Slower, quiet life in rural eastern NC
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4/10/2015
I have lived in the area of Fountain for many years. Its one of those small, old country towns with one lighted intersection - intersection of Highway NC 222 and US 258. There is a working post office, had a BB&T bank (it is gone now--go figure), two small country stores, town admin bldg, and a water tower. It is reminiscent of the many small eastern NC towns in that there are a handful of old, closed businesses on main street. Quite often owned by older individuals with money, which are unwilling to sale to younger entrepreneurs. So the handful of stores just sit there locked-up, without life and decaying. Most of the time they just become storage for the owner's junk of the yesteryear.
Although there are a couple nice homes and a handful (and I mean only a handful) of larger homes in the town, many of the houses are a touch over 1,000 ft^2 and in need of maintenance, paint and just a little TLC.
The older individuals which live in or near Fountain are often really nosey. Don't be offended by their staring....expect to be stared at. They're just attempting to ascertain who they think you are. They aren't a threat. Just not a lot going on for them I suppose.
The outlying areas around Fountain- namely Falkland, Farmville, Greenville, Crisp, Stantonsburg, Macclesfield are all 'typical' conventional agricultural landscape where cotton, tobacco, soybeans, peanuts and sweet potatoes are grown.
Crime: There really is no crime in Fountain, very little in Farmville. The vast majority of the crime involving break-ins, etc; occur north of the river bridge, NC 222 East, which is approx. 10-12 miles from Fountain. There simply is not any significant crime in the Fountain, Falkland, Crisp, Farmville area. All the area residents know everyone for the most part, or know of you. Therefore, when suspicious activity is a foot the sheriff's office in enroute.
As is common for eastern North Carolina rural countryside, there are sporadically placed mobile homes and mobile home parks. Many of which contain tenants that simply do not care about trash retention to their property. Neither do they care about maintaining beauty along the roadways in the area, leading to and from their mobile homes. They purposely throw trash out their vehicle windows and essentially just trash the roadways in those areas. Its a sad state of affairs.
You'll immediately notice the areas when traveling through. AS long as you are a few miles away from those locales you would be fine with home purchases. If it was not for such people, this one be one of the cherished areas on the globe.
There is a really large rock quarry operation about .5 mile outside of Fountain which brings in lots of dump truck traffic during the early to mid-mornings. Later in the evenings the traffic dies down and one can listen to the birds sing by day and the crickets chirp, coyotes howl and owls hoot by night. Don't worry, the coyotes aren't problematic, there is sufficient woodland habitat for them. The area has a rather extensive community of owls which speaks of the healthy wildlife population and the area ecosystem although conventional agriculture is the order of the day in this region of the state.
Back to the people...most of the people will not bother you. Many are really trapped in their own paradigms and due to their socioeconomic status are simply living their lives as they can. Then there are others which are unwilling to accept change and innovation that could potentially enter the area to bring health, healing and repair the economy...so instead they fragment their land by selling and throw up cheap, alternative housing in the form of mobile homes. Don't expect to have too many riding the innovation and eco movements..organic farming market, entrepreneurial pursuits which aid to bring healing to landscapes or the like. It would take an entire paradigm shift to get them on that ball.
Overall, the atmosphere is one of peace and the typical eastern North Carolina rural lifestyle.
Chris | Fountain, NC