My wife & I left the DC area and moved to northern Michigan in 1995. I am a retired hornist and piano technician. We used our DC area home equity to buy a house & shop on ten acres. Our son married a wonderful gal from Grand Rapids, and they now live in Ohio. We moved to a town a little more than an hour away from them. We are happy here, mainly because of the friendliness of Ohioans, plus our nearness to our son & his family. You can buy shoes, groceries, and all life’s necessities in town. I appreciate your thoughtful writing very much.
"Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her."
G K Chesterton
There's definitely a difference between loving a city and a culture and merely just preferring to be there for convenience or opportunity. Loving requires commitment and sacrifice rather than just consuming and taking.
We have asimilar bus system. Started out as transportation to the small hospital and clinic, but now will take you any place in the county. We have a meat market in addition to a grocery store, so I get my bacon there. Wehave a quilt/floral shop now and a gun shop. I do like it.
So many reflections to this fantastic byline. One reflection that bubbles up for me - it does seem like people want to be vicarious consumers, rather than participants. To be adjacent to the perceived cool thing but still one’s world is effectively in a virtual space…one can immerse oneself in creativity or production anywhere and do it quite well…if you’re willing to “be” in life. As you say, the potential that could be, if we all just got off the hamster wheel.
This is how most Americans lived before the automobile. They had to cluster together in little villages that had the essential resources: a general store, a library, a saloon, couple churches, a few other essential businesses. All within a short walk of each other up and down main street.
Excellent article. I am doing this right now in an unincorporated community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In time, I hope the Upper Midwest develops as follows:
I'm in the UK and a lot of your words are relevant here too. Maybe manifested SLIGHTLY differently,but overall similar. In fact this is the best,most accurate analysis of this phenomenon I have read because most commentators miss the subtleties you've picked up on. And that's because in UK they mostly (with a few exceptions) are members of the "chattering classes" as they are derogatively called and tend to LIVE in previous poor rundown areas that they or the generation before them have gentrified. This is actually a big subject of contention in my city,of Bristol. Well,it is if you're looking to rent or buy but not if you own or are selling of course. This city has become a hub,a magnet for Van Dwellers and I totally get their choice even though I know it's not an easy way of life. But you're not in hock to The Man. I now live in a "working class" area that the waves of gentrification are lapping up against as each area becomes unaffordable. Plus my city (no I don't actually own it!) started to attract 'creatives' from That There Lunnon" about 20 years ago. I hear it's now quite a centre for film,tv,sound,all that sort of thing. Lol,I grew up in a sleepy hick town or city that seemed stuck in its glory days of long ago and now I'm in a place I feel alien from,well a bit. Not too much. But now I understand all through the past how people felt disconcerted or even threatened by change. Especially when you realise YOU ARE the Dumb Straw Chewing Local Yokel. But it's got a good side. Areas that were dodgy are now safe and nice to walk in. The Park is well kept thanks to the volunteer Friends Group. Theres a Sourdough bakery in the High St. But I don't like Sourdough bread,it's a price hike con,I know as I bake my own bread. But theres also Two independant bookshops too,and they are selling books with a challenging political slant and in years past you had to search hard over the other side of town for that.
This was such a thoughtful and grounded piece, and I really appreciated the way you trace how “relevance” in urban life is more of a psychological construct than a material reality. The way we often think of “important” cities completely ignores the messy human process that made them what they are. It resonated with me as someone who has lived my entire life as an American expat in the Arabian Gulf, where cities have a very different logic. The mobile, expatriate-heavy population means people, culture, and even built environments are always in motion and that creates an urban world that’s often dismissed as soulless by outsiders. But that misses something important. Really, there’s little humans can do that is only “fake.” Gulf cities are rich in memory, just not in the same way that other cities are. I find their memory is atmospheric and often tied to personal rhythms that outsiders can’t easily perceive. And interestingly, the small corporate compounds that exist here function like the kind of urbanism you describe: walkable, familiar, human-scale, with shared amenities and a clear social rhythm. They weren’t built to be hip, but they’re very livable and loved by the people who know them. So while I think your point about contemporary urban “relevance” holds true across much of the world, there are still these in-between spaces, neither rural nor conventionally urban, where a different kind of city life persists.
