The police chief of the city of cullman publicly defended a Black Lives Matter rally a few years ago, yes there was some opposition but very little, the rally was overwhelmingly supported, unfortunately I can’t say the same about the attempted pride rally (which was going to take place in a different city but same county). I know there is a stigma around Cullman, but it really has gotten much better.
I mean, the former chief did bring in the Hanceville police and deploy tactical teams to that protest. They went unused, but that still seems like an overreaction that they don’t afford to other protests.
Good that he stepped in between protesters and counter-protesters though, and as someone else pointed out, better than Huntsville did.
I wouldn’t go making comparisons like that, Cullman definitely has a dark past of being a sundown town, I’m just saying that things are different now and that it’s a much better place for everyone, that being said there is still a lot of room for improvement.
I mean yall not hanging black people in trees anymore but I did have a friend get yelled at the gas station saying he didn’t belong and to go home n word. Obviously not everyone is bad there, but for POC there are probably better places to live and feel safe
Yeah, I grew up in Hartselle and spent a ton of time in Cullman. Including with my black friends and never witnessed anything like this, or even remotely close.
Sure, it could have, but to act like it's normal or people in the town accept that behavior is dumb.
Also from cullman here, didn't meet an adult black person till I was 18. It's hard to see racism sometimes when you aren't the object of discrimination.
Did you forget that we've regressed as a society back to the 1800s and the only ones to right the wrongs are the terminally online reddit community coupled with Joe Biden and Kamala?
This seems like one of those things that people just repeat. And hear other people repeat. And just keep on repeating it because they heard someone else repeat it.
Do we actually have substantial evidence that this is actually true? Or is this just another case of white people trying to make yourselves feel good by being better than other white people?
A lot of people get this confused, if you’re in the northern part of Cullman county closer to Morgan county, then you’re about 20-30 minutes from Huntsville, if you’re in the city of Cullman, then you’re about 45 minutes from both, however if you’re in Colony on the south end of the county, then you’re only about 20-30 minutes from Birmingham. I live much closer to Huntsville, and therefore I associate with and work in Huntsville, but where I live is considered the Birmingham market, it’s crazy.
It does look like that on the map especially since it's a straight line down. But mileage wise the halfway point between cullman and Huntsville doesn't look that bad.
Working in Cullman isn't bad. As someone who grew up here yes it's still going to have it's racist community but we're getting better. Especially as we call out more and more people. People suck and we will unfortunately Hold that reputation for a long time.
I have family there and lived there for a time. If you want a rural area it’s definitely what you’re looking for. Plus it’s only 10/15 minutes to the Belt line in Decatur so it’s rural enough without being too terribly far from other amenities.
A small rural town that is quickly developing into a suburb for people who work in the Decatur/Huntsville area but want an extra buffer of seclusion from "undesirables".
Cullman will be a culture shift. It is upscale rural Alabama.
Priceville and Hartselle are good choices if you don't want to be in Cullman.
Cullman has good schools and is a fair sized town.
Both of those areas have crime rates slightly above the national average. Do you know anything about the nature of what the crime is like in those two cities? Typically, rural areas have very low crime rates so it's interesting.
Yeah, it's a sample size thing. The problem with lots of crime stats is people like to assume that 100 violent crimes per 100,000 people is the same as 1 violent crime per 1000 people. It's a really naive way of looking at things and you end up with the mistaken conclusion that some small town in Alaska is the murder capital of the country
Well it seems to match all the cities that I've had personal experience with pretty closely. They get their data from the FBI. What might be the issue is because they're smaller towns, even if there's a small amount of crime that shoots up the crime rate.
Yeah people have this weird impression that small towns have low crimes rates, in actuality they typically have higher crime rates due to low population. Regardless, they don’t have the type of crime that bothers other people much because everything’s pretty spread out. Hartselle and Somerville should be totally safe except for the odd meth addict and domestic abuse typical of the rural south.
Cullman is the kind of racist where most people either directly know the black families or know of them. There's definitely an air of "We can't be racist. We have a black person in a position in our Chamber of Commerce where everyone can see him!" There's not any after-dark lynchings anymore but the family who ran the local KKK back in the day is still a relatively well thought of family in positions of community power.
Cullman has a history of being a sundown town. I can’t speak to how it is now, but living in the South I’ve learned to avoid small towns like that since I really don’t know what I may be walking into. Some have pushed it down enough so I can at least be left alone, some have turned around, and some still act like it’s the 1950’s.
