I grew up in a town of 600 people. It's a very different experience. It wasn't rural Montana or anything, so I wasn't that far away from what we needed, but that didn't stop it from being a pain in the ass sometimes. For example:
We lived a good 15 miles from a grocery store. So if we needed something, it was a huge hassle. It also taught me to buy in bulk, which as I habit I've never untrained myself from.
Weather becomes a real issue. If water starts to block roads or more often the case, a big snow shuts things down, it can be downright impossible to get basic things you need. And because getting in and out of my town required the use of infrequently used country roads, which often went unplowed for days.
The power grid is always suspect. When an electric pole is hit by a drunk, or a big storm hits, it can take quite a while for authorities to figure out where the problem originated and to get someone out to fix it. I've been without power for as long as three days.
That stereotype about everyone knowing everyone else's business isn't completely accurate, but only because people guess at your business if they don't know it. For example, there was a rumor going around that a lot of my teachers believed and I didn't find out until adulthood that my parents beat my brother and I. It stemmed from bruises we showed up with sometimes from roughhousing with each other.
Small communities tend to be extremely conservative, for all the wrong reasons. With so little in terms of diversity, there wasn't much in the way of new experiences or ideas that people were exposed to, so they develop close minded opinions very quickly.
Most of all, high school was a trip. The last graduating class that my native HS put out had ten people in it. I went to a consolidated school and graduated in a class of 28. You know everyone and you know them pretty intimately. I didn't date much in high school, and most of it was because I knew the crop of girls in my general are growing up and just wasn't that interested in most of them.
Crime isn't a problem most of the time, but when it is shit like this can happen.
There's just so little to do growing up, because going to places where there are actual events going on gets expensive quick. I lived about 50 miles from a town that had a pretty cool local punk scene going on, so it was a little easier for me. But damn did I have some boring weekends growing up.
It's not all bad, though. Our mayor personally plows every street and driveway in town whenever we get a big snow. People are very apt to help eachother out, because when your community is that isolated, you often don't have a choice. I never felt the feeling of being unsafe at any time until I was in college. Aside from my point above, crime really is extremely scarce, and growing up, I never had to worry about getting jumped or anything. And my town is blessed to have some nice bars, so when I visit, I can get a good drink, enjoy my friends'/family's company and then walk home safely without having to worry about finding transportation.
But all in all, I want to raise my kids around some fucking civilization.