What is North Carolina Like?

[FunSize]

I'm grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, went to college in Greenville, SC and am looking to go to grad school in NC. I can vouch for the southern transplants.

I really like the mountain side of the state. I've also been to Charlotte, Oak Island, Durham, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, Hickory, Raleigh, and Wilmington.

You can kind of get whatever you want in NC. If you want mountains and some snow, you can have it. If you want to live on the beach, you can do that, too! Also, if you live in the mountains and drive diagonally southeast, the beach in SC is about 5 to 6 hours away. Depending on where you live and how fast you drive. However, some areas of those SC beaches are extremely... kitschy. (Myrtle Beach... yuck)

Summers are definitely hot, but you get used to it. If you ride your bike midday in the summer you really feel the heat on hills and stops, otherwise its bearable. Still HOT, but bearable.

Out of the mountains and the beach will be the warmest areas during the winter. It's still summery weather right now, actually. The nights are getting chilly (and "chilly" is like... 60 degrees?).

One thing I would recommend is considering what kind of city you would like to be in. I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis. The south was a bit of a change for me culturally. I also was used to having a big city near me. So, if you want the city life, it might be good to consider Charlotte or Raleigh. If you want a little less city. Greensboro, Winston Salem, and Durham are all smaller. Wilmington is a good sized city on the water. Asheville is a good sized city in the mountains. Brevard and Hendersonville are quaint mountain towns. Oak Island is a quaint beach town. Outer Banks area are beautiful beaches.

All in all, I really like North Carolina. Ideally i would like a lake house in the mountains. But that's just me.

[divingbiker]

I lived in Durham and didn't like it. I lasted 3.5 years before I moved away.

Like others have said, I couldn't abide the the politics and churchiness. When Jesse Helms beat Harvey Gantt for Senate in 1990, it was time for me to go.

The cities are tolerable, but the rural areas, which are right at the edge of the cities, are really rural and conservative. I was there for a visit this past weekend and it reinforced to me that I was right to move.

Do your homework.

[FunSize]

I think a good thing to know is that usually academic areas are going to be a little more liberal than rural areas. Usually, professors and academic communities try to stay forward thinking.

Also, city areas, depending on the city, will be a little more liberal too. But yes... it is the south and there are definitely a lot more conservative people around. You can definitely find people that you'll get along with. It's just that not every person you pass on the street is going to be that way. I wouldn't argue that a lot of the social networking comes from church or kids, but that's true for many other places, too. You just have to work a little harder to find those groups that have people more like you if you're not a conservative, church going, child-rearer. I think that that will be much easier in a more urban setting.

The one downfall is that since it is so conservative in a majority of the state. You're going to usually have conservative politics in your town. If the politics and political actions taken in your town are important to you, definitely keep that in mind when moving to a predominantly conservative area. Now, I don't know how you feel about those types of things, but it is something to keep in mind.

I think "do your homework" is a good thing to say. Just be sure to know what you're looking for, what you want, what you don't want, what you can live with, and what you wouldn't be able to reconcile.

[emily_in_nc]

I think a good thing to know is that usually academic areas are going to be a little more liberal than rural areas. Usually, professors and academic communities try to stay forward thinking.

This is true! I was born and bred in NC and have lived here the vast majority of my life. I've lived in a bunch of different cities in the Piedmont (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Efland, and Carrboro) over the years. I've also had significant dealings with both the coastal part of the state from having our boat down there, and the foothills/mountains from having family in that direction. We currently live in Chapel Hill, just moved back here in June, and love it.

The eastern and western parts of the state are very conservative overall. My mom (a died in the wool Democrat who lives in western NC) grouses about it all the time, and we've seen it first-hand in the eastern part of the state.

The university towns are by far the most progressive. For the most part, this is a red state with two blue counties -- Orange (where Chapel Hill and Carrboro are) and Durham. The academic community in Raleigh, of which my dad was a part when he was living, is also very blue, despite the majority of Raleigh being red.

My DH and I, like GLC, are also non-church-going and don't have kids, but we haven't had too difficult a time making friends in most places we've lived here. Chapel Hill is by far the best as far as finding a wide variety of progressive and tolerant folks, but it's an expensive place to live - housing is outrageous. Carrboro is much less expensive but has a lot of students. Both towns are great for cycling with decent infrastructure (bike paths, lanes and such) and an active bike club. On weekend rides, we see bikes everywhere -- love that! Another thing Chapel Hill has is a free bus system. We are able to have a lot of car-free days by riding and/or taking the bus. It's great, though pretty crowded with UNC students during the academic year.

Now that we live in town again, we found the motorists pretty respectful. Many stop and wait for us to cross and so forth. When we lived in a rural area near Efland, people drove a lot faster, the roads had no shoulders, and since they didn't expect to see cyclists, we didn't feel that we were treated as well by some (certainly not all). And there were LOTS of loose dogs. People in the country here just don't believe in leash laws. I fractured my pelvis courtesy of two loose dogs while riding in a rural area near our home in Efland, so that was a real issue for me. Since being in the city, we haven't been chased or even seen a loose dog. Nice!

Weather-wise, yes, it DOES snow here. Not a lot, but it does snow, and we do get ice storms. It snows less in Raleigh than just up the road in Hillsborough, which is both farther NW and also a bit higher in elevation. We had 20" of snow in this area in 2000, but that's very rare. Most snows are a dusting to 3" and are gone in a day or two. We also have nights in the single digits now and again, and the teens are not uncommon. Most winter days the high does go above freezing, though there are exceptions. There are quite a few gray, drizzly days in the winter months. The summers, as others have pointed out, are hot and humid, and generally very sunny. This summer was particularly brutal, with 91 days over 90 degrees, as well as having the most days with a heat index over 100 ever. Spring and fall are lovely with lower humidity, breezy, with plenty of sunny days.

I don't ride year round, but many do. I tend to hibernate from about mid-Nov til mid-March. Just depends on your tolerance level for discomfort. I'd rather ride in the heat than on a blustery cold day, personally.

Any more questions, feel free to ask this Tarheel.