Culture Shock? Massachusetts To McDonough (Atlanta, Roswell: home, construction, best schools)

[jcoffy]

I love all your points it is really fascinating to read your philosophy;but I think the handicap of that area including Mcdo a city That i am really in love is the lack of promotions compare to the north part of Atlanta. I think the future of Mcdonough is not compromised as you said there is a lot of good and positive things in there; but not enough.

[berkeleylake]

The Southside is OK, but it does not have the amenties you seem to like, though you can find stores you are familiar with. Around 2000 or so, I would have easily described McDonough as semi-rural, but no longer, it is largely developed with subdivisions and strip malls. Almost all farm land in Henry county is long gone. McDonough is an average suburb for Atlanta, it is overall middle class and bedroom community with strip malls. The City of McDonough has one of the nicest old fashioned town squares of any metro Atlanta town IMHO. There is plenty of shopping in that area, but most of it is large box retail and the typical fast food chains. McDonough has gone through a lot of painful growth like most any other area of Atlanta, so its roads get congested easily especially during rush hour. You have a few decent restaurants, but if you want to go into Atlanta (non-rush hour) to some things you probably prefer doing, it will take you 30-45 minutes to get anywhere inside 285 without heavy traffic.

I-75 can get pretty backed up at odd hours, so you have options, you just have to drive more than some other people if you cannot live close in town. Stockbridge is similar to McDonough in my opinion, and it is closer to Atlanta, but only by a few miles. I think you need to visit the areas to see for yourself; you may lean more towards living in Stockbirdge, so you can get into Atlanta a bit more if that is your plan, to go out a lot. I don't recommend living more than 15 miles from McDonough to get to your job because it will easily take you more than half an hour to commute in most any direction on surface streets.

The beach is far enough that you need to do that trip on weekends. The closest beaches are about 5 hours away (Savannah area).

[Adie's Daddy]

ATLTJL's reply was spot on. My wife and I currently live in McDonough and are currently looking to move to the northern suburbs for the reasons ATLTJL mentioned. McDonough is great compared to most towns in America. However, if you desire the area you live in to be a little more upscale and cultured, McDonough is not for you. Again, compared to small towns hours away from a major city like Atlanta, McDonough is top notch. It just doesn't keep up with the northern suburbs. This is my opinion after living in McDonough for most of my life and not realizing the difference until I went to college and now work a professional job in Atlanta.

[workaholics]

Henry county is also rapidly on its way to becoming a majority/minority suburban county with a very large black population. This really shouldn't matter as much as schools, cost of living and amenities, but obviously many people like to know about the demographics. Coming from Massachusetts, the large black population might be the biggest culture shock; I hear it all the time from people who move down here from certain areas of the NE and west coast.

[Adric]

Originally Posted by workaholics

Henry county is also rapidly on its way to becoming a majority/minority suburban county with a very large black population. This really shouldn't matter as much as schools, cost of living and amenities, but obviously many people like to know about the demographics. Coming from Massachusetts, the large black population might be the biggest culture shock; I hear it all the time from people who move down here from certain areas of the NE and west coast.

It is.

The large AA population in Atlanta was a culture shock for me when I moved here in 2004 but you get used to it. Now it feels strange to be somewhere that would be considered by most to have an average sized black population.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by berkeleylake

The beach is far enough that you need to do that trip on weekends. The closest beaches are about 5 hours away (Savannah area).

Actually Savannah is 4 hours away (going the speed limit), and less than that from McDonough.

[ATLTJL]

Actually Savannah is 4 hours away (going the speed limit), and less than that from McDonough.

Isn't the beach 30-45 minutes away from Savannah, though?

I know Hilton Head is. I don't know, is Tybee Island much closer than that?

[GeorgiatoChina]

Originally Posted by Adric

It is.

The large AA population in Atlanta was a culture shock for me when I moved here in 2004 but you get used to it. Now it feels strange to be somewhere that would be considered by most to have an average sized black population.

Good to know black people are something to get "used to".

[PT 3000]

Originally Posted by GeorgiatoChina

Good to know black people are something to get "used to".

I don't think (S)he meant it in a bad way, just maybe where they came from it may not have been many blacks, just think if someone moved here from Idaho probably one of the whitest states in the country and started to see so many black people, they probably aren't racist but need to adjust to the cultural differences and such.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by GeorgiatoChina

Good to know black people are something to get "used to".

When I went to college after growing up in Twin Cities suburbia, I had to get used to seeing a lot of students from Taiwan around me. That was cool. It was something new for me, and I learned a lot from them.

When I moved to Atlanta after living in the suburban Twin Cities for 40 years, I had to get used to having a lot of black folks who weren't from Somalia around me (Minneapolis has a HUGE Somali population). That was also cool, and something new for me, and in the past eight years I've also learned a lot from them.

Why are people so negative? It's a fact that the southeastern US has a different population mix from most of the country, and for those who aren't used to that situation it's a little different. It's not a big deal, but it would be a lie to say that it wasn't something I noticed.

If you were to move to the Twin Cities, you'd probably have to get used to the relative lack of blacks in the suburbs. I don't see that as a negative, since that area of the country was largely settled by Scandinavians and Germans, and there weren't a lot of blacks who emigrated to the US from those countries. Welcome to the world of regional differences.