been-here n SE, esp Delmarva Cf come-here n, born-here n
A native or long-term resident of a community.
1967 Watters–Cleghorn Climbing 115 Sth [Black], Negroes in Southern communities speak of the “come-here” and “been-here” people. The “been-heres” have to stay on and live with the problems a special campaign might develop, not the least of which, usually, involved local whites. 1981 Jrl. SC Med. Assoc. 77.599, He loved to gather with his friends for coffee and gossip on Wadmalaw Island, a group composed of an amalgam of those natives referred to as “been-heres” with those of more recent introduction aptly designated as “come-heres.” 1987 Daily Press (Newport News VA) 26 Oct sec B 3/4, The library was a community effort. Everyone helped “from the come-heres to the been-heres,” he said. 1992 News Jrl. (Wilmington DE) 13 June sec A 3/1, Colleague Molly Murray later elaborated: There are been-heres—who, like her, were born in Delaware—and come-heres, like me. 2004 Asheville Citizen–Times (NC) 16 June sec A 11/1 nwGA, I was a been-here growing up in Cobb County, Ga. . . Cobb was the first area to be conquered in the Great Southern Migration that began in the mid-1970s. . . We blamed the newcomers for everything. 2006 Lewis Gloucester Co. 15 VA, Many Gloucestonians, been-heres and come-heres alike, who share space nearby the old houses, are connected to the traditions that swirl around them and their early owners. 2007 Daily Times (Salisbury MD) 24 Jan sec A 6/5, [Letter:] The born-heres, been-heres and come-heres need to realize the big boys (builders) are here. 2017 Hesse Amer. Fire 13 seVA, A Come Here, even one who had been raised on the shore since toddlerhood, could never hope to be thought of as a Born Here. After putting in several decades, they might eventually gain the status of a Been Here, but only maybe.