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I have lived in Connecticut, Florida and Maryland (Originally from Louisville). Almost every person that I work with is originally from another state (We have New York, Jersey, Boston, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Florida, Texas..the people that I work with, that are from Kentucky are from Louisville, Paintsville and Winchester....I am not a Church goer currently and am
also more Libertarian, live and let live politically and idealogy wise....yet have been quite happy here, and have found people to be quite friendly. I honestly have never known anyone categorize people into Southerners and Yankees (I would be aghast at that, and tell them so if they did.) Likewise, people should not be treated differently because of their Ethnic heritage, skin color, sexual orietation, Gender or religious beliefs(or lack of).
Lexington is my favorite place so far, that is why I still live here...if I thought it were unfriendly or didn't like, would have moved years ago. But the Lexington that I love is very different than what is being presented here today by others...but that's okay like CraigsCreek said there is no one perfect place....and someone else said it well "One man's prison is another Man's Paradise". I will agree with that, and leave it at that.
A couple of friends of mine moved from north-central WV to attend Univ. of Kentucky and they liked their time in Lexington. It was quite a change from the steep hills of WV to the flatter bluegrass of central Kentucky. I thought about U of KY at one time, but stayed closer to home. It seemed like there were people from all over in Lexington, but I met a lot of Ohioans. My friends did not stay in Lexington (one moved to Louisville and the other to Northern Virginia) but from what I gathered, they missed it when they left.
I liked Lexington, but I was only visiting. The city seemed clean and crisp. I honestly do not remember any unfriendly encounters while shopping, driving, or talking to the locals.
I was just snooping and checking out this thread. I'm not familiar with the Lexington area but I am familiar with lots of Kentucky ( excluding eastern Ky ) as my family is all from there.... so I'll throw in my 2 cents worth and but my nose into the thread..
Kentuckians are a pretty tight-knit-bunch and fiercly nationalistic ( dare I say: "commonwealthalistic" ) and loyal to their Kentucky roots ( and UK basketball LOL ). Many families have deep roots going way back in Kentucky, mine is no exception. We have photos of ancestors going back to the Civil War days as do many other families in the areas where my family lives. It's a place where "everybody knows everbody" where slowing down driving through small quaint towns will get you waived at by passers by in cars and old folks sitting on front porches, whether they know you, or not...I've seen that 1st hand. Where the Tobacco grows and people hunt racoons and foxes with dogs...I think Ky must have the highest per capita of hunters over just about anywhere else in the world!
Kentucky's religious roots run deep and go way back to the early days. From methodist country camp meets, to Baptist churches, the largest and oldest Catholic monastery east of the Appalachians to Pentecostal holyness ( even rattlesnake handling LOL. So, it runs through the very fabric of Kentucky historically.
From what I've seen, ok, mainly of small town and rural Kentuckians is that they are very shy usually, especially in the beginning. They can see aloof or standoffish, especially to outsiders ( If you're from Tennessee or Virginia, it's cool, however, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio? All bets are off!! LOL. It's just been the same folks, the same families, for generations.
I wouldn't think this would affect Lexingtonians or Louisvillians as much if it weren't maybe for the fact that I can maybe safely assume that alot of folks in those cities have come from rural Kentucky originally. So with some of them, just give them some time, and for the ones that won't who cares. It's challenging for an old society when new comers come in with different ways of talking, living, new ideas. In spite of all that, I personally hope Kentucky never loses it's heart and soul of what it is. Some of the past needs to die, however, some of it is spectacular and a part of who Kentucky is as a people, state, region and identity, and I hope that Kentuckians will work hard to always preserve it.
Lexington also has a proud history in Kentucky and a great tradition and I hope they will always work hard to preserve and keep that history alive. And I also hope that newcomers would want to come and embrace it and learn about it. So if your from the outside and have moved to Ky and Lexington, embrace it, don't be afraid to get a little touch of southern in your speech, slow down a bit, go to UK basketball games, drink iced tea, get into horses...whatever...just embrace it and learn to love it.
