Questions About Poplar Bluff and Fredericktown Missouri (Kansas City, St. Louis: house, buying)

[margy]

It's been a while since I posted anything on this forum, so I'm a bit rusty....Anyway...My husband and I are retired, currently live in Maine, where winter is cold, snowy and way too long. We want to find a house in a warmer climate and are considering a move to either Northern Arkansas or Southern Missouri and have been looking at many different areas and communities in both states. Right now, Poplar Bluff and Fredericktown are on our list, so if anyone has any insights into either one, or both, of these communities that would be really great. We would like to get people's general impressions of these cities/towns, from their personal experiences, which will help us determine if they may be good places for us. Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by margy

It's been a while since I posted anything on this forum, so I'm a bit rusty....Anyway...My husband and I are retired, currently live in Maine, where winter is cold, snowy and way too long. We want to find a house in a warmer climate and are considering a move to either Northern Arkansas or Southern Missouri and have been looking at many different areas and communities in both states. Right now, Poplar Bluff and Fredericktown are on our list, so if anyone has any insights into either one, or both, of these communities that would be really great. We would like to get people's general impressions of these cities/towns, from their personal experiences, which will help us determine if they may be good places for us. Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

I'm from St. Louis but familiar with Mo of course, well live in FL now.

Living in Southern Missouri like Fredericktown or Poplar Bluff will be a big change culturally though. It's not the deep south, but these areas of Missouri are culturally southern. Poplar Bluff is southern, Fredericktown is pretty southern too but has some Midwestern influence as well, but it still has a lot of southern influence.

Poplar Bluff will be a little warmer in the winter too. Anywhere in Missouri about 20 miles north of Highway 60 on southward on southward IS the South. North of that line up to highway 50, central MO it's a transition zone a mix of Midwestern and southern culture, and north of that is mainly purely Midwestern.

IMO to retire I'd pick the Springfield, Branson area as it's more populated and more stuff to do as well and Springfield will have better medical care than Fredericktown or PB.

Also the nice thing about living in the southern quarter of Missouri is that the winter temps are not as harsh as further north in places like St. Louis or Kansas City. You get a lot of winter days where highs will get into the 60s and 70s in southern Missouri and you can go outside and do stuff. The far SW corner of the state has the warmest temps in Missouri along with the bootheel.

Also you will find compared to Maine Missouri is bible beltish, and very conservative in southern Missouri. 67 MO house seats have no democrats running in them this coming election which tells you something.

Our gun laws are great as well and 99 percent chance a month from now Missouri will become like Maine and be a permit less concealed carry state when they override Jay Nixon's veto.

In the rural areas of the Ozarks though especially south central MO there is some bad poverty though similar to other places in the upper south.

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by margy

It's been a while since I posted anything on this forum, so I'm a bit rusty....Anyway...My husband and I are retired, currently live in Maine, where winter is cold, snowy and way too long. We want to find a house in a warmer climate and are considering a move to either Northern Arkansas or Southern Missouri and have been looking at many different areas and communities in both states. Right now, Poplar Bluff and Fredericktown are on our list, so if anyone has any insights into either one, or both, of these communities that would be really great. We would like to get people's general impressions of these cities/towns, from their personal experiences, which will help us determine if they may be good places for us. Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

They would both probably be fine to retire in, but it really just depends on your interests. The area east of Poplar Bluff in the delta is prone to flooding, so I would do my homework if any house I wanted to purchase was out that way. (Poplar Bluff is located on a ridge on the edge of the Missouri section of the Mississippi Embayment, which is tabletop flat.) Poplar Bluff itself is the beginning of the Ozarks as you head west.

Fredericktown on the other hand is solidly in the Ozarks & is significantly smaller than Poplar Bluff. (About 1/4 the size of PB) You wouldn't have a problem buying groceries there, but you would probably need to drive to Farmington for a decent sized hospital, which is only about a 20 minute drive on a 4 lane highway.

What are you looking for? Land to have a garden on or something else? Are you from a rural area in Maine or an urban one?

[Cali BassMan]

We moved near Poplar Bluff last summer, as Gunner said you definatley want to be west of or on the west side of Poplar Bluff, east in the flatlands, is mostly farmland and prone to flooding and lots of skeeters.....
That being said, we love our move here from Ca., we've found nice people, a great home, and some new friends that are great too...
Poplar Bluff while not big has most anything you want... 2 hospitals, plus a VA hospital. Superwalmart, Home Depot, penny's, many restraunts,
Anything specific you would like to know from a recent transplant?

