James Madison town

[Anonymous]

We are visiting JMU with our daughter in a few weeks. The scenery of Appalachian Virginia looks gorgeous but worried a bit about how rural it is. Is there a lot of “rednecks” in the town and is it an accepting place? Kid is biracial and was a bit turned off by the Confederate flags as we were heading into Blacksburg to tour Tech

[Anonymous]

Harrisonburg is not Appalachian. The city itself, like many Virginia cities, is blue, but the surrounding areas are red.

[Anonymous]

Harrisonburg is a great little city to attend college in. And you are absolutely correct about the scenery being beautiful in the surrounding area. Hope your daughter enjoys the visit.

[Anonymous]

The town has many Trumpers. I went to school there many years ago and was astonished at the Bible Belt mentality, and wished I had gone north. It is better now, but I would think twice about it, especially as most of the kids move off campus as they get older.

[Anonymous]

JMU alum, and one of my closest friends in college was an AA guy. His biracial daughter attends now, and I assume they would not have considered if he’d had a bad experience. But everyone has different comfort levels.

[Anonymous]

So we were there about a month ago for a youth sporting event. Tournament was rained out so we went to the Shenandoah Heritage Market, which is basically a hangar of local shops. Some were neat. But one unabashedly had a shit-ton of confederate stuff in its wares. It was a little off-putting.

That said, I don’t think college kids really get out of their bubble. And I think the confederacy as “heritage” stuff really isn’t explicitly linked to racism in those people’s minds. They’re just ignorant or stubborn about what those things symbolize to others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are visiting JMU with our daughter in a few weeks. The scenery of Appalachian Virginia looks gorgeous but worried a bit about how rural it is. Is there a lot of “rednecks” in the town and is it an accepting place? Kid is biracial and was a bit turned off by the Confederate flags as we were heading into Blacksburg to tour Tech

You do realize this is a bigotry right?

[Anonymous]

Alumna here - there is basically no interaction with “the townies.” But if your kid, unlike the vast majority of NOVA kids, is a shoe in for UVA, by all means eliminate Tech and JMU from the running!

[Anonymous]

My in laws have lived in Harrisonburg for 30+ years and worked at JMU.

It’s a southern Virginia city, so it’s in a red area, but the school and many people associated with it are more educated and liberal.

It’s fine. Short answer. JMU had brown a lot recently and they’re trying to develop a bit more.

There are also a lot of immigrants and refugees in the town for a lot of reasons. Hispanics but also Eastern Europeans and South East Asians. There’s also a large Mennonite community nearby.

[Anonymous]

JMU had GROWN, not brown I mean. Hahahah.

[Anonymous]

Confederate is history of the south

[Anonymous]

I only know one person who lives in Harrisonburg, no affiliation with JMU. They are biracial and love living there and say they can’t imagine living anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Harrisonburg is Shenandoah Valley.

Blacksburg (VT) is in the Blue Ridge. Keep driving past Blacksburg, and you enter the Appalachian Plateau (one of the five regions of Virginia courtesy of 4th grade Virginia SOL studies). The AP is quite beautiful, with gentle, rolling hills and small towns. There are many highly-educated people out that way -- they went to VT and UVA.

You might want to check your stereotypes, OP.

[Anonymous]

^ I'll add not just VT, but Radford, Roanoke College, Emory and Henry, UVA-Wise, Ferrum, Hollins, etc. There are many smaller universities all throughout SW VA. My neighbors out here drive Range Rovers and BMWs.

[Anonymous]

Harrisonburg is not in Appalachia.