The downtowns of many of our small towns have been killed by Walmart. Back in the day, people used to go downtown for clothes, shoes, medicine, haircuts, and many other things that you can now get at Walmart. In my hometown, my doctor's office was there. The optometrist was there. The bank. The hardware store. Now, almost all of those things are in Walmart. Those families that ran those small businesses lost their livelihoods. The buildings lost their value. So, much of the wealth of the town - income and property values - was transferred from local families ... to Walmart. That's why all across rural America most downtowns are practically ghost towns.
@@jj-eo7bj I wouldn't say they're "ripe" for redevelopment. It may be too late. Small and diminishing populations can't pay back investments by developers. It would need to revert to a tourist town and success of that is extraordinarily expensive--and unlikely, at least on a ubiquitous scale.
I live in a small town in Alabama and this is how a lot of towns look like here. Most of the smalls towns have some of the best people you will ever meet.
I love the looks of these small towns. As lonely as some of them seem it beats overcrowded city like towns with a lot of not too many genuinely nice people. The older I get the more I want to live the simple life in a small Midwest or Southern town
I was born in 1973 in Grove Hill and was raised in Coffeeville. Back in the late 70’s/early 80’s it was a happening little town. I had a great childhood here. It was safe, had lots of friends and a loving community. Things have changed so much and not for the better……Walmart, and the “big city life” is what has killed our little town. There are few jobs unless it deals with the timber industry so people move away to have a “better” life. I work for a paper mill north of Thomasville and drive an hour one way to work. I’ve made my home here in Coffeeville because it’s where I choose to live…..it is HOME!!! This place is special to me and thousands of others who were raised here!
If it's home, and you're from there, you'll naturally have an affinity fir it, but you can't blame young people for wanting to move away. I thought the little town I lived in in Connecticut was sad, but it's not so bad compared to some of these places.
@@sapphirelane1714 I say if people want to gossip about you give them something to talk about. We were in my fiancee home tome in rural Virginia a couple of years ago. About dinner time every day, a late middle age bald guy rides a bike in women's clothes, playing Connie Francis on a boom box, oddly enough not "Where The Boys Are". I suggested spreading a rumor that they couldn't afford a town dunk, so they got a self furnished drag queen. But it turned out the town drunk was a barber, who drowned in a puddle many years earlier. That's was my Fiancees brother and father used to drive into Richmond to get their hair cut. Any how the guy in drag on the bike, was actually a really cool guy, happily married to a woman, just a little eccentric. All I can say is, thank God for a few interesting people in small towns. Otherwise people out there would die of boredom. I think people who engage in vicious gossip are usually either jealous, or have shame about their own situation.
Very nice homes and 30% poverty sounds like there's a wide economic gap in Jackson, Alabama. It's probably one of those towns where nearly everybody leaves for greener pastures soon after high school except for the people who have lots of money and the people who do not have enough money to leave.
i can tell you why the poverty gap is the way it is. the high earners are mill workers that have a special last name or connection to the mill managers, so they get in. the rest are either on food stamps and welfare, or work crap jobs like dollar general, etc.
My 6th great grandmother from the 1830's is buried in Clarke County. All my dad's family is from there. My dad was born in 1935, and when he was a teenager the family got electricity. He went to college and got a PhD in Veterinary medicine. We still have land of what was the "family farm" . Dad felt that if there was ever a depression we could go back and at least have food. Dad instilled the value of family, education and hard work to me and my sisters.
Lots of children divide up the family farm all for the $$$$$ and developers usually end up buying it and destroy the ranch and farm land. Once the farm and ranch land is developed, you’ve lost valuable resources.
With Remote Working becoming a thing people can move to these areas to revive and thrive. Tiny houses. Local (organic) farms. A local orchards. Buying local first and grocery or big box stores last. A small church. A local library. A small hospital and wellness center. Local doctors who make home visits. A campus of single room school houses. Parks and wide open spaces. ... all far off the Interstate of possibilities...