When you said 'Gulf cities' I thought of Bay St. Louis or Pascagoula, before the string of casinos. A different kind of wisdom lingers in the air there, and it was sweet to wade into the water and float among the afternoon storms coming in and hear those whispers.
I think you're onto something. Young people are afraid of missing out on city life, but quality of life can be better in a small town, not to mention connection to family, friends, and community.
Thank you for this essay. A point that you make here that others also commenters mention is how one makes a community. While things like ethnic or religious similarity (mentioned in @Ephy Brilliant's comment and your reply) might be helpful, I do not think that they are necessary to build a community. The reason I think one can have a strong community without homogeneity is because I have one, on our itty bitty island of Saba. Saba has dozens of nationalities represented, and while most (not all) people here share a language to communicate in, most people who live here are multilingual and not necessarily speaking in their first language when they're having a conversation with someone else. The majority of adults on Saba were born outside of the Dutch Caribbean--meaning that the majority of adults on Saba are not just immigrants to Saba, but to the region generally. So what brings us all together?
An underappreciated driver of community ties to your idea of "gumption:" how tied is your existence to natural cycles and threats? In most modern western cities, the answer is "hardly at all." You can work remotely and have your groceries (or pre-made meals) delivered to your home, where it's always 70 degrees and bright, regardless of the season. Sure, a modern city dweller might notice that there's a snowstorm outside, but not in the same physical way as you recently did.
Living closer to nature means that everyone in a geographic location has shared experiences and concerns, even if they're otherwise very culturally different. Where I live, in the Hurricane Belt, we worry about tropical storms and help each other prepare for them, even if we disagree on everything else. But in an urban environment that's more detached from nature, people sharing a geographic location don't necessarily share experiences or concerns. Instead, experiences are increasingly individualized and virtual. I think this makes it harder for people to come together--both because they don't have common experiences, and because they do not have common threats. It doesn't matter if you think your neighbor is a crank and he thinks you're an idiot if there's snow to be shoveled or hurricane shutters to put up. We can all agree that these tasks need doing.
My husband and I moved to my small hometown in South Georgia when we were ready to have kids. Bought a house a block from my parents for 40k and remodeled. Lived there for 15 years. Now we live in the metro Atlanta area, an area that was just farmland 20 years ago but is now one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The growth is staggering and awful. We didn’t really know that when we moved. The problem for us is our kids. If it weren’t for them I’d probably move back to the small town where lots of family still live. There’s scant Catholics. My boys have all met good Catholic girls here and are beginning their lives. The families of the girls are here as well. And north of us is becoming too expensive to move to. We also now see a reverent Catholic community as just as, if not more important, than other factors. I think you’re right on the mark with the potential of the small town. Now I just have to convince my kids to move too!
Katherine, I completely get that -- that's a lot of why we're here. Small Diocesan Parish where ~75% of Parishioners receive on the tongue and the 70's-era wreckovations have been un-done... and a few miles from an SSPX Latin Mass Church as well. Bought our place for $33k... there are FOUR other houses in our village for less than $50k...
Anyway, God bless you and your family on your journey!
Having lived for 18 years on the south side of St Louis City, and raised/are raising 9 progeny, we have found ourselves to be easily within walking or biking distance of all needed amenities or services.
The public transit is a bit sketchy but does provide access to farther flung localities and even extends across the state line into Illinois!
We grow much of our own food, have personally been acquainted with the likely to be next elected mayor, and are well aquinted with a plethora of people in our immediate and surrounding areas.
Really, this "city" (there are some taller structures downtown) is like unto multiple villages closely placed with many green spaces (parks.)
The largest urban park in the US is in St Louis City limits.
Of course, all that is resulting in re-evaluations of property worth and hikes in taxes plus many outsiders moving in to take advantage of less expensive real-estate.
Oh, there's a great community of business incubation/innovation as well as variety of eating possibilities.
