I live in a neighborhood of 13 homes. That's 13 families on a dirt road 3/4 miles long. Before a tree blight took out so many of my hemlocks, I could barely see my neighbors and only rarely heard, smelled their woodsmoke or spoke to them except at our once a year HOA meeting.

I got stuck in the ice driving up my driveway one late afternoon last winter. My neighbor stopped on his way home to help me out. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in 2 years.

The local POV seems to be 'We're here if you need us, but we'd rather you don't!'

We love it here, but after 23 years are thinking about downsizing and moving on. We just can't seem to find a place we like better.