My Little Town.

I've been wanting to write about my little town for a long time. Not the soulless suburbian neighborhood that I live in, but the real little town we're next to. And not the one to the west that I make fun of (Scaggsville -- tee hee) that one is just a name on a map for the small farms and single store that was sold piece meal to become clumps of suburban sameless. No I adore the little town to the east.

I live just up the river a bit. Along what is now a reservoir since they dammed the river to store drinking water and to prevent the floods down main street that were common when I was younger. I've written of the river before, and the park that runs along it's banks. It's one of my favorite bits of this area with it's green spaces and old trees.

What I really love, though, is the Main Street that runs above the river bank. It's a real Main Street, running from the ruins of the mills at one end to the railroad tracks beyond the highway. One of the ladies at the gym remembers when it had everything a town would need: market, pharmacy, department store and movies. Most of those are gone, victims of malls and huge groceries with Starbucks counters. Its a diverse street, though. Old stone homes from the days of the mill, ugly 70's apartment complexes, store fronts from a whole range of eras in between. There's a couple churches and restaurants, florists, specialty stores and lots of beauty salons. It has a feeling of life and soul in a way that strip malls and suburbia just doesn't.

Our bank is there, in a building from the 1870's. Their headquarters is there too in a building from the 1990's. Both are good buildings and they highlight a street that has grown and changed over time while staying the heart of a small city. For while the life of the city runs along the highway with it's strip malls and fast food restaurants it's heart lies along that little main street. And I love it.