Funny that you mention Madawaska, ME. I knew the town and the area many years ago, courtesy of Uncle Sam. What you write is true: if you're in the "downtown" of towns like Madawaska, Limestone, Caribou, even Grand Falls, NB, you do have a "walkable, 15-minute city" (at least until winter comes along, and maybe even then).
Is it for everyone? no, it's not. Yet one shouldn't automatically say, "Ewww, the boondocks?!" Especially in Anno Dominai 2025. "Laptop jobs" allow one to at least try the life there and see if it fits.
Especially when Madawaska is awesome. My wife and I passed through after our honeymoon last summer, and we both agreed — if ever we do actually leave NYS, if we were to live anywhere else in the US, Madawaska would be at the tippy top of our list. Everyone was so friendly, housing is affordable, and the climate is ideal by our standards.
Truly a fantastic place to visit and to live by all I can tell — nothing to be scoffed at!
And right across the river from Edmundston NB! We used to go up there to get the better (at the time) Canadian beer duty-free. Load up the vehicle with 5 of us and come back with 10 cases. Guys that smoked also appreciated the duty-free sticks.
If I were there today, I'd seriously consider living there, or at least in the northern part of the County.
In my Life 3.0, I'm finding my semi-rural WNY Town suits my needs quite well. 2 supermarkets, a good pharmacy (there are 3), hardware store, Tractor Supply, adequate medical facilities, gas stations, mercantile establishments, produce vendors, etc. All within a 15 minute drive. Why travel further and in traffic to accomplish the tasks of daily living if not required?
Community building will be quite important for future survival, so why not do it and enjoy the process?
My wife & I left the DC area and moved to northern Michigan in 1995. I am a retired hornist and piano technician. We used our DC area home equity to buy a house & shop on ten acres. Our son married a wonderful gal from Grand Rapids, and they now live in Ohio. We moved to a town a little more than an hour away from them. We are happy here, mainly because of the friendliness of Ohioans, plus our nearness to our son & his family. You can buy shoes, groceries, and all life’s necessities in town. I appreciate your thoughtful writing very much.
"Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her."
G K Chesterton
There's definitely a difference between loving a city and a culture and merely just preferring to be there for convenience or opportunity. Loving requires commitment and sacrifice rather than just consuming and taking.
We have asimilar bus system. Started out as transportation to the small hospital and clinic, but now will take you any place in the county. We have a meat market in addition to a grocery store, so I get my bacon there. Wehave a quilt/floral shop now and a gun shop. I do like it.
So many reflections to this fantastic byline. One reflection that bubbles up for me - it does seem like people want to be vicarious consumers, rather than participants. To be adjacent to the perceived cool thing but still one’s world is effectively in a virtual space…one can immerse oneself in creativity or production anywhere and do it quite well…if you’re willing to “be” in life. As you say, the potential that could be, if we all just got off the hamster wheel.
This is how most Americans lived before the automobile. They had to cluster together in little villages that had the essential resources: a general store, a library, a saloon, couple churches, a few other essential businesses. All within a short walk of each other up and down main street.
Nailed it. The gumption thing might be a problem, though.
Excellent article. I am doing this right now in an unincorporated community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In time, I hope the Upper Midwest develops as follows:
https://swiftenterprises.substack.com/p/the-new-cantons
I'm in the UK and a lot of your words are relevant here too. Maybe manifested SLIGHTLY differently,but overall similar. In fact this is the best,most accurate analysis of this phenomenon I have read because most commentators miss the subtleties you've picked up on. And that's because in UK they mostly (with a few exceptions) are members of the "chattering classes" as they are derogatively called and tend to LIVE in previous poor rundown areas that they or the generation before them have gentrified. This is actually a big subject of contention in my city,of Bristol. Well,it is if you're looking to rent or buy but not if you own or are selling of course. This city has become a hub,a magnet for Van Dwellers and I totally get their choice even though I know it's not an easy way of life. But you're not in hock to The Man. I now live in a "working class" area that the waves of gentrification are lapping up against as each area becomes unaffordable. Plus my city (no I don't actually own it!) started to attract 'creatives' from That There Lunnon" about 20 years ago. I hear it's now quite a centre for film,tv,sound,all that sort of thing. Lol,I grew up in a sleepy hick town or city that seemed stuck in its glory days of long ago and now I'm in a place I feel alien from,well a bit. Not too much. But now I understand all through the past how people felt disconcerted or even threatened by change. Especially when you realise YOU ARE the Dumb Straw Chewing Local Yokel. But it's got a good side. Areas that were dodgy are now safe and nice to walk in. The Park is well kept thanks to the volunteer Friends Group. Theres a Sourdough bakery in the High St. But I don't like Sourdough bread,it's a price hike con,I know as I bake my own bread. But theres also Two independant bookshops too,and they are selling books with a challenging political slant and in years past you had to search hard over the other side of town for that.
