Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Mississippi
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-21-2014, 02:20 PM
 
56 posts, read 114,259 times
Reputation: 24

Advertisements

Hi all,

We are looking into a possible move to Hattiesburg. We are a British family, moved to Ohio last year but thinking about moving on. My husband is interested in a teaching position at Southern Mississippi University, I am a teacher, my daughter and son would attend the University.

I have read some posts about 'strangers' not being accepted too well, is that the case? We are non religious so is meeting people hard?

What are good areas to live around the University? here in Ohio we have a home on 9 acres, are there rural areas around?

We really struggle food wise here, the food seems very bland, is it different there?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated on this!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-21-2014, 02:36 PM
 
Location: NE Mississippi
25,382 posts, read 17,049,978 times
Reputation: 37037
My experience is, Brits are expected to be a little different, so they are accepted instantly. The "breath of fresh air" sort of thing.
With my Southern accent, I think would have a harder time fitting in than you in that I am expected to have family around somewhere, or be related to someone known or something like that.

They'll greet you as if you were Martians!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-21-2014, 03:11 PM
 
56 posts, read 114,259 times
Reputation: 24
lol!! martians!!
I LOVE the Southern accent, and apparently ours seems fairly popular here too!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-21-2014, 03:35 PM
 
1,098 posts, read 3,097,974 times
Reputation: 1065
Go onto Google Maps and look up Canebrake, a few miles west of Hattiesburg on Hwy 98. This is not rural but very scenic with dense forests of towering pines, lakes, and golf courses. There are similar residential developments nearby, including Lake Serene. Otherwise for purely rural areas, pretty much everything around there is rural and heavily wooded. You could look along the road that runs north from Canebrake up to the tiny community of Sumrall for large lots. As far as friendliness, Hattiesburg is a growing area and considered modern and welcoming. You're also an easy drive to New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Florida.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-24-2014, 02:34 PM
 
56 posts, read 114,259 times
Reputation: 24
Thank you so much for the info, are there many rental homes available? There are very few up here in Ohio, it would be ideal to rent for a while and find our feet a little.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-27-2014, 05:58 PM
 
1,188 posts, read 1,400,894 times
Reputation: 595
Hattiesburg is a transient town, so you could find some rental homes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-28-2014, 02:51 PM
 
1,289 posts, read 1,862,024 times
Reputation: 2831
There are tons of housing options in/around Hattiesburg. Find an older realtor who has been in the bidness a long time and has listings all over the area.

As you know, Americans love Brits, so you will be very popular. Other than home grown whites and blacks, there isn't much diversity in Mississippi, so you will be a breath of fresh air.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-28-2014, 10:57 PM
 
Location: PNW, CPSouth, JacksonHole, Southampton
3,731 posts, read 5,731,904 times
Reputation: 15079
If you are actual, real Brits, you will LOVE Hattiesburg. People there are not nearly as mean and crazy as they are in places like Jackson and Columbus. In fact, I consider Hattiesburg to to be the most fun city in the state.

I knew someone once, whose high school class cleaned their town's football stadium after games, in order to earn money for a class trip to Europe. She said that what you'd find littering the stadium would tell you who'd played. "Ole Miss: Bourbon and Cigarettes. Mississippi State: Beer and Skoal (a kind of Spitting Tobacco). Jackson State: Fried Chicken and Pampers (disposable diapers - 'nappies' to you...). Southern: A mixture of everything."

I knew someone else who had been Rush Chairwoman at Ole Miss (a far more important personage in the Mississippi Microcosm than the Governor, the President, the Pope...). 'Rush' is when sororities decide who's good enough to be in them, and compete for a few of the best girls. 'Ole Miss' is Mississippi's "Society University", and a world unto itself. Anyway, she said that in her sorority (the very best one... which, if Mississippi were India, would make her a Brahmin), and among the girls she knew from other sororities, the girls from around Hattiesburg were "All so eccentric... and each eccentric in a different way... but fun, neat eccentric: not bad, destructive eccentric."

What I just said in those two paragraphs is that there is a lot more individualism and free-thinking in Hattiesburg than you'll find in other cities in the state. Minds are more open, and people are waaaaaay more prone to experiment.

Someone else told me that "Those woods are full of Lesbians". I asked him to clarify, because I thought he was just referring to 'Camp Sister Spirit' (Q33 Lesbians Stand Their Ground In Mississippi (1994) - YouTube). But apparently, certain traditions run deep in the area, and South Mississippi's individualism includes a tacit acceptance of divergent lifestyles.

In any event, Hattiesburg is as different from the surrounding countryside as Budapest is from the rest of Hungary. It is very cosmopolitan. And it's a very flashy town, with fancy cars, fancy houses... Decorating is lavish, and there is probably more Colefax & Fowler sold in Hattiesburg than in similar-sized towns in England... and more Spode, Wedgewood, and Waterford, too. People have great bodies, and show them off at pool parties. There are plenty of gyms, lots of personal trainers, and endless opportunities for tennis, running, boating...

People in Hattiesburg have wild affairs, and tend to be much more 'European' about it than in morality-obsessed Jackson, where things can get really ugly. It's not unusual for someone to move from Jackson, where they've maintained a very paranoid, guarded, artificial persona, and blossom - feel free to discover their 'real self' in Hattiesburg: http://www.troyphillipsphotography.c...r_PaulT_sm.jpg (and that's hardly the only such story)

The climate is one step away from the 'Rain Forest' designation. It's extremely hot and humid, five months of the year. But October through April are very pleasant. Flowers bloom year-round, if you plan right, and there will not be any month without some days that are warm enough for shorts and polo shirts. People show a lot of skin, but wear expensive skimpy clothes, and have tons of expensive sandals, sunglasses...

Very much like Madison, Mississippi (before the miserable Jackson Crazies started moving in), Hattiesburg is full of mavericks, living on wooded estates, doing whatever they want. Lots of people have serious money - private jet money - and are not paranoid about conforming to restrictive "standards of taste and class", the way that they are in many other places.

The University District is beautiful and shady, with the sort of human landscape one hopes for in a University Town.

Oh... and the restaurants in Hattiesburg tend to be really nice: tabella and Purple Parrot Cafe | and Causal Family Restaurant Hattiesburg & Laurel, MS | Off Site Catering At Cotton Blues and Crescent City Grill | and Branch Cocktail Bar |
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-30-2014, 01:20 PM
 
56 posts, read 114,259 times
Reputation: 24
Thank you so much for the replies, yeas we are 'real' Brits, we only moved here from southern England last year, we were all born there and have never lived anywhere else until now. are there not 'real' Brits then?
We are going to head down to have a look around over the university spring break, so we can have a look, meet some people and get the 'vibe' of the place. From the sounds of it we will love it! I am certainly hoping so.

What is the general cost of living like?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-30-2014, 02:24 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
17,657 posts, read 13,497,203 times
Reputation: 17594
The campus at Southern has a real unassuming feel to it. It isn't spectacular by any stretch. Just comfortable. The students seem just like regular kids you'd find anywhere in the south and not so much like the sorority and fraternity types you find at the SEC schools.

The city seems pretty normal. Growing rapidly to the west of the interstate. Less university "presence" in Hattiesburg in that USM is just part of the mix of things going on.

The main thing people haven't brought up is access to the gulf coast and New Orleans for entertainment.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Mississippi

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top