NORTHERN GEORGIA or SOUTHERN GEORGIA (Atlanta, Columbus: transplants, travel, wages)

[THASPECIAL]

I am from Florida and lived in Nashville TN before and still make trips back and forth from Nashville to Florida.....

I really enjoy the drive in Northen Georgia compared to Southern Georgia....


In my view Southern Georgia is a boring place to look at while riding through and there are not alot of towns south of Macon, but when i was in Valdosta people were pretty nice and waved and stopped thier cars so i could cross the road.....I heard about there being crime in Valdosta too ....Valdosta kinda feels like a Georgia version of Lake City Florida to me


Northern Georgia seems more like a home type of feeling when i ride through it.....i like riding through Atlanta and Dalton areas.....Everyone usually hears about Atlanta and i love Marietta and all the suburbs when i stop through there, but Dalton is also somewhere that i really like to......just has the feel like you are in a cozy town ......i saw lots of mexicans everywhere i stop in Dalton and i like that diversity being from Florida i am used to that


Personally i like NORTHERN GEORGIA better than SOUTHERN GEORGIA, but i have never been around Colombus or Savanah....so i cant judge those areas


I would just like to know from the local Georgians....Why or what makes these two sides of the state different from each other

[mg83]

You're viewing southern Georgia from an I-75 perspective it seems like. I mean, what towns do you really hit on I-75 between Macon and Gainesville, FL? Nothing...

Coastal Georgia is great... I've never seen West/Southern Georgia near Columbus so I can't say.

[THASPECIAL]

Originally Posted by mg83

You're viewing southern Georgia from an I-75 perspective it seems like. I mean, what towns do you really hit on I-75 between Macon and Gainesville, FL? Nothing...

Coastal Georgia is great... I've never seen West/Southern Georgia near Columbus so I can't say.

Actually in Florida you hit Ocala, Gainsville, and Lake City after leaving Orlando......which are all kinda nice sized cities/towns and they aren't hours away from each other....when in Georgia you hit Valdosta then there is really "no" nice sized towns or anything good to look at for a couple hours until you reach Macon......Macon is the only place in Georgia that i felt like people were all staring at me or like they were stuck in the 50's.....the rest of Georgia doesnt feel like that town



yeah i am speaking from an I-75 point of view........but i was just wondering if Southern Georgia and Northern Georgia are realy as different as i felt them to be ....and i just wanted a perspective from someone who actually knows more about Georiga than me (locals)

[JLA]

Columbus is no Atlanta, but the area is growing very rapidly. I appreciate the diversity of cultures here, it makes life more pleasurable. This is a very progressive city with a small town feel. Even the terrain is nice, rolling hills interspersed with some flat land, even some swampy areas to the south near Fort Benning along the Chattahoochee River.

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by THASPECIAL

Actually in Florida you hit Ocala, Gainsville, and Lake City after leaving Orlando......which are all kinda nice sized cities/towns and they aren't hours away from each other....when in Georgia you hit Valdosta then there is really "no" nice sized towns or anything good to look at for a couple hours until you reach Macon......Macon is the only place in Georgia that i felt like people were all staring at me or like they were stuck in the 50's.....the rest of Georgia doesnt feel like that town



yeah i am speaking from an I-75 point of view........but i was just wondering if Southern Georgia and Northern Georgia are realy as different as i felt them to be ....and i just wanted a perspective from someone who actually knows more about Georiga than me (locals)

I grew up in South Georgia (Southwest to be exact) so I can give an opinion. North Georgia and South Georgia are two different worlds. I like visiting South Georgia because of the slow relaxed atmosphere and the ( in some places) beautiful natural scenery. But, If you're not into fishing or hunting there's just way way less to do or see in South Georgia than N. Georgia or Florida.

Many of the people there I hate to say are very narrow minded. You would think atleast in a place so rural there would be little crime and nicer people but there are quiet alot of rude people. (when dating for example I found women in larger towns to be way nicer and less stuck up than ones from south GA.) and restaurant and other service workers often have very bad attitudes. And in many small towns like Valdosta, Albany or even Moultrie there is a lot of crime ranging from car break ins ( I've had 2 car radios stolen) to gang activity ( 2 local gangs were going around shooting cars and at each other) and homicides (last month a local store keeper shot and killed during a robbery) all this just in my very small (by N ga/Fl standards) town.

In the Moultrie area alone a family of five was massacred (drug related) and several mexican immigrants were robbed and killed by local teens all in one year. So many men were killing there GFs/Wiives (usually ex) that the county opened a battered womens shelter. The crime shouldn't be surprising considering there is terrible poverty in some of the neighborhoods in this area.

This area of the state I think is much responsible for Georgia's high drop out, low SAT, and high teen pregnancy statistics. But most people in the area think they are lucky to live there. They have this misguided ( I feel ) belief that cost of living is so low in the area that even with very low wages and job opportunities they are better off than people in urban areas.

