Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, August 1. 2009

The Era of the Small Town

Is the era of the small town over in America? Bookslut thinks so.


I'm not sure how "small" is defined. As readers know, I work in a city (Hartford), sleep in exurbia. Everybody needs places to be a bit anonymous - but not too anonymous.


At the least, you want your regular shopkeepers, bartenders, and maitre d's to know your name - but you can do that in both city and country when you find the places you like.


Photo: A small town in NH, c. 1890. Note the large scale elimination of trees from the hillsides, typical of the 1800s in New England. Firewood, charcoal, and lumbering, thus creating hillside pastures and driving the bear and moose up to Maine. Also note the fine streetside Elm trees, now all gone due to the Elm Tree Blight.


No CVS or Dunkin Donuts in evidence: how did people survive?


 

Posted by The Barrister in History, Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 12:07 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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They didn't.

At least not in the long run :)
#1 Billy Oblivion on 2009-08-01 14:35 (Reply)
Dutch Elm Disease... Damn those crazy dutch bastards. They're nearly as bad as the Belgians.

/Austin Powers

In all seriousness, I remember how wistful my father used to get talking about how the majestic elms that lined the streets of his city all fell to the blight. We had a few large elms on our land when I was growing up. I wonder why they lived, but almost all the others succumbed.
#2 Jim on 2009-08-01 16:00 (Reply)
Yeah, good ol' Dutch Elm disease wiped out whole cities full of trees. The elms that lined our block were about 30 years old when we had to cut them down.

I bet the hillsides behind the town in the picture are once again covered in tree. It seems large portions of NH are reverting back to nature.
#3 Tralfaz on 2009-08-01 17:36 (Reply)
I've heard that New England is wilder now than it has been since the 1700s.
#4 Jim on 2009-08-01 19:44 (Reply)
Certainly, at least compared to 1800.
#4.1 Bird Dog on 2009-08-02 07:43 (Reply)

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