The most perfect North Carolina town! (Charlotte, Raleigh: real estate, taxation, living in)

[luckydog]

I will add those most small towns in North Carolina would qualify as "Mayberry". They usually have some of the same quirks like the town drunk, the everyone knows your name sorta of feel to it and some residents that you just know are going to do certain things before they do them. The main difference in Mayberry or Mt. Airy is the location and cultural differences that are associated with that town. I live on the coast and Mt. Airy is in the northwestern part of the state.

hee hee totally true! A few towns even look like Mayberry... but most are minus the quaint picturesque scenery. Regardless, both types still have all the "characters" everyone knows!

[nascarnancy]

Originally Posted by i'minformed

I hear that South Carolina actually has pretty severe earthquakes. Actually, i think one of the strongest ever in America was in Charleston. Around the turn of the century.

The Charleston seismic zone is the closest seismic zone to North Carolina known to produce large, damaging earthquakes. Researchers have subdivided this regional zone into several local zones. The recurrence interval for large earthquakes in this region, such as the 1886 magnitude 6.9 (MMI X) earthquake, is uncertain. Estimates for a repeat time range from about 250 years to several thousand years. Recent research suggest that buried faults are the structures likely responsible for the infrequent large, and frequent small earthquakes in this region.

Been their and done that out here in Cali. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure being in a quake, they can be quite different. We have the rollers or waves, the one's that make your house feel like it is shifting opposite of the ground, the shakers and rattlers that feels like someone just grabs your house and gives it a good shake and then the good old jolt. Sometimes you can actually hear the quake before it hits. Sometimes you'll just be sitting their and you'll get kind of a light headed/dizzy feeling usually those are smaller ones. The last few large one's we have had have been in the early AM, it was still dark and we walked into our den and one of the lightbulbs in a lamp was glowing a wierd orange color, it was a little creepy.

[momof2boys]

I hear you, when the last one hit here in Seattle a few yrs ago (6.9, I believe), I was standing in my dining room, and I heard rumbling, and then the floor started rolling up and down. It felt like I was on water. It was so strange!

[I'minformed2]

How did I miss all of this? You'd think a quake that strong in such a major city like Seattle or LA would get some major publicity. Did it cause a lot of damage?

[Tom Deir]

Andy ! ( sniff)..we gotta nip it at the bud !!

[luckydog]

Andy ! ( sniff)..we gotta nip it at the bud !!

Barney Fife: Well, today's eight-year-olds are tomorrow's teenagers. I say this calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud. First sign of youngsters going wrong, you've got to nip it in the bud.
Andy Taylor: I'm going to have a talk with them. What else do you want me to do?
Barney Fife: Well, don't just mollycoddle them.
Andy Taylor: I won't.
Barney Fife: Nip it. You go read any book you ant on the subject of child discipline and you'll find every one of them is in favor of bud-nipping.

from "Memorable Quotes from
"The Andy Griffith Show" (1960)

[fastfilm]

I'm going to add some faux Mayberry trivia for all you genuine Mayberry fans. I live in L.A., worked in and around the entertainment biz, and can tell you that "Mayberry" on location here was a street called Orion St. in Van Nuys, Calif., whereas the ol' fishin' hole trail that Andy and Opie hiked was the Franklin Canyon Reservoir in Beverly Hills! Orion St. has, amazingly enough, retained its original character in a city that considers anything older than ten minutes to be a tear-down for an unusual reason. Its residents became used to production, which some consider an intrusion (although you are generally very, very well paid for same!) and kept allowing it in. The studios got used to filming this winding, middle-American-looking street, primarily for advertisements, and it became a cottage industry for the neighborhood. Even the kids know not to slam doors after the director shouts "Action."

[fastfilm]

The above was my happy post. The converse is that we in Van Nuys (I don't live in faux Mayberry, but in a terrible neighborhood nearby) went through the 6.9 Northridge earthquake with terrifying results. Two neighbors across the street from me were killed, power and phones (in the pre-cell phone era) were out for a week, water had to boiled for 3 weeks because the water supplies were contaminated from dust kicked up, and people were camping in the parks because their apartments had been trashed. A big eye-opener on disaster living, from a disaster with absolutely no prior warning...

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

I live in L.A., worked in and around the entertainment biz, and can tell you that "Mayberry" on location here was a street called Orion St. in Van Nuys, Calif., whereas the ol' fishin' hole trail that Andy and Opie hiked was the Franklin Canyon Reservoir in Beverly Hills! Orion St.

Learn something new each day- guess I'll watch The Andy Griffin show on tvland and it won't be the same (LOL)

[ilovethesouth]

I am looking into moving to Wilmington NC in the next year any feedback on this area? schools? housing costs? any info will be greatly appriciated.