Gadling

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.

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