Reviews & Comments
Ohio, OH
This is a retirement home and a weird one at that. -
4/25/2019I've lived in the rural area between Waverly, Jackson, Chillicothe, and Portsmouth for nearly all of my 34 1/2 years. I've also lived in Columbus. Growing up here was basically comfortable but daily mind-numbing. The schools are sub-par and will not challenge a truly gifted child. There doesn't seem to be any interest in culture or tradition, except that of the moundbuilder culture. Outside of a major city, there isn't much access to goods or services. Get used to ordering everything off the web.
The electric CoOps that cover a large portion of the state charge extravagantly to get power to many rural towns with no help from the Public Utilities Commission to get the rates down.
If you live in the southeastern part of the state, you find yourself in an area my family calls "the triangle of desolation." It's a vast area that runs from Columbus in the north to Lexington, KY in the south, from Cincinnati in the west to Pittsburgh, PA in the east where it's just nonstop small towns, villages, and miserably poor rural communities. Very little jobs or opportunities with a bitterly uneducated and uncultured populace (unless you count hillbilly/redneck culture). It's so remote that you are within 100 miles (sometimes more like 200 miles) of necessary goods, services, and employment.
This is a place of quiet seclusion perfect for trust-fund babies in need of a vacation home, retirees who like to fish, or someone running from the law.
Speaking of which, the drug problems here are rampant. Everyone seems to know someone (or several someones) who are addicts or recovering addicts. Trouble with illegal pot growers, clandestine meth labs, and unlawful peddling of people's prescription meds are common topics from the gossip mill, along with the constant fear of having your possessions stolen. The weird part is that the local populace seems strangely calm about all this goings-on and live in a semi-comfortable state of numbness. It's too much for any moral, critical thinking citizen to come to terms with.