Physicians making house calls is cool but it's not really feasible, especially when there is a shortage of primary care doctors. When you have a shortage of physicians, that means that the ones who are in practice in a given town (or the next town over) are very busy and seeing many patients back to back all day long. If they were driving from house to house throughout a whole county then all that drive time in between patients would detract from available patient care time. i.e. They could see far fewer patients per day.
It’s not as realistic as you make it seem. I used to live in a rural town in alabama and I don’t miss it at all except for all the land we had around the house. Just having access to broadband was limited. We barely could get 1 mbps for Internet. Older family members still had to travel hours to a bigger city if they needed to see a certain health specialist. The local places were at risk of closing before bigger supply chains too over. These towns dying out is inevitable at this point.
I'm from Tuskegee . It's the same all over . Mindset . Most are just waiting around to ☠️ they don't want to go outside and really just don't care about life and nature . The fading color
I live in scottsboro, Alabama & 2020 census said our population was 15,578 that year ! 💝 I love my small town. I've actually never lived anywhere with a larger population !! (I'm 44) I've lived on mountains with gravel roads that still to this day aren't paved & don't yet have running water !! You still go to sleep to the whippoorwill & cicadas singing in unison with the frogs ! So loudly some nights it's hard to sleep. I wouldn't trade it for the 🌎
@@OfftoShambala What all of the USA needs to do is commit to bringing back these wonderful small towns. There are so many jobs now that we can do using a laptop. People could live a very nice life reasonably and most importantly - not live under so much STRESS, trying to get ahead. Just sayin’…..✌🏽😎☀
I’m from Mobile and played Millry, Jackson, Coffeeville, and Grove hill during middle/high school. Always loved getting out of the city and visiting those small towns. Always ate at a good local homecooking restaurant for our pregame meal. Lovely ppl all around
If you want to see towns on the decline in Alabama, find any town that had a textile mill of some kind. There are a lot of small towns built up around a sock mill or a denim finishing facility that are drying up or are dried up. Many places didn't find other businesses to replace the mill when jobs were moved offshore. Avondale Mills was a company that employed 100s of thousands of people. Several small towns were dependent on Avondale and actually had mill villages to house workers.
I live in Tallassee Alabama. The old Mount Vernon Mills was the heart and soul of our town. It fed and clothed my family for a lot of years. Other industries have come in, but the closing of the mill took something away. When it burned a few years ago it was the saddest thing.
Another thing you might not know about Jackson, at 2:15 into this video, that little coffee shop you passed on the right used to be a jail. The Allman brothers band was actually booked there after being busted for drugs at a nearby restaurant, shortly before they became famous. Some of the members had carved their names into the cell walls, that cell is still there in the coffee shop today.
I wonder if any of the band members ever went back to jail after that? You never write your name on any jail wall, it means that you’ll be back. Old superstitions, lol
Thank u for giving us a wonderful tour of the beautiful South. Born and raised in Kenya and have lived in Maryland for 25 years and look forward to visiting the American south.
That driveway at 5:17 led to my grandparents house. The White House out of view on your left looking at the driveway was my great-grandparents at one point. My understanding is the house was originally either a church or school and built on the other side of the road you’re driving on. It was moved across the street sometime thereafter on logs in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
The big thing that happened was we got a Walmart and you didnt have to drive all the way to Thomasville. Coffeeville was where alot of people went to hunt.
Showing us our towns and cities through your eyes, small towns included, the good and the bad over the whole country is a real service to America. You have a great channel, and I appreciate it so much!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I have always dream of visiting country side US. Being in India, I knew I can never travel so deeply in US and see myself. But through your eyes and camera, I can now see all of that. Thank you for these videos.
@@tbetyf7047 If we had a fair tax on millionaires and especially billionaires, we could house every homeless person in America and solve most of the other issues we see in these videos as well.
