Wondering about moving from PA to Salisbury??? (Cambridge, Ocean City: low income, houses)

[LostLittleLibby]

Hi there. My husband and I are exploring a variety of options for a move in a few years. We're quite politically "liberal" or progressive "hippie" types, a vegetarian family with several children, trying to find somewhere we could feel culturally comfortable. We're in PA right now, in a very conservative area, and not really enjoying it. I've taken that "findmyspot" online quiz a few times, and it always lists Salisbury in the top 5. We absolutely love the coast and it would be awesome to live so close. But not sure about the economy down there - I work at a college right now part-time, and my husband is an electrician.

I guess I'm wondering in general about how Salisbury is. Is the economy decent? Cost of living? Is the area progressive/liberal at all? How are the schools?

Thank you in advance for any input you might give. Any and all answers are deeply appreciated!

[LostLittleLibby]

I should also mention that we're mostly interested in living about 20 mins outside the actual city - we're avid gardeners, so will want some space...

[North Beach Person]

The Eastern Shore of MD is overwhelmingly a conservative area. Why is that important if somewhere is a nice place to live.

Rural people also tend to leave others alone.

[catsy girl]

i lived in salisbury for five years-2001-2006- and loved it. there is an ease to life there, perhaps being so close to the ocean- and it is a town that is easy to navigate. i loved the compactness of the area- no great distances to travel- and it is large enough so that you have majority of shopping needs there. i found the community that i lived in to be very friendly and even though i had lived in baltimore all of my life, felt more at home in salisbury for those five years than anywhere else i've been before or since.

having said that, it is a very conservative town, and i'm a liberal also. that was not a huge issue when i lived there, primarily because many of the friends i made were associated with the university and were more liberal than the town as a whole. i know nothing about jobs except that it's a difficult job market.

i enjoyed living there, perhaps due in large part to the neighborhood where i lived, and the very good neighbors i had, but for me, it was a very good experience.

catsy girl

[heather3]

Living in Salisbury, you only need to live 5 miles outside the city to be very rural. It's a huge farming area: soybeans, tobacco and Purdue has his HQ down there for his chickens. You may be able to find at job at Salisbury University, or even one of the community colleges there; and maybe the Unive of MD, Eastern Shore too.
I think you'll find a good mix down there. I went to college there and spent numerous summers in Ocean City and never found my beliefs to be an issue or to make me feel uncomfortable living there.
Maybe take a day trip down and tour the area, look for houses outside the town limits you may like and see if you feel comfortable there!
Good luck!

[eav1221]

On the other hand, Salisbury is kinda ghe-tto....in some areas. That and it's 30 minutes away from everything--meaning you'll put miles on your car because of how spread out that place is. It's nothing but farmland...chicken farms that cram the poor birds in trucks. You'll see them and smell them and the mere sight will haunt you. That and the horrific manure smell that'll make you want to vomit every spring and summer will invade your very being. You can't escape it over there, especially if you live out in the middle of a field like it sounds like you will. The manure they spread out there will kill you. The fertilizers seep into the ground and, well, nevermind. It's a great place for some I guess...but 2 hours from the Bay Bridge almost...which is your connection to the western shore, or civilization. I lived on the eastern shore for 6 years and saw it all...Salisbury, Cambridge, Denton, beaches, etc. and I had to leave because of the narrow-mindedness of the people I worked with. Ultra conservatives who dismissed me every time I spoke out about an issue that went against their belief systems. Look up cancer rates. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that this area is high due to chemical fertilizers that are prevalent on the eastern shore...and caring about what you put in your bodies, I'd do some research before I plopped down next to a Purdue farm that sprays growth hormones on their feed and shovels mutant manure all over the soybean fields a mile away...

[CelticViking]

Since you are of liberal beliefs and you want to feel culturally comfortable...I dont think you would want to live in a rural area. There are several low income areas that you could look at that would probably fit your description better. You may be able to help some struggling minorities in the process.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by CelticViking

Since you are of liberal beliefs and you want to feel culturally comfortable...I dont think you would want to live in a rural area. There are several low income areas that you could look at that would probably fit your description better. You may be able to help some struggling minorities in the process.

Wow, how crass! "Welcome to the shore," huh?

[wap980]

You can't escape it over there, especially if you live out in the middle of a field like it sounds like you will. The manure they spread out there will kill you. The fertilizers seep into the ground and, well, nevermind.http://www.*****.info/g.gif (broken link)

[magicoz]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Rural people also tend to leave others alone.

Are you kidding me? I was at a small town gathering in Hershey PA (my liberal family lives there) and this guy tricked me into having a conversation about religion where he tried to convert me to evangelicalism. They all do that in the rural parts. Bigotry knows no Mason-Dixon line.