Are there still tight-knit rural towns out there where everyone knows everyone?
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You will be an outsider in all the "tightly knit" small towns. All the locals born there as well as the old families will see you with distrust or as a money-chicken that walked in ready for plucking. It is just reality, I don't blame them - many a small and nice town got ruined by idiots coming in from the outside wanting to change it, build it, sell the land off in chunks and so on.
You will be an outsider in all the "tightly knit" small towns. All the locals born there as well as the old families will see you with distrust or as a money-chicken that walked in ready for plucking. It is just reality, I don't blame them - many a small and nice town got ruined by idiots coming in from the outside wanting to change it, build it, sell the land off in chunks and so on.
Or as many who've moved here say, "We love this little town but these things have to change to make us happy".
I remember visiting Mapleton, Oregon. Nice little town on the Siuslaw River. Pretty country. I didn't stay, but I bought a copy of the small local paper. In it was an obituary. The deceased had moved to Mapleton as a young man, played on the high school football team, graduated from the Mapleton high school, and married his high school sweetheart, a cheerleader. Many years later, he died. The bottom line: he was not from Mapleton. He was an outsider.
I remember visiting Mapleton, Oregon. Nice little town on the Siuslaw River. Pretty country. I didn't stay, but I bought a copy of the small local paper. In it was an obituary. The deceased had moved to Mapleton as a young man, played on the high school football team, graduated from the Mapleton high school, and married his high school sweetheart, a cheerleader. Many years later, he died. The bottom line: he was not from Mapleton. He was an outsider.
Yeah, if that was the norm, it would be all good. The norm is something like this: sleepy town gets discovered, wealthy 2nd homers move in, start building homes, they love the nature but want access so they need more asphalt. More people come, they need services 'cause you know, the little piece of paradise would be even better if you had a public library, a coffee shop, restaurants and a grocery store. More people start coming and they now need stop lights. By this time the town is big enough to have a town council and its own marshal, at which point the decision is made for the town to start instituting codes and rules and start instituting taxes. The someone says that wells are a bad idea and everyone should be on city water, the school needs expanding, more taxes to build the softball field that we absolutely need. More people come..... By this time the price of an acre went from $1,000 to $15,000 and you can't fart without violating some code. At this point the "old timers" are selling their properties/farms/ranches since the property taxes are sky high and let's face it, at $15K/acre they can sell their few hundred acres here and move somewhere rural again to have a ranch 8 x the size and have money left over. The newcomers face high property taxes and steep house prices that ban everyone but the rich.
"Close knit" has no meaning, if it ever had, you are on your own, big or small. Close knit as in a community you can rely on for some things, Mexico should have a couple of those or maybe not. USA, I dont think so. One only could wonder about human deserts people grew up in, if small meaningless polite gestures are interpreted as ground shattering culture rifts.
Yeah, if that was the norm, it would be all good. The norm is something like this: sleepy town gets discovered, wealthy 2nd homers move in, start building homes, they love the nature but want access so they need more asphalt. More people come, they need services 'cause you know, the little piece of paradise would be even better if you had a public library, a coffee shop, restaurants and a grocery store. More people start coming and they now need stop lights. By this time the town is big enough to have a town council and its own marshal, at which point the decision is made for the town to start instituting codes and rules and start instituting taxes. The someone says that wells are a bad idea and everyone should be on city water, the school needs expanding, more taxes to build the softball field that we absolutely need. More people come..... By this time the price of an acre went from $1,000 to $15,000 and you can't fart without violating some code. At this point the "old timers" are selling their properties/farms/ranches since the property taxes are sky high and let's face it, at $15K/acre they can sell their few hundred acres here and move somewhere rural again to have a ranch 8 x the size and have money left over. The newcomers face high property taxes and steep house prices that ban everyone but the rich.
Rinse and repeat. True story, lived it.
You're absolutely right about this, especially if a small town or particular area get's "discovered" and starts showing up on lists of "best retirement towns", etc. in "money' magazines.
I remember visiting Mapleton, Oregon. Nice little town on the Siuslaw River. Pretty country. I didn't stay, but I bought a copy of the small local paper. In it was an obituary. The deceased had moved to Mapleton as a young man, played on the high school football team, graduated from the Mapleton high school, and married his high school sweetheart, a cheerleader. Many years later, he died. The bottom line: he was not from Mapleton. He was an outsider.
I'm not quite sure how this obituary showed that Mapleton thought he was an outsider. All obituaries tell where the person was born and any major moves. Also, the family is the one that writes the obits.
Not saying that many people don't feel this way when they move to a small town, but this isn't exactly proof that all small towns (or even Mapleton) feel this way.
I'm not quite sure how this obituary showed that Mapleton thought he was an outsider.
It's been awhile, I can't quote it anymore. It was just the tone I got from reading it.
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