Anonymous wrote:To respond to the question about whether people are “nicer” - central PA was settled by a lot of German families (ie, the Pennsylvania Dutch) and while not a majority now, there are still a lot of people with that ancestry and culture. They are fine, hardworking, etc but it’s not a culture known for being exceptionally warm and friendly.

Compared to where? It's pretty typical for suburban areas outside the south (where it's friendly i assume) in my view.

To respond to the question about whether people are “nicer” - central PA was settled by a lot of German families (ie, the Pennsylvania Dutch) and while not a majority now, there are still a lot of people with that ancestry and culture. They are fine, hardworking, etc but it’s not a culture known for being exceptionally warm and friendly.

Adams County not Cumberland, but I have family who moved to Gettysburg when they were close to retirement (commuted to MoCo for a while, yikes) and love it now that they are retired. Has all of the college town benefits with lots of history and affordable.

Anonymous wrote:Outside of the immediate west shore, this is former steel and coal country. This is not where you go to find culture or art, or anything you'd think of as urban or upscale. The populace is not as highly educated in the DMV and not sophisticated in the least, for good and bad. There are no great restaurants or museums or shopping. Think Olive Garden and Costco and the like. There is absolutely zero equivalent of CC or Bethesda or even Potomac.

If you want somewhere “urban and upscale” then yes this is not the spot for you.
You’re wrong though that all they have are chain restaurants. Sounds like you are not from the area and have only driven through certain spots of it. Fancy shopping - correct that’s not the spot for it.

The lack of a CC or Potomac type area most from there would view as a positive. It’s a nice spot to live with varied things to do. But if your heart sings only in CC or major cities then no it’s not for you.

And "affluent" there is nowhere near what the DMV would consider affluent.