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There are many places in SC where a Southern lifestyle is no longer in jeopardy, but rather irretrievably lost. I can understand why that is of little significance to you, but for those of us who have lived on both sides, the change is not necessarily a positive or welcome one. In my neighborhood, approximately 70% +/- of the residents were originally from north of the MD line. It's fairly typical for this region. I challenge you to find anywhere in NY state where Southern-born residents make up anything close to 5-10% of the population. For you to draw an analogy between the cultural impact of the northern migration to SC and a perceived Southern migration to NY is utterly ludicrous.
You came down here for a short time, couldn't hack it and went home. That's fine, but ever since, you have whined and belittled the South. I cannot imagine why you think your experience made you an expert on the Southern psyche.
Well actually it used to be vice versa. Many Southerners especially North Carolinians, flocked to the North for jobs, you know when the USA used to actually make and produce goods. The steel, auto, and rubber factories were full of Southerners. As the plants shut down, or people retired, and the jobs disappeared, the migration North stopped. However, my deceased husband was a born and raised Charlottean, and chose to move to Ohio, for various reasons, he loved it and stayed till he passed. I moved back down here to be by what family I had left....my son. I will always live by my child even if it is Alaska. So COL and weather is not the only reason people left "home". And yes I miss home, I miss the wonderful midwest farm communites, the fabulous foods, and my friends...but my love for my child outweighs all that. I've made my niche here, I am happy enough, I still miss home and always will....most people do, no matter where they grew up and now live. However, I will give you this, I don't think I could ever go back and live in that climate again...especially after this last winter in the Midwest and NE USA. My point is, one can grow up in the South and move somewhere else in the South, but bottom dollar? Most likely they'll miss their original home as well. It works all ways, North to North, North to South, South to North and South to South...home can never really be replaced. It can be "improved" on, but not replaced. It would behoove us all to remember we ALL own this country, every bit of it, no one owns any particular region as all their own.
Well actually it used to be vice versa. Many Southerners especially North Carolinians, flocked to the North for jobs, you know when the USA used to actually make and produce goods. The steel, auto, and rubber factories were full of Southerners. As the plants shut down, or people retired, and the jobs disappeared, the migration North stopped. However, my deceased husband was a born and raised Charlottean, and chose to move to Ohio, for various reasons, he loved it and stayed till he passed. I moved back down here to be by what family I had left....my son. I will always live by my child even if it is Alaska. So COL and weather is not the only reason people left "home". And yes I miss home, I miss the wonderful midwest farm communites, the fabulous foods, and my friends...but my love for my child outweighs all that. I've made my niche here, I am happy enough, I still miss home and always will....most people do, no matter where they grew up and now live. However, I will give you this, I don't think I could ever go back and live in that climate again...especially after this last winter in the Midwest and NE USA. My point is, one can grow up in the South and move somewhere else in the South, but bottom dollar? Most likely they'll miss their original home as well. It works all ways, North to North, North to South, South to North and South to South...home can never really be replaced. It can be "improved" on, but not replaced. It would behoove us all to remember we ALL own this country, every bit of it, no one owns any particular region as all their own.
Excellent point. I have posted elsewhere on these forums where I have seen discussions on how many Northerners are moving South that many of them, or at least the ones from the Midwest manufacturing states, are simply returning to their own Southern roots.
I worked recently as a home hospice nurse in the Detroit metro area. It was while visiting people's homes in the suburbs of Detroit, primarily the southern suburbs and Ypsilanti, that I discovered an interesting phenomenon, namely, that more often than not, my patients over a certain age were overwhelmingly of Southern descent and had migrated to Michigan in the 1940s-50s looking for higher paying jobs in the factories. There are actually entire suburbs of Detroit that have a very, very strong Southern influence and are populated by Southerners and their descendents to a very large degree. Then there is the Great Migration (google it if you're not familiar with it) in which millions of Southern blacks came north looking for better work opportunities as well. Before the manufacturing boom years of the early to mid-20th century, there really weren't many blacks in cities like Chicago or Detroit yet. It was the Great Migration that brought blacks to the North to work in the factories and gave Northern cities their characteristic "black surrounded by a ring of white" demographics that we see today, since, sadly, blacks were still discriminated against in the North and the phenomon of "white flight" to the suburbs took place.
My own in-laws migrated to the North back in 1955 for a job and stayed, raising my husband and his brother in Toledo, OH. They (my in-laws) never lost their Southern roots or way of doing things, and I love that about them. However, they still live in the North and will no doubt die here, same as my hospice patients. Places like Ohio and Michigan became home to them.
