Best Part Of Rural Indiana To Live?

[Grandma(in waiting)]

That is a pretty area. The closest larger town is Crawfordsville, which (according to Sperling's web site) has a higher than state average unemployment rate with a negative jobs growth outlook. That's not to say there are no jobs there, they just may be more difficult to find. Terre Haute is about an hour south. Indy is about an hour, hour and a half away.

[loblolly2]

We live in NE Indiana (Noble County - 30 minutes south of 80). There are 2 hospitals here and we're 30-40 minutes from Fort Wayne where there are several big hospitals and lots of work for that type of career.

I've posted in another thread that I like it here. We have cold winters but you'd laugh over them coming from the plains. Ours are "just right" IMHO...they could be worse -that's for sure (my friend in upstate NY says they've already have a couple of feet of snow while we've had maybe 6 inches)...but we get just enough snow to make it seem like winter, but not usually so much that life is unbearable. The seasons vary and it keeps life interesting .

It's cheap here to live. Coincidentally, we have a rental and it's hard to find good renters because most people who can afford rent just buy a place. We are on a farm too so we have to be wary of some people who want to be outside of town to be under the radar - if you know what I mean.
I have a friend whose husband is a physician and he specifically came to work here because it's cheaper to live and we have a thriving medical community with some very nice new hospitals.

I highly suggest you check out the areas north of Fort Wayne (more lakes than down south) but south of I80....Dekalb, Noble, Lagrange to be specific.

Good luck!!

[ChickeyDuck]

Beautiful and Scenic:

1. old st rd 64 heading East ~ I love this route!
2. 56 from Haysville to French Lick
3. 145 the French Lick area
4. st rd 37 from Bedford to I64 (sorry didn't go any further down to Tell City, but I am sure it's just as beautiful :-)
5. 135 heading South to Corydon
6. 162 in Spencer County
7. 150

Some of the area's I can remember :-)

I was thinking...hmmm...wouldn't it be nice to have a house in this secluded rural area .. all the tree's and silence of the country...then I thought naaaaa...I have watched to many horror flicks, so I would be scared to death...LOL! But it sure is beautiful to drive around :-)

[HoosierRN]

Originally Posted by cdr18

The only Amish in Indiana are mainly concentrated in Elkhart and LaGrange counties. With some scattered here and there around this area. It is a very sizable Amish population here as well (I think 3rd largest in the country??)

Adams county in Indiana has a HUGE Amish population too.

Berne, Indiana, Old Order Amish Settlement — GAMEO

These Amish are the Old Order Amish! They don't even have covered buggies. Very, very conservative!

As for the difference between Northern Indiana and Southern Indiana, another poster pretty much hit it on the head. I am from Evansville originally, and now live near Fort Wayne. It is much prettier in the southern part of the state. If I had my choice though, I would head to Madison, IN. Absolutely gorgeous!

One benefit no matter where you live in Indiana is the reasonable cost of living!

Best wishes for wherever you choose to settle in the Hoosier state.

[Chicoan]

I think you should look at Knightstown, perhaps.

[emtfingers]

I grew up in northern Indiana, lived in central Indiana and now am experiencing southern Indiana - Evansville area. Lots to do here and primary on the list is mild winters. We are in the process of moving to southeast Indiana - Louisville area. We will be in a small college town in Indiana, 35 miles from Louisville, 60 miles from Cincinnati, little bit of winter but certainly not brutal winters and small town living provides a cost break from the high cost of living in the big cities. We experienced 10+ years of brutal northern Wisconsin winters so this southern Indiana living is a cake-walk!!

[rxpwas]

Originally Posted by xWNYer

My family & I are interested in a possible relocation to Indiana. We currently live in the Upper Great Plains with long, brutally cold winters (-20 to -35 w/o windchill ) with an occasional blizzard or two and very short summers. I've traveled through northern Indiana a number of times on I-80/90. I'm interested in a rural area of the state to live in. I would like to be within a 30-45 minute drive to a large town/city for shopping & work. My wife and I like the outdoors (walks, sight seeing, finding antique shops, fishing) and my kids like to swim and bike ride. I'm looking to keep my life simple and cheap. I'm interested in (most likely renting) a small house or a mobile home (not in a mobile home park). As far as jobs, my wife works in the healthcare field and I have done both technical & non-technical work (truck driver, forklift driver, lab tech & environmental scientist). Any help would be appreciated.

In my opinion, somewhere with 40 minutes or so of Louisville would be to your liking. The weather is SOMEWHAT milder and less bitterly cold and less snowy than anywhere else in Indiana. Seems like there is even a hint of the South (both in vegetation, accents, and lifestyles) in that part of Indiana. Going north from Louisville, for about 2 counties (at least up to about Scottsburg or Salem) I hardly feel like I've left Ky., except for the road signs. Seems like around Seymour, John Cougar Mellencamps hometown, it starts to really feel like the North (or at least the Midwest), not as much south of there, a whole lot to the north of there. Anyway, you have city living (might as well say you are in Louisville) in Jeffersonville, Clarksville, Sellersburg, and New Albany. You get a little away from the immediate Louisville metro (Henryville and Scottsburg and Salem area to north, Corydon to the west, etc.) starts to get very rural and quaint, but to me, that ain't a bad thing.

[ldavies]

Originally Posted by HoosierRN

Adams county in Indiana has a HUGE Amish population too.

Berne, Indiana, Old Order Amish Settlement — GAMEO

These Amish are the Old Order Amish! They don't even have covered buggies. Very, very conservative!

I live in Berne and I am an Amish driver. I have to dissagree with a few points in the article that link leads to. First, there are some Amish in this area that have buggies with tops. Each Amish church decides if their congrigation is allowed certain things or not. The Amish churches in northern Adams County do allow the covered buggies. Second, In that article it states "Amishville, a tourist attraction, owned and operated by "outsiders " and located five miles southeast of Berne, has been an annoyance to many Amish families by its invasion of an otherwise peaceful, rural community." I know many, if not most, of the Amish families due to being an Amish driver and I have not met any Amish yet that consider Amishville an annoyance. Quite the contrary. Many have stated they like the fact that the "English" (not "outsider" as the article put it) can go there and take pictures there of the buildings and the people that work there rather than driving past their homes and stopping to take pictures. Imagine if someone pulled up in front of your house and stated taking pictures, especially if your kids are out playing.

That is about it... I just felt I should point these 2 things out due to my own personal experiences with living in this area.