I'm thinking about relocating

[pinebud1111]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

As often as not, colleges are located in little, 'middle-of-nowhere' towns. So, your moving to Winona, for college, should not be raising any eyebrows. Moving off to some tiny town, to get a degree, is NORMAL/usual/routine.

I don't mean to be a thorn in your side, but Winona's not the town that has the College.

Grenada, which is twenty minutes north of Winona has the College, but it's too small a campus, I believe to have dorms.

I plan to work to afford the rent on the apartment by working as a journalist for the Winona Times, the closest newspaper to Grenada.

[pinebud1111]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

On the other hand, Grenada is much more of a growing town versus Winona and has some very nice middle class and upper class neighborhoods (roughly in the vicinity of the hospital and along Wooded Drive).

According to the Census, as well as number on this website, Grenada and Winona are apparently both Shrinking at the same rate, albeit Grenada is actually having a large net migration than Winona.

[brickpatio]

Sounds like a great plan. Carrollton to me feels sort of like Oxford if it didn't have Ole Miss. There are also some great restaurants in Greenwood, and the Alluvian Hotel. Sounds like a nice adventure for someone your age.

[pinebud1111]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

Sounds like a great plan. Carrollton to me feels sort of like Oxford if it didn't have Ole Miss.

Of course.

To me, little Carrollton, and Carroll County as a whole, besides the redneck, in the sticks, hunting crazy, open-skied farmland feel to it, truly does embody the Southern Gothic feel to it.

Elizabeth Spencer grew up outside of North Carrollton, in Teoc (second oldest place in the state of Mississippi, named in Choctaw for the unusual abundance of pine trees in what normally are hardwood upland forests),

and her book, The Voice at the Back Door, really embodies the haunting southern feel to Carroll County, especially north Carroll County, where Carrollton and North Carrollton are located.

I've always (since I was about two) found the Carroll County area, especially the quiet, rural countryside of Carroll County, definitely has the charm and appeal of rural areas up north or out west that I always would visit each year.

I really think that Carrollton, with its literary heritage, its high regard of the preservation of historic buildings, and also the wonderful feel of the Pilgrimage, really is a bite-sized combination of Holly Springs, near Oxford, Oxford itself, and Natchez.

The County has many particularly interesting historical sites that I wish that I knew how to access, and I think I'll probably be able to access them after I make a few friends in the area.

Really, at this point, with as much experience as I've had travelling to Isolated, very rural places, often with my Dad to visit a few of his papers in towns across Mississippi, like nearby Winona and Charleston, I really think I would be okay with just a DG and a gas station with diesel in my immediate vicinity and a few other businesses (like a Wal-Mart) in nearby towns.

[brickpatio]

I was thinking that writer Donna Tartt might be from Carrollton, but according to Google she was born in Greenwood and raised in Grenada. That ought to provide some inspiration to you.

I scanned some of her book reviews and they say once you start her books, it's next to impossible to put them down. Her novel "The Little Friend" is apparently set in a fictional Mississippi town, so who knows, maybe it's patterned after Carrollton. Or Water Valley....That's another charming community that seems to have stood still in time, at least until recently when people from Oxford started moving in and gentrifying the place.

[An Einnseanair]

You're talking my neck of the woods. I grew up a few miles down Hwy 82 from Winona. Winona is where we went cruisin' on Friday and Saturday nights. My nephews go to Winona High School.

Living in Grenada: A lot can be said for living near enough to campus to either walk or bike to class. No, Holmes definitely does not have dorms, but there are apartments nearby. The amount you will save on gas and vehicle wear will be substantial. Grenada's economy is more tourism-based because of that big mud-hole they call a lake (known for crappie), plus the National Guard base at Camp McCain just down the road.

Unfortunately my knowledge of Carrolton is highly biased because of personal experience. I was in a wreck there as a teen; a guy pulled right out in front of me and I wasn't able to swerve in time to miss him. Turns out he was the mentally retarded (literally, not a slur) brother to the county sheriff. So who do you think was legally at fault... the sheriff's brother, or the teenager from two counties over driving a Camaro? Also a girl I was dating was "stolen" by a redneck from Carrollton who turned out later to be a wife-beater. Not a fan of the town.

Maybe your luck with Carrollton will be better, but I warn you that images of a literary lifestyle in that part of the state may be a bit fanciful.


Back on topic, it sounds like you have a pretty good setup planned out, and your decision to live in Winona is probably the best one under the circumstances. The Winona Walmart is one of the tiny old-style rural variety and not a "Super". The nearest SuperWalmart is in Grenada just off the interstate.

I wish you the best of luck! If you love small towns, you will probably love Winona.

[pinebud1111]

Originally Posted by jwkilgore

Unfortunately my knowledge of Carrolton is highly biased because of personal experience. I was in a wreck there as a teen; a guy pulled right out in front of me and I wasn't able to swerve in time to miss him. Turns out he was the mentally retarded (literally, not a slur) brother to the county sheriff. So who do you think was legally at fault... the sheriff's brother, or the teenager from two counties over driving a Camaro? Also a girl I was dating was "stolen" by a redneck from Carrollton who turned out later to be a wife-beater. Not a fan of the town.

Maybe your luck with Carrollton will be better, but I warn you that images of a literary lifestyle in that part of the state may be a bit fanciful.

I wish you the best of luck! If you love small towns, you will probably love Winona.

I do realize that half the residents of Carrollton don't even know who Elizabeth Spencer is, let alone that she was born in Carrollton, grew up just up the road in Teoc, and her family worshiped and tithed in the Presbyterian Church in Carrollton(the only Presbyterian church in the Carrollton-North Carrollton area and largest of three in the county).

Sorry to hear about what you went through driving in the county.

I do realize that there are a few criminals living within the town's corporate limits, but I am not the most worried about Carrollton's crime, considering I'm coming from the city proper of Jackson.

I actually am not absolutely sure that Wessie Gee may have a room of Seven Gables for rent, let alone that she rents that house out as the only rental place in Carrollton that is not a farm, so the Winona plan might work out best, given that I will work for the Winona Times.

[An Einnseanair]

Originally Posted by emmerich01

I do realize that half the residents of Carrollton don't even know who Elizabeth Spencer is, let alone that she was born in Carrollton, grew up just up the road in Teoc, and her family worshiped and tithed in the Presbyterian Church in Carrollton(the only Presbyterian church in the Carrollton-North Carrollton area and largest of three in the county).

Sorry to hear about what you went through driving in the county.

The part about my personal history was just color commentary; it happened a quarter century ago.