Man I miss living in what actually felt like the south. It’s hard to remember clearly sometimes because things have changed so rapidly, but I do remember how everyone would wave at you when you drove into your neighborhood (one time a man pointed a shotgun at me when I drove into his neighborhood off river Rd back in the day 🥶, scary and wrong but authentic Wilmington lol), how people would talk to each other all the time in the grocery store or wherever, how there’d be barely any cars on the road outside of 5-6pm.
My biggest grievance with the northern transplants is the way they expect the south to be like the north. It’s not. It’s more raw & rugged as well as more laid back. I saw a woman recently that had a shirt that said “New York or nowhere”… then why are you here?
You can’t move here and then be neighborhood Karen’s and/or weirdo NPC’s who don’t know how to socialize/be aware of your surroundings/be considerate of other people. Everyone has always known that people in the south are more friendly and community oriented, and that’s still very alive in the Deep South, but it’s becoming rarer here in North Carolina. Because of people who have come here for all the wrong (and self serving) reasons.
At the end of the day, most of the Wilmington locals have left. Most southerners around here have left. Our local government just wants to get rich and loves the growth/development. They don’t care about wilmingtonians. I can’t change that, I just need to move. When my grandma is gone, though I hope that isn’t soon, I will eagerly head off in search of somewhere that still upholds the southern charm & values I grew up with. It’s really depressing to see what this place has become. And if you’re offended I feel this way - sorry, not sorry. Don’t make it personal unless you’re the kind of people I’m talking about, in which case…. Be offended!