What's the smallest town you've ever lived in? (1 Viewer)

[Otis]

I grew up in a town called Mount Vision, NY. It's a hamlet located about 10 miles south of Cooperstown, NY.

The population at the time (1970-1985ish) was about 250.

Mount Vision was in the township of a place called Laurens, NY.

The school I went to was in Laurens, and although I don't know what the population of the town of Laurens was, I can tell you the school district was K-12 with a total of about 525 students, and my senior class had 30 students.

I like to tell people that I graduated in the top 25 of my class.

Having said all that, I now live in a suburb of Rochester, NY which is a population of 250K, and about 750K in Monroe County.

I go back home to Mt. Vision on average once a year, and absolutely love visiting the area.

In the town of Laurens, there is a man Mr. Boudreau he is now in his late 80's.

He runs a breaksfast counter diner.

It's open from 6am to 10am 6 days a week.

The menu is written on a chalk board behind the counter.

When you walk in, you go behind the counter to grab a pad and pen and write your own order. When you know what you want, you tack your order onto the wall above his prep area. He makes one to two orders at a time.

Here's the best part. When you're done, there is a table with a few dollars of cash and a pile of coin next to the prep area.

You leave what you owe, and make your own change. I have a photo of him that I took a couple of years ago. I'll try to find it and add it to this post.

Small town America is a great place to grow up!

Mr. B's picks:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128562087@N02/17299321571/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128562087@N02/16679547193/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128562087@N02/17113594779/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128562087@N02/17299803855/

Awesome,and very cool photos. I want to go have breakfast there now.

 

[El Floppo]

Grew up in a town of about 3,000, county totaled 9,000. The only high school still has average class sizes of 100 people.

My high school had 3,000 kids in it.

Congrats on never leaving the NYC bubble.

I spent four years of college somewhere else. Does that count?

[angry] NO [/angry]

Death threat PMs received

I did my best to word them just right. glad to see my effort is appreciated.

 

[psychobillies]

I could never live in a small isolated town. Even my small town was 10 miles from a town of 100,000. So we had movie theaters, bowling alleys, a mall etc within 20 mins.

I'm always fascinated by people in really small towns, like 200 people. What percentage of young people actually make the move to get out? It must have really increased with the internet and the ability to see what's really out there.

A huge percentage because there is no jobs.

Yeah, I'm sure. So like 80%? There has to be some need for strong labor that'll keep some young people around.I couldn't imagine everyone knowing you and knowing a lot about you. It must be so hard to have some privacy.

This is very true.

I guess it depends on what kind of privacy you're looking for. I've either lived in the country or very small towns all my life except the 18 months I lived in Washington DC. I left the city because I felt I had no privacy.I remember I once had a neighbor in the country who moved from the city to retire. His wife insisted they move back to the city because she felt so isolated and thought that meant they were an easy target for crime. That kind of blew my mind. I didn't even lock my house at the time.

Hmmm, that actually makes we wonder how well my wife would be able to handle a move like we want. She gets creeped out too some times when we stay in a more isolated place while on vacation. She too thinks at times that we could be a target for some psycho. She watches too many movies and those type (family harassed) freak her out the most.

I don't understand how living next to lots of people equates to more privacy. I can mow my lawn naked and no one would ever know. Way higher probability of being a crime victim in the big cities too. Strange.

I live in NYC. I don't know most of the people in my building, let alone street or neighborhood. What they and I do remains pretty anonymous... Which equates to a certain level of privacy. I have two bars in my building alone... I could there and make a raging fool of myself and would have zero blowback since They don't know me. Small towns lack that anonymity, unless you're a recluse.

I've been here more than 25 years and have never been victim of a crime. Same can't be said of the smaller town where I grew up. Anecdotal of course... But I wonder what the per capita crime stats are for cities vs small towns. I wouldnt bet that they were that far off, and doubtfully "way higher" in cities.

I see what you are saying. I just look at it differently. Strangers or not, I don't think sharing walls with someone lends itself to "privacy", but obviously it works for many. I know my neighbors (even though I can't see them), but they don't know any more about me than I want them to know, and I'm not a recluse.

 

[RedmondLonghorn]

Four college years in Walla Walla, WA---pop. 25,000 at that time.

Whitman?

 

[Guest]

I could never live in a small isolated town. Even my small town was 10 miles from a town of 100,000. So we had movie theaters, bowling alleys, a mall etc within 20 mins.

I'm always fascinated by people in really small towns, like 200 people. What percentage of young people actually make the move to get out? It must have really increased with the internet and the ability to see what's really out there.

A huge percentage because there is no jobs.

Yeah, I'm sure. So like 80%? There has to be some need for strong labor that'll keep some young people around.

I couldn't imagine everyone knowing you and knowing a lot about you. It must be so hard to have some privacy.

This is very true.

I guess it depends on what kind of privacy you're looking for. I've either lived in the country or very small towns all my life except the 18 months I lived in Washington DC. I left the city because I felt I had no privacy.

I remember I once had a neighbor in the country who moved from the city to retire. His wife insisted they move back to the city because she felt so isolated and thought that meant they were an easy target for crime. That kind of blew my mind. I didn't even lock my house at the time.

I only lock my house at night and never lock my vehicles. When privacy was mentioned the first thing I thought of was the small town rumor mill. Example. If I get pulled over for speeding, my parents will probably know I got stopped before I have a ticket in hand. And the story will end up being that I got a DUI. I'm 45 damn years old. Example 2: I can't talk to a female in a bar without a rumor starting that we're screwing.

The are positives to knowing most of the people, and there are many positives to living in a small town. The gossip sucks though.

 

[hagmania]

I still get my hometown's local paper sent to me in Nashville. Cracks me up to read what is considered front-page worthy.

 

[LarryAllen'sJockstrap]

Ranshaw, Pennsylvania

Population - 510.

 

[roadkill1292]

Ranshaw, Pennsylvania

Population - 510.

There's no smokin' in Shamokin!