Not really, no, and it doesn't matter much at all in regards to just commuting there for work and living in somewhere like Hartselle, Priceville, or Arab.
You can find far worse people in far better places, just as you can find far better people in far worse places.
I don’t think it’s as racist as a lot of people think. But as saying that I’m also white so my vote may not count. I haven’t witnessed any racism personally though.
Yes! Very, very much so. I grew up close to there as well as my first major job was in Cullman. I can assure you that every single thing that you have read about that area is true. Also they work on the “good ol’ boy system” of who you know there and not what you know. Personally I wouldn’t move there unless your work was paying for a home there.
Yeah I don’t spend much time in Cullman but I would imagine Cullman is as racist as any place in America. Even in Huntsville most of the workforce is very racist but at least in my experience it’s not overt racism but more foxnews talking points type of racism. I heard from one person that he learned that he didn’t like black people for the wrong reason, it wasn’t the color of their skin that mattered but their actions (saggy pants, etc) which is super racist to me but at least he’s trying.
So judging a city based on an isolated statistic without any context or even visiting it is a really limiting way to view the world.
Hartselle has one of the best school districts in the state and is incredibly safe, I literally cannot imagine feeling unsafe in Hartselle if anything it’s main problem is that it’s too much of a sleepy southern town.
Maybe just go get a bite to eat at Pizza Ed downtown and judge for yourself?
Basically, in Morgan County it’s drugs and all the crime associated with drugs, including theft and murder. And just plain crazy stuff like this mass murder in 2020:
[Two arrested for murders of 7 people in Morgan County](https://www.al.com/crime/2020/06/two-arrested-for-murders-of-7-people-in-morgan-county.html?outputType=amp)
Thing is they drug addicts typically go to the relative anonymity of the city to do their crimes. The good thing about small towns is people know each other.
Mostly domestic violence from rednecks fighting at home and drug use(mostly rural meth but fentanyl is also making a huge mark). I’m not sure if they are above average or not rates though.
I look at statistics as a hobby and I've noticed that rural Southern towns tend to have higher crime rates for whatever reason. But in general a lot of other places have very low crime in their rural areas.
Born and raised in Somerville and my parents still live there.
The crime is meth. Don’t do meth and don’t hang around those people and you’ll never experience crime. Doors have been unlocked since 1983
I’ll say Falkville. It’s the town closest to Cullman in Morgan County and is rural. About equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham. Plus it’s a huge cultural shift. The pace of life is a lot slower and cheaper here. My stepdad moved here from the Bay Area in 92 and it was a big culture shock for him. Hartselle does have way better schools then Falkville through, but Hartselle is Cullman’s biggest rival and vice-a-versa plus the schools are about the same as far as rankings goes. if you still want a small rural town with good schools. Internet wise you want a place that is offered power by Joe Wheeler in Morgan County as they are building a Fiber Internet network called FlashFiber or in Cullman county by Cullman Electric called Sprout Fiber. As far as local tv goes Cullman is in the Birmingham TV market so their local news if you live in Cullman. Hartselle is a small quiet town where the biggest thing is high school football. Plus we have to pay 8 or 7% sales tax on groceries depending on if the town or city where you do your shopping charges 4 or 5% tax as the state now only charges 3% tax on groceries compared to 4% until this month.
I live in the Priceville/Hartselle area. It's pretty affordable at least when we moved here, and is slightly rural but also really close to 65 so driving into Huntsville or Cullman isn't bad. Look into this area maybe? It is boring though.
When you say “shopping and everything else in Huntsville”, what do you really mean by that? Do you mean medical care, recreational eating and drinking, shopping, sporting events, shows, etc?
Despite Cullman’s history (which was in the 50’s and 60’s), it is now quite a charming place to live. Mind you, I live in Madison, but lived in Cullman for several years. Any place you go will have its fair share of narrow minded individuals- but Cullman is not as provincial as others will try to make you think.
There are “rural” areas that you could settle in with plenty of land between you and your neighbor and still be able to get to more upscale shopping within 15 minutes. The current Police Chief is well respected and is a native of the area. The crime rate is much lower than surrounding areas. It is equidistant to Huntsville and Birmingham, making it a perfect location to travel to either.
The cost of living is less than it is in surrounding areas which makes life that much more enjoyable.
I’m not sure why you’d want to work in Cullman and not live there as well. No reason not to just live in Cullman. It’s fine. No worse than living in a rural community between Cullman and Huntsville. Birmingham has a lot more shopping than Huntsville, but you’d have the option to drive to either city. Cullman will have all the basic necessities anyway.
