Ive never seen that movie so I dont anything about know Hale Maryland..
I do live in a small town of 10,000, and honestly its getting alittle too big for me...Yes everyone listens to the local radio station, you can go to the general store and listen to live music every other wednesday night or go to the apple sqeezin festival (like i did this weekend), and we have managed to keep out most of the chain stores and maintain local businesses, but its not like the movies.
We have ahuge influx of tourists and there is also a 'metropolitan air' to the town. There are enough art galleries, theaters, music venues and 4 and 5 star restaurants to keep you busy for months. I see way more lexus' and mini coopers than I do horse drawn carriages, and although I still see cows, horses, deer and other wildlife most everyday and am surrounded by mountains and streams and large open places, I am more likely to run into a stockbroker, an international artdealer, an opera singer or a cell phone designer than an actual farmer or someone who works with their hands.
Some of that stuff is all interesting but it is not exactly why I came here...
Although there is a good sense of community for the most part--Ive almost had enough of this 'big city life'
the next town will probably be about 500 people, if i ever get around to moving
I doubt anything approaches the idyllic vision of the movies but Some of the rural towns of New England can come fairly close--or at least as close as I have ever seen
I have lived in three small towns. Dyke, Virginia (250), Texhoma, Oklahoma (900), and Haines, Alaska (1250). Texhoma (half in Texas, the other half in Oklahoma ya know) seemed to have the kind of flavor you are talking about in your opening post. Community co-ed softball games, fiercely competitive high school football, a wonderful Fourth Of July open air town talent show in which my wife and her "Yankee husband from back east" (me) participated, and etc. The name of the high school football team is the "Texhoma Red Devils". The church people there have been trying to change it, especially the chant where they all go: "We're devils born! We're devils bred! And we'll be devils til we're dead!!" Imagine me, a freshly exed Wayfer sitting in the stands during a game and listening to that chant erupt all around me under the Friday Night Lights. :blink:
The Jaycees, who consisted of my wife's three first cousins and her uncle Jack (who also owns the bank and everyone's bank notes) also were the ones to head up the annual "Fiesta Days" Main Street parade (my five year old daughter rode her horse!) , then later a street dance with a country band and all of Main Street blocked off, which occurred after the free pit barbecue picnic in the town park. Yup, it was mighty fine eatin! Big football sized chunks of beef that had been buried for a day and a half in burlap bags and barbecued atop a layer of smoking cottonwood later to be opened up at the picnic by the three "Jaycee cousins" and served up with barbecue sauce, Texas style frijoles, and tortillas! Yeah baybee! Oh yeah, and keg beer too for the grown ups. And it was nice because the young and old mingled and said their respectful howdy do's. And then came the street dance which was fun. And, I surprised them all because I can cut a rug purdy dang good. I can even do the "pretzel", which caused them to think that my wife's Yankee husband was a-okay after all.
I loved that small town thing. There was no barbershop quartet singing in the town's gazebo or anything, but it really was quite idyllic. Oh, and the high school marching band would march past our house on Main Street in the afternoons after school was out playing that one same song over and over! It think it was that song "Apache". There was that whole small town gossip thing, and the guy who used to own the "Dairy Creem" (whom I always thought was gay but nobody in my wife's immediate family believed me) turned out to not only gay but a dang pedophile! He was caught with his boyfriend molesting some young kid in a neighboring town, and he is now in jail thank God. But oh the scandal! And so, I guess with all of the neatness of the small town, small towns are still "The World", and I guess there is no getting around that.
One of the beauties of the small town is the near lack of the sound of sirens. And if you do hear one, there is cause for alarm, because chances are, it's happening/happened to someone you know. So, I surely do not miss that near constant sound of sirens in the big city. Even here in Juneau (30,000) we don't hear them that often...
also ----I havent locked my door in about 7 or 8 years and I leave the keys in my car.
Maybe people do that elsewhere i dont know. As far as I know everyone around here does. A Girlfreind sold her house recently and didnt even have a key to give to the new owners-she had lost it about 15 years prior and never even thought to replace it.
