Know before you go
One of the most critical aspects of picking a new property is understanding the local culture. In the context of this article, culture is defined as…“an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location.” When searching back in 2017-2018 for property, I was totally oblivious to this important aspect. Since then, however, I have learned my lesson and want to share my thoughts with you.
To recap, last week in Finding Home Part 1, I laid out the situation of the area we moved to and our background that led to us calling Appalachia home. We defined what low class is and some of the mechanisms behind it. Low class has little to do with being financially poor but has everything to do with an individual’s thoughts, behaviors, and lifestyle centered on chronic bad decision-making and proclivity towards crime. This systemic inclination towards crime persuades me to believe that the majority of folks exhibiting low-class behavior actually stems from ignored/undiagnosed mental illness dominated by Anti-Social Personality Disorder. In my opinion, this disorder is one of the most dangerous expressions of mental illness, and we need to be on guard in areas where the local culture actually values the violent nature of ASPD.
Know Your Region
Appalachia is an interesting place to live. Industry was the main reason for this region’s development. As most factories and mines have shut down, the small towns dependent on these businesses have been depopulating for decades. Those big businesses that do remain continue to extract important resources from the area and ship it out in a wealth-pumping scheme identical to the British empire’s wealth-pumping of India. The result? I foresee many towns in Appalachia going extinct as the stagnation of intellect, resources, and jobs erode any hope of restoration. Local governments are much too concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses” of modernity, favoring Dollar Generals, car washes, Dairy Queens, and the like as dependable cash cows for their mini empires while mom-and-pop stores file for bankruptcy. These short-term gains cause long-term malinvestment, which stifles any sort of future business dreams of young people and erodes the socioeconomic vitality of the area.
Frankly, I do not have high hopes for this region with the current system in place. Like everywhere else, we have local government employees totally preoccupied with lining their pockets and seeking advantage over others to the long-term detriment of the common man. Couple this with an aging population and a flight of young intellectuals, and you are left with the residue at the bottom of the barrel- i.e., low class. Even local law enforcement agencies are rife with criminality that is going unreported and unprosecuted. In short, this place is truly turning into the Wild West of yesteryear.
How Far is Too Far?
The sheer remoteness appears at first glance to be an ideal place to retreat to, but keep in mind that if an area is remote in today's industrial society, these places will be even harder to inhabit as supplies run out and gas becomes ridiculously expensive.
Just this past weekend, when I went to the feed store, I passed 4 drug addicts (who frequent the drug house next door) trying to take an abandoned car off of someone’s lot. When I saw this, I realized that these people have literally all the time in the world to do what they do best- commit crimes. This is something the rest of society is not considering but needs to. Low-class people, especially young ones, have all the time in the world to drink, do drugs, steal, make babies, overdose, and steal some more. They do not work 9-5 or 12-hour shifts at the factory like normal Americans. Their culture sees nothing wrong with doing these unsavory activities, so we need to be realistic with how secluded we want our ideal place to be.
Whether you are considering a rural home or a “bug-out” retreat deep in the mountains, while you are away, low-class people have plenty of free time to check your place out. Keep this in mind if you have a wife, partner, or elderly family member at home while you are at work. Your loved ones could be unsuspecting targets of crime by these people. Even if you or your loved ones are able to call 911, it may take 30-50 minutes, or more, for law enforcement to show up, giving criminals plenty of time to do what they came to do and get away.
It really boils down to the particular location, who is living around you with criminal records, and how accessible your property is from a main or back road. Back roads have less traffic, but they also give low-class access to a property without many eyes watching them. Although it is not common, I still run into drug addicts shooting up in their cars on back roads in the national forest around my place when I cut firewood. As I said, these people have all the time in the world to snoop around, tweak, and steal, so be aware.
Small Towns
Popular resilience and prepping blogs talk about the virtues of small-town life and how we are in the process of going back to them as resource scarcity bites. Maybe so, but there are a lot of small rural towns across the U.S. that are horrific crime-ridden areas or just suck with little to do. The people living there oftentimes speak well of the area, but trust your instincts when you see the place online or in person. Small-town life can have its pluses but also a lot of minuses. Each has its own power base of dominating individuals or families that can be welcoming or aloof. That is why I believe it is essential to visit in person as much as possible and gauge what your instincts are telling you. No place will be the perfect utopia you want it to be. There will be problems and people you may not like. What we are aiming for is a place you find overall enjoyment, feel safe, and have the potential to make friends.
Trust Your Gut
When you explore an area, ask yourself if you feel comfortable being around the locals. Do you feel safe? Can you see yourself here for the rest of your life, living out your goals? Always trust your gut! There is always going to be a person of privilege sticking up for low-class people because they have never had to live around them. It’s easy for privileged people to tell us we need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, but that’s nonsense. We all have baggage, but it’s not anyone else’s job to sort through it.