I for one play the Fiddle, Mandolin and Banjo and love the old time folk/string music and Bluegrass music. One of the reason is I hope to be a part of passing that on to the new generation so it carries on. I would think most Kentuckians would feel the same..
See, I don't fully agree, and this is not specific to Lexington. Sometimes, it is just a friendly, social thing to ask about church attendance and/or religioius views, but sometimes if you respond that you are not a church-goer it is a deal breaker. I certainly know a lot of people who would not consider spending much time with people of differing religious views, or who don't attend church. My first awakening with this was moving to the ex-burbs of a major metropolitan city, where suddenly the church issue became prominent. And generally, Lexington has been similar and some people might be fine and some not. But I typically see it (church affiliation) as a big deal and a large source of social life and social support in Lexington.
This.
Religion is a defining aspect (one of many, politics being another) that you *will* be judged by when people try to get to know you. For some, religion isn't a huge part of their lives but for others it is a deal breaker between "casual acquaintance" and true "friendship".
Here's just my last observation. If someone is writing to city-data and saying "I'm looking for a place to relocate based on some criteria and I have a lot of choices, tell me what this place is like, tell me if it meets my criteria, tell me if I might enjoy living there ..." ... then I think they really need information that will help them choose between one place and another.
If someone writes and says "I am moving to Lexington, how can I make it the best experience possible, how can I find neighborhoods, activities, communities, schools, etc., to optimize my happiness and success" then they might need a different set of information and responses.
In this case, the OP was the former. Just saying. Most people can be happy in a lot of different places, but some places might be a better fit than others, and hopefully we can give these diverse viewpoints to help people out.
As a lifetime Lexington resident that does not attend church, the religion/church thing is kind of boggling my mind. I have known many people that attend our "super" churches (Quest, Southland) and other than saying "You should come by!" they have passed no judgment (at least to my face) that I don't attend church. Even when I do go back out to my family's cathedral, it is a very friendly place and we are always welcomed - even when they know we are not regulars. I believed this topic to be about the surround areas of Lexington, not Lexington itself, so I will defend Lexington as needed.
The Yank haters are going to be pretty infrequent in Lexington and Louisville. We are very progressive as mentioned earlier and other than the occasional jerk everyone's pretty friendly. The thing is about Lexingtonians is that we know the stereotypes about us. We give people crap for not liking UK or being a fan of another team, but 9999% of the time you're not going to get a punch in the nose for being a Connecticut fan. The university also brings in lots of transplants so don't think you're going to be walking around with arrows pointing at you and everyone's going to know you're an out-of-towner. We realize that Kentucky gets a rep for being a little hillbilly, and some people embrace it. You can't go anywhere in the south (or the WORLD, to be fair) without running into an occasional racist or crazy person. You won't even avoid that in Arkansas. But Lexington is a beautiful place, and to be honest, if I were you I would take the time to do a little mini vacation to both cities to see how they feel.
But Lexington's not even on your list right? First of all, don't move to Winchester. Terrible place. Georgetown, I don't know a lot about. Cynthiana and Berea are nice, Berea has a nice arts culture. Richmond is all right, very affordable and a little more open to newcomers due to Eastern Kentucky University being out there. Versailles isn't on your list, but it's a quiet place, very pretty with lots of our horse farms and distilleries. Paris and Nicholasville also surround Lexington, but they're going to be the more close-knit communities mentioned above and I don't think they'd suit you.
I have heard folks especially in Lexington where sort of snobbish and provincial, and not very friendly, from what I read on some other older posts, some of them were downright wild to read, as they poster has some seriously discontent living there in Lexington. That is the reason for this post. I want the truth.....the hard cold truth from transplants...thanks for help.
I'm a transplant from the Upper Midwest (Wisconsin/Minnesota), and in going on 3 years now, I haven't experienced anything even remotely like that. I'm not religious, and I'm pretty liberal, and I find that a lot of people don't care to form very close friendships with me, but that's fine - I don't have much use for conservative Christian fundamentalists either, so I don't feel as though I'm missing out on anything important. There are 300,000 people in Lexington; you can't possibly be friends with all of them anyway, and in a sample group that size, you can probably find a lot of people pretty close to your own interests.
