Clisby wrote:

Rosalie B. wrote:
Clisby wrote:
snip

In Boston and later in RI we lived far from the base and you weren't a local
unless your grandparents were born there.

Charleston (SC) is like that, too. Although it might have to be a
great-grandparent; I'm not sure.

(I bought an old wardrobe from the
lady down the block who sold antiques and asked her about a little girl I saw on
her bike at the end of the driveway, and she said - oh those are the new people.
The 'new people' had been there for 12 years and ran the local store.) And in
California, the 'old people' were friendlier to newcomers. We lived in south
Philly for part of one year, and I don't think the kids had any particular
trouble there either.

There's a (perhaps apocryphal) story about a 90-year-old man whose
parents had brought him to Charleston as an infant. He was a succssful
businessman and civic leader. At his funeral, the minister's glowing
eulogy began, "Although he was not one of us ..."

My mother was born in NC and her mother was from NC but married a man from PA.
My mom always said that in the south they would be polite but wouldn't accept
you if you were from the north. It's a different kind of non-acceptance than in
New England - lower profile.

We were born in and lived in Maryland, and my sister went to Duke and she was
HIGHLY incensed when she was referred to as "that little northern gal" because
she did not think she was Northern. But of course Maryland did not secede in
the Civil War and so was therefore Northern, even if south of the Mason Dixon
line.

My mom was worried when my son (who married a PA girl) moved to the Charleston
area. My DIL doesn't seem to feel any discrimination from local people, but I'm
not sure whether they live in an area with a lot of old time society people. Or
if she would notice if they weren't as welcoming as they could be.