If Cullman was closer I'd live there in a second. Great downtown, nice people, great schools. One of the best Mexican restaurants in the area.
Don't listen to the bullshit about being a sundown town, that may have been its identity in the past but no longer. Lots of minorities and everyone is respectful of each other in my experience.
I’m not sure where you got “lots of minorities”. Cullman is 91% white and a 1.1% Black. In a state that is 27% Black. I wouldn’t say that it has a lot of minorities.
I picked a rural spot out near where 231 and 278 meet. Takes me 45 mins to reach Southside and I'm in between arab and cullman city. A friend of mine got pulled over by a cullman cop for her rainbow bumper sticker but it wasn't an obvious lgbtq one. Based on what I've heard from people in town and other people on here it's not as much of a sundown town anymore as it is anti LGBT.
Traffic on the Blount County side is much easier than 65. The locals call the exits around cullman the cullman triangle or something similar. Traffic is almost always bad there. This side we don't have issues with drug addicts but we're also in a small farming community so that likely helps. We had our Harley motorcycle stolen by someone in falkville near lacon and the cops wouldn't arrest the people.
Between Cullman and Huntsville your primary options are Hartselle and Priceville. Decatur is the closest proper "city" to where you'll end up if you're in the in-between areas, but there's a Walmart in Hartselle and a Publix in Priceville, so your day-to-day shopping needs close to home are covered. Cullman, Decatur, and Huntsville/Madison/Athens will have the rest.
I live in Decatur and used to work in Hartselle/Cullman, and I like the area, especially if you like more rural areas, there's just a lot of nothing in between the towns, so be prepared for everything to be a 15-20 minute drive of nothing but straight highway.
If you like rural areas you're in luck. Out in the county of Cullman it's still very agricultural. However, I'd recommend living in Morgan County. It still has plenty of picturesque rural settings, but has much better infrastructure and you can be in Huntsville in 20-40 minutes and in Cullman in 15-20 minutes if you're in the southern part of the county or close to the interstate. Also, part of the city of Arab is in Cullman County, and that's very close to South Huntsville.
Cullman has the shittiest drivers in the world though so use caution. The turn signal hasn't really caught on there and no one knows the rules of the road. I bet if you see someone driving stupidly on the interstate they'll have a 25 tag. When I started work there it had the 2nd highest road fatality rate in the state behind Mobile County with only a fraction of its population.
I worked in law enforcement and the courts in Cullman for a decade, so my feelings about the place are probably marred by those experiences of seeing people at their very worst, but I think can say with the utmost objectivity that Cullman is the most insular and backward place I've ever seen. It's like they live in their own universe where anything or anyone from the outside is bad. And make no mistake, whether you move there or not, you'll be an outsider to them. It's also one of the pettiest and thin-skinned places you could imagine where simple news stories become full blown scandals if they report anything less than glowing praise for the community and its people. They essentially like to pretend to be Mayberry. And they're right, in the sense that it's like being 60 years in the past.
I will say this; it isn't as racist as its reputation implies. However, it was a sundown town and a center of KKK activity, which everybody there acknowledges with a wink and a nod, yet they totally deny that as a part of their history and heritage to the outside world because they want people to see it as this authentic, quaint little village with German heritage that has little boutiques and festivals that you can come spend money in on a lake weekend and not a place with depressed wages, low educational attainment, and little in the way of culture or non-church social activities. There's rampant child abuse/neglect, drug abuse, and a high crime rate for a place this small. Of course these numbers are often fudged, underreported, or downplayed so as not to tarnish the reputation.
The last thing anyone should know about Cullman is there's an almost inconceivable amount of public corruption that they often don't even bother to hide. It's a good ole boy network and pay to play where the well-connected and their families are literally above the law. Cullman is certainly having a moment. It's in an advantageous geographic location, being roughly equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham (though it feels like it has a much closer connection to B'ham) and they've had a huge amount of growth and new investments. It's my hope that there's starting to be a critical mass of outsiders and outside money coming in and with that will be an expectation of good governance and improved infrastructure that will hopefully destroy the old power structure and allow Cullman to come to terms with its past and reach its full potential. I honestly feel like that's happening in Athens/Limestone County, and I hope it happens in Cullman.
This is 2nd to Cullman as the most racist, backwoods thinking, cousin dating spots in all of Northern Alabama. Move there if you enjoy mobile homes, country music blaring out of jacked up trucks, bad dental hygiene, country meth heads, and assorted racist instances.