I'm from Jackson Ala. I was born at Jackson hospital, right off hwy 43. I attended Coffeville elementary and high-school. The river that you visited in Coffeeville, that river is called the Tombigbee river. It runs all the way to Mississippi. It's part of the Mobile river. It my mother was born in Grove Hill Alabama so we're both of my aunts and my uncle. Majority of my immediate family still lives in Clarke County in Jackson Thomasville Grove Hill and Coffeeville. When you went to Grove Hill you forgot to go by the Clark County Museum which is also historical. When you Rode down Robinson Street in the middle of Grove Hill. You passed by my grandmother and my great grandmother's house. It was so exciting to see your documentary.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I live in Jackson! Hope you got to eat at B's Burger or Ed's Drive In. Did you see where the old WW2 German POW Camp was? It's not there now, just an Historical Marker. Did you see the City Swimming Pool......It is 438ft x 108ft.....It's Awesome! Let us know if you come back to Jackson!
Interesting ... I live in a small Alabama town ... you need to check out our neighboring town of Hodges ... once thriving ... still filled with small active churches and large cemeteries... what has time erased? I always wondered when I delivered the mail there to the four-hundred families determined to stay ... my challenge on route at times were cows in the road ... or people on horseback ... beautiful bluffs and landscape ...
I read a really cool article on the Lustron homes. There were a small handful of them left and one was to be torn down and instead of demolishing the house, they carefully deconstructed it and moved it to another location. It was a really cool idea at the time.
I live in these areas, so I know them well. Grove Hill is the county seat and tend to look the most busy. Jackson & Thomasville is actually a lot bigger & nicer than shown here, but the video only shows the more rural parts & downtown parts, which are historic & traditional-looking parts. However, this video is still a very accurate representation of these rural towns😂 These best time to visit rural Alabama is football/tailgating season, barbecue season, & Christmas season; that’s when everything really become lively, trimmed, and decorated.
And when the economy is normal, places like Jackson and Thomasville keep me busy with all the lumber mills. My brother has an ex girlfriend that is from Whatley.
I have been a truck driver for the last twenty years and I have really learned about all the places in this country. Of course, I am usually on the interstates but whenever I can I get off onto some smaller routes and see some of the towns. A lot of dead towns too.
We moved to a small city in NE Alabama,and it is growing and thriving. As the cities become more dangerious,people are moving out to small towns for a better life.
New to your channel and love it! Many of the old small towns have no jobs, no health facilities, few store choices etc. The people who stay are elderly, poor or can't afford to live elsewhere. Small towns are nice if you grew up there and know everyone. But not many jobs to raise a family on.
I watched your Biloxi and Gulfport videos and now these in rural Alabama. I live somewhere between the two near Mobile. I guess its relative, but it seems to me these old towns are not really dying, they just had a lot of people that wanted to be somewhere else. I bet those that still live there would not want to be anywhere else. Was in Denver last year and stepping over people passed out, hypodermic needles, and poop. Denver was very much alive, but like I said, its all relative. Your videos are excellent. I love the format and commentary.
Oh no! I did not know this had happened to Denver! It was a nice place when I was there, but that WAS fifty years ago. Sad to hear that. John Deutschendorf would be too.
I live in West Mobile. I work a job where I transport rail and tugboat crews, so I’m in all of these towns quite a lot. I actually made a TikTok of the Veteran’s Memorial in Millry.
@@Rikrik1138 Millry High School came to play our basketball team here in southeast MS years ago. I had a feeling it was way out there. I wish he had done a close up of the names on the memorial so we could pause it and look at the names.
I was born in Grove Hill in 1978 at the memorial hospital. Dr Neal delivered me at 3 a.m., butt first, no caesarean, in a small town. I'll forever be grateful to him and the place that produced me. Grove Hill will always be home no matter where I go in the world. Thanks for this video, I'll visit very soon because of it.
Dr. Neal was my family's doctor as well. Grove Hill is a small town and the population has diminished significantly. Since the 1980's. Back in the day a lot of the businesses were locally owned. The main resource for Clarke County, Alabama was pulp wood. Many of the people did move away for better opportunities. I wish he had driven to Grove Hill and Thomasville Alabama. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this video.
@@gilbertgildersleeve1581 , your last name sounds familiar to me, do you have family from Indian Ridge, Suggsville, or Morning Star area? I remember a young lady by the name of Beverly Gildersleeves who graduated in 1981 from CCHS home of the Bulldogs.