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by GunnerTHB

They would both probably be fine to retire in, but it really just depends on your interests. The area east of Poplar Bluff in the delta is prone to flooding, so I would do my homework if any house I wanted to purchase was out that way. (Poplar Bluff is located on a ridge on the edge of the Missouri section of the Mississippi Embayment, which is tabletop flat.) Poplar Bluff itself is the beginning of the Ozarks as you head west.

Fredericktown on the other hand is solidly in the Ozarks & is significantly smaller than Poplar Bluff. (About 1/4 the size of PB) You wouldn't have a problem buying groceries there, but you would probably need to drive to Farmington for a decent sized hospital, which is only about a 20 minute drive on a 4 lane highway.

What are you looking for? Land to have a garden on or something else? Are you from a rural area in Maine or an urban one?

There is also more poverty in Fredericktown too and trash. PB would be better. Even then I wouldn't be used to it. I mean no big malls, probably don't even get 4g coverage in those areas. Do they have a lot of gun shops down in pb?

gunner, how do you feel about permit less conceal carry which will very likely the veto will be overrode in under a month? Will you still keep a ccw permit in Missouri or just carry permit less?

Here in Florida I never see the permit system going away. the state is becoming more blue and law enforcement doesn't even like open carry which we can't seem to get passed down here. Missouri's conceal carry laws are much better than ours here in Florida. In Florida us Floridian's can't use out of state permits as well. In Missouri I had 3 permits in case something happened to my MO one and down here I have to watch what size gun I carry so I don't accidently show and get arrested. In Missouri I'd slap on any full sized pistol I wished and not worry at all.

[Arrby]

Originally Posted by GunnerTHB

Fredericktown on the other hand is solidly in the Ozarks....

Not to be pedantic - ok, actually I am being pedantic - but Fredericktown is in the St. Francis Mountains which are geographically quite different from the Ozarks.

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by Arrby

Not to be pedantic - ok, actually I am being pedantic - but Fredericktown is in the St. Francis Mountains which are geographically quite different from the Ozarks.

Yes you are correct about that. There are some cultural differences too relating to a history of lead mining, but I figured for the purposes of this discussion they are basically one in the same.

[chicagobear]

Originally Posted by Arrby

Not to be pedantic - ok, actually I am being pedantic - but Fredericktown is in the St. Francis Mountains which are geographically quite different from the Ozarks.

It is the St. Francois Mountains, and I would say they are a mountain range within the Ozark Mountains, like the San Juan Mountains in Colorado are part of the Rocky Mountains.

[Arrby]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

It is the St. Francois Mountains, and I would say they are a mountain range within the Ozark Mountains, like the San Juan Mountains in Colorado are part of the Rocky Mountains.

Boy have we ever gotten off topic. I'm starting a new thread.

[margy]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I will take all of your comments into consideration and posting a general response due to time limits today. I also have been doing some research about these communities which is proving helpful.
Since the area east of PB floods, [thanks Gunner] I will not look into communities there. We do love the mountains and the St. Francois Mountains certainly do sound very interesting geologically and look quite beautiful, too. I agree with chicagobear's analogy to San Juan Mountains as being part of the Rocky Mountain Range. We lived in New Mexico almost 16 years and know the Rocky's and their inclusions, such as the San Juan and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, quite well. Cali BassMan, thanks for your insights about PB. Anything you care to share about your experiences there would be very appreciated. MOforthewin, appreciate your comments. We are not big on malls, so their lack would not be a deterrent for us. We live in a town of fewer than 900 people right now up in very rural Maine, so we have to travel about 25 miles to reach the nearest small city. Medical appointments usually mean traveling anywhere from a half hour to up to 2 or so hours. Sad to hear about the poverty and trash you mentioned in Fredericktown. That is kind of off-putting, but these exist in rural Maine, too. However, the winters here are waayyy worse than anything Missouri can dish out! As for the ccw issue, we are retired teachers of the Constitution, so are very adamant about the guarantee of the 2nd Amendment which does not permit any restrictions or limitations on one's right to keep and BEAR arms. Arrby, you are correct about the geological differences between the St. Francois and the Ozark Mountains. Each has their own fascinating story and both of them appeal to us. I will keep looking and hopefully the right place will come to us. Thanks again to you all for chiming in.