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Which small southern city do you think has the greatest potential to revitalize? As it stands today, Petersburg, VA and Rocky Mount, NC are both fairly similar in demographics and population, separated by just a 100 miles. Each has it's historic district split by a fall line river, the former with gnarlier rapids. Both towns are plagued by neglect and similar levels of shootings and crime, though each have their own share of architectural marvels and wonders.
I have to say that I never thought I'd see this comparison. I think Petersburg has a better chance to bounce back, though, both have a ways to go. Petersburg has better bones with better Architecture and historic neighborhoods. It also has a decent restaurant and arts scene despite its issues. Rocky Mount is also twice as far from a big city(50ish miles from Raleigh vs 24 miles from Richmond. There are people who work in various parts of the Richmond area and commute from Petersburg as it is only a 10(Chester) to 40(wester Richmond) min drive depending on which part of the area you travel to.
I'd give this one to Petersburg, VA. Richmond is a charming city that is starting to boom, and as it booms walkable neighborhoods will become increasingly expensive to the point where people will start to seriously consider cheaper walkable neighborhoods in Petersburg and commuting back in to Greater Richmond.
I spent part of my adolescence in Petersburg. I'd also previously been to Rocky Mount but was recently on a two week work assignment there late July to early August. A couple brief stops there, I did find them more similar, until this two week stay...
Let's start that geographically, Rocky Mount feels more isolated. Downtown to downtown, Rocky Mount is 59 miles from Raleigh, whereas Petersburg is 24 miles from Richmond. At its closest point city border to city border, Petersburg and Rich are 19 miles apart, while Rocky Mount and Raleigh are still like 48 miles apart...
What adds to the isolation is that Rocky Mount is in rural East Carolina. The city itself is rural and is surrounded by rural anywhere you go outside of it. Petersburg to its north is suburban/exurban Richmond, and Petersburg itself is kind of its own mini-metro of around ~150,000. People don't realize this, but Petersburg has a pretty prominent history within Virgina, and is the defacto central city of the Tri-Cities area of Greater Richmond--->Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Prince George County and Dinwiddie County are all in Petersburg's mini sphere of influence...
Population wise they would be comparable looking at it it like that, but Rocky Mount lacks the structure and historical prominence Petersburg has...
Petersburg is also much more of a city. It has a real downtown (obviously relative to the size of the city). Rocky Mount pretty much has no downtown at all, the area they call downtown has almost nothing there. This is Downtown Rocky Mount:
Petersburg has a more vibrant arts and nightlife culture, and outside of downtown, Petersburg has some real urban neighborhoods. Now, much of Petersburg is in serious urban decay, but the bones of a greater city are there. Petersburg is not unlike a miniature Buffalo or Cleveland (or even Richmond a decade ago before most of its decay was gentrified), you have some fairly urban and walkable streets, then the next street over are foundations of buildings that used to exist, or burned out, crumbling structures...
Rocky Mount has some of that decay without any real urban form. Rocky Mount has a 150,000 metro but only vaguely feels like an actual city, the entire city is very rural. Outer Petersburg is rural...
There is no comparison here once ample time is spent in both cities. Again, I want to maintain context. Both are very small cities with serious violent crime issues and other social issues. There is literally next to nothing to do in Rocky Mount, I took the 30 and 45 minute drives to Wilson and Greenville when i wanted to do something fun or interesting. It's to be expected that the nearest big city (Richmond or Raleigh) are where all the excitement is, but Petersburg has more to do before you even have to go Richmond, which again, is closer...
The cities don't particularly look alike, and when you factor in the dynamic that Petersburg/Hopewell/Colonial Heights somewhat function as different sides of the same, larger, city, there is no real contest...
I wouldn't necessarily recommend either city to anybody but Petersburg is the answer here without a second thought, I actually can't make a good case for Rocky Mount whatsoever...
I spent part of my adolescence in Petersburg. I'd also previously been to Rocky Mount but was recently on a two week work assignment there late July to early August. A couple brief stops there, I did find them more similar, until this two week stay...
Let's start that geographically, Rocky Mount feels more isolated. Downtown to downtown, Rocky Mount is 59 miles from Raleigh, whereas Petersburg is 24 miles from Richmond. At its closest point city border to city border, Petersburg and Rich are 19 miles apart, while Rocky Mount and Raleigh are still like 48 miles apart...
What adds to the isolation is that Rocky Mount is in rural East Carolina. The city itself is rural and is surrounded by rural anywhere you go outside of it. Petersburg to its north is suburban/exurban Richmond, and Petersburg itself is kind of its own mini-metro of around ~150,000. People don't realize this, but Petersburg has a pretty prominent history within Virgina, and is the defacto central city of the Tri-Cities area of Greater Richmond--->Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Prince George County and Dinwiddie County are all in Petersburg's mini sphere of influence...
Population wise they would be comparable looking at it it like that, but Rocky Mount lacks the structure and historical prominence Petersburg has...