Of course, the crux of this whole thing is, the people who migrated from South to North back in the day weren't wealthy retirees with a lot of time on their hands and a firm idea of how things "should be" and how "we did it up North". They were working class people who quickly acclimated and blended into their new communities. I think that if more of today's Northern transplants were willing or able to do that, Southerners wouldn't feel such animosity towards some of them.
My husband wants to move "back to his roots" and relocate to an outerlying part of the Atlanta metro in a couple of years. Being that he is one generation removed from being a Southerner and we are the type to acclimate and actually love everything about Southern culture and would go out of our way to fit in and not make waves, I am really hoping and praying that we will be accepted by our neighbors when we move, although, based on what I am reading here on C-D everyday, all of our new neighbors will probably be transplants anyway.
So, if it helps, remember that many of the Northerners who are moving South right now, or at least those from the manufacturing states of the Upper Midwest, are very possibly just the children of Southerners who relocated to the North only a generation or two ago, and many of them are very proud of their Southern roots and have no desire to change anything about the South.
Well actually it used to be vice versa. Many Southerners especially North Carolinians, flocked to the North for jobs, you know when the USA used to actually make and produce goods. The steel, auto, and rubber factories were full of Southerners. As the plants shut down, or people retired, and the jobs disappeared, the migration North stopped. However, my deceased husband was a born and raised Charlottean, and chose to move to Ohio, for various reasons, he loved it and stayed till he passed. I moved back down here to be by what family I had left....my son. I will always live by my child even if it is Alaska. So COL and weather is not the only reason people left "home". And yes I miss home, I miss the wonderful midwest farm communites, the fabulous foods, and my friends...but my love for my child outweighs all that. I've made my niche here, I am happy enough, I still miss home and always will....most people do, no matter where they grew up and now live. However, I will give you this, I don't think I could ever go back and live in that climate again...especially after this last winter in the Midwest and NE USA. My point is, one can grow up in the South and move somewhere else in the South, but bottom dollar? Most likely they'll miss their original home as well. It works all ways, North to North, North to South, South to North and South to South...home can never really be replaced. It can be "improved" on, but not replaced. It would behoove us all to remember we ALL own this country, every bit of it, no one owns any particular region as all their own.
I agree. In fact, I am from the North, and I see people from the South who buy a house up there and move all the time. There are people who hate the heat and love the cold and snow. And some people move North to get a better job etc or they get a higher paying position etc. There are lots of reasons, especially family!
Not everyone one moves to an area and wants to change it, for some they want to move there blend right in, embrace it and live just like the place has always been before they got there. I don't think most people want to stink things up. I would never move a new place and expect it to mold around me.
You are always going to find those people who are just not happy no matter where they go, or just can't change themselves to adapt.
There are many places in SC where a Southern lifestyle is no longer in jeopardy, but rather irretrievably lost. I can understand why that is of little significance to you, but for those of us who have lived on both sides, the change is not necessarily a positive or welcome one. In my neighborhood, approximately 70% +/- of the residents were originally from north of the MD line. It's fairly typical for this region. I challenge you to find anywhere in NY state where Southern-born residents make up anything close to 5-10% of the population. For you to draw an analogy between the cultural impact of the northern migration to SC and a perceived Southern migration to NY is utterly ludicrous.
You came down here for a short time, couldn't hack it and went home. That's fine, but ever since, you have whined and belittled the South. I cannot imagine why you think your experience made you an expert on the Southern psyche.
Just because you are born and raised in a state does not mean you own it. As far as finding anywhere in NY state where southern born residents make up 5-10%....I work at a big corporation and have met many people who moved here from southern states. Why? Good paying jobs that don't exist in the south, tired of the mentality in the south and a host of other reasons have been given whenever the topic comes up. But unlike some in the south here in the north we do not waste our time worrying about how many people from the south are moving here. We welcome them all because they add a positive dimension to this city. Stop putting words in my post.....you assume that I lived in SC for a short time....lived there for a number of years so yeah I have become a pretty good judge of the southern mentality!
Every since the recession begin in 2007 NYC has paid for bus, train and airline tickets to send southern residents back home. Why? Because a lot of people moved from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & South Carolina during the recession hoping to find jobs here and they ended up homeless! So PLEASE stop with these fantasies and acting like it is only us northerners who are moving south....it works both ways.....a lot of southerners have moved here too! To them I say WELCOME TO NYC!