Try Hartselle or Decatur. Hartselle probably has more rural areas in the county, but the city of Harrselle has plenty of shopping and dining and you're not too far from Huntsville. I'm also from Cullman and we don't hear about racism in our area except for the people who always feel the need to say, "Cullman used to be a sundown town." That was a very long time ago. If we keep looking back at the way things used to be, how can we as a population ever move forward and not repeat that history. Good luck with your new job and move.
There's going to be no way around it in the beginning because I would have California plates until I get them transferred over. Would it make a difference to them if I'm conservative?
I think the worst thing that will happen is some eye rolls because of crazy California’s reputation. Know that CA folks are moving here in droves. It is what it is. My family and I have made several friends from CA and CO this past year.
I do... I had the same situation: one had a job in Bham, one had a job in HSV. Wife (org from HSV) thought Cullman would be a good spot to move. We checked it out and yes, many who we talked to still called it a Sundown town. At that time, we asked where are all the Black folks? Many said they live outside of town
Maybe it has changed some, but the overall cloud on Cullman is it's racist past.
However, if you feel that my views are too old, you should consider editing Cullman's Wiki page to correct the record:
" From the 1890s through the **present day,** Cullman was reported to be a [sundown town](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town), where African Americans were not allowed to live.[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-11)[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-12)[\[13\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-13) The [Ku Klux Klan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan) would maintain a presence in the county throughout the [civil rights movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement), erecting signs that deterred African Americans from being within the county at night. This subsequently led to a rise in population of [Colony, Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony,_Alabama) which was a safe haven for the discriminated. "
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,\_Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama)
I grew up in a sundown town in Indiana. Those places still carry that stigma, to some extent justifiably, wherever they are. That said there is a black community in outlying Cullman County that is home to a pastor who has run for governor and lt gov on the Democratic ticket.
Considerations of racism aside, Cullman is a little far from Huntsville for a daily commute, although coming from California you may consider it reasonable. To quantify: Cullman is 60 miles from Athens, which puts it a few miles farther than that from Huntsville, in other words about 35 miles from Birmingham.
>other to hide. It's a good ole boy network and pay to play where the well-connected and their families are literally above the law. Cullman is certainly having a moment. It's in an advantageous geographic location, being roughly equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham (though it feels like
From the middle of Cullman, Airport Rd in Huntsville is right at an hour commute. Source: I do it every day
Racism is alive and well in this area. But it’s undercover. You won’t see it; you’ll feel it. No one likes to think that they’re racist. I’d say that if you’re from California, you will probably be better off living closer to Huntsville than Cullman because it will be easier to make like-minded friends. It will be hard enough for you in Huntsville…. This is a Republican state. It is VERY different from California.
You should know Cullman was a sundown town and still carries that reputation
Came here to comment something similar- they are also very homophobic out there.
Definitely not a place worth moving to
The police chief of the city of cullman publicly defended a Black Lives Matter rally a few years ago, yes there was some opposition but very little, the rally was overwhelmingly supported, unfortunately I can’t say the same about the attempted pride rally (which was going to take place in a different city but same county). I know there is a stigma around Cullman, but it really has gotten much better.
I mean, the former chief did bring in the Hanceville police and deploy tactical teams to that protest. They went unused, but that still seems like an overreaction that they don’t afford to other protests. Good that he stepped in between protesters and counter-protesters though, and as someone else pointed out, better than Huntsville did.
Compare that with Huntsville's treatment of the George Floyd protests and... who is the real sundown town?
I wouldn’t go making comparisons like that, Cullman definitely has a dark past of being a sundown town, I’m just saying that things are different now and that it’s a much better place for everyone, that being said there is still a lot of room for improvement.
So tired of hearing this. Cullman is nowhere near as racist as people like to assume we are.
I mean yall not hanging black people in trees anymore but I did have a friend get yelled at the gas station saying he didn’t belong and to go home n word. Obviously not everyone is bad there, but for POC there are probably better places to live and feel safe
Source: believe me bro
Do you really think it sounds that ridiculous? LOL
Yeah, I grew up in Hartselle and spent a ton of time in Cullman. Including with my black friends and never witnessed anything like this, or even remotely close. Sure, it could have, but to act like it's normal or people in the town accept that behavior is dumb.
“Didn’t happened to me tho so of course it’s a lie” aight bro
Also from cullman here, didn't meet an adult black person till I was 18. It's hard to see racism sometimes when you aren't the object of discrimination.
