# Some sure signs that you live in a small town/rural area



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

We were talking about how the cafeteria of the small hospital here is still crowded on Sunday during the 11am to 2 PM period as folks other than those visiting patients still consider it a sit down restaurant like the Huddle House and local cafes same as they did 50 years ago.

That and the fact anyone from the nearby small town can almost perfectly describe anyone else's small town even if it's thousands of miles away because all small towns tend to have similar and sometimes almost identical layouts from the location of water towers, town splitting railroad crossings, one engine fire halls, flashing traffic lights , etc. as if all the towns ordered themselves in kit form from the Sears Roebuck catalog to form their "dot on the road map" as the main signs you live in a small town.

What other signs you live in a small town come to your mind first?


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

My town has a section in its once a week paper for arrests.


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

Another is, if you need something other than groceries or gasoline on a Saturday, you better get it by noon. 
During Deer Season, first week, most locally owned shops are closed.


----------



## Darren (May 10, 2002)

There's only one stop light in the county and it's in town. The new bridge was built in 1924.


----------



## kidsnchix (Oct 2, 2003)

Everything here closes down at 9pm except Wal Mart, Sonic and McDs....and they close an hour later.


----------



## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

only thing I can think of is a couple days ago when I was home and out in the yard. so many people kept slowing down ,honkling their horns and calling out" hope you're home to stay Georgia" stuff like that. I didn't know I knew so many. ~Georgia


----------



## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Well my small town has a country store with deli, post office, fire department, library/community center and a museum. Though not much of one. No stop lights or stop signs. We have an ice cream social once a year. We have an old time carnival at the fire department. We have 4 ham and oyster suppers a year. Everybody knows everybody and the guy 10 miles down the road is a neighbor. We are about 35 to 40 minutes from a grocery store. When anyone is sick the community brings food and get well wishes. The young help the old for the most part. We started a farmers market at our country store which does great with the weekend travelers and tourist. Every morning everyone meets at the country store at 7 for breakfast and liars club meetings. It's Mayberry come to life without as many conveniences. Lol And I wouldn't trade it for a thing.


----------



## Breezy833 (Jun 17, 2013)

Vahomesteaders said:


> Well my small town has a country store with deli, post office, fire department, library/community center and a museum. Though not much of one. No stop lights or stop signs. We have an ice cream social once a year. We have an old time carnival at the fire department. We have 4 ham and oyster suppers a year. Everybody knows everybody and the guy 10 miles down the road is a neighbor. We are about 35 to 40 minutes from a grocery store. When anyone is sick the community brings food and get well wishes. The young help the old for the most part. We started a farmers market at our country store which does great with the weekend travelers and tourist. Every morning everyone meets at the country store at 7 for breakfast and liars club meetings. It's Mayberry come to life without as many conveniences. Lol And I wouldn't trade it for a thing.


The liars club meeting? I read a book once that reffernced these.


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

Then there is the down side. 
Some feel they are a bit more important because they own a business or attend a certain Church or own large parcels of land. They don't realise if they lived in a larger City, they would be lost in the crowd.


----------



## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Breezy833 said:


> The liars club meeting? I read a book once that reffernced these.


Bunch of old men telling stories of their youth. Some have stretched overt the years. Lol


----------



## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

If we stop for coffee in town, it usually ends up being a large group talking, laughing and sharing stories.


----------



## oneraddad (Jul 20, 2010)

A sure sign you live in a small town is that you're the only one left.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poeville,_Nevada

Poeville, also known as Peavine until 1863, is the site of a historical mining town, established in 1864. John Poe, a professional promoter from Michigan allegedly related to Edgar Allan Poe, discovered rich gold and silver veins in 1862 on the slopes of Peavine Mountain. After the discovery of ore, Poe announced that the veins comprised the next Comstock Lode; he presented extracted ore at the state fair of 1864 as rich in content. As a result, the former mining camp, called Poe City (Poeville) or Podunk (Poedunk), grew to 200 people by 1864. Ore production in the mining district and population peaked around 1873-1874 with several hundred people living in town, supported by three hotels and a post office. The post office, named "Poeville", operated between September 1, 1874, and March 24, 1878.[1]

The smelting of the sulfide-rich ores with the primitive technology of the time directly at town was difficult, and also water resources were scarce. The situation improved in 1866, when the extracted ore was freighted to smelters by wagon to Cisco, California, and, after the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, by rail to Sacramento, California. Income from the mines was low, for the extracted ore was rich not in gold, but in copper. Mining activity rapidly slowed, then ceased altogether in the late 1870s. By 1880, only 15 people remained in town. Nothing can be seen today of the former town.[2] Several small mining claims were in operation near the town site since that time.


----------



## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

Breezy833 said:


> The liars club meeting? I read a book once that reffernced these.