I left my shop not only unlocked but the door propped open by mistake about a year back and was gone for a 4 day weekend. This was on the Main Street in town. Nobody disturbed 10s of thousands of dollars worth of tools-The door was still wide open when I got back---That aspect I like--I certainly wouldnt try that in Hot "Lanta
Unfortunately, in my wife's small town of Texhoma, the crime rate has risen as a result of a large influx of illegal aliens that have arrived due to the large amount of new hog farms in the area. Yeah, I know, that may sound racist to some, but it is only a simple fact and consistent with the statistics. They "squat" on peoples' properties, get belligerent when asked to leave, and a whole host of other problems. It's sad to see the nice and quiet aspect of good old Texhoma get messed up like that.
:unsure: Ummmm..... save the singing quartet downtown (unless there was a fair or celebration going on) - yes, my home town was like that growing up - only we had TWO radio stations - 1) Country 2) Western. (Actually, one was Top 40's, the other was Country).
We only had ONE McDonalds and you had to make a road trip to the "big city" of Columbus if you wanted to shop in a mall or eat Taco Bell. In fact, I vividly remember when we finally did get Taco Bell in my home town. I was a senior in college and it was a really, really big deal! When my cousins' home town got a McDonald's in their town, it made the front page of the paper. (That was in 1992.)
We certainly didn't have that many restaurants to choose from, but we did have that many churches I think. We had only 2 hotels, but one of 'em I doubt even roaches would stay at.
Yeah, I grew up in a Mississippi Mayberry. I'm not exaggerating. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I sure do miss it now.
I guess that we live in a 'small town'. The last census says that we have 152 people in our township. One road: 20 miles long, with no intersections, no stop signs, and no speed limit signs. We do have one side street that intersects our road but it is not named and is not painted. The state Fish and Game folks say that we harvest only around 20 moose and 30 deer each year [but since a somebody would have to haul their meat out of town to tag it, I figure that the game wardens only know about the game that hunters from other townships shoot.]
If we had a radio station, I would think that folks here would listen to it.
We do get two TV stations. So I know that folks here are pretty much lock-stepped in what they watch. Either ABC or PBS.
I lived in Bar Harbor Maine.........beautiful. In the summer lots of resturants and shops.. had a charm of its own. Totally different place in the winter!!
If ya wanted to go to a movie... 20 miles. If you wanted a CHOICE of movies... over 100 miles!
You could lay down and take a nap in the middle of the street (winter)!
Of course.. this was over 30 yrs ago. Our old house is now a bed and breakfast.
www.seacroftinn.com
It looked a lot different when I lived there!!... See that porch on the third floor.... my room. great view. no heat.
Actually ... at that time... the entire state of Maine was a small town!! I worked for my dad.. Seacroft Office Products ... and I traveled the state. What I did in Calais Maine... got back to my dad BEFORE I did.
I currently live in the best of both worlds. I live in STL county in a city with a population of just over 20,000. Within walking distance is the police station, city hall, a farmer's market, many small businesses, and yes, everybody knows everybody.
But a scant 12 miles away is the arch and downtown and all kinds of big city stuff. I think the big cities have infiltrated the small towns more than the reverse, though.
The town I was wow in, Rolla, MO is a college town. During the school year there's 13,000 people in it. In the summer it's a ghost town of about 3,000. Hard to ignore the college culture, but lots of outdoors type activities. Everybody I met was into something outdoors like. It wasn't Mayberry, but it wasn't STL, either.
Johniam, my son goes to college in Webster Groves. He's getting his first car this week. You'll have to let me know what's out that way 'cause I'm sure my son would love to take some road trips out to the country.
Somebody please post John Mellencamp's "Small Town" on this thread!
We've lived in several small towns, though none so small as some of you describe. Probably my favorite was Salisbury, NC. We lived in what was described as the town's first subdivision on a street with sidewalks and sugar maples. Most of the houses were late 1940's early 1950's and relatively small. Everyone spoke when you walked down the street. Our neighbors were two retired couples who had lived there forever. It was a very peaceful place.
