How many live in their original home town?

[Beeman]

I was wondering how many live in the same town their parents lived in? The same town you went to elementary school, middle school and high school in. I often wished my home town was like it was when I was young and that I could share that with my kids. I often envy the people where I live now that have generations of their family living in the same area.

[WolfSoul]

I was born in Baltimore, MD, moved to Gettysburg, PA then down to Texas (what was I thinking on that one, haha.) I think it would be neat to know people who knew my Grandparents, I agree with you on that.

Originally Posted by Beeman

I was wondering how many live in the same town their parents lived in? The same town you went to elementary school, middle school and high school in. I often wished my home town was like it was when I was young and that I could share that with my kids. I often envy the people where I live now that have generations of their family living in the same area.

Yep, I'm a home town boy myself. In fact I not only live in the same home town I grew up in and my mother grew up in but I also live on the same property they lived on. But, this little ole town just isn't the same as when I grew up. When I was growing up here everyone knew each other. Our parents grew up together and our grandparents and great grandparents settled the place together. But now days all the old timers have gone, their kids have moved away and now there is more outsiders living here then original families. Seems everyone is a stranger now days. Can't even go for a long walk in the forrest anymore. Keep out signs everywhere. Plus, there is hardly any forrest anymore.

[djgaryvee]

Originally Posted by Beeman

I was wondering how many live in the same town their parents lived in? The same town you went to elementary school, middle school and high school in. I often wished my home town was like it was when I was young and that I could share that with my kids. I often envy the people where I live now that have generations of their family living in the same area.

This was a question on a recent TV show, and the answer was, 50% of the U.S.
population live within 25 miles of their home town.

[OD]

My story is like rh's. We were both born & raised here. We have never lived anywhere else. We built a house on the land that my great-great grandfather homesteaded in 1854. We used to have lots of family here. I have good memories of summers when my Mom, MIL, aunts, & grandmother & I used to get together & do our canning. Most of our families have died now or moved away & most of the neighbors came here from somewhere else. There are still a few like us here, but everything is so different. The old school closed & was torn down & the kids have to go to school in town now. I miss the way things used to be.

[deberosa]

I grew up in PA, now live in WA. Living in the same town you grew up in has lots of advantages. I often feel a bit isolated, with no people with whom I have long term connections nearby. The problem with the home town is making a decent living in that area. It's also very hard to visit family and friends very often from so far away.

[Beeman]

I think about my old elementary school. There were pictures on the walls of the cafeteria of the class that was leaving to go to high school/middle school. I remember classmates whose parents pictures were on the wall. I wonder if my classes picture is still there, I know the school is still there.

[12vman]

Yep.... I'm a home town boy too. I left a few times. Lived in Fla.,Texas, moved to Columbus for a few years to attend college, bought my parents' estate after thet passed, sold it to my sister, and moved into the woods about 3mi. out of town. My town only has a population of 1000. So, needless to say the town isn't very big but I'm in the same area. I'm still in the same school district where I attended grade, middle, and high school. Like the saying goes.. "There's no place like home"..

[65284]

I live within 5 miles of the house I was born in. My folks left here when I was 5, so I grew up and went to school elsewhere. But, this was ALWAYS "home" to me. After I got a little older I spent most of the summers here with my Grandparents and various Aunts and Uncles. I was here visiting a few years after I got out of school and met my future wife. I came back every weekend and chased her until she caught me. I was back home and have never lived anywhere else, or wanted to.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Grew up in the Wash DC area. Jioined the Navy and have lived 13 different places. Wouldn't go back to the East Coast on a bet - too many people in too small a place. Texas is about as small as I'd like to get now, and about a quarter mile to my closest neighbor is about right too.

[Billie in MO]

I just moved back to CO from my home town in MO. Was there for 2 years to help my family. If it had stayed the same from when I was growing up(pop.140) I might have stayed. Almost everyone was related to one another in someway. My first grade teacher was my dad's first grade teacher, as well. My daughter had teacher's I had in high school. Couldn't get away with anything! as everybody knew you or who you belonged to! My grandmother just sold the last piece of property our family owned there. Went back 6 generations. Wouldn't trade growing up there for anything, but it is all changed now.

[jerneeon]

Gosh, no! I was born in Camp Lejeune, NC, and have moved 49 times since then, first raised in the military and then...well, I just keep moving. I'm now in Washington state.

[MorrisonCorner]

I'm living in the family homestead (c. 1835). When the new husband decided we should "homestead" starting with chickens meant going up in the shed and pulling down the feeders and equipment from the 1940's.

But what was once a close knit farming community is now utterly tourism, second homes, opportunistic... and we're the ones with fences flaked out in all directions and the No!! signs. I am constantly amazed at the licenses people on vacation will take. I can imagine if I came to their neighborhood and plunked myself in their side yard to have a picnic, left my trash for them to pick up, they might have an issue with that. Or drove my 4WD around on their lawn.. they might get upset. Or walked my kids into their house (read: pasture) to play with their "pets" and spooked them into bolting (very amusing, watching the sheep run) they might have a problem with that.

But more often than not, when we arrive on the scene absolutely livid, their hurt response is "we knew you wouldn't mind..."

Uh, yea... that would explain the loaded shotgun pointed at your dog...

I'm holding out on the hope that history will repeat itself: tourism is subject to the whims of the traveling public... we were fashionable in the early 1800's, fell out of fashion in the 1860's, came back into vogue in the 1950's... isn't it about time for us to fall out of fashion again?

[Tango]

Wish we were still on our family's homestead- a 2000 acre ranch in Cuba where my great-grandfather, grandfather, uncles, aunts, and mother were born. My mother and her siblings made the decision to leave and I'm probably the only dreamer in the new generations since that wishes they had not.

[RedneckWoman]

I live ten miles from my parents house in the same rinky ---- little town I grew up in. I wish it was like it was when I was a kid but unfortunately several areas, the area that I live in especially, is becoming a haven for crackhouses and meth labs .

Redneckwoman, do we live in the same area or is this a problem everywhere? Seems like all the time I hear of people around this area being arrested for meth labs and I don't even recognize their last names.

[marvella]

i didn't grow up here, but landed here as a back to the land hippie in the early 70's. been here is this little mountain community ever since. i have children and grandchildren here now. one of the reasons i didn't leave (when someone wth a little common sense would have) is because my children do have that kind of small town community life. i felt it was one of the better things i could give them in this life. local cop is the kid my son wrestled with on the playground at school. nurse is the daughter of an old friend. kids teachers were my neighbors. stuff like that. it is very close-knit and caring, though you can't tell that from the outside looking in. i intend to die here.

while we have always depended on the rugged terrain and remoteness to keep all but the hardiest souls out, we have turned a corner in recent years, and are getting a lot more attention from the outside world.

yes, i am concerned.

[bergere]

I do not... one parent was from Nova Scotia,, the other from the Green Mountains of TN.

Met my DH and moved around for 20 years... now we are moving to Oregon, hopefully this is the last move.

[whiterock]

I'm with r.h. and OD
I live on the place where i grew up. Family settled in this area about 2 miles away in 1853. Changes same as theirs. The citylimits were 7 miles away when I was in high school. Now less than 1/2 mile.
Don't know how much longer I can stand it but if the city takes me in I will have to sell because of the increase in taxes.

[cathyharrell]

My parents bought this farm in 1946, the same year I was born and now I have lived on it for four years. It belongs to my sister and me but she lives in Denver and only comes to visit once in awhile. My oldest son leases it.