Hi, folks.

Current PA Poconos resident;  grew up in NJ and couldn't wait to get the heck out.

Just crossed the middle age bracket, and looking towards the (near) future for a more final settlement area for retirement.

NC is high on the list between the wife and I, so wanted to reach out to you all to see if we'd even be welcome there....

(figure you guys need any help with red voters you can get with the waves of blue coming into Cary/Raleigh...)

Are areas like Greenville, Wilson, or Rocky Mount any good?  (cost of living, accessibility to some convenience, political drama, etc) Location-wise, it seems ideal since they're within an hour or so of Raleigh, and within a few hours of shore points like OBX or Emerald.

I love to fish, camp, and we enjoy visiting the shore periodically (but can be just at home in the mountains as well)

From the initial looks of it, there aren't many ranges on the eastern half of the state, so shooting would require more travel?

Eager to hear from you all.

Thanks,
E.

I’m not a NC native so I can’t answer all of your questions but I’m in eastern NC currently - Jacksonville area. I’ve only been here for the last year and a half and spent about 4 years here in the mid-2000s but it is high on the list of possible retirement locations for the wife and I.

It’s got about everything you need and easy enough to get to bigger cities when required. I don’t have much experience with the specific places you mentioned but I went to Greenville about a year ago to buy a truck and it seemed like a good area. Eastern Carolina University is there so it has that college town thing going on. When I was first here, that’s where we’d go on weekends but I didn’t see much outside of the bars

I don’t know if there are ranges in that area but around Jacksonville there are a few that are ok. Most guys around here go to the Holly Shelter Game Land or private land, it seems. I haven’t gone shooting as much as I’d like but work and family keep me busy.

Cost of living is good here. Gas is hovering around $3 a gallon. Houses are a little more than back home in Indiana but far cheaper than when I was in CA (but most states are cheaper than that!) You can get a nice 3-4 bedroom 2k sqft home for $250k or at least when I moved here you could.

There’s a lot to do outdoors - rivers, ponds, and ocean for fishing and boating/kayaking, hunting is accessible, camping and hiking are possible here but you’re better off going inland more or to the mountains. Some historic sites like civil war battlefields - Kinston has an ironclad I keep meaning to go up and check out.

Weather is pretty good. Will get snow a bit but it doesn’t last more than a day. It gets humid in summer. Jan 1 it was in the 80s. Today it was 27 when I woke up though so it can’t make its mind

So yeah, it’s a good place to live in my opinion.

i lived in Jacksonville/richlands for 2 years moved down to hampstead for 3 years and now back to richlands.. starting my 6th year out of NY ..

The north is moving down here meaning liberals and keep voting for the same crap

Richlands is growing in 20 years it will be like the hudson valley in ny..



uharrie has your camping and freshwater fishing... further west is high up mountains..

On the coast like jacksonville/WLM you will find gators...

Snakes the cotton mouths are very aggressive will come after you.. Rattlers and copper heads are here too.. but not as aggressive as the cotton mouths.. buy snake boats if you plan on being in the woods...

Your LTC you will have to take a 8 hour class and shoot at a target.. can apply for ltc after 30 days of being a resident.. hence you get your drive license as soon as you move down here

How bout that new Tractor Supply I love Richlands (RichLANDS, as they say)

 yes not good since we own horses

Thanks for the insight, gents.

Taking a peak at Jacksonville and Richlands areas now just to see what it looks like.

Any other thoughts, I'd be happy to hear. :)

The improper saying of that town is an easy identifier of non-locals.

Don't tell anyone you are from New Jersey, but then again, so many others are transplants it probably doesn't matter much anymore.

Grew up in south Jersey, been in the CLT area for the past ~12yr. I love NC! Yes, we can use another red vote.

As for ranges, I’ve noticed ranges across the state seem few and far between compared to NJ. It seems that more people have access to private land and simply shoot there.

At least in the CLT area, no one is from CLT. Everyone is either from NJ/NY or Ohio. The more rural areas are refreshing compared to CLT and Raleigh areas.

Trust me, I don't usually.  I hate that place with a passion.  I have to go back periodically only because I have relatives there, and hate every single minute of it.  But with this potential relocation, they would relocate too, so bonus on that front.

FWIW,  I drove through Greenville a few weeks ago. Seemed like a pretty dumpy looking college town.

As with most places, the further from the larger cities you are in NC, the nicer it gets.

We live in a fairly rural county and work/stay in a big, liberal city during the week. Night and day difference.

This is the truth and the redder it becomes...

Hampstead you say? How about that Italian Market beside the ABC store? Man that place was awesome! We stumbled upon that bumming around the coast last summer.

yep on the right hand side on 17 going towards porters neck.. its like a nyc style deli..

a lot of hidden gems.. but the traffic is crazy..  

Can you elaborate on 'dumpy'?

Like, run down from age?  Ghetto neglect?  or Stagnation of progress/modernizartion?

Pretty much all of the above.

Granted, we drove through the main road past the university and large medical center complex area and didn't see the entirety of the city, but we were not impressed. They had some pretty epic flooding a few hurricanes ago and I'm sure some of the run-down areas were due to this. It can take many years to recover from this kind of event and some areas never really do.

Keep in mind, Eastern NC and the coastal areas are at a higher risk of flooding and wind damage form hurricanes. One of several reasons we moved further inland. The Wilmington/Hampstead/SE coastal area is growing rapidly and traffic/growing pains are getting worse and worse.

and you cant buy housing on the inter coastal either.. People from NY and Chicago are buying 10-15% above asking sight unseen...

I live in Johnston County about 20 mins away from Wilson. I like that city a lot. I think they're doing a lot to revitalize their downtown. Housing is cheaper there and it has a lot of nice subdivisions.
The dog park there is great, it puts Raleigh, Clayton, and Smithfield dog parks to shame. There's baseball diamonds, a skate park, playground, and a reservoir with a walking trail near the dog park too.
There is a massive junkyard nearby as well, has almost every car you can think of and some old ones many of you haven't seen in decades, if you're into that. I like going there and wandering around for a bit on Saturday mornings. Population is about 50,000 so there is a lot to do, but it's not so big as to be a leftist hellhole. Obviously it's not perfect and it has its lower class areas but every city is like that.

I live in Moore County. About an hour south from Raleigh.
Decent place. Just don't tell the locals how you did it "back
home" or change things and it will be fine. Stay away from
Greenville. A lot of crime there.

I cant not stress that enough..

No one here wants to hear how u do things back in the north.. your leaving that place for a reason..

They don't want that we do it this way down here at all.. I don't blame them either..

NC is like a second state for me.  I hike and camp there, and our son is stationed at LeJeune, but lives near Richlands.  

Eastern NC is very rural and one big coastal plain. I really like the coastal areas, but I prefer, and would encourage looking at western NC as well.  Hickory and Morganton are nice and pretty close to the mountains.  

Please tell any of your leftist friends or neighbors to stay up north.

Bryson City is nice. I've stayed there a time or two some years back.

Sorry,we are full
But I hear South Carolina or Georgia is a nice place to move .

When are they going to post the sign on 95 and 85 that we are full.. ?  It would make it a lot easier....

Trust me guys, I hate the way the morons up this way are destroying a more conservative rural way of life;  it's why I moved to PA to escape it.  But it's encroaching out here anymore too, hence the move south...

I will literally be just another neighbor 'along for the ride' so to speak.

We all just busting on you..

I felt the same way when i left..

I will never set foot back in NY unless its for work..

NJ im stuck until my mother and in laws pass on..

than ill be done..

Also don’t comment on our accent. Pisses me off when some transplant in Mooresville asks me where I’m from!