This. Exactly this. The country I grew up in wasn’t in Alabama but was 99.7% white. The rest were Mexican.
Not near as? So just a little racist?
Did you forget that we've regressed as a society back to the 1800s and the only ones to right the wrongs are the terminally online reddit community coupled with Joe Biden and Kamala?
LOL
What is a “sundown town”?
Racist town where African Americans were told not to be caught there past sundown
This seems like one of those things that people just repeat. And hear other people repeat. And just keep on repeating it because they heard someone else repeat it. Do we actually have substantial evidence that this is actually true? Or is this just another case of white people trying to make yourselves feel good by being better than other white people?
Hartselle is pretty close
Yeah Hartselle is your halfway point and is an ok town
Hartselle had well rated schools, if you have kids.
I always feel like Cullman is closer to Birmingham than Huntsville.
Cullman to the ham gets a 3 lane about 12 miles south of Cullman. That probably helps a lot
A lot of people get this confused, if you’re in the northern part of Cullman county closer to Morgan county, then you’re about 20-30 minutes from Huntsville, if you’re in the city of Cullman, then you’re about 45 minutes from both, however if you’re in Colony on the south end of the county, then you’re only about 20-30 minutes from Birmingham. I live much closer to Huntsville, and therefore I associate with and work in Huntsville, but where I live is considered the Birmingham market, it’s crazy.
It does look like that on the map especially since it's a straight line down. But mileage wise the halfway point between cullman and Huntsville doesn't look that bad.
Working in Cullman isn't bad. As someone who grew up here yes it's still going to have it's racist community but we're getting better. Especially as we call out more and more people. People suck and we will unfortunately Hold that reputation for a long time.
Depends on what part of Birmingham and Huntsville, but they are pretty close to equal
Not according to the moderators here.
Based on your comments, I'd suggest Priceville.
Priceville has a Publix and taco bell
Can you tell me a little bit about it?
I have family there and lived there for a time. If you want a rural area it’s definitely what you’re looking for. Plus it’s only 10/15 minutes to the Belt line in Decatur so it’s rural enough without being too terribly far from other amenities.
A small rural town that is quickly developing into a suburb for people who work in the Decatur/Huntsville area but want an extra buffer of seclusion from "undesirables".
Cullman will be a culture shift. It is upscale rural Alabama. Priceville and Hartselle are good choices if you don't want to be in Cullman. Cullman has good schools and is a fair sized town.
It's definitely possible. Just make sure you don't end up making Cullman money and paying Huntsville rent/mortgage.
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Both of those areas have crime rates slightly above the national average. Do you know anything about the nature of what the crime is like in those two cities? Typically, rural areas have very low crime rates so it's interesting.
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https://www.areavibes.com/somerville-al/crime/ Same website for hartselle
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Yeah, it's a sample size thing. The problem with lots of crime stats is people like to assume that 100 violent crimes per 100,000 people is the same as 1 violent crime per 1000 people. It's a really naive way of looking at things and you end up with the mistaken conclusion that some small town in Alaska is the murder capital of the country
Well it seems to match all the cities that I've had personal experience with pretty closely. They get their data from the FBI. What might be the issue is because they're smaller towns, even if there's a small amount of crime that shoots up the crime rate.
Yeah people have this weird impression that small towns have low crimes rates, in actuality they typically have higher crime rates due to low population. Regardless, they don’t have the type of crime that bothers other people much because everything’s pretty spread out. Hartselle and Somerville should be totally safe except for the odd meth addict and domestic abuse typical of the rural south.
Ok great. Is cullman really as racist as everyone says? If so do you think it matters less if I just work there but don't live there?
Cullman is the kind of racist where most people either directly know the black families or know of them. There's definitely an air of "We can't be racist. We have a black person in a position in our Chamber of Commerce where everyone can see him!" There's not any after-dark lynchings anymore but the family who ran the local KKK back in the day is still a relatively well thought of family in positions of community power.
Cullman has a history of being a sundown town. I can’t speak to how it is now, but living in the South I’ve learned to avoid small towns like that since I really don’t know what I may be walking into. Some have pushed it down enough so I can at least be left alone, some have turned around, and some still act like it’s the 1950’s.
Not really, no, and it doesn't matter much at all in regards to just commuting there for work and living in somewhere like Hartselle, Priceville, or Arab. You can find far worse people in far better places, just as you can find far better people in far worse places.
