also, Mt. Airy, NC was the inspiration for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.
"Anyway, I live in one of these communities now, and love it:"
I'd have to bet that there weren't any million dollar homes in Mayberry. (price comes from your link)
Yes, there are some insanely expensive (and gorgeous) homes here, but there are also city-subsidized apartments, and condos with income restrictions (so that only people below a certain income level qualify to purchase). Thousands of people live here, and it's a total mix...I certainly don't live in a million dollar home, and neither do most of the people I've met here.
You can't get the whole picture from the developer's website...there is in fact a surprising amount of diversity here, and likely in other New Urbanist neighborhoods, too. I'm sure New Urban towns are quite a bit more expensive than true Mayberry towns in rural areas, but they provide some of the same quality of life features that the OP is looking for (and better access to higher paying jobs). Just another option.
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