I guess, because it's surrounded by suburbia, it gets kinda hard to tell where one town stops and another starts.
But, what I've finally figured out about myself, is that I'm NOT a country kinda guy. I MUCH prefer highly urbanized areas like Tokyo or New York City to the "scenery" of the countryside.
Let me live in a place where restaurants, markets, shops, nightclubs, theatres are all in walking distance (or serviced by a good, high-speed commuter train) and there's no lawns to mow, no animals to feed, gardens to tend or any ot that crap.
Now if I could just sell my acreage in the country and find a nice condo in town...
Some things about living here are great. Friday night lights is very real here. Each August I buy season tickets for the home footbal games. Population 20000 and 3000 locals show up for a home game. It sometimes looks crazy 3000 on one side and 400 on the other.
The only problem if you need a specialist doctor plan on the 70 miles down to SA. I have 187 channels to chose on cable and 0 without. Radio stations are 30 and 40's on am and two CW on FM. Me I listen to XM. The local stations all use satellite feeds so there are a grand total of 3 air personalities.
We do have a total of 57 church's. I have only met to other ex-Way people here. Its a small world.
TommyZ: I'll get back with you; the gang I hang with now does a lot of stuff like canoeing, camping, but we mostly go south west of STL more than 100 miles away. I'll get back with you.
Recommended Posts
GarthP2000
Big city?!?
Come on over to Hotlanta for the weekend. THEN you'll see 'Big City'.
BIG time!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
mstar1
Ive never seen that movie so I dont anything about know Hale Maryland..
I do live in a small town of 10,000, and honestly its getting alittle too big for me...Yes everyone listens to the local radio station, you can go to the general store and listen to live music every other wednesday night or go to the apple sqeezin festival (like i did this weekend), and we have managed to keep out most of the chain stores and maintain local businesses, but its not like the movies.
We have ahuge influx of tourists and there is also a 'metropolitan air' to the town. There are enough art galleries, theaters, music venues and 4 and 5 star restaurants to keep you busy for months. I see way more lexus' and mini coopers than I do horse drawn carriages, and although I still see cows, horses, deer and other wildlife most everyday and am surrounded by mountains and streams and large open places, I am more likely to run into a stockbroker, an international artdealer, an opera singer or a cell phone designer than an actual farmer or someone who works with their hands.
Some of that stuff is all interesting but it is not exactly why I came here...
Although there is a good sense of community for the most part--Ive almost had enough of this 'big city life'
the next town will probably be about 500 people, if i ever get around to moving
I doubt anything approaches the idyllic vision of the movies but Some of the rural towns of New England can come fairly close--or at least as close as I have ever seen
Link to comment
Share on other sites
J0nny Ling0
I have lived in three small towns. Dyke, Virginia (250), Texhoma, Oklahoma (900), and Haines, Alaska (1250). Texhoma (half in Texas, the other half in Oklahoma ya know) seemed to have the kind of flavor you are talking about in your opening post. Community co-ed softball games, fiercely competitive high school football, a wonderful Fourth Of July open air town talent show in which my wife and her "Yankee husband from back east" (me) participated, and etc. The name of the high school football team is the "Texhoma Red Devils". The church people there have been trying to change it, especially the chant where they all go: "We're devils born! We're devils bred! And we'll be devils til we're dead!!" Imagine me, a freshly exed Wayfer sitting in the stands during a game and listening to that chant erupt all around me under the Friday Night Lights. :blink:
The Jaycees, who consisted of my wife's three first cousins and her uncle Jack (who also owns the bank and everyone's bank notes) also were the ones to head up the annual "Fiesta Days" Main Street parade (my five year old daughter rode her horse!) , then later a street dance with a country band and all of Main Street blocked off, which occurred after the free pit barbecue picnic in the town park. Yup, it was mighty fine eatin! Big football sized chunks of beef that had been buried for a day and a half in burlap bags and barbecued atop a layer of smoking cottonwood later to be opened up at the picnic by the three "Jaycee cousins" and served up with barbecue sauce, Texas style frijoles, and tortillas! Yeah baybee! Oh yeah, and keg beer too for the grown ups. And it was nice because the young and old mingled and said their respectful howdy do's. And then came the street dance which was fun. And, I surprised them all because I can cut a rug purdy dang good. I can even do the "pretzel", which caused them to think that my wife's Yankee husband was a-okay after all.