Petersburg is also much more of a city. It has a real downtown (obviously relative to the size of the city). Rocky Mount pretty much has no downtown at all, the area they call downtown has almost nothing there. This is Downtown Rocky Mount:
Petersburg has a more vibrant arts and nightlife culture, and outside of downtown, Petersburg has some real urban neighborhoods. Now, much of Petersburg is in serious urban decay, but the bones of a greater city are there. Petersburg is not unlike a miniature Buffalo or Cleveland (or even Richmond a decade ago before most of its decay was gentrified), you have some fairly urban and walkable streets, then the next street over are foundations of buildings that used to exist, or burned out, crumbling structures...
Rocky Mount has some of that decay without any real urban form. Rocky Mount has a 150,000 metro but only vaguely feels like an actual city, the entire city is very rural. Outer Petersburg is rural...
There is no comparison here once ample time is spent in both cities. Again, I want to maintain context. Both are very small cities with serious violent crime issues and other social issues. There is literally next to nothing to do in Rocky Mount, I took the 30 and 45 minute drives to Wilson and Greenville when i wanted to do something fun or interesting. It's to be expected that the nearest big city (Richmond or Raleigh) are where all the excitement is, but Petersburg has more to do before you even have to go Richmond, which again, is closer...
The cities don't particularly look alike, and when you factor in the dynamic that Petersburg/Hopewell/Colonial Heights somewhat function as different sides of the same, larger, city, there is no real contest...
I wouldn't necessarily recommend either city to anybody but Petersburg is the answer here without a second thought, I actually can't make a good case for Rocky Mount whatsoever...
Now I've never been to Rocky Mount and believe pretty much every think you say, but you get a side eye for posting that Streetview link of Rocky Mount. I know enough about the small town South (as do you) to know that all of them have their main streets, mostly with intact--although many times largely vacant--commercial street walls that stretch for at least a good 3 blocks or so and I found it for Rocky Mount about a block or two over from your Streetview link:
I'm not arguing that Rocky Mount's main drag is better than Petersburg's but only that it does have one and it is definitely more representative of downtown Rocky Mount, and it's actually pretty well-streetscaped too with a few attractive historic buildings that just need some TLC; it actually reminds me of my own hometown in that regard. Hopefully the city is trying to revitalize downtown a bit because it has the basic bones in place. The biggest drawback is that the railroad tracks split the main street which isn't exactly uncommon but I don't think I've seen that in a town as big as Rocky Mount.
At any rate, a better comparison to Petersburg in NC would probably be High Point.
Now I've never been to Rocky Mount and believe pretty much every think you say, but you get a side eye for posting that Streetview link of Rocky Mount. I know enough about the small town South (as do you) to know that all of them have their main streets, mostly with intact--although many times largely vacant--commercial street walls that stretch for at least a good 3 blocks or so and I found it for Rocky Mount about a block or two over from your Streetview link:
I'm not arguing that Rocky Mount's main drag is better than Petersburg's but only that it does have one and it is definitely more representative of downtown Rocky Mount, and it's actually pretty well-streetscaped too with a few attractive historic buildings that just need some TLC; it actually reminds me of my own hometown in that regard. Hopefully the city is trying to revitalize downtown a bit because it has the basic bones in place. The biggest drawback is that the railroad tracks split the main street which isn't exactly uncommon but I don't think I've seen that in a town as big as Rocky Mount.
At any rate, a better comparison to Petersburg in NC would probably be High Point.
Good call on that link, but Main is very dry. Even daylife along Main is dry, while if you went to Sycamore this morning, you'd see people walking around and a busier streetscape. I'll agree Main is a better representation if The Rock's downtown...
I've never actually been to High Point, but I do know that Petersburg is a real example of a city that you have to compare to somewhere slightly larger. Interestingly, of smaller NC cities I've been to, I'd say Greenville compares better. I'd give Greenville the win in a comparison versus Petersburg because it has a major university, a real and prominent health complex, and is more economically prosperous than Petersburg. The downtowns (Uptown Petersburg) are much more comparable, retail/shopping and dining is comparable (like mpier said, Petersburg has a really vibrant culinary and wine/beer scene, relative to life-sized cities), and Greenville is more built up than Rocky Mount, though I would say the architecture and neighborhood character of the Tri-Cities is more advantageous...
If Petersburg is going to be compared to places it has to be thought of as it's own metro because of its centrality and amenities that belie its actual city population...
Central Greenville also seems to have a light dash of something that differentiates it from being as deeply southern as surrounding East Carolina. Pretty unique to experience and definitely stands out in that region. I'd draw a comparison to Petersburg in this sense, which, while southern, is noticeably less so than life-sized Carolina cities, which tends to be the case when comparing Virginia and Carolina cities...
I found the neighborhoods of Greenville to be more comparable to Petersburg neighborhoods than anywhere in Rocky Mount...
Petersburg due to its inclusion in the Richmond metro area.
Absolutely. If I had comparable job offers in Petersburg or Rocky Mount, I'd pick the former due to a much more reasonable commute from Richmond (30ish minutes). Trying to commute from Raleigh to Rocky Mount would be a PITA, unless I could work from home the majority of the time.
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