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City people, what do you think when you hear "Rural Area"?
- Thread starter Thatonedice1
- Start date
I didn't know you were a fellow New Englander. And yeah that's not a bad overview.
ruralness to me is where you can openly pee outdoors and you know no one can see you
even better when you can do it under a night sky full of stars, unspoiled by the lights of civilization.
even better when you can do it under a night sky full of stars, unspoiled by the lights of civilization.
I grew up not quite in the middle of nowhere, but pretty close to it. 20+ minute drive from pretty much anything except a gas station, which was about ten minutes away. I can see the appeal of living in a rural area, but I live in downtown Indy now and greatly prefer the amenities available when living in an urban area. I can just walk to almost anything I need, which is wonderful and why I moved to this area in the first place.
In my case, small groups of houses on long stretches of thin roads surrounded by grass...but still about 15 mins away from any given town-ish area
Granted you can drive across my entire country in about 2.5 hours...
Granted you can drive across my entire country in about 2.5 hours...
Yessir, my whole life. I've moved from state to state but I expect I'll live here forever.
Rural America and the dark black night. I hadn't realized how used to living in the city and its never ending movement i had become. Only going back to my semi rural city in NH, not far from rural, did i realize that where i had grown up truly shuts down at night, especially on sundays. Its quite depressing seeing how dead a sunday night can be there.
It needs to be pointed out that there's a difference between rural and stuff like Appalachia in the US.
I live in a rural area in Georgia, but we're only about 15 min from a Walmart (Food Lion in town, but it sucks), about an hour from two large cities, and I'm in a neighborhood that's got probably 50-75 houses in less than a quarter-mile circle.
My parents live a little farther out where their nearest neighbor is like a quarter-mile down the road, but even they have high-speed Internet (though that was fairly recently...) and are still only about 20-25 minutes from something like a Walmart.
Then, of course, there are places where people I know grew up and where local churches go on mission trips in places like Kentucky (not singling Kentucky out other than for the fact that coincidently both my friend and the churches I know both came from or go there). Churches go to these places on mission trips because they are as close to third-world as it gets in the States. These are the areas where you get things like stereotypical moonshiners (there are moonshiners around here too of course, but it's much less the stereotypical hillbilly most people think of), drastic poverty, and just the general "hillbilly" aesthetic most people probably go to mentally.
I live in a rural area in Georgia, but we're only about 15 min from a Walmart (Food Lion in town, but it sucks), about an hour from two large cities, and I'm in a neighborhood that's got probably 50-75 houses in less than a quarter-mile circle.
My parents live a little farther out where their nearest neighbor is like a quarter-mile down the road, but even they have high-speed Internet (though that was fairly recently...) and are still only about 20-25 minutes from something like a Walmart.
Then, of course, there are places where people I know grew up and where local churches go on mission trips in places like Kentucky (not singling Kentucky out other than for the fact that coincidently both my friend and the churches I know both came from or go there). Churches go to these places on mission trips because they are as close to third-world as it gets in the States. These are the areas where you get things like stereotypical moonshiners (there are moonshiners around here too of course, but it's much less the stereotypical hillbilly most people think of), drastic poverty, and just the general "hillbilly" aesthetic most people probably go to mentally.
I'm from the UK, whenever people talk about rural areas, this is the sort of image that pops into my head...
Depends on the country. My family has farms, and fields, and ranches and stuff so in some ways I've experienced rural life far away from people but it wasn't an inconvenient rural life.
Rural could be the rich countryside full of people with money getting away or it could be a dirt poor place with very limited facilities really. The infrastructure really depends on who lives there.
Rural could be the rich countryside full of people with money getting away or it could be a dirt poor place with very limited facilities really. The infrastructure really depends on who lives there.
I live in the Philly metro area, but went to college and lived in central PA for some time. My family also owns a 70-ish acre farm in rural north carolina. We used to visit there every year, though it's been several years since i've been back there. Used to be a tobacco farm but now it's just soybeans I believe.
Rural for me is houses a half mile to a mile apart from each other, possibly farm animals (depending on what kind of farming is going on), and very little "culture" or exposure to diverse perspectives to speak of. There's "one" church, "one" big restaurant, "one" school etc that everyone goes to and everything is homogeneous. "Shooting things" and "outdoor life" seems to be an identity around there simply because there's a lack of literally anything else to do with your time.
Walmart seems to have obliterated small business in rural areas- the answer for where to get *anything* is 'drive a half hour to the walmart' which is less than ideal. I refuse to patronize that company on principle after being forced to shop there for lack of alternatives.
Rural for me is houses a half mile to a mile apart from each other, possibly farm animals (depending on what kind of farming is going on), and very little "culture" or exposure to diverse perspectives to speak of. There's "one" church, "one" big restaurant, "one" school etc that everyone goes to and everything is homogeneous. "Shooting things" and "outdoor life" seems to be an identity around there simply because there's a lack of literally anything else to do with your time.
Walmart seems to have obliterated small business in rural areas- the answer for where to get *anything* is 'drive a half hour to the walmart' which is less than ideal. I refuse to patronize that company on principle after being forced to shop there for lack of alternatives.
What part? This sounds nice. Quiet. And affordable... good schools?
This is every village in the Cotswolds.I'm from the UK, whenever people talk about rural areas, this is the sort of image that pops into my head...
I think of the house I grew up in that sat between a farm and the Little Miami River. It took a half an hour to get anywhere so I was always late meeting friends. Because of all the trees and stuff we couldn't get satellite cable.
You could hear guns go off regularly from people hunting deer.
