Home is Where the Heart Is
My sister likes to joke that I'm the only person she knows who traveled around the world and still came back to her tiny hometown to put down roots. After I thought about it, I realized I'm just the latest in a long line of family members who've opted, through the generations, to come back to this little corner of the world.
I live in the same small town where both of my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents were born and raised. They all had opportunities during their lifetimes to leave this rural community and experience life elsewhere, and yet they all returned to this tiny enclave of just 6,000 people to raise their families.
I can look out my window and see the house where my mother grew up. I attended the same school that my parents attended, and where my grandmother was a teacher for many years. I was married in the Congregational church that houses the oldest Paul Revere bell still in constant use, where my great-grandfather was once the minister, and where my mother and aunts were married before me.
I love my hometown. I love the small-town feel of it. I love the tiny post office with John, the dour postmaster who will never smile at you, no matter how many hundreds of times you've been in. I love the little bagel shop, where the owner makes you feel like you've just dropped by his house for a cup of coffee and a cozy chat. I love the Valhouli family of hairdressers who have been cutting my hair since I was a child. I love the "Old Yankee" harbor master, Jack Callahan, a WWII veteran who frequently stops by the house--sometimes in his truck, and sometimes in his boat--to chat with my husband and warn us about unusually high tides or floodwaters. I love how the whole town gets excited about the annual sixth grade play, and tickets always sell out for every performance. Apple and pumpkin picking can be found just around the corner, and you can hand-cut your Christmas tree from any of four different tree farms in town.
I also appreciate that while my little town doesn't offer much in the way of culture or shopping, it's ideally located so that you can be in Newburyport, a thriving seaport community of artisan shops, boutiques, and restaurants, in just fifteen minutes. Boston is just 45 minutes to the south, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire are less than two hours to the north. If you can't find it in town, you won't have to drive far to get it.
So while I sometimes may talk about wanting to lift roots and move to another part of the country, I know the chances of that happening are slim. Despite the fact that winters can be long and cold, I love this part of the country and wouldn't want to leave. Which prompts me to ask...what is it that makes your hometown or area special? What do you love about it? Or dislike about it? And if you could relocate elsewhere, would you??
Hometown
The place where is live now is small, but there is a lot of history around I live close to Gettysburg PA. I really like it here. I've moved 3 times in my life all within Maryland. I like were I am now because on Memmorial Day, 4th of July, the town puts out American flags and they line Main Street. A little slower pace and that is ok because sometimes I really need that
Beth, it sounds lovely! I
Beth, it sounds lovely! I think there's a lot to be said for small towns. My father-in-law recently went down to the Gettysburg area for a week with his camper. He loves anything that has to do with Civil War history, and said the entire area around there is just beautiful. I've been to Reading and Lancaster, and loved both.
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Karen, how pretty!
Your town sounds wonderful, and very like many of the New England towns I've visited -- not many of our Central New York towns are as quaint or as pretty, I think because they really are defunct farming towns that became industrial, and then industry left, and largely they either became very rich or very poor -- exclusive places where people have enough money to live that far away from work, or full of people who don't work or have low paying jobs -- but they rarely have that ideal "small town" atmosphere that I've experienced in towns in New England. Most of our towns are losing population, actually, as people move away.
I think New England benefits from the history, those towns were there over time as you mention, and didn't just spring up for some industry or whatever like ours did. New England has very strong identity, which I never feel like Central New York has.
I can't say much about my home town -- it's a place I really don't like much and wouldn't go back at all if I didn't have family there. I do love living in Syracuse -- it's a nice small city with lots of city convenience, but a sort of small town feel in many of the suburbs. There is a lot of green, festivals and friendly people, farms and trails. But even within a neighborhood you don't necessarily know your neighbors very well. Still, if I needed help, I wouldn't hesitate to ask one of my neighbors and I'm fairly confident they'd help.
If I were to move, it would be to your neck of the woods -- Mike and I have seriously discussed living in or near Boston many times, because it would be a great place for his work, and we love the area, have spent a lot of time there. We also have family, friends, and colleagues in Maine, Mass, and CT, so it would be a good spot for us.
However, as I am less and less thrilled with winter as I get older, we also think of moving south, and usually in the Baltimore/DC or Norfolk areas. We'd love to live down on the end of the Eastern Shore, where you do find small towns like St. Charles, but they have to find a way to make commuting over the Bay Bridge more affordable -- so far it's very expensive, and this has prevented a lot of mainland people from living on the shore and commuting, which I think is a good thing, environmentally speaking, but it would be a nice lifestyle. There are also a lot of nice places in coastal VA and MD I would live.