@@gilbertgildersleeve1581 I know that area very well because I got married at that church. I remember coach Earl Horn from way back ago. He was funny. One of my sister's married Terry Pugh and they used to live on Orange Hill Rd in single mobile home on the right side of the road.
To bad a lot of senior don t move to places like this it s quiet and afforded , and lots to see I m in Canada on the West Coast of B C, Been loving your video ,
I grew up in this area (Fulton)and went to Thomasville High School. It’s not a bad place to live and there are a lot more nicer areas that you didn’t see in this short video. Very interesting to see these places spotlighted here on YT. 😊
I agree! The lake wood area is crazy beautiful and we also have some rough areas but I think his gps mainly took him on the downtown side of the highway
I love this channel , I can honestly say I'm addicted. I am a over the road truck driver , many of the towns in your videos I have been through , but driving a semi , I don't get to see everything in these videos. Thank you for the work you do.
Cute little town. Not really that small next to some. I'm glad to see that people keep it up and take pride in it. Thank you for sharing! (Incidentally, if you want to feature more Lustron homes, we have quite a few here in rural and quasi-rural Northern Illinois. I've seen them in pink, yellow, and blue, in addition to the tan you featured here. I've heard that they're hot in the summer, so it surprised me to see one still standing in Alabama.)
Jackson, Al. has a lot of industry you didn't see. There is a Bosie Cascade papermill there, 3 lumber mills, a new pellet mill being built. There are several multi millionaires there and many large land owners also. Clarke county is one of the top timber producing counties in the country and the rich folks like it just the way it is!
I guess these houses missed out on the economic changes that the interstate system caused. I find it difficult to fathom the idea of these quaint little towns and villages dying and wonder what could ever be done to prevent it. I also wonder how attractive such a small town would be to an economic driver such as a major employer. If one ever set up shop within a reasonable commuting distance of a small dying town like one of these, I can imagine the town would come right back to life. The cost of living could be a major advantage of such small towns. With remote work, people could live in towns like this for cheap and still have an income.
There's been manufacturers from the Northern States and California building new plants in Alabama and Mississippi for quite some time due to half of the customers being located in the Deep South. There's an area in east central Mississippi called The Golden Triangle that's been growing by leaps and bounds. Northern Mississippi and Alabama also have been growing economically.
Really enjoyed your video my friend. Thanks for posting. I grew up in Grove Hill Alabama. Things have not changed much since I was there in 1983. Has always been a real lack of opportunity in that region. I live in an Atlanta Georgia suburb right now. But, nice to walk back through some of those very familiar spaces through watching your video. I truly enjoyed it. ❤❤❤❤
I was pretty heartbroken to not see the house I helped my dad fix up in Jackson, AL...it was an old 1890's historical with a Spire in the front, built by one of the first preachers there, right next to the middle school...you took a left before the middle school instead of going straight out of downtown...heartbreaking to not see the old house. Love your channel bro, it takes me back to long drives for work through small towns, but this time I have someone driving for me spouting facts, love it.
if it makes you feel any better, the current owner has been fixing it up, completely painted it, and even has chickens and turkeys running around. he also has a christmas story leg lamp in the top spire room window LOL.
I enjoy your videos! A recent transplant from Southern CA to Austin, TX seeking quality professional opportunities and better quality of life. Touring middle America through your eyes reminds me that living in CA is almost UNREAL. I was paying $900 per month for a tiny bedroom in a mid century hillside Ojai, CA home w/ a gorgeous view of the Valley and some of it's finest citrus orchards from the kitchen window, sharing a tiny bathroom w/ one additional housemate and visitors and parking my car on the street. I was frustrated because I couldn't grow my salary beyond $60k with my wealth of professional experience while meanwhile here $40k was mid-range for the average homeowner! I'm grateful for everything I have but I look forward to living within my means starting here in TX and ending somewhere in/near MN. Quality of life is EVERYTHING. 💛
Loved learning about these rural Alabama towns. The homes on the National Registry are very cool. The Veterans Memorial is beautiful! I’d love to know the story behind the 7-up truck and RR car! Thank you for a great video!
