People in Lancaster County (Allentown, Harrisburg: home, living in, cost of)

[Joshua]

I've lived in Lititz for 17 years. It is a wonderful place to live. I can't explain your negative experiences. Perhaps you are just maybe "oversensitive" and are reading things from people that aren't there?? I've certainly never had any preconceived notions about people that move here. Did you hear before you moved here that Lancaster County might be predjudicial to newcomers? This might be making you sense this from people when it really isn't there.

[micrguy]

Two examples of how narrow-minded some of the people in Lancaster County are. First is when I moved to PA, I was looking for a job in entry-level job in sales. I had a degree from a major university and enough sales experience to get into any company that will hire new college graduates for their sales and marketing departments. During interviews, I had 3-4 different companies flat out tell me to my face that because I was not from PA or went to a university in PA they did not want to hire me. Finally got a job when a sympathetic job search counselor only set up interviews for me in Philly or Baltimore for jobs that were open in central PA. Once she did that I got a job within a month. So I had to drive two hours to interview with people who did not have a bias towards outsiders and when judged fairly, got a job right away.

A friend of our family also moved to central PA and had a hard time finding a job as well. They had a degree from M.I.T. and at one job interview the person doing the interview looked at their resume and saw Mass. Institute of Technology. So the interviewer asked "This school of yours, it's like DeVry or ITT,right?" This friend of ours spent the rest of the interview trying to convince them that they had graduated from probably the best university in the country, but to no avail. The interviewer was convinced it was just a tech school and because it was out of state they had never heard of the school before.

So I met a few nice people while we lived in Lancaster County but they were few and far between.

[shawden1201]

We moved to Lanc. Co. in May 06 and are having second thoughts about doing so. The people in our development are extremely anti-social, so much to the fact they wont even say a simple hello. And I don't consider myself as over sensitive, as someone stated, I think it is just common courtesy if someone is walking towards you, you pick up your head, Smile & say "Hello". Am I asking for to much? I agree 100% w/Lititzman!

[Anon]

Originally Posted by mjk1093

Not to beat this dead horse of a topic, but reading your post two new "reasons" for Lancaster's cold shoulder did pop into my head:

1. All the people moving there have raised home prices. Good for people who might sell, very bad for the oldsters who'll never leave but now have to pay more in taxes, and for families that have onwed their homes for generations (that's common in Lancaster.)

2. Their attitude might be: Other people are a potential source of sin, even if they go to church. Just stick with God, and your immediate family, and you'll be safe.

It's astounding how many PA Dutch talk with absolutely no one they are not related to.

Oh, really?

www.fortliberty.org/patriotic-humor/patriotic-pictures/how-about-a-nice-cup-of-shut-the-****-up.jpg (broken link)

[Nomad123]

I was born and raised in Lancaster County and left to join the Army as soon as I graduated HS. I'm very glad I chose to see the rest of the world; many people from PA (Lancaster area) have never left the state. I often wonder why anyone would stay in the Lancaster area, there's so much more to experience. I did visit a few times but was sadly dissapointed to realize that many of the people there are ok with going nowhere in their lives.

[Louis Nederlander]

The good christian while folks are one of the most closed minded,aloof and unfriendly folk in the u.s.a. and ignorant.

[jackooboy]

Another reason why natives don't like newcomers is that they are destroying the farmland.

[lititzman2003]

Originally Posted by jackooboy

Another reason why natives don't like newcomers is that they are destroying the farmland.

I don't agree with that. A large number of my neighbors here in Newport Square are from the surrounding areas. Maybe the developers realized that people wanted to remain in the township and saw a need for more housing. This development was nearly finished when we bought our house, with the majority of the residents being from Lititz, Brownstown, Ephrata, etc. We have been very respectfull of the laws and customs in the county, and we sure don't want to change anything. We came out here to enjoy small town life, not to destroy it.

[jackooboy]

If you look at the census data Lancaster County has been increasing in population by 40-60,000 people per decade for the last 50 years or so... So in reality there is a major influx of people to the region and they are having their effect seen upon the landscape-- suburban sprawl!

[DivaLicious]

Good Lord, I'm scared now. My hubby is from Easton/Allentown, PA and I am from Savannah, GA. IF they are acting that way towards you I can only imagine how they'd be towards me and my Southern accent. My hubby was there over the summer on business (Ephrata) and absolutely fell in love, so we have been considering a move. We are hating East, TN because the people here don't like "outsiders" and 6 yrs of being treated like crap is more than enough. I was hoping the mentality up North would be different. Yes, I am Southern, but hubby say's I have a Yankee attitude, LOL! Whatever that means...hehe