Sure many people there are very nice but there is also an awful lot of undercover and sometimes blatant racism and discrimination. It's a depressing place to me.

[Kali's Grandma]

Originally Posted by THASPECIAL

I am from Florida and lived in Nashville TN before and still make trips back and forth from Nashville to Florida.....

I really enjoy the drive in Northen Georgia compared to Southern Georgia....


In my view Southern Georgia is a boring place to look at while riding through and there are not alot of towns south of Macon, but when i was in Valdosta people were pretty nice and waved and stopped thier cars so i could cross the road.....I heard about there being crime in Valdosta too ....Valdosta kinda feels like a Georgia version of Lake City Florida to me


Northern Georgia seems more like a home type of feeling when i ride through it.....i like riding through Atlanta and Dalton areas.....Everyone usually hears about Atlanta and i love Marietta and all the suburbs when i stop through there, but Dalton is also somewhere that i really like to......just has the feel like you are in a cozy town ......i saw lots of mexicans everywhere i stop in Dalton and i like that diversity being from Florida i am used to that


Personally i like NORTHERN GEORGIA better than SOUTHERN GEORGIA, but i have never been around Colombus or Savanah....so i cant judge those areas


I would just like to know from the local Georgians....Why or what makes these two sides of the state different from each other

When we travel from Orlando to the races in Talladega, we take I75 as far up as Tifton (SR 82) and head west from there. It has very pretty rolling hills, peanut farms and cotton fields. While there are few large towns between Tifton and Columbus there are plenty of smaller ones.
The hills get larger the closer you got to Columbus.

The only time I've spent in Columbus is when my son graduated from BootCamp. We stayed on the northern end of town and it wasn't so bad. The area outside the base reminds me of SOBT before the facelift.....

That being said....I love scenery in the northern part too but that's about all I can tell you....I know it's getting really built up..

[lfulghum3]

I don't really see anything wrong with south Georgia. I miss it terribly. Atlanta is nice but there are just some parts that are pure scary. In Swainsboro there was never a fear. You know everyone. And as far as the people being rude you are partly right. Everyone isn't that way. But apart from the rural setting there is also Savannah and Augusta. There is alot of crime in both cities but if for those of us who live in the small towns they are great places to visit. Savannah is especially fun. I would have to say I like Savannah far more than Atlanta or Macon.

[THASPECIAL]

Thanx for "ALL" the replies.....im not saying i hate either area at all.......i just get bored driving through the southern part of Georgia when i go through but at least it isnt as bad as driving through west Texas on the way to California......i lived in North, Central, and South Florida so i can appreciate the feeling of Southern Georgia since i lived in Lake City Florida and White Springs Florida because it kinda feels the same around Valdosta Georgia and the other small towns in that part of Georgia, and i can also relate to the Northern part of Georgia to having lived in Miami i can relate to Atlanta and the Dalton area just has a home feel to it but i dont think i will move there anytime soon.....i just wanted to see a locals point of view and maybe other people can tell me thier experiences just having driven through the area as well....thanx

[atlantagreg30127]

My opinion (which I always give whether asked or not..LOL)...

South GA: Slower, more laid-back atmosphere. The kind of place you sit on a front porch and drink lemonaid. Somewhat conservative to very conservative (religious themed,etc - good or bad depending on you). Some quaint towns. Warm to hot temps and maybe too much humidity. Savannah being the exception to quiet, as it's a big tourist town with a big arts community.

North GA: Rustic. More "lodge" type areas. More touristy in the smaller towns (Dahlonega, Helen, etc). Cabins as opposed to verandas. Four distinct seasons as opposed to warm/hot most of the year. Conservative but with a share of Atlanta transplants as well.

Personally I like the "feel" of North Georgia better with the hills, trees, cabins, etc. But to each his own, that's just me.

[jhsrichards]

North GA is definitely better. North of I-16, there are rolling hills everywhere you look, which slowy turn into small mountains as you move north of Atlanta. There are countless recreational opportunites between the hiking and the lakes everywhere, and most of the towns and small cities have a great deal of tourist attractions. And if you like the big city, Atlanta and its metro area offer everything you could possibly need.

South Georgia is mostly pancake flat, with a lot of creepy looking areas and impoverished small towns with bored police. Farming drives almost all of south GA's economy outside the cities, but there are plenty of farming opportunities in North Georgia where you can be closer to civilization. I don't know why, but south GA is just depressing to me. There are some nice areas though - you just have to try a little bit harder to find them. But then of course there are the people who live in South GA, who of course love living there, or otherwise they probably wouldn't. And of course, if you're a beach lover, beaches are typically closer to most areas of South GA, although IMO Atlantic beaches aren't all that great.