Location: South Mountains (Southern Burke County) Connelly Springs NC
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Before I left South Carolina I went to the town square in Abbevile sat next to the Magnolias and the Confederate Soldiers monument and Had a RC Cola and a Moon Pie.
Before I left South Carolina I went to the town square in Abbevile sat next to the Magnolias and the Confederate Soldiers monument and Had a RC Cola and a Moon Pie.
Before I left South Carolina I went to the town square in Abbevile sat next to the Magnolias and the Confederate Soldiers monument and Had a RC Cola and a Moon Pie.
Just because you are born and raised in a state does not mean you own it.
No it does not, but the Southern states have a strong sense of pride in their states and pride in the South that you simply do not find in the North because most Northerners have tons of immigrants from the early 1900's, while the South has families that have lived here for generations (my family is originally from South Carolina in the 1700's, but in the early 1800's they moved to Mississippi to start a cotton plantation). People in the South want to maintain the Southern culture, and when Northerners move down, they dilute the culture...
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewYorkBorn
Good paying jobs that don't exist in the south, tired of the mentality in the south and a host of other reasons have been given whenever the topic comes up.
Gimme a break. I actually believe you are a troll now. They're tired of the Southern mentality? I would be tired of the Yankee mentality! And yes, good paying jobs are there for those who work hard, just like you should have too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewYorkBorn
Unlike some in the south here in the north we do not waste our time worrying about how many people from the south are moving here. We welcome them all because they add a positive dimension to this city.
If you were from a town with a strong sense of pride and culture, and others moved in and the culture went away, you would be a little upset my dear. I have nothing against yankees, I just want old fashioned Southern culture. Also, knowing that most of the Northern cities are some of the most raicially segregated, please tell me how y'all interact and are so "accepting" of each other. When I was in NYC, people sneered at me and called me a dumb effin hick, these people are liberals and say how accepting they are of others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewYorkBorn
So PLEASE stop with these fantasies and acting like it is only us northerners who are moving south....it works both ways.....a lot of southerners have moved here too! To them I say WELCOME TO NYC!
I do not think I need to address this in depth... yes of course there are Southerners moving North, but do you see Boston/NYC/DC/Philly/Chicago becoming less Northern and more Southern? NO! Also, take a look at the census and how people are flocking South in swarms to sunbelt cities. I hope people are just blessed when they meet you, sir!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Super.Dave
Before I left South Carolina I went to the town square in Abbevile sat next to the Magnolias and the Confederate Soldiers monument and Had a RC Cola and a Moon Pie.
Just so I could say that I did.
I MUST try that out in Abbeville when I go to visit!!! The downtown really does look charming and picturesque.
If you are ever in Mississippi... go to Natchez and walk around the river view park to see beautiful views of the Mississippi river, then take a horse drawn carriage tour of the Antebellum homes, and then go to the downtown park to see confederate memorials!!! Abbeville, SC, sounds somewhat similar to Natchez, MS, both are quaint and charming small towns.
No it does not, but the Southern states have a strong sense of pride in their states and pride in the South that you simply do not find in the North because most Northerners have tons of immigrants from the early 1900's, while the South has families that have lived here for generations (my family is originally from South Carolina in the 1700's, but in the early 1800's they moved to Mississippi to start a cotton plantation).
Actually, many of us in the North have similar family roots. My family on both sides arrived in America in the late 1700s, and I have at least one ancestor who fought in the Revolution. My family settled in NW Ohio almost 200 years ago and have been farming there ever since. Most of the families in the county where I grew up have long histories that go back as far as my own family and most of us are descendents of the original settlers who cleared the Great Black Swamp, which is what the area that encompasses much of NW Ohio was known as before the land was drained and tilled for farming.
When you speak of immigrants from the early 1900s, you must be thinking of the people of eastern European descent, such as the Italians who came via Ellis Island and settled in places like Brooklyn and New Jersey. However, the states in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions are filled with families that are just as old and established as yours is in Mississippi. Many of us are of German descent, and the greatest wave of German immigration happened in the late 1700s to early 1800s.
I can honestly sympathize with you about feeling that your culture is being threatened, because I would probably feel somewhat the same way if a large influx of people from another region of the U.S. were to come here and bring their politics and culture with them, particularly if they were of the loud, bossy, liberal variety who consider themselves to be "progressive" and enlightened (of which there are actually very few here in my neck of the Northern woods), but to say that Northerners don't have pride in their states and that "most" Northerners are descended from immigrants who arrived in the early 1900s is simply not true.
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