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I'm turning 29 this month. I was born and raised in eastern North Carolina. I have traveled a lot but have never had an address outside of NC.
My whole life, I liked it well enough. It was all I really knew, I guess. But now, I suppose since I've visited other places so much, I have just gotten to the point where I really do hate it here.
Sure, there are things that I love about NC. I'm a country girl at heart...I love my country music, and I love country cooking. My family is here. I love that our state has beaches and mountains.
But...I just don't want to live here anymore.
In some ways, this place feels like a total cesspool. So many people here don't value education. So many think "so-and-so is doing real good these days...she got her a job at Wal-Mart, and I guess the kids are staying with their deddy some while she's working now, I'm sure glad he stepped up a little bit since he got out of jail! She said he even got his GED!" So many rednecks with their stupid, noisy jacked-up trucks and Mossy Oak crap. So many hog houses and trailers. The smell of turkey ****. So many drugs...I know they are a problem everywhere, but my goodness.
And then you have places like Raleigh. Fewer rednecks, for sure. But Raleigh just feels like a "fake" city that was built to appease the North Carolina elite and the transplants who came here to work in the Triangle. Sure, there are places to go, places to shop and places to eat, but it still feels...well..."boring." Bland. Like everything got built because it kinda had to be, as a natural progression...I do know that tech and health care things are going on in the Triangle, so I'm not talking about that, but more like as a place to live in general...
And even the things that I love about our state are all, well, half-assed. Sure, I love our Southern food, but it doesn't have the same culture as, say, food from Louisiana. I love that we have beaches, but they're nothing compared to the beaches in Florida. Yes, we have mountains, and they're gorgeous...until you visit the Rockies.
I know this seems like a long rant, and it kinda is, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has or has had similar thoughts?
Lived in NC my whole life... has its faults for sure...definitely don't hate it.
I would hate it if I lived in Eastern NC though. No offense (I assume you won't take any because you've expressed how much you dislike the area you live)...but I wish the rest of the state could disown everything between Raleigh and the coast.
Wilson, Rocky Mount, Kinston.....no appeal. Greenville is decent but the fact that it's the "shining beacon" of Eastern NC speaks volumes about the region as a whole.
Only Eastern NC town not on the coast that is redeeming IMO would be New Bern.
Triangle, Triad, Charlotte, Coast, Mountains.....even a lot of the smaller western peidmont towns (thinking Salisbury, Albermarle, Statesville) give NC an overall "likable" vibe IMO. It is more of a challenge for me personally to find things to like about Eastern NC.
FWIW we are very close in age too, you've got me by about 6 months.
I agree that eastern NC is the worst. I was born and raised in Goldsboro, which is better than SOME parts of eastern NC...the AFB keeps it a little bit modern. But...blegh. For what it's worth, I do prefer Goldsboro over Greenville. At least Goldsboro was built up for adults (military) and not college kids, like in Greenville. Hell, a lot of them are close in ages, but the focus is different...and I will say that I'm glad that Goldsboro isn't like Jacksonville and how they cater to their military.
Goldsboro is growing every day, but just like I said about Raleigh...it feels so "fake." Like the city is growing above and beyond the people who actually live there because it's the natural progression because of the base and whatnot. If a stranger were to drive around Goldsboro, they'd think it was an up-and-coming small town/city because of all of the new growth (yay! We just got a Chipotle!)...but it's a cesspool.
I'm just not a fan of the metropolitan areas of North Carolina. The Triangle...I think a lot of great things are happening there tech- and healthcare-wise, but in general, I just don't like it. I visit Raleigh a lot because of family, and I'm never impressed. Raleigh is growing in some ways, but in some ways, it seems like it's trying too hard to be "cool" or "trendy" when it's really not.
I do greatly prefer the NC mountains over eastern NC, but...? Again, it's beautiful compared to eastern North Carolina, but compared to the mountainous areas of other states, it is nothing. I have family in Asheville and Fletcher, and my husband and I have stayed in Swannanoa and Mills River on mini-vacations. It's alright, but it's just more proof in point that NC sucks.