I loved that small town thing. There was no barbershop quartet singing in the town's gazebo or anything, but it really was quite idyllic. Oh, and the high school marching band would march past our house on Main Street in the afternoons after school was out playing that one same song over and over! It think it was that song "Apache". There was that whole small town gossip thing, and the guy who used to own the "Dairy Creem" (whom I always thought was gay but nobody in my wife's immediate family believed me) turned out to not only gay but a dang pedophile! He was caught with his boyfriend molesting some young kid in a neighboring town, and he is now in jail thank God. But oh the scandal! And so, I guess with all of the neatness of the small town, small towns are still "The World", and I guess there is no getting around that.
One of the beauties of the small town is the near lack of the sound of sirens. And if you do hear one, there is cause for alarm, because chances are, it's happening/happened to someone you know. So, I surely do not miss that near constant sound of sirens in the big city. Even here in Juneau (30,000) we don't hear them that often...
Edited by Jonny LingoLink to comment
Share on other sites
mstar1
also ----I havent locked my door in about 7 or 8 years and I leave the keys in my car.
Maybe people do that elsewhere i dont know. As far as I know everyone around here does. A Girlfreind sold her house recently and didnt even have a key to give to the new owners-she had lost it about 15 years prior and never even thought to replace it.
I left my shop not only unlocked but the door propped open by mistake about a year back and was gone for a 4 day weekend. This was on the Main Street in town. Nobody disturbed 10s of thousands of dollars worth of tools-The door was still wide open when I got back---That aspect I like--I certainly wouldnt try that in Hot "Lanta
Edited by mstar1Link to comment
Share on other sites
J0nny Ling0
Unfortunately, in my wife's small town of Texhoma, the crime rate has risen as a result of a large influx of illegal aliens that have arrived due to the large amount of new hog farms in the area. Yeah, I know, that may sound racist to some, but it is only a simple fact and consistent with the statistics. They "squat" on peoples' properties, get belligerent when asked to leave, and a whole host of other problems. It's sad to see the nice and quiet aspect of good old Texhoma get messed up like that.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
:unsure: Ummmm..... save the singing quartet downtown (unless there was a fair or celebration going on) - yes, my home town was like that growing up - only we had TWO radio stations - 1) Country 2) Western.
(Actually, one was Top 40's, the other was Country).
We only had ONE McDonalds and you had to make a road trip to the "big city" of Columbus if you wanted to shop in a mall or eat Taco Bell. In fact, I vividly remember when we finally did get Taco Bell in my home town. I was a senior in college and it was a really, really big deal! When my cousins' home town got a McDonald's in their town, it made the front page of the paper. (That was in 1992.)
We certainly didn't have that many restaurants to choose from, but we did have that many churches I think. We had only 2 hotels, but one of 'em I doubt even roaches would stay at.
Yeah, I grew up in a Mississippi Mayberry. I'm not exaggerating. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I sure do miss it now.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WhiteDove
Ha the 285 is a city in itself :blink:
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Galen
I have not seen your movie.
I guess that we live in a 'small town'. The last census says that we have 152 people in our township. One road: 20 miles long, with no intersections, no stop signs, and no speed limit signs. We do have one side street that intersects our road but it is not named and is not painted. The state Fish and Game folks say that we harvest only around 20 moose and 30 deer each year [but since a somebody would have to haul their meat out of town to tag it, I figure that the game wardens only know about the game that hunters from other townships shoot.]
If we had a radio station, I would think that folks here would listen to it.
