Rural residents, particularly recent in-migrants, are often characterized by preferences for a tranquil rural lifestyle based on the attributes of an open countryside. A survey of residents of an isolated rural county in West Virginia was conducted to explore the proposition that recent rural in-migrants are more opposed to the growth of natural resource based activities which are detrimental to the rural countryside than are long-term residents of the County. The hypothesis was not supported, as both recent in-migrants and long-time residents strongly favored economic development of the County's natural resources over preservation of the natural countryside.