Yeah, we have mountains, but they fall short compared to mountains in other states. Yeah, we have beaches, and they're great, but not as great as other states. Yeah, we have big cities, but they're actually pretty lame for anyone who doesn't actually work there.
Nah. I'm 24, Born in Greensboro, graduated from UNC Greensboro and moved to Fayetteville and I like the state. I've only lived in Greensboro, Jamestown, Fayetteville (Hope Mills), and briefly Winston-Salem though. I don't plan on ever moving from this beautiful state. I myself don't really like Eastern NC. The only good thing about Eastern NC is The Sandhills which is in the Piedmont but borders Eastern NC. I've never lived outside a major NC metropolitan (Triad #3, Sandhills #4) and never plan on living rural because i'm a city guy. Father is from Chicago mother is from Winston-Salem. I am assuming by "Eastern NC" you are referring to the void of crappy KKK counties that separate Fayetteville from Wilmington. They need to build an interatate from Fayetteville to Wilmington. It would probably help the economy so much in Eastern NC. Add Bladen county to Wilmington Metro and Sampson County to Fayetteville Metro through a very good highway network.
Nah. I'm 24, Born in Greensboro, graduated from UNC Greensboro and moved to Fayetteville and I like the state. I've only lived in Greensboro, Jamestown, Fayetteville (Hope Mills), and briefly Winston-Salem though. I don't plan on ever moving from this beautiful state. I myself don't really like Eastern NC. The only good thing about Eastern NC is The Sandhills which is in the Piedmont but borders Eastern NC. I've never lived outside a major NC metropolitan (Triad #3, Sandhills #4) and never plan on living rural because i'm a city guy. Father is from Chicago mother is from Winston-Salem. I am assuming by "Eastern NC" you are referring to the void of crappy KKK counties that separate Fayetteville from Wilmington. They need to build an interatate from Fayetteville to Wilmington. It would probably help the economy so much in Eastern NC. Add Bladen county to Wilmington Metro and Sampson County to Fayetteville Metro through a very good highway network.
Huh?
It took me a minute to read my way through your post. UNC-Greensboro grad?
Bladen County and Sampson County are both disgusting, backwoods, redneck places. Neither Wilmington nor Fayetteville would benefit from that at all. Have you been to Clinton lately?
And....KKK counties? I'm certainly not a fan of where I live, but...wow. I hope you were referring to something other than the Ku Klux Klan when you said KKK.
It took me a minute to read my way through your post. UNC-Greensboro grad?
Bladen County and Sampson County are both disgusting, backwoods, redneck places. Neither Wilmington nor Fayetteville would benefit from that at all. Have you been to Clinton lately?
And....KKK counties? I'm certainly not a fan of where I live, but...wow. I hope you were referring to something other than the Ku Klux Klan when you said KKK.
Yes.
I've never been to Clinton, but it could make for some good highway towns.
That is what we in the city stereotype every NC city outside a metro lol.
I'm from Bladen and trying really hard not to take offense from your garbage let's just say most of us don't find Goldsboro Paris either.
I would be miserable if I lived in ENC my whole life and never got out. So you know maybe the problem is you for still being there at 29.
Anyway I find a good bit to like about ENC especially from a nature and rural living perspective
We can all appreciate being tired of your small town and state after thirty years but blasting crap about is just a sign of your lack of life experience not that they suck
No, not really, but inland eastern NC is my least favorite part of the state, so I can sympathize there. (Love the beaches, though.) My family is from SE NC, so I had my share of experience in eastern NC and I can appreciate a lot of things about it, but would never want to live there again. When I was 29 I had already left NC and spent a year living in Los Angeles and earlier than that a summer working in Yellowstone. But I came back to NC because it was home, just not eastern NC. Came back to Chapel Hill where I went to college and stayed like a lot of people do.
I don't really get what you're saying about Raleigh feeling "fake" or growth in Goldsboro feeling "fake".
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A lot of us northerners who have moved to GA or FL, wind up in NC, because it seems the perfect compromise between having 4 seasons, yet moderate winter and summer.
I think you are just ready to spread your wings and try some new places. It's the time of life that you should do this.
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