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Hello, my husband posted this question for me and I appreciate all of your responses. Are there areas that anyone knows of that aren't so dominated by so many Northerners moving in and all of the related problems where people are still friendly to Northerners and COL and schools are decent? Are you really having to just stay inside in the a/c all summer? I heard that you can't swim in the lakes.
I will definitely miss our families, although depending on where we go, we may have some of them follow. I really love the aspects of the South like the hospitality (I do always wonder if it's really genuine or just on the surface or a formality), the laid back and slower lifestyle and the Southern culture. I don't know how we'd feel once we got down there, but I'm trying to get as much of an idea beforehand to prepare. I don't hate upstate NY, but we have an impression that the lifestyle down South would be a lot better for us. The weather for one, really is hard to get through with winter being so long and so lack of sunshine. We're hoping to go visit some areas this spring. Thanks so much for all of your info
Well, I'm from NY and I currently live in SC. I HATE IT. If I could remove the cold, bitter winter from NY I'd move home in a snap. With my neurological pain and asthma issues brought on by the cold, unfortunately, that won't be happening.
The food prices are very high here. Produce prices are outrageous, and some things you are accustomed to finding easily, you can't even find.
The local governments are very corrupt. This includes the police, who get arrested daily here for all kinds of things including public nudity; the mayors who get multiple arrests for DUI, etc.
The schools are horrid. You won't see education anywhere close to what you're used to if you live in the Hudson Valley. (can't speak for anywhere else in NY, I don't know anything about the education there)
Race is definitely an issue, unfortunately.
There is absolutely no culture here. No decent museums, no true ethnic areas, etc.
Where I am in SC (Myrtle Beach area) there is nothing to do outside of toursity stuff. And golf.
Bugs/mosquitos the size of mini airplanes. NY cockroaches have nothing on the ones down here (I never even saw a cockroach til I moved here!!). They have their own names. Palmetto bugs.
3 summers ago we hit 115. Was brutal!! Someone I worked with died due to heat exhaustion that week.
I could go on, but I want to watch the last 5 mins of the Olympic hockey game
NY isn't perfect and neither is SC, FL, GA, NC or any other state. I it's pointless IMO to try to compare NY to any other state and vice versa. Life is what you make of it and if a person is truly unhappy with where they live, grab a map and find another state to venture to.
Well, I'm from NY and I currently live in SC. I HATE IT. If I could remove the cold, bitter winter from NY I'd move home in a snap. With my neurological pain and asthma issues brought on by the cold, unfortunately, that won't be happening.
The food prices are very high here. Produce prices are outrageous, and some things you are accustomed to finding easily, you can't even find.
The local governments are very corrupt. This includes the police, who get arrested daily here for all kinds of things including public nudity; the mayors who get multiple arrests for DUI, etc.
The schools are horrid. You won't see education anywhere close to what you're used to if you live in the Hudson Valley. (can't speak for anywhere else in NY, I don't know anything about the education there)
Race is definitely an issue, unfortunately.
There is absolutely no culture here. No decent museums, no true ethnic areas, etc.
Where I am in SC (Myrtle Beach area) there is nothing to do outside of toursity stuff. And golf.
Bugs/mosquitos the size of mini airplanes. NY cockroaches have nothing on the ones down here (I never even saw a cockroach til I moved here!!). They have their own names. Palmetto bugs.
3 summers ago we hit 115. Was brutal!! Someone I worked with died due to heat exhaustion that week.
I could go on, but I want to watch the last 5 mins of the Olympic hockey game
Actually, the first 4 points you made reminded me of the Schenectady area.
I agree about the heat in the south though...I could never live there. I'd rather have comfortable summers than comfortable winters. You can always throw on more clothes when it's cold.
Well, I'm from NY and I currently live in SC. I HATE IT.
Why did you move there if you hate it so much? My wife and I spent four days in the Raleigh/Durham with friends who had located there from NYC. We visited them because we wanted to see if R/D would be a good fit for us. After further researching, we decided that R/D isn't a good fit for us. We will be visiting New Mexico @ the end of the month to visit family members and again see if NM is a good fit. I've done enough online searching of NM and now its time to make a visit.
I moved with my Fiancee about a year ago to Chattanooga, TN from up north and we love it. It has a small town feel in a larger city, and so close to many other great cities.It's less than two hours to get to Atlanta,Knoxville,Nashville,Birmingham and more. The cities downtown is beautiful, The mountains are great. The winters are mild and the summers are nice. Alot of outdoor stuff to do. Love Chattanooga
Since you asked about decent schools I'm assuming that you have at least one school age child and so are most likely not retiring but would still need employment, which generally means being within commuting distance of a larger town or city so that would rule out some places.
I grew up on LI, went to college in Plattsburgh and then moved to the SF Bay area and spent my working years there. I retired to this rural area in Sw Virginia four years ago and am very happy here. Since I am up in the Blue Ridge mountains the summer temps are a bit more moderate then further south or toward the coast. I do not use the A/C much in the summer, just enough, maybe two hours, to cool things down a bit on some afternoons. This year we have had an unusually large amount of snowfall (but still not quite as bad as P-burgh was) and last year we had just one significant storm on March 1 but the snow was all gone in less than a week. Overnight lows do drop below freezing most nights of the winter but rise above freezing many afternoons.
The friendliness of most people in this rural community is genuine and you get back what you give. If you come off with a superior attitude and are constantly commenting and comparing the new to the old you won't be much liked. People feel "if it was so great why did you leave?" If you make a move you have to start thinking of the new place as home and not be saying "Well, back home we had, or it was....."
As someone else suggested consider places with good sized colleges nearby but not the really "trendy" places like Asheville, the Triangle of NC etc.
I hope you'll find this info a little useful. If you have more questions just ask.
This year we have had an unusually large amount of snowfall (but still not quite as bad as P-burgh was)...
For the record, we've had hardly any snow in Plattsburgh this year. And rain or warmth melted it off. Been barren brown ground much of the winter here.
Sorry To reply because the question was not meant for me but i would like to answer the lake questions. I live in Oxford, Alabama (half way between Birmingham and Atlanta on I-20) I have never heard of a lake that you could not swim in that is a rumor that started due to the fact that our "good friends" at Mon santo decided to dump PCB's in a few lakes around the area. These lakes started to be called poisened lakes due to the fact that you should not eat any fish harvested from them. There is no danger to humans swimming though. The PCB's are vey heavy and sink under the top strata layer of the lake bed. Unfortunatly cray fish and other bottom dwellers do send the PCB's on a trip up the food chain when the become prey. These lakes are few but they do exist. As long as your not eating fish from them you are fine. The EPA web site lists all contaminated lakes though if you are still concerned.
That might be tough, as quite a few Northerners are moving to the South. You are almost better off moving to a smaller city or town, if that is the case.
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Just a small word of caution from a native Southerner (Please dont take this the wrong way, it isnt meant to be offensive):
Be careful which small town you pick down here. There are some that are friendly enough, then there are those that are outright clannish. NOT ALL small towns are this way, but they do exist. Ive been in alot of these little towns with a Yankee friend of mine, and the difference in how they treat me and how they treat him is surprising. Meaning that if they hear your accent or find you're a Yankee, you'll get either one of two reactions:
Politeness, but socially (as in going out, dinners, BBQ's, etc) they wont give you the time of day.
Or simply an outright cut-direct.
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