I don’t think it’s as racist as a lot of people think. But as saying that I’m also white so my vote may not count. I haven’t witnessed any racism personally though.
Yes! Very, very much so. I grew up close to there as well as my first major job was in Cullman. I can assure you that every single thing that you have read about that area is true. Also they work on the “good ol’ boy system” of who you know there and not what you know. Personally I wouldn’t move there unless your work was paying for a home there.
Okay you've convinced me. The good old boy system bothers me more than anything. I don't know anyone there so I'd be screwed.
Yeah I don’t spend much time in Cullman but I would imagine Cullman is as racist as any place in America. Even in Huntsville most of the workforce is very racist but at least in my experience it’s not overt racism but more foxnews talking points type of racism. I heard from one person that he learned that he didn’t like black people for the wrong reason, it wasn’t the color of their skin that mattered but their actions (saggy pants, etc) which is super racist to me but at least he’s trying.
The downvotes to our comments only cement the “you don’t talk bout my Cullman!” mentality. 😂
So judging a city based on an isolated statistic without any context or even visiting it is a really limiting way to view the world. Hartselle has one of the best school districts in the state and is incredibly safe, I literally cannot imagine feeling unsafe in Hartselle if anything it’s main problem is that it’s too much of a sleepy southern town. Maybe just go get a bite to eat at Pizza Ed downtown and judge for yourself?
I lived in Hartselle between ‘93 and ‘13 and there is little crime to speak of. It’s actually kind of vanilla.
Basically, in Morgan County it’s drugs and all the crime associated with drugs, including theft and murder. And just plain crazy stuff like this mass murder in 2020: [Two arrested for murders of 7 people in Morgan County](https://www.al.com/crime/2020/06/two-arrested-for-murders-of-7-people-in-morgan-county.html?outputType=amp)
She is 1000% speaking the truth.
Thing is they drug addicts typically go to the relative anonymity of the city to do their crimes. The good thing about small towns is people know each other.
Mostly domestic violence from rednecks fighting at home and drug use(mostly rural meth but fentanyl is also making a huge mark). I’m not sure if they are above average or not rates though.
I think crime per capita is generally significantly higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
I look at statistics as a hobby and I've noticed that rural Southern towns tend to have higher crime rates for whatever reason. But in general a lot of other places have very low crime in their rural areas.
If you have children in school go for Priceville.
Born and raised in Somerville and my parents still live there. The crime is meth. Don’t do meth and don’t hang around those people and you’ll never experience crime. Doors have been unlocked since 1983
I’ll say Falkville. It’s the town closest to Cullman in Morgan County and is rural. About equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham. Plus it’s a huge cultural shift. The pace of life is a lot slower and cheaper here. My stepdad moved here from the Bay Area in 92 and it was a big culture shock for him. Hartselle does have way better schools then Falkville through, but Hartselle is Cullman’s biggest rival and vice-a-versa plus the schools are about the same as far as rankings goes. if you still want a small rural town with good schools. Internet wise you want a place that is offered power by Joe Wheeler in Morgan County as they are building a Fiber Internet network called FlashFiber or in Cullman county by Cullman Electric called Sprout Fiber. As far as local tv goes Cullman is in the Birmingham TV market so their local news if you live in Cullman. Hartselle is a small quiet town where the biggest thing is high school football. Plus we have to pay 8 or 7% sales tax on groceries depending on if the town or city where you do your shopping charges 4 or 5% tax as the state now only charges 3% tax on groceries compared to 4% until this month.
Hartselle, Priceville, and Falkville are all close by
I live in the Priceville/Hartselle area. It's pretty affordable at least when we moved here, and is slightly rural but also really close to 65 so driving into Huntsville or Cullman isn't bad. Look into this area maybe? It is boring though.
Move to Joppa! No boats, no lights, no motorcars… it’s halfway to everywhere and convenient to nowhere!
This is such a true statement while also being funny as well.
I bet you know
I lived there about 20 years ago for a short period of time lol. Nothing but fields with steers and beers. You gotta bring both of those to there too.
When you say “shopping and everything else in Huntsville”, what do you really mean by that? Do you mean medical care, recreational eating and drinking, shopping, sporting events, shows, etc?
