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During my research in a possible retirement in the Triangle area, I ran across a few websites (Sperlings Best Places, etc) that included multiple commenters who expressed that they experienced rather overt resentment toward them as "northerners" who relocated to the Triangle area.
I'm getting mixed messages on various forums, from "people in the south are friendly" to "residents in NC resent northerners moving here." I can certainly understand feelings of resentment from locals when there is an influx from anywhere in the country that raises rents on long-term residents. But the resentment seemed to be something pervasive after moving from the northern states to NC (Triangle area), from many commenters on several websites.
I've visited once in the past, as a tourist, and plan to make more visits before making a decision about a retirement location, but wondered if anyone could offer some insights into how best to fit in as a "retiree from up north" (midwest). And what to expect, in terms of NC residents' perspectives on newcomers from the northern part of the country. Thanks in advance.
There was some when I use to live outside of Atlanta. I saw confederate flags everywhere In the far NW suburbs of Atlanta a number of times. It wasn't every time I went out, but it certainly got old. A few called me yankee here and there among other things. Then some in Alabama when I use to live there. As far as North Carolina, if you're living in a town with a lot of other transplants I don't see you having a lot of issues with it. I knew a guy from North Carolina living not far from Charlotte hated yankees, but he's recently died in a car crash. There's a few that hate them, but I don't think it'll be a big problem for you. As you mentioned, you'll want to make a number of trips on where you plan on living to make sure it's the right place for you! The key is to live in a place with a number of other transplants.
in my 51 years of living in the South, and more directly the Triangle, there's very little problem with folks who move here simply by their moving here.
The problem is when folks move here from anywhere (NSEW) and then complain about how they can't get X product here, or there's no good Y product here, or how our Z is not as good as theirs was, or how if we'd only do A the way they thought we should, it would be better.
Yeah I agree with m378 that outside of one very agitated person on this forum, nope, pretty much fine here.
Me as well. You don't sound like a "hipster," so you should be able to avoid the wrath of the rogue poster.
And as far as the main cities listed in this forum (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary), the fact that you're from the North much more likely will prompt follow-up questions and conversation from people you encounter rather than disdain.
in my 51 years of living in the South, and more directly the Triangle, there's very little problem with folks who move here simply by their moving here.
The problem is when folks move here from anywhere (NSEW) and then complain about how they can't get X product here, or there's no good Y product here, or how our Z is not as good as theirs was, or how if we'd only do A the way they thought we should, it would be better.
Pretty much this. If you don’t arrive and commence griping or thinking you’re Christopher Columbus, you’ll be fine.
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If you move here and ten years later are still routinely bemoaning, "How they do things down here," you likely will have long been widely disregarded by many locals, and by those of us who decided to assimilate when we moved here.
If you move here and ten years later are still routinely bemoaning, "How they do things down here," you likely will have long been widely disregarded by many locals, and by those of us who decided to assimilate when we moved here.
There are quite a few of us very unhappy with the influx of highly paid transplants with lousy driving habits and an entitlement mentality.
It's getting worse as gentrification robs long time citizens of their homes.
So far, nothing terrible has happened and some transplants have done as Bo said and tried to merge well with the residents.
We live in SC now and I'm not sure that the attitudes are the same but we hear the same thing here - how upset locals are with the influx of transplants. Why the upset is directed at people from the North specifically I am not sure except some people are still fighting the Civil War here. There seems to be disdain for people from NY, NJ, MA, NH, and OH specifically.
I myself have only experienced one blatant example - going to the registry to get my license the person looked at my license and saw I was from MA and asked why I had moved there. Chit chat I thought. I told her the weather and commented what a beautiful place it was. She proceeded to tell me "Well, it was before all you Northerners moved here and ruined it". I was a bit dumbfounded.
I have heard from others that the locals don't like the "way" of Northerners. They think we are too direct saying what we think where in the South people are sweet to your face and then sometimes talk about you behind your back. It's considered "good manners".
There have been comments in stores from clerks about having a bad day because of "having to wait on all you "x"s" which I won't go into as it was pretty rude, and shocking to me that an employee would say that to a customer.
All the bad driving here is blamed on the "people from the North" and there may be some job bias depending on the company you work for.
I certainly understand people's dismay over their land being ruined by the rampant building. But their anger should be directed at their local officials - Planning Dept etc. - who don't put any moratoriums on building to limit the growth and the greedy developers who mow down every tree because it's easier and cheaper to build that way. Although limiting the growth would have the same effect - property values would increase because supply would be low.
Blame the marketing people who keep touting the South as a great place to retire and trying to get the influx of people, not the people who are just trying to make their lives better.
Haven't spent enough time in the Triangle to know if the attitudes are the same but I would venture a guess that some of them are. Problem is you won't know until you get there. All you can do is assimilate, enjoy and accept where you live for what it is, treat people nicely, and live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of transplants. Most people we've met have been very nice friendly and helpful.
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