Your Idea of the Best Small Town

It is amazing how many posting here escaped from Michigan also.. I hail from Romulus out where the Detroit Metro Airport is located - 1/2 way between Detroit and Ann Arbor. I could not wait to get away from there, though I do go back there every year to visit my family.

There was a posting inquiring of the west coast. Well I live up the hill above a coastal university town - Arcata, California and Humboldt State University. With a population of 17,000+ persons, bus service both city and county, and located right on the coast 90 miles south of the Oregon Border/ and 300 miles north of San Francisco. Getting to Amtrak requires a 4+ hour bus ride south towards the Bay Area and San Francisco then transfering to the train itself. There are many ammenities down the hill in town, yet I live on 80 acres of forest about 8 miles out of town at around 1800 feet in elevation. I have bears, mountain lions, grey foxes, and other wildlife wandering around the property..

If one does want to have abundant sunshine, then I guess they would not choose this area. Inland about 30 miles during the days it is 100+ degrees and sunny, while it is 65 degrees and foggy/ overcast along the coast with a cloud ceiling of 1000 feet. The kids come up here for the University and ask when will it stop raining. We usually answer with, "in a few months!!" Some poor souls can't take the grey skies for weeks at a time - sort of like Seattle just not as many coffee shops/ Starbucks here..

We get around 40+ inches of percipitation per year down the hill in town with more the higher in elevation one gets. My friend at 3000+ feet in elevation to the south gets 100 inches or more from the winter storms that batter the coast. Last winter the coldest it got to was 20 degrees with snowfall here at my place three times over the winter. But when it os nice out, we take advantage of the lack of fog. Plus when you go to the beach, sometimes you have the entire beach to yourself as far as one can see.... I have seen it snow at the beach twice, since I moved up here 25 years ago..

So I have been here in Humboldt County California since 1982, I was stationed in the Southern California desert at 29 Palms US Marine Coprs base before that after I fled from Michigan.. I would not want to live anywhere else if given the choice. Well, maybe Alaska!!

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Smarter than the average bear, sitting here on my hilltop 80 acres in the fog above the ocean...

"Life is tough, but it is tougher when you are stupid." - John Wayne

I totally disagree about college towns. The whole mentality is all about the students because ostensibly, they are driving the economy. Therefore it is all about them and no one has much use or patience for older, slower folks. As for concerts? Have you heard the music that college students listen to? Nope, I would stay as far away from any town that was geared to cater to that group. YMMV.

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

I think Cameron, Louisiana and Port Isabel, Texas are both really neat. Neither though if you have an adversion to hurricanes.

Donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

Hey RadioFish, how deep of a purse do you need to buy a small place there?

Donsgal, maybe the type of college makes a difference - a school with a "party" rep probably does have some negative impacts on other residents. But otherwise I'm going to disagree a bit - after all, I grew up near a small university - where the Detroit Symphony played the summer season. The loud, body thumpping stuff that eminates from cars seems to be everywhere.

ABout hurricanes; since we are well into the cycle of bigger, stronger hurricanes; and this is without any input from global warming, I think it would be not only more responsible not to move into areas where hurricanes make landfall or are so destructive but also cheaper since the insurance costs are getting so high. To say nothing of being older and having to evacuate and possibly lose everything. My grandmother lives near Ft Lauderdale - they built in '57. The hurricane cycle is about 30 years I think, anyway they enjoyed quiet hurricane seasons but last year she, like so many others had damage. At 91 she was having to deal with finding contractors, schlepping to City Hall to check them out, getting the "work" redone. We helped but can only do a week at a time. Anyway, she's got lots of memories so she doesn't want to sell but I've learnt from her lesson and am staying out of hurricane areas. Otherwise I'd move to the Bahamas ; no, not really. Gardening in holes you pick ax isn't fun, this is called pot hole farming.

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Goat milk soap & Wool products
www.littlemeadowsfarm.net
http://littlemeadowsfarms.blogspot.com/

Liese - well it being California figire on at least $3,000 dollars per acre if buying in quanity raw land with water and trees.More if there are buildings and improvements on the land.. But prices are dropping with the mortage situtation going on!!

We may not have hurricanes, but we do have Earthquakes here on the North Coast. There are no Earthquake warnings like they issue days in advance for Hurricanes!!!!

Oh, Humboldt State University does have a reputation as a party school...

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/081607/cover0816.html

The above story caused quite a stir locally, when it was published last week.....

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Smarter than the average bear, sitting here on my hilltop 80 acres in the fog above the ocean...

"Life is tough, but it is tougher when you are stupid." - John Wayne

Check out Glenville, WV.

It has two grocery stores, two hardware stores, a couple of pizza places, a "home cooking" restaurant, an oriental restaurant, and a McDonald's. Probably three gas stations?

Population is about 1500.

There is one stop light in town and while it isn't strictly necessary they are awfully proud of it.

There is a college in town, Glenville State College. They frequently host films that make you think (An Inconvenient Truth). They have an active music department with several concerts (jazz, bluegrass, full band) each year. They have an active Theater department with open auditions so if you're into acting, costumes, props, set construction you can get involved.

There are a couple of good sized creeks/rivers in the area with lots of public access. Folks have gardens and chickens and out of town they raise cattle and sheep, occasionally goats and pigs.

The local newspaper is a weekly and only prints local news. No newsfeeds. So you hear a lot about so-and-so having visitors, and some kid doing well at the elementary school spelling bee, and a barbecue dinner being held to raise money for someone's operation.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Water is a key thing in Utah-nevada....most of the west in fact .
Ive seen land north of wendover Nevada/Utah selling for $50 an acre and have been told in some of that you can hit water at less than 100 feet.

Let me get this straight,40 acre parcels sell in the $3000 buck an acre range? WOW!
My very productiveIL land is near that some of it is over!

Turtlehead, The Glenville Democrat has a nice web site - I liked the welcoming page. Certainly a beautiful part of the world; is the area on a plateau or are you in "hollers" ? When we were looking in the SW area of VA we met a land agent who did confess that gardening is a challenge since sometimes the sun isn't over the hills until 10am and "sets" at 3. For some reason we just couldn't find a place facing south to overcome that.


Hey, Radiofish read thru that link, interesting and funny too. I'm not sure tho if you were tongue in cheek - surely none of this came as a surprise to the locals? Donsgal, do you want to go together on a rental house? LOL! Musing on how the production of pot in KY, NC or VA compares to CA...hmmm.

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Goat milk soap & Wool products
www.littlemeadowsfarm.net
http://littlemeadowsfarms.blogspot.com/