Im from jackson, thanks for showing all our local communities. The good and the bad, it will always be home to me. Saw a few people i knew driving by in your video😂
I went to high school in the Jackson area in the 80s. I still have a lot of relatives living there but I haven't been back since. Its depressing to see how bad the area looks now. I thought about returning there many times over the years. After watching this video, I don't know if I ever will. I would imagine the friends I had there are gone. Not enough progress in the area for jobs to increase the population. Sad.
Some really nice affordable towns in this one nice to see there are some left ! You guys should do a live I got a ton of questions . Thanks for including temperature that was one of the questions I had ! Have a good day !
Wow look at that porch, car port, nice yard. Jackson , town very neat, but empty. Assuming everybody s at work or schools. 🧐 God help our rural America .
A lot of people that lives in these small cities commute to other cities to work, that is why some of them have nice looking homes, with such low income.
great honest review with historical data and current data. I live near the AL border, and some of the town look abandoned. very disconcerting to see empty downtowns.
I was born and raised in Thomasville and I now live in Montgomery. I am proud of my hometown, especially the downtown accomplishments. Thomasville is in Clarke County and Grovehill is the County seat. That is the reason for most of the activity in Grovehill. The pulpwood industry is responsible for a good percentage of jobs in Clarke County and surrounding areas. I'm sure the Mountain Dew truck was parked there during the driver's off road period and the flashing vehicle was probably the truck driver's ride. Lol
The problem with the South is this. You don't know how to relax so I'm going to share some tips and how to achieve a zen-like state. *increasing your daily intake of fibre by including plenty of high-fibre foods in your diet, such as fruit, vegetables and wholegrains avoiding dehydration by drinking plenty of water *trying to get more exercise - for example, by going for a daily walk or run *working out a place and time of day when you can comfortably spend time on the toilet *not delaying going to the toilet when you feel the urge *if you use wet wipes, avoiding products that contain fragrance or alcohol as this could lead to discomfort or itching - if you use toilet paper, use a soft brand and avoid wiping too hard *soaking your bottom in a warm bath several times a day, particularly after having a poo, to relax the muscles in your anus
Love your content, I love seeing old houses and buildings. Reminds me of the days I lived in Port Arthur Texas in 1989, so much of that type of abandoned houses and buildings, I really miss them days.
loss of manufacturing has hit our rural towns hard all over the south-east. lots of textile mills around my area in mid-GA that were booming in the 60s-70s that are mostly abandoned now except for a dollar general and post office.
Loved it, loved it!!! You travel just like my family always has. Driving through the neighborhoods, seeing downtown. I so appreciate your information on median incomes, real estate values, etc. I commented on your video of Dodge City and mentioned I am originally from Kansas. There is and was a lustron house there. As a child, I was fascinated with it. All the towns near my hometown look just like these. It was a wonderful place for childhood. I am in Kennedale Texas now but love going on your car trips and also with my son. Thank you so much!!
It's funny, I had a lot of family that grew up in the area of millry, silas, coffeeville. To see it show up here like this, was just so unexpected. I guess I always remembered it as so Lively and friendly. I really wish you had showed the Millry drive-in, it was just past the Millry telephone company on the right. I always remember getting good food there when I was younger. How the years have gone by.
You are living my dream, I love traveling seeing small towns, I used too drive otr,, you will be amazed of the small towns, that aren't even on any database, I don't miss driving trucks, but I miss the traveling and seeing sites that time / people have forgotten about 👍👍💯
These towns remind of the rural towns outside of Troy where I lived as a youth (13-18 yo) during the early 1970s. I remember that our prom night finished with a drive seeing the beautiful homes in Troy’s historic district and having a soft drink at one of the two drive-ins that existed during that time. A lot has changed but it appears that some things have not. It’s both interesting and difficult for me to watch this video as I don’t have fond memories of my experiences during that period of my life.
