Bit of a Delayed Intro! Any Permies in Piedmont NC? :)

Hey all! I’ve been posting on this site for a few years now (one time Paul even gave me an Apple) but only now getting around to a proper intro.

First off I want to say that I love this forum. A real wealth of information anytime I am curious about a topic or just want to go down a permaculture rabbithole. I really don’t think there’s anywhere else like it, and I’m glad it’s still stayed a really informative and genuine place with helpful nice people over the years.

Anyway, about us! We’re a family of 4 looking to settle down and start our own permaculture homestead. My wife and I are natives to the South, met in the military and now have two little ones in tow. We are in an interracial marriage, wife is black and I am white, which unfortunately has presented some challenges in different parts of the rural US. The service took us from the West Coast through most of the Southeast, and after rejoining civilian life we’ve finally landed in central NC.

We really enjoy it here, the cities and people are friendly and thriving, but there is quite a lot of development and urban sprawl unfortunately. I’m primarily hoping two things:

1) any permies on here in the Piedmont that can recommend an area that would be good for permaculture people, and homesteading in general? I’d of course prefer a region with likeminded counterculturists like on here, but would just be happy for a spot I knew was not going to be developed anytime soon.

2) if anyone knows, if they could recommend a rural area that has good diversity or they know has good race relations?

We were looking at Southside VA originally, specifically in Halifax County VA. We had good experiences, seems like a really diverse and well mixed area, but I realized it’s more realistic to look for a place close to where we live and work now instead of making elaborate plans to move out to BFE and swap who has a career etc, when we could just get started now instead.

So now I’ve been looking at Caswell County NC, if anyone is familiar? It seems both diverse and rural/remote, but I know nothing about the reality on the ground. I currently live in Guilford and work in Forsyth, so it’s about as far as I could realistically commute. I’ve also considered south to Alamance, but that’s getting into development and urbanization it looks like.

Would love to hear from any Piedmont permies, and hopefully anyone has some knowledge about my questions as well! Thanks to anyone taking the time to read this and respond.

Might want to look at Lunenburg Va.  Lots of retired military in the area and fairly evenly split racially. A good many homesteads in the area as well.

Larry, we love Lunenburg and the whole Southside area for sure. My hope is mainly that there is something kind of like Southside VA in terms of ruralness and diversity, but closer to where we are in NC. Caswell seems okay on paper, but it's hard to tell reality from a Wikipedia article haha. If we can't find anything, we will default back to our 'move in a few years' plan and wind up somewhere in Southside.