Moving from Los Angeles to Nashville area (Franklin, Brentwood: neighborhoods, buying)

[akm4]

I hope you move to MY neighborhood! Great response.

[YallWantHam]

Originally Posted by septimus

Seriously.... My 4 year old all excited about his dinosaurs was told by other children that dinosaurs were buried by the devil to test our faith in god and my other son was told on halloween (dressed up as a dinosaur) that he was from 1 B.C. Trust me, I would have perked up at church growing up if Jesus has been riding around on a dinosaur instead of a mule.

I have lived in Tennessee my entire life and have literally never met someone that didn't believe in dinosaurs or evolution. I attended public schools in Williamson County and we were taught evolution theory starting in elementary school. I don't know where you people have all these supposed run ins.

[akm4]

Oh, it's true. Isolated, but true. I was at a dinner party a few years ago, seated near a local interior designer. I mentioned we had just been in St. Louis, and she asked if I had taken my kids to the Creation Museum on the way. I wasn't familiar with it, so I naively asked if that was a children's art museum. Haha, not exactly. While she was explaining the exhibits, I was looking for the hidden cameras, convinced I was being punked.

[devonrenee571]

I guess since we currently live about 3 miles away from the home of Scientology...I'd find it easier to explain Dinosaurs than Thetans to my daughter

[CantWait2Leave]

I just moved from L.A. two weeks ago and my husband and I LOVE it! The people are so friendly and everyone saying "ma'am and sir" is so refreshing. I've never heard anyone say those words in L.A. so it's probably been the most noticeable difference thus far. I'm constantly amazed at how polite people are here...even teens.

We are Christians and have noticed that strangers talk about church, but the culture shock hasn't been as drastic as people told me it would be. We disliked almost everything about L.A. and we wanted to be around more conservative people so that's part of the reason we came to the South. We don't want to change anything and hope it doesn't change.

[toristamps]

I moved here (we live in Franklin) in 2001 from CA (grew up in La Canada, spent 13 years of adulthood in San Diego). It's a wonderful place to live and raise children. Each area of town has its own charms and characteristics - it's all personal preference as to how you would like to live. I'm a Realtor - some of my clients chose the monster house (you can get a HUGE house for what you'd pay for a 1200sf house in LA); others chose more land; still others prefer to move up a little and relish in the lower cost of living. As for the people, it's like anywhere else - you'll have your zealots; those who are more laid back in their opinions and those whose opinions you'll never be absolutely sure of (everybody is nice... to your face). Who you surround yourself with will definitely make a difference in your experience. Personally, my husband and I have a "drama free zone" mentality.

If you'd like to chat about your upcoming move, feel free to email me.

[sliverbox]

I've been lurking on these city data sites for years. As someone who grew up in Tennessee and has since moved first to the East Coast and later the West Coast, I always find it amusing that so many of these threads are about people from the coasts wringing their hands about what its going to be like in such-and-such Southern city and what's more, they want to make sure that there will be people like themselves living there. Amusing because when I moved from the small rural town I grew up in ( Nashville to us was where all those "city slickers" lived) to the East Coast it never crossed my mind to worry about what the people would be like there. I knew there would be different people. People who didn't think or act like me. But you know what? Such is life. I've met a lot of different people, eaten a lot of different foods, gotten to meet people from all over the world. All in all it has been an educating and interesting experience. The same will be true for anyone moving to the South. The fact that different regions have their own unique characteristics is what makes this an interesting country. Learn about it. You'll find that almost all people share the same universal values.

If someone like me can freely move around and adapt to totally different areas then those who move from the coasts to the South can just as easily do the same. Even in the small rural town I grew up in there were both liberal and conservative people. Likewise the same has been true for the coasts I've lived at.

Anyway- I swear to you that we Southerners don't bite- I promise!

[avalonrose]

I'm surprised this is an issue. And frankly if people don't like the Christian talk, you can blame it on other transplanted Yanks....there's barely a native tennessean left in brentwood or franklin...full of transplants---the natives know this and have stayed out of brentwood and franklin for many years in favor of nashville, which has still preserved its southern charm. so if you're offended by the bible-thumpers in williamson county, blame it on the transplants.

[akm4]

@avalonrose-

Where in this thread did you see anyone say they were "offended by the bible-thumpers"?

As for native Tennesseans, my Franklin church is FULL of them.

One last thing. Are you really saying Nashville has retained its Southern charm, but Franklin has not, as though were some sort of charm competition?

I'm as guilty as anyone of getting off track, but let's get back to the OP's question.

[avalonrose]

What I'm saying is that the evangelical Christians that so many on this board are complaining about are not the nashville/franklin natives...those people are much more likely to be christians from the midwest...reason being that brentwood, at least, has practically NO natives left. they have left for greener pastures in nashville. you'd be hard pressed to find a native in most of brentwood and a lot of franklin. native nashvillians know this and wouldn't dream of moving out that way, because nowadays, williamson county might as well be located in cleveland. it's anytown usa and the residents + architecture that the contractors built to appeal to the mid-western aesthetic have not a whole lot in common with the flavor/architecture/lifestyle of native nashvillians. we are talking about two different worlds here. So my point is that if someone comes on here complaining about a certain Christian mindset in Williamson County, they shouldn't blame the locals.