Kudzu envelopes anything. In Summerdale there is or was a house that was ordered through the Sears roebuck catalog in the late 30's. Couple more Sears houses in New Mexico. You're vlogs are fascinating.
Wow, it's so cool to see you visiting places around where I grew up. I grew up in Sweet Water about 15 to 20 minutes away from Thomasville. It is much smaller. Maybe around 200 for the population in the city limits on a good day. We all had to drive to Thomasville to shop. Funny enough, some of the best high school football teams in the state are in that area as well.
Evening from Isan and that was interesting, some rather isolated places out in the sticks. The houses built from sheet steel are different, never heard of those before, certainly learn something new each day. Looking at the history Grove Hill was nearly wiped out by Yellow fever in 1853. Good job you have the NRHP to ensure a lot of these structures are preserved. Thank you for the jaunt around the countryside.
A fellow Dallasite! This is the 2nd straight video I've watched from your library lol. You are so funny and pleasant to watch and I love your little town facts! Just wonderful all around. 👏🏾👏🏿
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Sure! I forgot to subscribe to you when I originally watched your videos and when I got back home I couldn't remember your channel name. Happy that I finally found it again!
Thanks for sharing those small towns an the life being lived there...beautiful country side all around, too bad that a lot of those little house get let go..." Safe travels "🌼
You're quickly becoming one of my Top Three RU-vidrs for experiencing towns and cities. To be honest, for financial reasons I assume, one of my Top Three is stuck in Michigan. Love his stuff. Wish he were in a position to cover the rest of the U.S. Subscribed.
If you found a local to guide you. You would give a more accurate picture of the place. I grew up in Mobile and have traveled all these roads for almost 6 decades when I married a guy born and raised in Millry . You are missing the most awesome part of these places.
There were four mailboxes outside the building advertising catfish for sale. Sign also saying it was open. Pretty good bet the fish were caught from the nearby river. Given the mailboxes, it seems likely that all four of those secluded and ramshackle structures were occupied. A special glimpse of rural America, thanks to you.
People here in Clarke County are friendly, hardworking and very family oriented. They grow their own food, fish and hunt. It's a very comfortable living there. Grove Hill is where the courthouse is located and the population has declined over the years. Thomasville Alabama is steadily growing. ALDOT is building the corridor from Thomasville Alabama to Tuscaloosa Alabama.
I live in Birmingham and once decided I was gonna take old US 11 from B'ham to Slidell. It was amazing how many towns, businesses and homes just died that weren't on the interstate. Not the towns on 11 but the ones on the county and state roads.
Near Coffeeville, you crossed the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Better known as Ten-Tom, it was built by the Army Corps of Engineers to connect the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River and provide a direct water route from the navigable Tennessee River and the Gulf of Mexico. Although it has been an economic boost for some areas of Alabama, many consider Tenn-Tom a classic example of pork barrel politics.
one thing to consider is when many of these waterways were built like the Tombigbee -(early 70s ) -a lot of our manufacturing had not been outsourced overseas so the mindset was that there was still a need to move large heavy materials . Sadly that is not the case now
@@slackjawedyokel1 they use railway to move industry or military in state. They also use seaport we have a huge port in my hometown. Oil, petroleum. Steel mill, also they have military. I moved recently and they have a lake And a river
I live a few miles from the tenn-tom I fish a lot but prefer the Branahachy I get crusher run for live stock pads Off the barges I like small town mississippi life
When you were in the area with the houses near the river and that catfish for sale sign, all I could think of was moonshine whiskey. My grandfather lived by the Mississippi River and he was a moonshine maker. He said his whiskey was better than store bought.
My uncle and aunt lived in Dothan. He was chief of police, she worked for the paper. Once a week we would get the Dothan Eagle- Often a front page would feature a young man making Eagle Scout. It would be nice to live in a peaceful little town like that.
