Back to rural life....advice anyone?

[OnionPatch]

I grew up on a farm in Ohio and have been a country girl at heart my entire life. Most of my life has not been as rural as I would like and the last few years we've lived the outskirts of DC. I've always had a garden no matter where I lived but have not been able to live the more rural life I prefer. In the past year, my husband has passed away and I have retired, and the situation is that I can live anywhere I want now. I'm happy to be able to look for a place in the country. I've been looking for property in the Shenandoah Valley area since it's a place I've always loved to vacation, is so beautiful and is in relatively good proximity of family.

I just subscribed to this forum and hope to spend more time here getting advice on gardens, chickens, etc., etc. but my first question is going to be about politics. I'm a very liberal, crunchy, environmentalist type and frankly, I'm a little worried about fitting into a new rural neighborhood, which is bound to lean conservative. I've been trying to figure out which areas are solid red and which have a wee bit of purple but aside from voting maps, there's not a lot to go on unless the neighbors have big confederate flags in their yards, etc. So my questions are: Is there any way to get more insight into the political leanings of a rural "neighborhood"? I know it will lean conservative since most rural areas do, but I'd like to avoid places where the neighbors automatically hate me if they find out I'm a Democrat. Or is there such a place? My second, related question is: how do you get along with your conservative neighbors? Do you absolutely avoid politics? Do you avoid any bumper stickers on cars and try to hide your politics completely? It has been suggested to me on another forum that even a small, uncontentious sticker on my car, such as a peace sign, will prompt my new neighbors to shun me. Is that really true in most rural places? I don't need to flaunt my politics but I don't want to live in fear that my neighbors will hate me if they know which way I lean, either. I would never be unfriendly to a neighbor simply because they were Republicans. (If they had giant yard signs indicating they'd love to shoot all liberals, I may be a little stand-offish, though, ha ha.)

Please give me some advice and insight into living rural as a liberal if you have any. As always, I'm so glad to have this forum to come to and talk to like-minded people. Thanks in advance.