Personally, I suspect that a lot of people who think Kentuckians are "snobbish" have just rubbed the locals the wrong way. Treat them and their way of doing things with respect, and my experience strongly suggests they'll treat you with respect. People who go around pointing out to Kentuckians all the ways they ought to be doing things differently can expect to run face first into a lot of cold shoulders - a lot of cold shoulders. They do things the way they do them because that's the way they damned well want to do them, and if you don't like it, you're more than welcome to go back to wherever you came from. They didn't exactly invite me down here, and they're usually not shy about letting their facial expressions show that.
Generally speaking, most people here do not seem to care to hear criticism, or even suggestions, from outsiders. Quite a lot of people do their jobs in the most half-assed way imaginable, but complaining about it doesn't do any good. That's the way they want to do it, so that's the way they're going to do it, and that's that. I've just learned to accept it as an unavoidable fact of life, much like the heat. I just let 'em do their own thing, use "sir" or "ma'am" very often and very sincerely, and I find it is usually both noticed and appreciated. It's their home, and I'm a guest, so I try to act accordingly.
Aside from all of that, the people here are generally very nice, genuinely nice. I don't like it down here, but it doesn't have much to do with the people. I hate the absolutely horrific heat and humidity, the miserable, drizzly, slushy "winters," and the relative lack of interesting things to do compared to where I came from, but I really like the people. I mostly find the area really boring; but at the same time, there are a lot of unique things that can only be done in Kentucky, and I make it a point to find and do as many of them as I can - because once we move away from here, we're sure not coming back.
You mentioned Berea in another post... that's one of the few towns in Kentucky that I really like lot. Very nice little town; quite charming, a terrific arts community (which is very rare down here), and right smack dab in the Appalachian Mountains. Very beautiful. I think if I'd moved there instead of Danville when I came down, I'd like Kentucky as a whole a lot better. You could definitely do worse than moving to Berea.
I want to visit Lexington, been around it, but never "in it" Having said that, word on the street in western Kentucky is that Lexington is the "money city" tis where all the money's at LOL...
At the sake of some drift - If one likes country charm, hillbilly living, quaint farms, a relaxed pace, generally friendly folks, Kentucky should rank high on their list. Everywhere else I feel like a fish outta water, In Kentucky I feel right at home....always have.
You know, before I moved to Argentina and got married and lived in another country, I didn't realise really how much we take things for granted in the United States. The convenience of life, accessability, I'll admit I was a bit spoiled. Kentucky would be considered quite a paradise compared to many places in this country but I'm not judging, I was the same way. Many things were "pleasure and need based, all about me me me" the next big high, fancy, unique restaurant's things to do, the best this, amenities galore. The fact of the matter is in most parts of the world many of the things that we discuss and think are so important are really way WAAAYYY down on people's lists, it's true.... I know because I've seen it first hand working in missions here.
I'm not saying I've reach special enlightenment or that I'm better than anyone else. However, I am better for it. I've really learned to appreciate alot more what I have and to be content with less. I appreciate that Argentina has taught me that. I appreciate alot more now how my mom grew up living in rural Kentucky and why she's the way she is and understand alot more. They had very little money, life was about work, the only entertainment my family had was hunting, fishing, the occasional country dance, trip to town....they didn't have Ipads and computers and fancy cars like we do now. Alot like the way alot of folks here live.
Last edited by EricOldTime; 07-29-2014 at 08:11 AM..
Oh my gosh people, if you don't go to church it isn't a big deal!!!! I should know this because I don't go and many many many people I know DO NOT attend church! This is some stereotype that Northerners like to go on and on and on and on about....
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First of all, don't move to Winchester. Terrible place. Georgetown, I don't know a lot about. Cynthiana and Berea are nice, Berea has a nice arts culture. Richmond is all right, very affordable and a little more open to newcomers due to Eastern Kentucky University being out there. Versailles isn't on your list, but it's a quiet place, very pretty with lots of our horse farms and distilleries. Paris and Nicholasville also surround Lexington, but they're going to be the more close-knit communities mentioned above and I don't think they'd suit you.