Fun to think about... will happen someday, I think... Maybe we'll be neighbors. ;)
Sam
Pretty Cool
Sam, I worked in Baltimore for more than a year, and loved it. Of course, I was staying in the Inner Harbor area, which has so much to see and do, so it wasn't a hardship at all. The winters were still raw, though.
I have a good friend who lives in Norfolk, and loves it there. It seems there's always a street festival going on, or they're heading out to Williamsburg or some equally cool destination.
When my husband and I do talk about leaving this area(he grew up here, too), it's usually in the middle of a long, cold winter, when we're both heartily sick of slogging through snow and slush, and paying through the nose for home heating fuel. Lately, he's been talking about the Carolina's and the Outer Banks as a region he'd like to check out. It's sort of funny, because his interest in that region was peaked by the movie, Message in a Bottle, with Kevin Costner, which was set in the Outer Banks. But when I Googled the filming locations, it was actually filmed in and around Bath, Maine, which is only an hour or so from where we live.
Hi Karen, I live in Germany
Hi Karen,
I live in Germany and it's definitely not my home. I would say I am German by birth but American in my heart. When I come to the US, no matter where it is but especially Florida, it feels like coming home. I have a similar feeling when I am in Scotland but it is much stronger when I am in the US. So that is why I want to re-loacte there. It my home and the home of most of my friends.
Germany...wow!
I actually lived in Germany for five years, first in Bad Kreuznach and then in Lich, near Giessen. My husband and I loved it there...especially the wine and beer festivals. But as much as I loved the country and the people, I would often get homesick for the US.
Maybe you spent a past life in Florida (or Scotland), which is why they feel so familiar to you (I love the idea of reincarnation). My sister lives on the Gulf coast of Florida, near Naples, and my parents have a house near Sarasota that they escape to in the winter. We try to get down there for a week or so each winter and sometimes those balmy breezes and clear waters make it difficult to head north again! Good luck in your quest to relocate!
Past lifes
Karen,
that is really possible. When I visited Scotland for the first time seven years ago, it was like I knew the area. It was really strange.
I live further north in Germany, in Duisburg, that's near to Cologne and Düsseldorf. Not the nicest area, lots of industry, etc.
Have been to Naples and Sarasota and loved it there. The warmth in Florida is really good for my asthma and I have no problems . Especially now that the weather is so bad here I long to be back there.
What a lovely place!
Karen, your hometown looks lovely, and sounds like a wonderful place to live!
I grew up in San Francisco, and while there's lots to love about it, I'm glad not to live there any more. I really dislike crowds and congestion, so while I enjoy the occasional visit, I'm happy to be living elsewhere :)
When I was younger (before I
When I was younger (before I had a kid) I wanted to move to Florida. But my ex wouldn't move. And now that I have a son I want to stay here with my family. Your hometown sounds great. Not much here in mine. But it's really pretty ( I live waaaay out in the country.).
We lived in this community
We lived in this community for 30 years before moving for my husbands job. We lived elsewhere for seven and one half years. When my husband retired we moved back to our hometown. My children went through school here and two of them still live here.
Hometown is where the heart is.
Apple pie
Karen, your home town looks like a movie-version of small town America -beautiful! Where I grew up is nothing like that - the sprawling suburbs of Melbourne, surrounded by 1/4 acre blocks with brick houses and strip shopping centres. I can only imagine what it must have been like growing up with so much family and history and connection around you - both comforting and frustrating at times, I imagine. Hitting the six week mark on our vacation, I had the first pangs of homesickness today. Strangely, it's the color of the sky in Australia I miss the most - a very particular bright, glaring blue - and the smell of eucalyptus. Not that the air smells of eucalyptus all the time, mind, but it's a uniquely Australian smell. Once, when we were living in New Zealand, my partner and I were out walking one warm summer night, stretching our legs, when we both stopped in our tracks, sniffing the air. Nearby, there was a lone eucalyptus tree (they're not native to NZ) and the smell brought tears to my eyes - home! Thanks for sharing with us - loved your piccies!
I've moved around..
I was born in a big city, then moved to the country part way through school. Moved back to a city for college and now live in the suburbs. I would love to relocate to a small town again! Probably not the same one as where I grew up (love it, can't handle the summers there...heat, humidity & allergies!), but something similar in a different climate. I love the camaraderie of a smaller town, but like you Karen, I love the concept of having the small town close enough to a bigger one that you can enjoy the benefits of both!! DH and I are casually in the process of deciding where we want to move to to begin raising a family.