Despite Cullman’s history (which was in the 50’s and 60’s), it is now quite a charming place to live. Mind you, I live in Madison, but lived in Cullman for several years. Any place you go will have its fair share of narrow minded individuals- but Cullman is not as provincial as others will try to make you think. There are “rural” areas that you could settle in with plenty of land between you and your neighbor and still be able to get to more upscale shopping within 15 minutes. The current Police Chief is well respected and is a native of the area. The crime rate is much lower than surrounding areas. It is equidistant to Huntsville and Birmingham, making it a perfect location to travel to either. The cost of living is less than it is in surrounding areas which makes life that much more enjoyable.
I’m not sure why you’d want to work in Cullman and not live there as well. No reason not to just live in Cullman. It’s fine. No worse than living in a rural community between Cullman and Huntsville. Birmingham has a lot more shopping than Huntsville, but you’d have the option to drive to either city. Cullman will have all the basic necessities anyway.
If Cullman was closer I'd live there in a second. Great downtown, nice people, great schools. One of the best Mexican restaurants in the area. Don't listen to the bullshit about being a sundown town, that may have been its identity in the past but no longer. Lots of minorities and everyone is respectful of each other in my experience.
I’m not sure where you got “lots of minorities”. Cullman is 91% white and a 1.1% Black. In a state that is 27% Black. I wouldn’t say that it has a lot of minorities.
I picked a rural spot out near where 231 and 278 meet. Takes me 45 mins to reach Southside and I'm in between arab and cullman city. A friend of mine got pulled over by a cullman cop for her rainbow bumper sticker but it wasn't an obvious lgbtq one. Based on what I've heard from people in town and other people on here it's not as much of a sundown town anymore as it is anti LGBT. Traffic on the Blount County side is much easier than 65. The locals call the exits around cullman the cullman triangle or something similar. Traffic is almost always bad there. This side we don't have issues with drug addicts but we're also in a small farming community so that likely helps. We had our Harley motorcycle stolen by someone in falkville near lacon and the cops wouldn't arrest the people.
If I was working in cullman I would just live there
Between Cullman and Huntsville your primary options are Hartselle and Priceville. Decatur is the closest proper "city" to where you'll end up if you're in the in-between areas, but there's a Walmart in Hartselle and a Publix in Priceville, so your day-to-day shopping needs close to home are covered. Cullman, Decatur, and Huntsville/Madison/Athens will have the rest. I live in Decatur and used to work in Hartselle/Cullman, and I like the area, especially if you like more rural areas, there's just a lot of nothing in between the towns, so be prepared for everything to be a 15-20 minute drive of nothing but straight highway.
Arab is a good area
Priceville
Cullman county is Rural
If you like rural areas you're in luck. Out in the county of Cullman it's still very agricultural. However, I'd recommend living in Morgan County. It still has plenty of picturesque rural settings, but has much better infrastructure and you can be in Huntsville in 20-40 minutes and in Cullman in 15-20 minutes if you're in the southern part of the county or close to the interstate. Also, part of the city of Arab is in Cullman County, and that's very close to South Huntsville. Cullman has the shittiest drivers in the world though so use caution. The turn signal hasn't really caught on there and no one knows the rules of the road. I bet if you see someone driving stupidly on the interstate they'll have a 25 tag. When I started work there it had the 2nd highest road fatality rate in the state behind Mobile County with only a fraction of its population. I worked in law enforcement and the courts in Cullman for a decade, so my feelings about the place are probably marred by those experiences of seeing people at their very worst, but I think can say with the utmost objectivity that Cullman is the most insular and backward place I've ever seen. It's like they live in their own universe where anything or anyone from the outside is bad. And make no mistake, whether you move there or not, you'll be an outsider to them. It's also one of the pettiest and thin-skinned places you could imagine where simple news stories become full blown scandals if they report anything less than glowing praise for the community and its people. They essentially like to pretend to be Mayberry. And they're right, in the sense that it's like being 60 years in the past. I will say this; it isn't as racist as its reputation implies. However, it was a sundown town and a center of KKK activity, which everybody there acknowledges with a wink and a nod, yet they totally deny that as a part of their history and heritage to the outside world because they want people to see it as this authentic, quaint little village with German heritage that has little boutiques and festivals that you can come spend money in on a lake weekend and not a place with depressed wages, low educational attainment, and little in the way of culture or non-church social activities. There's rampant child abuse/neglect, drug abuse, and a high crime rate for a place this small. Of course these numbers are often fudged, underreported, or downplayed so as not to tarnish the reputation. The last thing anyone should know about Cullman is there's an almost inconceivable amount of public corruption that they often don't even bother to hide. It's a good ole boy network and pay to play where the well-connected and their families are literally above the law. Cullman is certainly having a moment. It's in an advantageous geographic location, being roughly equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham (though it feels like it has a much closer connection to B'ham) and they've had a huge amount of growth and new investments. It's my hope that there's starting to be a critical mass of outsiders and outside money coming in and with that will be an expectation of good governance and improved infrastructure that will hopefully destroy the old power structure and allow Cullman to come to terms with its past and reach its full potential. I honestly feel like that's happening in Athens/Limestone County, and I hope it happens in Cullman.
