I may be about as Yankee (can I use that as an adjective?) as it gets - I was born and raised in Alaska and have since been living in the Seattle area. I’ve never been to the South or Southeast. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m also probably a total NW stereotype: I’m a vegetarian, an atheist, and a liberal. I ride my bicycle more than I drive my car, I’m a big backpacker/hiker/camper, and I shop at the food co-op… you get the idea. I’m craving a significant change of scenery and culture, so am seriously considering relocating to one of these 4 places this coming winter: Charleston, SC, Asheville, NC, Savannah, GA, or Miami, FL.
I expect to experience culture shock and a period of adjustment in all of these places. In fact, I’m looking forward to it. I’m worried, however, that I may be in the minority to such an extent that I wouldn’t quite settle in or feel accepted. From what I’ve read, I would likely find Asheville most like what I’m used to, but Savannah actually interests me the most.
Are my concerns valid for some or all of these places?
You’re right that Asheville would be the most like what you’re used to, especially in that there’s a heavy counterculture/liberal/atheist/vegetarian scene and lots of outdoorsy people and activities. There’s also tons of rednecks and hillbillies, and an increasing number of yuppie types. There’d definitely be lots of things for you to adjust to, but enough familiar stuff that you’d probably have a certain comfort level there as well. The biggest difference in terms of topography would be the absence of a coast anywhere within 5 or 6 hours (and of course the mountains are nowhere near as high). Asheville’s growing, but it’s still a very small city – only about 70K in the city itself, with about 200K in the SMSA. That alone would be adjustment from the Seattle area. But you’d hardly be the first person like yourself that most people in Asheville would have encountered. All I know about you is what’s in your post, but I’d say you’d be most likely to fit in while still experiencing a change of culture and location in Asheville.
Miami would be completely different from what you’re used to, though you’d no doubt find many like-minded people (sheer size would ensure that), but it’s not a Southern city, it’s Latin American. Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Jacksonville have a certain amount of Southern-ness about them, but there’s almost nothing Southern about Miami. No real outdoor scene anywhere nearby.
Charleston and Savannah are both very cool towns, and are big enough that there’d be other people with similar lifestyles. Lots more history and traditional culture than Asheville (they’re the oldest cities in the South, with more colonial history than any U.S. cities other than Boston and Philadelphia). Obviously, you do have the coast in both places, but neither has the sort of hiking/camping/outdoors scene of Asheville. They’re the most culturally Southern of your four options, but their history and coastal location ensure that neither is as typically Southern as, say, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Nashville, etc.
Go to Asheville – hang out there a while. You’re close enough to drive down to Charleston and/or Savannah for the weekend while you’re there. If it turns out you like either of them enough, you could relocate again. But I believe you’re likelier to be happy in Asheville than in any of the other three cities you mention.
rackensack and plnnr are absolutely right and have good suggestions. I think you’ll be surprised in any of those cities how open-minded and friendly the people are.
I can’t speak for the larger cities of 75,000+ but you’d probably be a bit out of place in cities smaller than that. I moved from a city of 40,000~ in Tennessee to a pretty small town of 10,000~ in Oregon for religious and political reasons. As a liberal atheist (and bisexual) in the South, I just wasn’t comfortable despite being born and raised there.
It wasn’t a hostile living environment per se, but it wasn’t that amicable either.
You’d fit right in here in Asheville–I say, as one atheist liberal vegetarian (well, pescotarian) to another. You might also consider Carrboro, NC (a little town adjacent to Chapel Hill, NC) or Durham, NC; both of these places have got the active co-ops, progressive political scenes, and vibrant countercultures you may be looking for.
But yeah: just as you don’t want a Southerner to move up North and be dissin’ the Yankees, just make sure you come to the South with an open mind, and let the native Southerners give you a sense of the best way to approach problems. There are plenty of (for example) anti-racist Southerners, but even we are gonna get our hackles raised by someone that comes in from the outside and starts telling us how to do things.
Not that i think you’d do that; just a friendly bit of advice :).
Definitely visit the regions first; if you’re visiting Asheville, I can give you some places to visit.
I grew up in NE Tennessee, just across the mountains from Ashville. I’ve also lived in Charleston, SC, which is very similar to Savannah, GA. The one place in your list that would be totlay different from the others would be Miami. Anything south of the Florida panhandle is no longer considered as part of the South IMHO).
As for living in either Ashville, Charleston or Savannah, I think you’ll find most of the ppl open minded and friendly as long as they find you the same way. As long as you’re willing to accept their lifestyles, they’ll pretty much accept yours. Using your manners and being polite will go a long way.
Ashville, being situated in the mountains near the Appalachian trail, will have the most in common with your hiking, backpacking and camping.
There are really two definitions of “yankee”:
[ul][li] someone from a state that was a member of the union during the civil war.[/li][li]someone that breaks Mr. Blue Sky’s rule and acts like an obnoxious outsider.[/ul][/li]This doesn’t mean that you will not be kidded about being a yankee. This will be a test to see if you have any tendencies toward being a “class II yankee.”
I agree that Ashville is your best bet.