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Plenty of very small, walkable, isolated artist towns in Appalachia. Berkely Springs WV, Floyd VA. Lots in new England as well - Brattleboro comes to mind.
Of course Ward CO was an abandoned mining town, repopulated by "out there" types.
Artists and musicians locate in Baltimore for the cheap housing and access to northeast corridor venues.
A lot of times it's slightly older, established artists who've built up enough savings to buy a house with cash in a really low-cost area, but not in a non-ghetto urban environment (artists have a hard time getting mortgages unless they declared all of their income on their taxes). Once you take out the price of housing, and you're established enough of a name you can do long-distance marketing, it becomes much easier.
While it's not really that urban, places like Marfa, Texas (an artist town with less than 2,000 people in the middle of friggin nowhere), shows it can happen in very small, very isolated areas.
The boroughs in the Coal Region of Eastern PA actually have a hell of a lot more going for them, in terms of structure and location, than somewhere that isolated and small. Just look at the street views - there was clearly a lot more than a "company store" at one point. There are dozens of storefronts, although admittedly most of them have been converted into residences.
Have. you. ever. been. to the coal country? Have you seen more than the Google street view? I have. When I was in college, my parents lived in Bloomsburg for a while. (Long, irrelevant story.) Those towns didn't have much going for them in the 60s, let a lone almost 50 years later. I think most people shopped in Sunbury, Hazleton, Bloomsburg, etc.
Have. you. ever. been. to the coal country? Have you seen more than the Google street view? I have. When I was in college, my parents lived in Bloomsburg for a while. (Long, irrelevant story.) Those towns didn't have much going for them in the 60s, let a lone almost 50 years later. I think most people shopped in Sunbury, Hazleton, Bloomsburg, etc.
We have a poster on this forum who reacted in shock when I told her that my neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Lawrenceville - where her grandmother grew up) is rapidly gentrifying, and it's nearly impossible to find a non-wrecked house now for under $200,000 ($250,000 on her grandmother's street). Things change - in some cases rapidly these days. Hazleton is majority Latino, for example.
Regardless, I never said that all of them could revitalize - although their closeness to one another (the whole area is around a two-hour drive from end to end) does offer intriguing possibilities. But I don't see why one or two of them couldn't. Just because you wouldn't want to live there doesn't mean everyone didn't. If I didn't need to work, and I had a natural foods co-op in town, I'd be all set.
All of these PA places are closer to where I grew up than where I currently live — or many places I've lived in upstate NY. But though I'm vaguely familiar with upstate NY within a 3-4 hour drive from NYC as well as New England, I never realized PA coal country was that close. I always thought it was far away off in western PA maybe near West Virginia. I suspect that it's not just me — it's a rather forgotten area to people living in the coastal metros.
We have a poster on this forum who reacted in shock when I told her that my neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Lawrenceville - where her grandmother grew up) is rapidly gentrifying, and it's nearly impossible to find a non-wrecked house now for under $200,000 ($250,000 on her grandmother's street). Things change - in some cases rapidly these days. Hazleton is majority Latino, for example.
Regardless, I never said that all of them could revitalize - although their closeness to one another (the whole area is around a two-hour drive from end to end) does offer intriguing possibilities. But I don't see why one or two of them couldn't. Just because you wouldn't want to live there doesn't mean everyone didn't. If I didn't need to work, and I had a natural foods co-op in town, I'd be all set.
I don't really think the poster you're referring to was exactly shocked. Maybe surprised. You didn't answer my question-have you been there? It's hard to "revitalize" when you were never "vitalized". I don't think you "get it". These towns never really had great commercial centers. People went elsewhere to do their shopping, if they had any money to shop with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
All of these PA places are closer to where I grew up than where I currently live — or many places I've lived in upstate NY. But though I'm vaguely familiar with upstate NY within a 3-4 hour drive from NYC as well as New England, I never realized PA coal country was that close. I always thought it was far away off in western PA maybe near West Virginia. I suspect that it's not just me — it's a rather forgotten area to people living in the coastal metros.
The anthracite coal deposits are in NE PA. Western PA and W VA have bituminous. Anthracite burns better.
All of these PA places are closer to where I grew up than where I currently live — or many places I've lived in upstate NY. But though I'm vaguely familiar with upstate NY within a 3-4 hour drive from NYC as well as New England, I never realized PA coal country was that close. I always thought it was far away off in western PA maybe near West Virginia. I suspect that it's not just me — it's a rather forgotten area to people living in the coastal metros.
Western PA is also an area coal was big, but it was Bituminous rather than Anthracite - a much lower-quality coal.
This map shows where coal is/was in Pennsylvania. the lower Anthracite region is pretty much the center of what's known as the "Coal Region." My understanding is this area, due to the high-quality of the coals, was essentially mined out a long time ago. There's plenty of coal left in the ground, in contrast, in Western Pennsylvania.
We have a poster on this forum who reacted in shock when I told her that my neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Lawrenceville - where her grandmother grew up) is rapidly gentrifying, and it's nearly impossible to find a non-wrecked house now for under $200,000 ($250,000 on her grandmother's street).
Shock? No. Pleasantly surprised? Why not.
Anyway, to me, all those little old Polish ladies and gentlemen (except for the grouchy old guy next door to Gram who didn't like kids ) were the best gentry ever. How I miss them.
Have. you. ever. been. to the coal country? Have you seen more than the Google street view? I have. When I was in college, my parents lived in Bloomsburg for a while. (Long, irrelevant story.) Those towns didn't have much going for them in the 60s, let a lone almost 50 years later. I think most people shopped in Sunbury, Hazleton, Bloomsburg, etc.
Just curious, but when was the last time you were out there?
I'll answer when eschaton tells us if he's ever been there, at all.
I don't get it. Why?
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) were the best gentry ever. 
How I miss them.