My wife read a book called "The Liars' Club", she really enjoyed it, I will have to see if it is still on the shelf at the library.


----------



## MoTightwad (Sep 6, 2011)

We live a small town, in fact 2 small towns, as we live 6 miles from either town, and there are no stop lights, nor is there much business in either town. One has a cafe open from 7-2PM, one has a Caseys. one has a mill for feed and one has a bank. So we have out choice of which town we go to for what ever we want. No grocery stores, nor a Dollar General. So that says "SMALL".


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

There are still 2 streets in Chelsea that people not only park nose in, but park long ways in the center. They also make turns if they see a parking space across the street, in the middle of the street. It was the first town in Okla that was near the first oil well drilled in Okla in 1901 I think. Its stores are almost all shuttered up now. 2 banks, 2 cops, 2 gas stations one tire shop, 3 small engine repairs, 1 cafÃ©, at least a doz trains going by it a day.


----------



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

I really miss hearing trains. 
I used to sit with my Grandmother on the front porch and listen to the trains at night, eating popcorn cooked in a skillet with bacon grease. Her place was off of King Hill in the south end. What I wouldn't give to do that again for just 1minute.


----------



## Nsoitgoes (Jan 31, 2016)

In the small town near me three cars on Main Street constitutes a traffic jam.


----------



## kidsnchix (Oct 2, 2003)

We have those here too....Big Fish in a Little Pond


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Ah Nsoitgoes, It aint that bad. I imagine during workdays, if you saw 3 cars on main in Bristow, that might be something, ON THE STREET. I can remember walking across the street from the bank to Safeway and the had the walk ways marked out with Specially made for streets Dr Pepper roundrals imbedded in the brick main street.

Wolf, you wouldn't like hearing the horns today. They are electrical and emit a jarring grinding sound.
I had a cousin that lived on top Kings Hill. Right where the Rent All place used to be. At that time, that was where the Minneapolis Moline Dealership was. Mom had us stay on the porch while she went up to visit. This was in the mid 50s. We could hear the air horns of the locomotives below in the rail yards, and see the MM tractors and equip.
Ive been on top Kings Hill once. They supposed to have been a big indian battle there in the 40s.


----------



## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

ambulance fee $150.00 a year and they still bill your insurance company.


----------



## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

Nsoitgoes said:


> In the small town near me three cars on Main Street constitutes a traffic jam.


You have a Main Street? 

My small town is so small it's on a minor highway and merits only a speed change from 55 MPH to 40 MPH as you drive through it. No lights, only 2 stop signs for the one road that intersects with the highway there. It consists of a small local convenience store and a post office. The original "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" town.

I live 12 miles from there, if you're willing to take the dirt road. 15 miles if you're not.

The sign that I live in one that comes to mind isn't from the "town" where I live now, but from another small town where I lived in in Montana. You hear that your great aunt died when someone brings you a casserole, because the tela-neighbor system works faster than even your own family.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

The town my church was in was that small. NO lights period, one convenience gas store, and the church. Usta have around 5 brick buildings when I first moved there. Guy knocked them all down a year later.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Vahomesteaders said:


> Bunch of old men telling stories of their youth. Some have stretched overt the years. Lol


 Once talking about our areas small towns I was surprised to hear of 9 towns in 7 different states all had the old men's story and pocket knife swapping benches and all of the 9 of us remembered or took part in making a replacement bench inch in the high school wood shops when the boards got shaved down by the old men demonstrating how sharp their knives were if they were short of whittling sticks.


----------



## Karenrbw (Aug 17, 2004)

kidsnchix said:


> Everything here closes down at 9pm except Wal Mart, Sonic and McDs....and they close an hour later.



Walmart, Sonic, and McDs are all found in the next county. Our county didn't get a stoplight until two years ago when they put one in down at the interstate. 

I called the hardware store last year on a Saturday morning to ask them what time they closed. He told me "I reckon we will close around 12:30 or 1:00 today."


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

The town I went to church at didn't have a main street either. Main street was Hwy 16 outa Bristow.


----------



## thericeguy (Jan 3, 2016)

You live in a small town when these are useful direction:

Turn left where that white house used to be. 

It's where the parade always ends. 

It's where that bad wreck was a few years ago. 

OMG, it's next to creepyoldguy. 

Come down the only paved road.


----------



## Karenrbw (Aug 17, 2004)

You live in a small town when all directions start with "You go to the big intersection and ..." And the big intersection is the only one with flashing red light.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

The house you have lived in for 25 years is still referred to as "The old Smith place" even though the guy you bought it from lived in it for 20 years after buying it from The Smith's kids when their mother died years after her husband simply because Old Man Smith built the house starting in the 1940s as a kitchen and bedroom behind a well pump and added three more rooms and a indoor toilet before he died in 1963 or so from emphysema and farmer's lung . 