I probably enjoy the comments more than the video. I'm in my 50s now, live in another state, but my family moved to rural Alabama when I was a small kid. I had an Northeast accent (to keep from telling a state). In my adult life, I have lived in many states. So you can see and learn a lot. Alabama is called the Beautiful for a reason. It really is beautiful; the people and the land. It's not hopeless for small town living. I want to list some of the "stuff/things" I saw moving around in the country. (1) I lived in Fargo, ND for a couple of years. Yes -20s winters. One of my favorite cities. The only thing that bothered me was if you forgot something after work and had to go back out, your car would be cold in 15 mins. Need to have a garage. But what I saw while I was there was a group of mayors and other state officials visit Fargo, ND. They wanted to know how Fargo (20 below Fargo) was able to keep its young people from moving away. NDSU college graduates would take jobs, get married and raise a family in Fargo. They make an environment for young people/people to do activities, great nightlife, teenagers(boys and girls) out playing hockey on city made ice rinks. So you want to make an environment where young people want to stay or return to. Small towns are not dying every where in America. And Walmart isn't the only reason for the decline in Alabama. Just like Walmart has the "power" to purchase large volumes from foreign countries, Alabama's government places most of the jobs in the same concentrated areas. It's smart for the "high ups" because it runs the real estate prices up in those areas and it controls the price of worker's wages because you have so many people living in those areas. I saw small towns in Minnesota with every storefront occupied with a business, flats overhead with residents. They keep their industries creating products and sending them out in the nation and world. I couldn't understand how Iowa has small towns building new plants and factories, and they do not have the people to employ in those businesses. And the only thing I can conclude is that the people in those small towns demanded their government place job opportunities in their area. Two problems mentioned in the comments, a lack of doctors/healthcare professionals and internet technology in the rural areas. There are more people than most folk think that want to live in a small rural area. It maybe better now but in the past, Alabama used to have this undercurrent (maybe selecting who should have a degree/college education), a preference for individuals to just be workers. There are people driving forklifts, packing shipping boxes that could have been engineers, writers, doctors. You want people to attain their full aspirations so that those accomplishments reach the people who become doctors, and are okay with modest incomes and making house calls. I screwed up some core classes at the UA and everyone said go take them at Shelton. The administration price was ridiculous for one or two classes at a community college (and this was three decades ago).Then when I left the state, I saw Denver and Omaha encourage their citizens to attain a postsecondary degree, even adults who have not completed a degree. Very reasonable cost to get a start at the first two year level. I used to work for the "telephone" company in Alabama. There are former telecommunications workers that would be worth the time to discuss different types of network technology for rural areas. To be honest, if I remember correct, no one within 18 miles of a town center should have trouble internet. Someone was complaining about gossip and people in your business. Unfortunately, across the country, everybody complains about this with small towns. But the bigger problem is intolerance and hostility to people that might be different from you. Eventually that stuff catches up to a town and businesses. Especially today with the internet. I like living in a small town/ a farm town. I had to learn a lesson in Nebraska. First the cops had to find an excuse to meet me (the different person/outsider) to see if I was a criminal. I'm not. Then everybody was trying to get me to go to their church. You start to feel like you can't get anything done less you attend one of their churches. There was almost no nightlife, no social events and it started to become a little boring. So I worked a job as a technician and I would do repairs at people's houses. I thought I was alone for being the outsider. But I found people would talk to me about how much they hated the town and how much they wanted to leave. I couldn't believe how many cool families with musicians lived there but would not go out around the town. They only went to work and did stuff at home. They told me how the cops harassed them; how that town used to have music festivals, bands, a nightlife, lively businesses. Cops and church culture killed it all off. I learned that intolerance for different people is filtered down to a conformity that restricts other people's individuality too. That county has been in the national news because the interstate goes through there and the sheriff department has been taking travelers' money through forfeitures. So you would rather rob people of their money than just allow people to be free and receive money from thriving businesses. I know it's a long comment. But I want to add having a delivery business back in the day is what really made me like Alabama. I went to Florence, Cullman, Huntsville, Decatur, Guntersville, Deatsville, Wetumpka, all the 280 corridor, many other places. I saw so much creativity, great DIY houses before it was thing on tv. The people were great. And I always tell people when they ask me about Alabama, the people are better than the politics and what you see on tv.
