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Couldn't sleep because this has been so heavy on my mind. Started surfing the web and found this website. I know this issue has come up a few times over the last few years.
My wife and I live in Philly. We've been urban professionals all our lives. Ready to leave the city and move to a small, rural town somewhere. Our dream is to have a small cottage/ranch about 10-20 minutes outside of a small country town. Off the beaten path, as it were.
We want something that may not exist: a small, country town that's also pretty liberal and diverse. Granted, liberal is more important to us than diverse but it would be great to live somewhere that had multiple ethnic groups living together.
Any suggestions? My searches, so far, have turned up names like Asheville, NC. I have to admit that I have a mental/cultural thing about being Black and moving South. Help me dispel this if you can. I mean, hell, most of my friends are White guys and I would trust any of them with my life...but when I think about going South, my head explodes.
People have suggested a college town. Maybe, but I worry about how much annoyance we would have to deal with from the college kids.
Done rambling. Please make a suggestion and we will check it out, online and maybe in RL. Next year is our year of exploration so we will be visiting some places. So far we have Portland and Oahu scheduled.
Welcome to CD, a couple questions to help clarify what you are looking for.
Will you be retiring, taking you job with you remotely or looking for employment?
Any climate preferences?
Neither Portland, (OR or ME) or Oahu (I'm guessing Honolulu) are small rural towns or have any rural areas in a 10-20 minute drive. Are you thinking town without any stoplights and one gas station or more of an area with suburban amenities?
Ready to leave the city and move to a small, rural town somewhere.
...a small cottage/ranch about 10-20 minutes outside of a small country town.
Off the beaten path, as it were.
so far, have turned up names like Asheville, NC.
we have Portland and Oahu scheduled.
People have suggested a college town.
liberal is more important to us than diverse
but would be great ... multiple ethnic groups living together.
Any suggestions?
You seem to have a good handle on what you want...
which btw... is rather much aligned with the desires of many others.
Maybe too may.
One suggestion I'll make is along the lines of semantics.:
Stop saying "small town"; but more.. stop thinking "small town".
You're looking for a small(er) CITY (than Philly).
A place that has enough mass of both population and land...
to foster and support everything else you want plus the services and amenities you didn't mention.
Another is to really decide whether you want some sort of suburban or remote idyll outside of the City...
or a home that is close enough for "walkability" to what social and cultural amenities the small city can offer.
Along these lines... filter your search between minimum and maximum population level (50-150k?) ...
with at least one independent or state liberal arts college (vs church sponsored) within the City limits.
The problem you're still likely to run into anywhere that meets the other criteria is that you'll be "late to the party":
the median income level of those who have come before you and how that effects RE prices.
hth
Last edited by MrRational; 09-09-2011 at 08:34 AM..
When I was in college back in the late 90's, I lived in Southwestern PA. A very rural, impoverished little town called Brownsville that was only known for its historical significance. Loved it. Memories of that place still make me happy. There was a single gas station, a few mechanics, a tiny library ran by a guy who I can remember perfectly...creepy guy but helpful and always excited when I came in to order sci-fi books. Neighbors were some rough and tumble Irish folk on both sides of the street, and some of the kindest, most loving people I've ever met in my entire life. Food bank in town...place where people could go right down to the river and hang out...crime was only in the local ghetto, which I stayed far away from...people were cool and honest and just as backwards and ignorant as they pleased...without apology. Hahaha..one of my fondest memories about my neighbors was talking to this big biker guy named Luke...said he really liked me but would never let his daughter date a "colored guy"...and after that we became best friends for the next 4 years. It was like...he was just going to be honest about who he was and how he felt and I respected him for that. Wow, yes, Brownsville is going on the list.
So...climate and all that? Temperate leaning towards cool? That's why I said Oregon may be a place to check out. About the small town vs small city thing...in my heart I would LOVE to live near a small town...like a one stoplight podunk somewhere off the beaten where me and my wife could just vanish for awhile...but realistically I also know that we would want to be close enough to things like museums, nice bars, etc. So...right, a really, really small city would be nice to live outside of...just have to get away from this.
Your situation sounds somewhat familiar to me because I was in your situation several years ago. My family moved with my job from the Washington D.C. area to Albuquerque, New Mexico about fifteen years ago. I had gone to school in New Mexico in the 1970s and my experiences in the State had led to some wonderful memories so the move back was an easy one. We loved Albuquerque but, as I finished my career there, I still wanted to return to a small town environment comparable to the environment I had grown up in. To make a long story short, several years ago I bought a small farm (20 acres) that was in desperate need of repair about 30 or so miles northeast of Lubbock, Texas. The difference of course in what you seek, is that my wife and I were seeking a more socially conservative environment in our native State because we tend to be that way.
Our "town" here on the Texas High Plains is about 3 miles from our farm. It has two cafes, one gas station and one grocery store and about 1200 people. Whether it is primarily conservative or liberal, I can't really say but my guess is that it falls to the conservative side. Like any small town the people tend to be friendly and the single small bank knows me by my first name.
Small town folks can be irritating after one has lived in major cities but as you said, the people can be totally unapologetic for their social short-comings which can be at times endearing. Several people in town told me my new neighbor, who I had not met up to that time, was a "party man." I have since met him and his girl friend (the probable reason they call him a party man) and they are most definitely the best neighbors I have ever had.
Obviously my choice of a hot, dry, conservative southwestern town may not be your cup of tea but I admire anyone who has lived in a major city but whose heart strings are strummed by the thought of small town America. There are most definitely some very nice small towns out there and I wish I could offer some useful advice. Anyway, from my family to yours, best of luck in your search and be safe in your move if you decide to do it.
I suspect he was being facetious.
The skinny on Asheville is that it's over-run with Trustafarians and half back retiree's neither of which need care about real estate prices nor about finding real jobs there. These are the two aspects of Asheville that are most problematic.
People may get tired of me talking about the small town I live in, but I like small towns. I'm in Cadiz, Ky., in the western part of the state, with a population around 2500. We're about 15 miles from two large lakes and a 170,000 acre national recreation area (Land Between The Lakes). Cadiz is also about an hour west of Nashville, Tn., up I-24. I live on a road about a mile long. I'm white and have quite a few black neighbors. No big deal! We had been in our house maybe 6 months when the older black man next door waved me down and said he and the neighbor on the other side of him stopped some men trying to steal a couple old Schwinn bicycles we had next to our shed. I had waved and said hello to my neighbors but hadn't had a chance to stop and talk to them. Best neighbors I could have.
As far as some acreage out from town, my step daughter and husband bought a house and 14 acres about 10 miles from town. Far enough out for their 4 wheelers and beer pong (he was stationed at Ft. Campbell, about 30 miles away), but close enough to run to town for groceries or whatever. Hope you find a good small town to move to
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
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If your thinking of Oregon, you might try looking around the Eugene area, Eugene is big enough to have everything you need with several small towns within half an hours drive.
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