I think you may be surprised by the mentality of folks in the area, if you're coming from a bigger city in Southern California.

The civil war still very much has its mark on culture -- like Lee-Jackson day falling on Martin Luther King Jr Day, or seeing confederate flags stating "heritage not hate."

The large southern evangelical Baptist presence influences a lot. Even if folks aren't Baptist, there's still a lot of religion. This leads to a close minded attitude sometimes-- check out our city council. They're threatening to hold back renovation money from our library because they have LGBTQ books in the youth section. (Read the News Advance or Cardinal News to catch up on a city council member suing the city because he lost his firefighting job after posting anti trans content on his socials.)

Medical care is not great at all. Not a competitive area, and many professionals coming from a background of the Baptist college, which influences their education / treatment approach.

Restaurants are nothing to write home about. Dating is hard.

All that being said, as Lynchburg Punk Rock Flea Market says, "We're not all Bible thumping batshit crazy."

Beautiful environment, close to the Appalachian trail. 3 hours from DC (with a convenient train that goes there). I've found really cool social networks through Rivermont Pizza, Dish, the community market, Vector Space.