Happier Abroad Forum Community

I am looking at areas near Mennonites again and I visited the Harrisburg, PA area which seems surprisingly appealing. This is a small city that no one wants to move to. So it is "backwards" which is good. It has a river running through the middle which very effectively segregates the area. On the east side of the river are blacks, hispanics, and jews. On the west side are whites and some asians. See these stats with Camp Hill representing the west side and Harrisburg the east side:

https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-citi ... _pa/people
https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-citi ... a/religion

I only spent 2 days there but this area seems like the most tolerable place in America that I have seen. It is in the middle of the Anabaptist area.

https://www.pilgrimministry.org/congregations/map

fschmidt wrote: ↑

July 22nd, 2019, 4:11 am

I am looking at areas near Mennonites again and I visited the Harrisburg, PA area which seems surprisingly appealing. This is a small city that no one wants to move to. So it is "backwards" which is good. It has a river running through the middle which very effectively segregates the area. On the east side of the river are blacks, hispanics, and jews. On the west side are whites and some asians. See these stats with Camp Hill representing the west side and Harrisburg the east side:

https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-citi ... _pa/people
https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-citi ... a/religion

I only spend 2 days there but this area seems like the most tolerable place in America that I have seen. It is in the middle of the Anabaptist area.

https://www.pilgrimministry.org/congregations/map

I used to work live and work in Harrisburg one summer and I loved it. The Mennonite/Amish area tends to be southeast of Harrisburg in the Lancaster area, but there are smatterings of communities throughout Central PA. Camp Hill is indeed a decent area as is Mechanicsburg. Harrisburg's country (Dauphin) has it's share of issues like drug abuse and nihilism among even the white kids now. But the further you go outside of Harrisburg, the better it gets.

I would recommend that you visit Carlisle, PA which is only 30 minutes away which still has that quaint, small town USA feel to it. York, PA is a gem also. If you want more rural than small town, I suggest Perry County, PA which is west of Harrisburg. It is about 99% white if that is what you are looking for.

Central PA is more Southern than the South. I would go to various gun shows in Central PA and speak with the merchants selling klan shirts and paraphernalia. I would also run into young Klansman hanging outside the Sheetz (like 7-11 in PA) and they were personable at best, and indifferent at worst. That was a true American experience back in the 90s when I was living there. I miss it. Everybody is armed in that part of PA so people don't like to cause trouble. A firearms carry permit is as easy to get there as a voter's registration.

I am still most partial to the Central Ga to Central FL region. It has friendly people, cheap prices, and all the young, adventurous white, girls a big, black, Yankee could ever dream about!