The house diary envelope Smith kept and his kids passed on to the guy I bought from was passed to me with the second owner's house warranty and repair diary envelope. Of course I doubt any of those warranty forms from the 1940s-1960s are valid , but the purchase prices of the things he bought make me :hysterical: :stars: and  all at once when I compare my repairs to those of the two former owners.


----------



## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Lol ya'all got me laughing when ya start talking lights and walmart and McDs!
That's where we go when we go to the city.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Tulsa is a metropolis,
Claremore is a city
Chelsea is a town


----------



## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

AmericanStand said:


> Lol ya'all got me laughing when ya start talking lights and walmart and McDs!
> That's where we go when we go to the city.


Any place with stoplights, restaurants and police is a city to me. Lol


----------



## tamarackreg (Mar 13, 2006)

- you've got your own well and septic

- no curtains

- no visible neighbors

- police, fire or ambulance are going to be a while getting there

- you know the difference between a lawn mower and a tractor

- hearing a shot(s) makes you smile

- your lawn gets mowed if / when you want

- your 4 wheel drive isn't there because it's cool

- a horse is good transportation


----------



## Karenrbw (Aug 17, 2004)

You know you live in a small town when the funeral home tapes funeral notices to the ice machine at the gas station because the paper only come out once a week and by the time the obituary is in the paper, the grave has already been filled in.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Nsoitgoes, there usta be a skating rink in Bristow. It was one or 2 blocks E of Main, on 4th or 5th. Red brick building, shut down now, I think. It had a way in front to walk down into the basement where the rink was. It had 3ft brick squares in the middle of the rink, maybe 3 of them, 2 for sure that supported the upper bldg. In one corner was a office and an old lady would be on the microphone telling people to slow down or whatever. Nobody could understand her, so, once she got to waca waca on the microphone, she would have a card index she would flip to the right sign, and you would/could read it as you rolled by. I went there several times. IF you hit one of those pillers on skates, the only give was in you. Not in the piller, and not on the floor.


----------



## Nsoitgoes (Jan 31, 2016)

That is interesting, Bill. I used to both roller and ice skate when I was much younger. I actually went ice skating with my grand daughter a few months ago but my days of fancy steps are long gone. I stayed upright easily enough, but my one and only attempt at a spin nearly had me on my rear!


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

I havnt skated in over 30yrs. Ankle bones NOW wont let me get into a skate shoe


----------



## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

We have an old roller rink about 35 minutes from us. It's on a stretch of highway that has no other business. We took the kids there about 3 weeks ago. It's amazing how fast it comes back to you. But I was sore the next day. Lol


----------



## tamarackreg (Mar 13, 2006)

- House and barn doors are unlocked

- The key stays in the ignition of your vehicles

- Your yard has a strand of electric fence wire around it


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

TAM, I think you give a description of how do you know if you live in the country, rather than what the op wanted, (How do you know if you live in a small town).


----------



## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

FarmboyBill said:


> TAM, I think you give a description of how do you know if you live in the country, rather than what the op wanted, (How do you know if you live in a small town).


My town is in country. I believe many are. Across the road from our country store is a 500 acre farm. Behind our post office a 450 acre farm. Our community center/library backs to 200 acre farm. And all three are within a quarter mile of each other. Very rural little town surrounded by farms.


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Neer heerd of the like.


----------



## tamarackreg (Mar 13, 2006)

FarmboyBill said:


> TAM, I think you give a description of how do you know if you live in the country, rather than what the op wanted, (How do you know if you live in a small town).





> Some sure signs that you live in a small town/*rural area*
> Shrek



Around these parts:
Rural area = country 
country = rural area 
YMMV


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

If you've been married to your next door neighbor at least once.....or

If your best friend is still using your new husband's last name.


----------



## summerdaze (Jun 11, 2009)

If the best fried chicken comes out of the only "restaurant" in the back of the Marathon Station.

You don't necessarily have any street/rd signs. If a driver is lucky, somebody has pounded a home made sign into the ground at intersections.


----------



## Clem (Apr 12, 2016)

LonelyNorthwind said:


> If you've been married to your next door neighbor at least once.....or
> 
> If your best friend is still using your new husband's last name.


Are you sure you're not right up on the paved road from me?


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

Clem said:


> Are you sure you're not right up on the paved road from me?


Interesting goings on when everybody's stuck on a rock. but,..

never have taken the keys outta my jeep. Did wake up at 2am to watch my truck head down the road a few years back tho. Found it at the ferry terminal with an apology note & 20 bucks

don't even have a key to the cabin


----------



## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

The best Chicken in Chelsea is in the back of the filling station/convenience store


----------