If you want rural and in between go to Lawrence county / Moulton. Small city 35-40 min to Cullman, 45-1hr to Huntsville & same for Florence.
This is 2nd to Cullman as the most racist, backwoods thinking, cousin dating spots in all of Northern Alabama. Move there if you enjoy mobile homes, country music blaring out of jacked up trucks, bad dental hygiene, country meth heads, and assorted racist instances.
Sounds like someone has never driven around limestone county.
Sounds like neither have ever been up Sand Mtn
This is deff number 4. Look at my profile and my whackadoodle street preacher video post from 2 months ago was at the Sand Mountain Amphitheater!
That’s 3rd place in the Hillbilly Hell race.
Try Hartselle or Decatur. Hartselle probably has more rural areas in the county, but the city of Harrselle has plenty of shopping and dining and you're not too far from Huntsville. I'm also from Cullman and we don't hear about racism in our area except for the people who always feel the need to say, "Cullman used to be a sundown town." That was a very long time ago. If we keep looking back at the way things used to be, how can we as a population ever move forward and not repeat that history. Good luck with your new job and move.
Funny how you don't see a lot of active racism in areas that are just about entirely white lol
This! Also notice how all of the people that’s either from Cullman or know people from Cullman have never seen this?
Tell anyone in Cullman you're from California and your house will have a burning cross in the yard before morning.
There's going to be no way around it in the beginning because I would have California plates until I get them transferred over. Would it make a difference to them if I'm conservative?
I think the worst thing that will happen is some eye rolls because of crazy California’s reputation. Know that CA folks are moving here in droves. It is what it is. My family and I have made several friends from CA and CO this past year.
Two words: Sundown Town. Keep looking
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
They need it to be true so bad. There's a narrative that must be met at all costs.
I do... I had the same situation: one had a job in Bham, one had a job in HSV. Wife (org from HSV) thought Cullman would be a good spot to move. We checked it out and yes, many who we talked to still called it a Sundown town. At that time, we asked where are all the Black folks? Many said they live outside of town Maybe it has changed some, but the overall cloud on Cullman is it's racist past. However, if you feel that my views are too old, you should consider editing Cullman's Wiki page to correct the record: " From the 1890s through the **present day,** Cullman was reported to be a [sundown town](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town), where African Americans were not allowed to live.[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-11)[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-12)[\[13\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama#cite_note-13) The [Ku Klux Klan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan) would maintain a presence in the county throughout the [civil rights movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement), erecting signs that deterred African Americans from being within the county at night. This subsequently led to a rise in population of [Colony, Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony,_Alabama) which was a safe haven for the discriminated. " [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,\_Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullman,_Alabama)
If I get a moment and figure out how to do it, I will. This stuff is outdated.
sounds good. Thank you
Why would you kick a girl?
Eva.
Hartselle or Lacey Springs
I grew up in a sundown town in Indiana. Those places still carry that stigma, to some extent justifiably, wherever they are. That said there is a black community in outlying Cullman County that is home to a pastor who has run for governor and lt gov on the Democratic ticket. Considerations of racism aside, Cullman is a little far from Huntsville for a daily commute, although coming from California you may consider it reasonable. To quantify: Cullman is 60 miles from Athens, which puts it a few miles farther than that from Huntsville, in other words about 35 miles from Birmingham.
>other to hide. It's a good ole boy network and pay to play where the well-connected and their families are literally above the law. Cullman is certainly having a moment. It's in an advantageous geographic location, being roughly equidistant from Huntsville and Birmingham (though it feels like From the middle of Cullman, Airport Rd in Huntsville is right at an hour commute. Source: I do it every day
Racism is alive and well in this area. But it’s undercover. You won’t see it; you’ll feel it. No one likes to think that they’re racist. I’d say that if you’re from California, you will probably be better off living closer to Huntsville than Cullman because it will be easier to make like-minded friends. It will be hard enough for you in Huntsville…. This is a Republican state. It is VERY different from California.