You could hear guns go off regularly from people hunting deer.
Yup this. I live in the Burbs, and when I think country. I think 20 minutes to something resembling a town, that has maybe one stoplight on the main drag.
When I think of rural I think similar to how you do, a lengthy drive to go to anywhere of note. I live in the North East so our comprehension of distance is way, way shorter than other places. I was amazed when I went to college and one of my friends was from Iowa, and they remarked about a trip to the mall (back when people did these things) was a 2-3 hour drive, and an all-day event that the whole family took once every few months. It's just a different comprehension for me.
I live in a city that's a pretty quick escape to nature, though even the surrounding towns I wouldn't think of them as rural or really suburban... they're all old New England mill towns, with town centers, restaurants, a scatter of bars or supermarkets. For me, to be "rural" you have to go out to areas like around the Quabbin Reservoir in dead central MA, which I really think of as being truly "rural." Although, even a lot of those towns are on town water supply, not septic, but like you said, it's a ~20+min drive to get to a supermarket or a bar. I like the opportunity of owning cheap property, but couldn't imagine having to drive ~30mins to bring my kids to school in the morning.
I live in a city that's a pretty quick escape to nature, though even the surrounding towns I wouldn't think of them as rural or really suburban... they're all old New England mill towns, with town centers, restaurants, a scatter of bars or supermarkets. For me, to be "rural" you have to go out to areas like around the Quabbin Reservoir in dead central MA, which I really think of as being truly "rural." Although, even a lot of those towns are on town water supply, not septic, but like you said, it's a ~20+min drive to get to a supermarket or a bar. I like the opportunity of owning cheap property, but couldn't imagine having to drive ~30mins to bring my kids to school in the morning.
Around here, I expect most people wouldn't bother calling the cops. I mean, deer collisions are still dangerous, maybe they were concerned for the driver, depending on what the damage looked like. But anyone would assume the collision was with a deer, cause they're all over the place.
I'm sure there's some rule somewhere about not leaving a dead deer in the middle of the road where drivers could hit it, but seeing them by the side of the road/in the ditch is pretty common in the country here. Most don't get cleaned up, are left to nature. (Sure if it's in city limits, someone probably takes care of it, but just out on the road, generally not.)
Everyone has a car (well, usually a truck) in the sticks. Living without one just isn't an option.
There's a wide berth of rural areas, from very, very spread out countryside where things just seem lonesome and scary (to me), to more closely knit, small towns that aren't anywhere near urban but have a few too many businesses and patches of undeveloped land near housing to be suburban either.
It just depends. Are you talking rural New York or rural Montana? You can definitely be a lot more than 20 minutes away from a Walmart in rural Montana. 15 minutes from a Walmart seems more suburban than rural to me, but I'm in the middle of the prairies in Canada so it is possible to drive for a few hours on end without hitting a real city.
I grew up in/around Chicago, so my idea of rural is the endless, flat expanse of fields and farms you find yourself in should you drive a couple hours west or south from the city.
Pretty fair. I live right on the edge of that area (about an hour and a half west). My area was probably that ten or twenty years back for that matter, though it's a busy suburb now. If you go another 15-20 minutes past me though you're in farm country.
Keystone Light and Fox News. And like many couples out there in the boonies, they aren't entirely unrelated.
USA rural?
I grew up in Arkansas, so I think of hillbillies, trucks, confederate flags, lots of land and a small town center with a Dollar General a Taco Bell and not much else at all.
I grew up in Arkansas, so I think of hillbillies, trucks, confederate flags, lots of land and a small town center with a Dollar General a Taco Bell and not much else at all.
I loved living in the sticks as a young kid/teenager. If I wasn't in the pool, lounging in hot tub, or inside playing Nintendo, I was outside exploring creeks, ponds, woods, and old barns. We would snowmobile, 4wheel, dirt bike , and hike the trails for miles and miles without ever seeing signs of humanity. Rural living is one of the last bastions of true freedom left in the US.
I've been in big cities for going on 20 years now, but I grew up in a very rural area of WV so I know what it's like to have to drive 15+ minutes to get to a grocery store and 30-45+ to get to any kind of other shopping (longer for some friends who are even further out in the boonies).
I some times miss some parts of it--the quiet, being more in nature, rarely sitting in traffic etc. I wouldn't have thought that even 5-10 years ago. But the older I get the less I care about being out on the town and doing things and the more evenings and weekends we spend at home and the more we keep to ourselves. The high cost of living doesn't make a lot of sense in that regard. But alas, the wife and I couldn't both find equivalent jobs in our fields outside of big cities. If something happened to her/us I'd eventually consider taking a job at a rural university, be it back in WV or elsewhere though to have a calmer and cheaper last 10-15 years of working before retirement.
I some times miss some parts of it--the quiet, being more in nature, rarely sitting in traffic etc. I wouldn't have thought that even 5-10 years ago. But the older I get the less I care about being out on the town and doing things and the more evenings and weekends we spend at home and the more we keep to ourselves. The high cost of living doesn't make a lot of sense in that regard. But alas, the wife and I couldn't both find equivalent jobs in our fields outside of big cities. If something happened to her/us I'd eventually consider taking a job at a rural university, be it back in WV or elsewhere though to have a calmer and cheaper last 10-15 years of working before retirement.
I think it really depends on the community you're in. I had a blast in the sticks too, but if the town is dead and there aren't a lot of people your age, it can be pretty boring.
This was what I was going to say, the nearest anything is 15+ min out.
OP
OP
Unless you already have money through family no money out here. Everyone I know is extremely poor.