Humans possess an intuition for a reason. Those who use it are oftentimes quite happy they did. You know what’s best for you; no one else does. Fretting about being biased, racist, etc., is totally irrelevant when it comes to finding your ideal location. We need to make reality-based, observational judgments about a potential place being a “ friend or foe.” We live in a massive country full of diverse people. If one place makes you feel uncomfortable, you're not being harsh or judgmental. Your feelings are valid. Accept it and look someplace else.
Observe
In regard to local culture, I wanted to mention a few observational tips you can use to gauge the quality of an area, town, or community. On their own, none of these observations are deal breakers, but when added together can begin to form a general idea of what you are dealing with.
Trash on the side of the road, whether it’s on a rural road, on the outskirts of town, or in front of people’s houses, should give pause. Seeing if there are abnormally large amounts of trash in such places can give you a quick glimpse into how the locals care about their community. The closest small town to me has quite a bit of trash on the side of the road leading into it, and my road itself has a disturbing amount of discarded beer cans that I clean up regularly. Neither of which are glowing recommendations for the humans that live here.
Speaking of trash, when checking out a house, do you notice a burn pit out back or, better yet, out front? Trash loves to burn trash, I guess, because they have so much in common. I live downwind from a neighbor who burns household trash at least once a week, and it is a huge problem having to smell those carcinogenic toxic fumes. Plus, those toxic chemicals are endocrine disruptors that persist in the environment for generations. Best to look for people who have enough sense to dispose of their waste more responsibly.
While researching a prospective area on Google Maps, YouTube videos, or in person, take note of the local’s houses and any vehicles on their property. Are most houses in decent shape where the owner takes responsibility and pride in what he/she owns? Multiple vehicles used for parts and missing license plates are telltale signs of low class in my area. Due to their reckless nature, they cycle through vehicles all the time. When one car gets totaled, they roll it into the yard, take the plates off and slap them on another, and off they go. Keep in mind that homes that may appear rough can still house some really great people. Americans are getting a whole lot poorer as the economy tanks, inflation rises, and the government whistles past the graveyard. A neighbor across the street from me lives in a fairly old mobile home that has seen better days. Still, he takes as best care of the place as he can with some landscaping and routine mowing, and all the kid’s toys are neatly organized against his house.
When shopping in stores around a prospective area, how friendly are the people you interact with? Do they greet you with a smiling face and warm welcome, or are they gruff, standoffish, and uninterested in assisting you? I read a forum post on City Data, where the author accurately described many Appalachians by saying there is a huge difference between mountain folk and southern hospitality. Even though I am in the “south” geographically, the overall feeling I get when interacting with locals at the store is a gruffness that is rather unpleasant. By “gruff,” I mean short, standoffish, and a general undertone of rudeness that I do not find with folks outside of these hills and hollows. It’s almost as if you are the biggest problem they encountered that day and want to be anywhere else.
Recently I was checking out small towns in North Florida (Live Oak area), reading reviews of the different stores in the area. After a few minutes, I realized how well-written the reviews were, how so many people valued cleanliness in shops, and how no one was making up words in an illiterate fashion as they do here. Read a review around these parts, and you’ll get a migraine trying to navigate the word vomit and misspellings. Culturally, many of these people take great pride in deliberately speaking and writing incoherently. Take the woman in the picture below.
This is my neighbor, Chastity, who apparently has multiple personalities. All of them have trouble with punctuation. On social media, she is the “mom” of the century, going on about how much she loves her husband and children. Off of social media, however, she screams at her two toddler boys almost every evening outside to the point that they cry. One evening while trying to enjoy the sunset, I heard her scream at her son, saying, and I quote, “Shut the fuck up, Timmy. You’re so god damn fucking annoying. Get out of my way.” Yes, the neighbors have called CPS on her several times because of her screaming fits. No, CPS has not done anything to help those kids or stop the cycle of abuse from continuing.
Agriculture
One of the primary goals of anyone aware of our fragile global supply lines, geopolitical instability, and free-falling society is to grow as much food as possible. This is why I place a lot of emphasis on communities that value sustainable food production and self-sufficiency.
There are local cultures across the U.S. that do not value agriculture. Many of these places see working with their hands as “beneath” them, or they are simply too coddled by modernity to care about growing any sort of food.
Appalachia’s once rich cultural heritage of food production is all but extinct, save for some die-hard folks keeping family traditions alive. The corporate wealth pumping of the region has led to the extinction of self-reliant food production in favor of fast food and resulting obesity.
In other regions, however, food production is still alive and strong, celebrated through community gardens, farmer’s markets, auctions, and more. I have found that searching “farmers market” on Google Maps shows what areas have weekly markets and which areas do not. By exploring these farmers markets online or in person, you can see which areas have a healthy local food culture or a poor one.