We do get two TV stations. So I know that folks here are pretty much lock-stepped in what they watch. Either ABC or PBS.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
coolchef
born and raised in a small town,and even though i have been lucky enough to have seen most of this country and alot of europe
i will be glad to live out my days in my small town
it's nice to walk down the street where almost everbody says hi and knows your name
it also helps keep you in line
Link to comment
Share on other sites
2life
wow ...small towns.
I lived in Bar Harbor Maine.........beautiful. In the summer lots of resturants and shops.. had a charm of its own. Totally different place in the winter!!
If ya wanted to go to a movie... 20 miles. If you wanted a CHOICE of movies... over 100 miles!
You could lay down and take a nap in the middle of the street (winter)!
Of course.. this was over 30 yrs ago. Our old house is now a bed and breakfast.
www.seacroftinn.com
It looked a lot different when I lived there!!... See that porch on the third floor.... my room. great view. no heat.
Actually ... at that time... the entire state of Maine was a small town!! I worked for my dad.. Seacroft Office Products ... and I traveled the state. What I did in Calais Maine... got back to my dad BEFORE I did.
Edited by 2lifeLink to comment
Share on other sites
dmiller
Good looking house there, 2life. :)
Edited by dmillerLink to comment
Share on other sites
johniam
I currently live in the best of both worlds. I live in STL county in a city with a population of just over 20,000. Within walking distance is the police station, city hall, a farmer's market, many small businesses, and yes, everybody knows everybody.
But a scant 12 miles away is the arch and downtown and all kinds of big city stuff. I think the big cities have infiltrated the small towns more than the reverse, though.
The town I was wow in, Rolla, MO is a college town. During the school year there's 13,000 people in it. In the summer it's a ghost town of about 3,000. Hard to ignore the college culture, but lots of outdoors type activities. Everybody I met was into something outdoors like. It wasn't Mayberry, but it wasn't STL, either.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TOMMYZ
Johniam, my son goes to college in Webster Groves. He's getting his first car this week. You'll have to let me know what's out that way 'cause I'm sure my son would love to take some road trips out to the country.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Watered Garden
Somebody please post John Mellencamp's "Small Town" on this thread!
We've lived in several small towns, though none so small as some of you describe. Probably my favorite was Salisbury, NC. We lived in what was described as the town's first subdivision on a street with sidewalks and sugar maples. Most of the houses were late 1940's early 1950's and relatively small. Everyone spoke when you walked down the street. Our neighbors were two retired couples who had lived there forever. It was a very peaceful place.
WG
Link to comment
Share on other sites
2life
Dmiller!! Ya like that?!!! it is a nice house.... . And now... for a mere $119/night I can stay in my old bedroom!
I guess they put heat up there!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
George Aar
I guess I live in a small town.
I guess, because it's surrounded by suburbia, it gets kinda hard to tell where one town stops and another starts.
But, what I've finally figured out about myself, is that I'm NOT a country kinda guy. I MUCH prefer highly urbanized areas like Tokyo or New York City to the "scenery" of the countryside.
Let me live in a place where restaurants, markets, shops, nightclubs, theatres are all in walking distance (or serviced by a good, high-speed commuter train) and there's no lawns to mow, no animals to feed, gardens to tend or any ot that crap.
Now if I could just sell my acreage in the country and find a nice condo in town...
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waysider
As requested:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-MVOAeQ_1w
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ex70sHouston
Some things about living here are great. Friday night lights is very real here. Each August I buy season tickets for the home footbal games. Population 20000 and 3000 locals show up for a home game. It sometimes looks crazy 3000 on one side and 400 on the other.
The only problem if you need a specialist doctor plan on the 70 miles down to SA. I have 187 channels to chose on cable and 0 without. Radio stations are 30 and 40's on am and two CW on FM. Me I listen to XM. The local stations all use satellite feeds so there are a grand total of 3 air personalities.
We do have a total of 57 church's. I have only met to other ex-Way people here. Its a small world.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
johniam
TommyZ: I'll get back with you; the gang I hang with now does a lot of stuff like canoeing, camping, but we mostly go south west of STL more than 100 miles away. I'll get back with you.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.