Laurel-Indianas best kept secret?? (Indianapolis, Bloomington: how much, house, neighborhoods)

[discontented lot owner]

I remember a few months ago I was talking to some hoosiers in northen Florida, and they were telling me how great Laurel, Indiana is if you like to live in a safe, clean, decent, and friendly town. They said the folks were very warm, and just plain nice. Lots of fishing and hunting and pretty hills and mountains. The land was very reasonalble, and so were the taxes along with providing top law enforcement, and great schools. A great place to raise a liberal family. Is this TRUE???

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by discontented lot owner

I remember a few months ago I was talking to some hoosiers in northen Florida, and they were telling me how great Laurel, Indiana is if you like to live in a safe, clean, decent, and friendly town. They said the folks were very warm, and just plain nice. Lots of fishing and hunting and pretty hills and mountains. The land was very reasonalble, and so were the taxes along with providing top law enforcement, and great schools. A great place to raise a liberal family. Is this TRUE???

Never heard of the place, but it is in a very pretty area of the state. The Brookville reservoir is close by ... less than 600 folks. 1 high school for the entire county ... could be good. I'd visit.

[discontented lot owner]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Never heard of the place, but it is in a very pretty area of the state. The Brookville reservoir is close by ... less than 600 folks. 1 high school for the entire county ... could be good. I'd visit.

I remember when talking about Laurel a place named Alpine was also mentioned (described as a very very small neat friendly place) I wonder if it is mountainous with tall evergreeens? I bet you that it would look grat covered in snow. As a mater of fact they they nicknamed the two towns (Laurel & Alpine) as L. A. I guess that I will have go go visit my newly discovered L. A. ( and I dont mean California

[rrah]

We have some beautiful hills in Southern Indiana, but there aren't any mountains, pine covered or otherwise, here.

[discontented lot owner]

I might escape this upcoming Florida Hellish bummer summer and check out the hills up in Indiana. We have some Pines and rolling hills in northern Florida but the trees look so puney

[Brytanica1]

Originally Posted by discontented lot owner

I remember a few months ago I was talking to some hoosiers in northen Florida, and they were telling me how great Laurel, Indiana is if you like to live in a safe, clean, decent, and friendly town. They said the folks were very warm, and just plain nice. Lots of fishing and hunting and pretty hills and mountains. The land was very reasonalble, and so were the taxes along with providing top law enforcement, and great schools. A great place to raise a liberal family. Is this TRUE???

I have no idea how long ago this thread was started, and I only registered because I felt a kind of moral obligation to post.

I stumbled upon this by doing a Google search to show a friend of mine where Laurel was, and see if there was any online information regarding it, as he is constantly amused by my stories of where I grew up. Yes, I grew up in Laurel Indiana.

And the 2nd or third thing to pop up on Google was this thread. So here I am.

Laurel is quite possibly the worst place on the planet if you wanted to raise a liberal family. I seriously cannot even begin to convey to you how bad of an idea that would be.

[Tchart82]

This area would be best termed more ultra conservative in nature. Would not be the place for an individual of liberal thought processes. There definitely are no mountains in Indiana anywhere. It is a relatively hilly area with several areas for fishing and outdoor activities.

[HamiltonFamilyinIndiana]

I have to laugh when I read that Laurel, Indiana is such a wonderful little town where everyone is so friendly. My husband is from Laurel, he was home sick so we moved to Laurel, and I have hated it!!! We have bought a house as far away from Laurel as possible. This is a little town that is infested with every kind of drug you can find. Just this past year at least 11 people have died from a drug over dose. 11 people!!! The law enforcement is something to laugh at. They are more interested in pulling people over for not using a turn signal then they are about getting the drugs out of our childrens hands. I will not be raising my child there. I really hope that those of you who think Laurel is this great little town that everyone should live in, will stand up and get the "low lifes" out of the town. Maybe then Laurel will be something to be proud of.

[dumpstermcnuggets]

I think I'm somewhat obligated to chime in on this thread, since I've done quite a few travels to this area in recent years, and knowing what this region of east-central Indiana is generally like. Not to mention, thanks to the fact my brother goes to Earlham College, I've had several trips through Richmond, Liberty(IN), and Connersville, albeit that I've never traveled to Laurel before(or lol, even heard of it!). As for the conservatism, so what about that? LOL, almost anywhere you'll go to in Indiana is conservative(with the exceptions of Bloomington and Indianapolis), so all it is, in the end, is a matter of tuning out any conservativism you hear from people!

I have to say, I was pretty floored, when I discovered after looking Laurel up on a map, that it was so close to Connersville! Anyway, what I was gonna say is that pretty much most of the whole east-central Indiana region, including Richmond(arguably the economic and business center of this region, with Connersville being the 2nd most populous community in the area, and right behind in economic importance to this area), is economically troubled, so I'd advise anyone looking into living in this area to carefully investigate the area you're considering moving into, before moving there. I also know too that Connersville is all but about to be hurt to some degree economically, due to the fact that the most major factory in that city either recently closed, or is about to close up for good.

At the same time, I'm also NOT trying to say at all that you should never consider moving to Laurel, I would just do more careful research into that town, before moving into it. That also includes not believing just any random thing you read about Laurel online, and more than likely to plan a trip to that community, before going any further with moving into that community. Not to mention, I'm inclined to not take any sorta position into believing whether Laurel is a nice or bad town, especially since I don't know much about what the local culture of that town is like.

Finally, I'd probably say that if you're looking into moving anywhere within east-central Indiana, I'd probably most recommend looking into communities within Wayne County, Indiana, or neighborhoods within the city of Richmond. I'll personally say that I really loved the Reeveston(?, not sure the exact name of this neighborhood, but I think it's called that) neighborhood of Richmond the most, especially since it reminded me of some of the nicest residential neighborhoods I've explored in Chicago. The Reeveston neighborhood, btw, is just east of downtown Richmond, and bordered by roughly 17th St. on the west, Reeveston Rd. on the south, 23rd St. on the east, and Main St.(also US 40) on the north.

If you're looking into moving to a small town, I think Centerville arguably is the best small town within Wayne County, due to the fact that you're very close to a small strip of shops + restaurants on the west side of town(i.e. Kmart, CVS, El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant, to name some examples). Not to mention, there's an amazing amount of shopping, big box chains, chain restaurants, etc. on the eastern side of town, along the US 40/Main St./National Rd. corridor(i.e. Hastings, a 10-screen 1st run theater and a 9-screen 2nd run theater, a shopping mall w/a Dillard's + JCPenney, to name some examples). A Starbucks and Kohl's even just opened in this corridor, to give an idea how much this corridor continues to be very economically viable, and always has surprised me each time I go to Richmond. Finally, you might also wanna check the small towns of Hagerstown(along IN Hwy 38), Cambridge City, and Dublin out(latter 2 are along US 40/National Rd.), if you want a quieter town. Good luck in your search for a city neighborhood and/or small town that fits your needs the most!

[b2005miller]

I wouldn't reccomend Laurel for anyone to move to, Connersville either. I grew up there and all they are about is drugs and alcohol. The school is not that great either. There they are a little less educated and more hillbillyish per say. I lived in the country part and even there I saw parties and drugs being sold first hand. If your looking for a place near Laurel I would suggest Matemora. It is a layed back town sort of in between Laurel and Brookville. You can get all the nature, landscape, etc. from there without the drugs.