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Out-living a small town in Appalachia
This Sunday I went to my great-uncle's funeral in Hindman, Kentucky. He was the youngest of 11 children and the last one living. Good-bye to that generation. It's weird to have one layer of family gone. But, even more unsettling is a comment made by one of the people who gave a eulogy. He said that he moved to Hindman in 1956 and since then there are only two businesses still remaining. One is the Bank of Hindman. The other is the funeral home. As he said, my uncle, at age 82, had outlived his town.
I am sure that this is not an uncommon story. Drive through the rural parts of the U.S. and you'll be met up with towns that do not resemble in the least what they once were. I saw several while driving through North Dakota on my way to Regent, a town that is also struggling.
Still, there's Hindman and my uncle's tale. He was the post master there for years and he owned the movie theater that doesn't exist any more. He also ran the drive-in that hasn't been around for a few decades. I'm not even sure where it was. It's startling how fast change can occur to the point that much of a place is no longer recognizable. The vibrancy of life that existed in Hindman that my uncle captured with a movie camera back when my mother was a child is no where to be seen. Places like Hindman, as seen through the years of my uncle's life, remind me of the line "Nothing gold can stay."
In an interesting twist of irony, my uncle is not buried in the family cemetery that could very well be covered over by woods one day. Instead, he opted for the manicured perpetual care cemetery next door. I guess by watching his town dwindle over his lifetime, he decided to not take any more chances.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Business, Stories
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bob Mar 27th 2008 9:08PM
KInd of interesting. I too grew up in a very small town called Hieskell in east TN. The town has never been much, and there are only two businesses and a church,which used to be housed in a beautiful 120 year old church that was in such bad condition, it was torn down while the church moved into what was at one time the local elementary school, which itself had suffered a fire in the 70's which destroyed half of the building. The church now resides in what was once one wing of the building and the cafeteria.
What's said about it is that the area is getting swallowed up by encroaching development. The closest city is Knoxville. Due to the housing boom, many people in Florida and other places cashed out and moved to the area. They tend to like enormous, "Macmansion" type houses built in large Mcmansion developments. Every time I visit, it seems like one more of these developments have been built. They are utterly devoid of character. Only 2-3 miles separate Hieskell and the ensuing sprawl.
In fact, the whole area is rapidly changing. It makes me sad to see this happening because I know that someday, nobody is really even going to know that there was once a town there.