Amoooo.esses vidieos mostrando as cidades pequenas ,amo ver as casas nas zonas rurais,tenho muita vontade de um dia ir ai conhecer essas cidades gostaria muito .
Found this channel by accident, but I'm glad I did, loved the way you show the towns how they are, was very glad to see you have more videos, I'm going to get some coffee and see the rest, thanks for your time to show the world your videos. Subscribed.
Out of all the rural areas of Alabama I’m shocked you stumbled across my little slice of the world. Growing up I’ve traveled throughout every town in this video more times than I can count. They’re not much, but it’s home to me. Us young folks keep moving away from these areas but there’s just something about these small towns that brings you back.
Same prefab steel houses were built in a neighborhood in MD called Harundale , same reason , for GI's. ... I've worked on a few of them , they have problems but people have tried to keep them up ... I guess tearing them down and rebuilding a modern wood frame structure is financially out of the question for those who own them now , they are some of the least initial cost houses to buy , but still way overpriced for what they are ... rotting and rusting steel , bad plumbing , no insulation , older wiring and fuse panals , the steel structure made for high condensation which causes rust , mold , and constant water/moisture buildup inside the walls and attics ... they had single glaze crank out steel casement windows , we're all build on slabs , no basements ... basically a disposable house , nightmare , but like I said new owner after new owner as they changed hands poured $$$ into them anyway to combat the problems but it's like putting a bandaid on a auto accident trauma victim ...
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip ... yeah , I was just watching some of your videos and the "GI steel houses" you mentioned snagged my memory ... my family on my Mom's side are all from WVa. , Mom was born 1920 the 1st born of 12 children , Clarksburg WVa. area , Harrison Co. , Wolf Summit ... my Dad was born 1900 ... my Mom's lineage in WVa. begins back in the mid-1700's , the oldest Cottrill (last name) by birth/death records and grave stone that we could follow by direct decendancy to present day generation ... my Grandfather (Mom's dad) passed away age 95 , and at the time of his passing there were 105 decedents from him , children , grandchildren , great grand children , great great grandchildren , etc. ...
Nice video! When I traveled from West Texas to visit Delaware, I took all the side roads and not the freeway just to see this sort of scenery! You can bet I took a lot of fotos too. My favorites were OLD houses and barns.
My family has deep roots in Alabama and I love to go back and visit. Sister and I did a Delorme Map Geocaching challenge a few years ago that took us literally to every corner of the state. We travelled thru many small towns. One of my favorites is Repton - not far from Jackson. Even though I live in Texas now, I love Alabama. It's one of the most beautiful and underrated states in the union. It is also the state with the most miles of fresh water lakes, creeks, and rivers of any state - by far. Thanks for traipsing thru the back roads of this beautiful state.
Same with Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes actually has closer to 15,000. I was born and raised there and it’s the first thing you notice when you fly into MSP airport; the sun reflecting off all the lakes. The winters really stink though.
@@hoppes9658 I wasn't talking about number of lakes. I was talking about the number of *miles* of rivers, creeks, and lakes. Alabama has the most on that statistic. 77,000 miles
love the video, I just so happened to watch it because it popped up on recommended. I am a supervisor for Pepsi over delivery and Monday I had a driver to call me and say he pulled off the road and got stuck in Coffeeville. That Mt Dew truck was my driver and I had no idea that's how he got stuck. interesting to know what he was doing.
That is amazing. I have to say, it was weird how it was parked. There was enough room to just pull off onto the shoulder. It was a strange sight, seeing it backed into the trees like that.
Nice. Maybe some time you could come do a video in North Alabama,far different topography that actually has some beautiful mountains & valley's. Interesting "change of pace" from the flatlands of southwest & southeast USA.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip We'd love to have you. Just remember,Mobile isn't that far from where this vid was shot (south Ala.). Come up NORTH. We're at the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Totally different terrain from where you've shown so far.
I like your presentation and descriptions of the properties. All viewed from a positive viewpoint, it seems. Thank you! It all was or will be history in some way. ;)
