Honestly Savannah was pretty run down maybe 15 years ago but downtown is coming back at a fast pace and progress is heading out towards the mall. Takes time School system isn't know to be a good one but that too is improving.
I know a lot about what's going on down there but your right I don't live right there, I'm about 10 miles away in a straight line and 35 minutes by car.
SCAD has a lot to do with downtown coming back I think.
Living in Georgia is a disappointment for me :o(
Have been out of touch, but found this interesting reading. I've been in the Atlanta area for 16 years now, but have moved from suburb to suburb to suburb. I was here for almost a year before I finally met someone born in Atlanta! Everyone I worked with was a "yankee". I'm a Louisianian by birth. I thought it hilarious that they wanted bagels for business breakfast meetings, and said, "Now, y'all are in the South, wouldn't anybody like biscuits--maybe with ham and cheese?" A couple of people tried it. I have tried to put Southern flavor into my yankee friends' lives, and it does work. By the by, that creole cooking you're looking for has never taken place here. It's a low-country or Louisiana thing. You should be able to find some soul food, though. I do wish you'd mentioned your expectations to your realtor. They should've steered you to some of the Decatur neighborhoods, or Dunwoody, or others known for their sense of community. They are out there. Here's one suggestion: find a neighbor whose yard you admire. Leave them a note if you're shy, or knock on the door and tell them that you would like some tips on how they got such a beautiful garden. Almost any time I meet a gardener, I find a kindred soul! Good luck. Sheila
LOL, Larry, I understand completely. I lived for a number of years in the Myrtle Beach area, actually Garden City, Surfside and Murrells Inlet to be exact. I hated the tourist season but loved it from October to March. You're so right, it really is different when you live there. We actually hung out more on the intracoastal waterway than the ocean in the summertime.
I haven't been back in years and often wonder what it's like now. I don't miss anything but the ocean and seashells. Well, maybe the fresh seafood, too, as in catch your own. Certainly not the traffic and tourists.
Spider, I know your pain. I felt the same way when we moved to Amelia Island, FL after living all my life (50 years) in Central FL. I've always been outgoing and never met a stranger. I can just talk to everybody and I really tried to make friends there. I volunteered, got involved in the community events, went to church and Sunday School, took some craft classes and even taught at a local public elementary school. I had acquaintance, but nobody that was really a friend. I was lonely the first year, but the 2nd and 3rd years were almost unbearable. For the first time in my life I truly suffered from medical depression and got physically ill. Many people ask me why in the world I would move from 'Beautiful Amelia Island' to the little town of Royston, GA. I tell them... "all that glitters isn't gold" and I really mean it. You can only watch so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets and walk the beach so many times alone, and then it becomes sad. I would walk the beach and cry.....
After 3 years, we moved about a one hour drive to from our daughter who had married and moved to NE Georgia, but the people I've met here aren't connected to her at all. These are just good people. The town is about the same size as the Island was (small....) but the people there just don't compare to the people in Royston. Don't get me wrong about still being homesick because I am. Lakeland, FL will always be 'home' for me and if DH would, I'd go back in a heartbeat because I have family there and some girlfriends that have been my friends since elementary school. DH always hated the humidity & heat, plus the traffic has gotten very bad because we were only 35 miles from Disney and that mess. He would go back if I pushed it, but it would be under protest and I hate to do that. I read a book by Joyce Meyer recently called 'Approval Addiction' and one phrase in it really stood out with me. I couldn't figure out why I just didn't 'fit in' on the Island. She said: "God will give you favor with the people he wants you to associate with." Wow! I'm attaching a picture of my morning sunrises over the ocean.
Now here's my Royston, GA sunrise! God DOES have a sense of humor!
Spider07,
I am so sorry you are feeling cut off from your neighborhood! That is such a lonely feeling. When my husband and I moved to Thomasville GA 5-1/2 years ago we came to try to find the small town feeling. The realtor who showed us homes tried to show us gated communities- one thing we noticed in several of them was a lack of "neighborhood" feeling. (I now know those are the neighborhoods that are more transient, where people who didn't grow up here usually move to first) We found a great place in a neighborhood we discovered ourselves, then moved across town to an even more central, well established area. Still, I wasn't feeling connected. For the first 4-1/2 years I commuted to work way outside of town, I made friends at work but I didn't recognize anyone at the grocery store.
I started working out at Curves, that was my first connection to women in the area. I started to really see how much the lack of connection had been hurting.
Last fall my husband and I decided that I would make a huge career jump/pay cut and I took a desk job at a small local bank. I have never regretted my choice! I see people I know all over town. At Lowe's a customer came over to tell me how well her teenager was doing with the new account we set up. At Publix a lady ran over to me in the vegetable department to tell me she FINALLY balanced her checkbook. I now know all the gossip in town, but of course I can't tell any because of privacy issues. (Drives my husband crazy!) Also my manager encourages me to become involved in any and all local charity events that I have energy for. (Also a great way to meet people)
Speaking of energy, I can finally work in my own yard instead of just bringing plants home and letting them sit! ( I was working in the wholesale nursery business)
By the way, since you love plants, have you considered taking the Master Gardener course? You would certainly meet people who love what you love, that can be the best way to make friends. Also, although I am not a big fan of Atlanta, I was just lamenting that they have all the great resources. Their native plant society and their perennial plant society both do plant rescues- I would kill to be involved in that kind of stuff! Most of the organized plant groups in Georgia are in your part of the state..........