Portland, Tennessee
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My Experience in Portland - 8/24/2007

I moved to Portland 15 years ago in order to educate my children at Highland Elementary and Highland Academy--private schools located in Portland. In the process, I have opened an office on Main Street and can walk to work from my home since it is an older home in the middle of Portland. Sometimes on a summer night, my son and I walk a couple of blocks to get ice cream. We can walk to the library, the pool, the city park, or just around the block. I can walk into City Hall as many citizens do and talk to the mayor. I can attend town hall meetings, Chamber meetings, and participate in our annual event--the Strawberry Festival. I guess what I am trying to say is that Portland is a small town and you can easily get to know everyone over time. The down side of Portland is that it has a busy highway (l09) right through town with hundreds of big trucks going through it. It also has a train track going through town with regular trains--sometimes as often as every 30 minutes--although, you kind of get used to that sound. Also, Portland (and the surrounding areas) has a lot of trash on the roads and when the foliage dies down in the winter, you can see the aweful accumulation--I don't have an answer to this problem--just brighten the corner where you are![more...]