What I am looking for in a healthy farmers market is a diversity of products ranging from produce, humanely raised meats, beekeeping, woodworking, candle/soap making, dairy, knitting, etc. All of these valuable products come from skilled entrepreneurs we should patronize and live around. Some small towns in Virginia have a thriving 20+ vendor profile (Floyd and Scottsville are doing something right!) with a diversity of products. Other towns may not even have a market, or if they do, have few vendors or lean towards a more commercial/wholesale-based system.
The Amish are an excellent example of localized commercial/wholesale agriculture. Contrary to romantic views of Amish culture, they spray the heck out of their vegetables, which is not sustainable or healthy. Still, an Amish community nearby where you can buy certain products and build networks are all positives. However, I do recommend that you familiarize yourself with Amish culture before you make a move to such an area. Check out Amish America’s channel on YouTube for excellent advice and information on Amish life.
All other variables being equal, focusing on small towns or counties supportive of small farms, which provide a diversity of products, will undoubtedly help your chances of survival. In addition, being active at these local markets helps form friendships and makes you a valued member of your new community.
Diversity That Matters
A mix of rural communities within a reasonable drive to medium-sized population centers may be a better choice for finding like-minded people. A range of education levels and economic vocations provides greater community resilience. Joel Skousen, author of Strategic Relocation: North American Guide to Safe Places, points out:
Predominately rural, agricultural areas have plenty of nice people, but very little in the way of intellectual stimulation or good thinkers. In short, it is very frustrating dealing with people who are relatively incapable of understanding difficult arguments and who haven’t the inclination to expand their thinking abilities to learn. Unfortunately, in small towns with a much higher percentage of non-professionals, it is hard to change opinions and initiate action over issues that involve difficult arguments and complexity.
From my experience, I totally agree with Skousen’s assessment. Areas of the country where resource extraction (logging, mining, pipelines, etc.) takes place are oftentimes low-population centers where locals are easily hoodwinked and bamboozled by corporate interests. Being an outsider and trying to form any coherent coalition against such interests is extremely challenging. Locals could very well be great people but lack the life experience to know when and where they are being taken advantage of. Places such as West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southwest Virginia come to mind where big businesses promise all sorts of jobs and higher wages but strip the area of resources and natural beauty without any opposition.
Religion
Religion is going to make a comeback as hardships increase for Americans. The saying "there is no atheist in the trenches" rings true. People will search for help and significance as their normalcy bias cracks under the pressures of a declining civilization. If you are Catholic, you may find it challenging in a predominately southern Baptist area, depending on the fervor of locals. For the most part, I have not seen this in my area, but your mileage may differ, so I mention it. No matter the denomination, if a local church has a vegetable garden feeding members and the poor instead of manicured lawns and landscaping, please join that place. That is what authentic Christianity is about and is totally absent from churches here in Appalachia. As a side note, Christopher Micheal and I will be publishing a three-part series on the Church in this region showcasing the results of a social experiment we conducted in the near future.
Personal Orientation
If you identify as something other than heterosexual, you should research what towns or locations are more open to your viewpoints and way of life. Current mainstream culture mistakenly mandates that everyone else should cow-tow to our every thought. This is not only impossible but cultivates narcissism which is unhealthy. Instead, look for areas in which you would accept others and where they would be accepting of you. Life is complicated enough already, don't make it harder on yourself than it needs to be by moving to a place where orientations are going to clash.
Community Involvement
When I check out counties and towns that interest me, discovering positive community centers are a big plus. Some examples include wineries, “pick your own” farms, animal adoption centers, breweries, farm animal rescues, nature preserves, parks, public fishing areas, botanical gardens, historic sites, bike and walking trails, libraries, spiritual retreats, vacation rentals, honeybee clubs, bed & breakfasts, art centers, and gyms like the YMCA. All of these places add tremendous value to local communities and contribute to a positive local cultural environment.
Research, Explore, Visit
No one knows your needs better than you do, so it's a good idea to research what cultural factors are important to you. Through my research and personal experience, I believe it is imperative to explore the area you want to live in ahead of time to get a good look into the lives of the locals. Additionally, bringing with you valuable skills and community involvement will help build social cohesion between you and your new neighbors. I hope you found these ideas helpful in your search for a new home. Next week we will explore environmental factors to help you find the right place.
It can also be worth checking council plans for major infrastructure work. In Australia a common pattern is for highways to be altered to bypass small towns, which often turns decent places into decaying backwaters in no time.
One thing Ive never understand is why in alot of rural areas the junk is always by the house,?I know its been common practice for decades that farms etc have a " boneyard" where all the dead tractors trucks etc are taken to keep for parts since it may to far etc to get parts
I have two neighbors with huge propertys and yet they have dead cars junk chairs stoves all by the house.......even crazier is they diligently mow the lawn?