My Rural Town

McRoberts, KY is a small town with a population under 1,000.  We still live in hollows or more regionally correct, hollers.  The tiny K-5 grade school only host around 40 to 60 students.  We have one tiny little grocery store that only sales bread, soda, chips, a few frozen foods, and candy.  No restaurants, no gas stations and no entertainment venues.  The one thing we’re not lacking in is churches.  In fact when standing on the front porch of my parents house there are three churches right there, two more just down from there, and another is up in a holler. 

My town was originally built as a coal mining community.  There are rows of houses that line the streets where miners used to be basically stationed while working during the coal boom.  Now individuals not the coal companies own them, but truthfully most people who live there still work in some form or fashion in the mining industry.  Every summer in the school playground the town host the ‘McRoberts Reunion’.  When I was younger this was a big deal for the town, in a nearby church parking lot people who used to live in the coal town would travel back bringing tents and RV’s and camp out for a few days.  On the playground food booths would be set up, a replica of the old coal company’s ‘Company Store’ would be set up and the sound of banjo’s and guitars filled the air.  The reunion is still a big deal, but every year fewer RV’s and Tents are set up, and the music is mostly bands that no longer sing traditional music.

Currently I live in Johnson City, Tennessee for school.  It’s be no means a large city, to me it doesn’t have city or country charm, it’s stuck somewhere in commercial limbo; malls, fast food restaurants, and shopping centers have taken over what once was a city with a rich history.  Everyday I’m here I idealize McRoberts more and more.

I have essentially lived my entire life in McRoberts; it’s comfort to me, especially in the spring.  I miss the smell of wild onions, the green returning to the tree covered mountains and the road in front of my house where it’s still safe enough for kids to get out and ride their bicycles everyday; but McRoberts has its share of problems.  Coal companies and Natural Gas companies continue to take over the mountains and land of the people.  They abuse the land, misuse their employees and give very little back to the community they take so much from. 

It’s a community that’s largely white and elderly.  Very little racial diversity, and according to the 2008 www.city-data.com statistics there were no households that identified as gay or lesbian.

For the future of my community I would love to see people be able to stand up for the rights of their land and no fear the repercussions of losing their job, I hope that someday people would feel comfortable living openly in my town no matter what their diversity is, and I hope to see it evolve into a town that encourages it’s youth to be more involved in the planning of the community events.  However, I don’t want my community to evolve and lose its history or culture.  I like knowing that when I drive home it can feel like I’m traveling into another time.   

Being from a Rural Community means that we may face problems that urban populations never think of, but it also means that we get to enjoy a lifestyle and comfort that is unique to each every individual town.