This was such a thoughtful and grounded piece, and I really appreciated the way you trace how “relevance” in urban life is more of a psychological construct than a material reality. The way we often think of “important” cities completely ignores the messy human process that made them what they are. It resonated with me as someone who has lived my entire life as an American expat in the Arabian Gulf, where cities have a very different logic. The mobile, expatriate-heavy population means people, culture, and even built environments are always in motion and that creates an urban world that’s often dismissed as soulless by outsiders. But that misses something important. Really, there’s little humans can do that is only “fake.” Gulf cities are rich in memory, just not in the same way that other cities are. I find their memory is atmospheric and often tied to personal rhythms that outsiders can’t easily perceive. And interestingly, the small corporate compounds that exist here function like the kind of urbanism you describe: walkable, familiar, human-scale, with shared amenities and a clear social rhythm. They weren’t built to be hip, but they’re very livable and loved by the people who know them. So while I think your point about contemporary urban “relevance” holds true across much of the world, there are still these in-between spaces, neither rural nor conventionally urban, where a different kind of city life persists.
When you said 'Gulf cities' I thought of Bay St. Louis or Pascagoula, before the string of casinos. A different kind of wisdom lingers in the air there, and it was sweet to wade into the water and float among the afternoon storms coming in and hear those whispers.
I think you're onto something. Young people are afraid of missing out on city life, but quality of life can be better in a small town, not to mention connection to family, friends, and community.
Thank you for this essay. A point that you make here that others also commenters mention is how one makes a community. While things like ethnic or religious similarity (mentioned in @Ephy Brilliant's comment and your reply) might be helpful, I do not think that they are necessary to build a community. The reason I think one can have a strong community without homogeneity is because I have one, on our itty bitty island of Saba. Saba has dozens of nationalities represented, and while most (not all) people here share a language to communicate in, most people who live here are multilingual and not necessarily speaking in their first language when they're having a conversation with someone else. The majority of adults on Saba were born outside of the Dutch Caribbean--meaning that the majority of adults on Saba are not just immigrants to Saba, but to the region generally. So what brings us all together?
An underappreciated driver of community ties to your idea of "gumption:" how tied is your existence to natural cycles and threats? In most modern western cities, the answer is "hardly at all." You can work remotely and have your groceries (or pre-made meals) delivered to your home, where it's always 70 degrees and bright, regardless of the season. Sure, a modern city dweller might notice that there's a snowstorm outside, but not in the same physical way as you recently did.
Living closer to nature means that everyone in a geographic location has shared experiences and concerns, even if they're otherwise very culturally different. Where I live, in the Hurricane Belt, we worry about tropical storms and help each other prepare for them, even if we disagree on everything else. But in an urban environment that's more detached from nature, people sharing a geographic location don't necessarily share experiences or concerns. Instead, experiences are increasingly individualized and virtual. I think this makes it harder for people to come together--both because they don't have common experiences, and because they do not have common threats. It doesn't matter if you think your neighbor is a crank and he thinks you're an idiot if there's snow to be shoveled or hurricane shutters to put up. We can all agree that these tasks need doing.
I wrote about hurricanes and community here:
https://doctrixperiwinkle.substack.com/p/about-the-weather
and about my love for Saba and its inconvenience here:
https://doctrixperiwinkle.substack.com/p/saba-i-love-you
You are not alone, but truly an early adopter. Methinks you will have company soon enough. Another humdinger from your mind and hands, Sir.
My husband and I moved to my small hometown in South Georgia when we were ready to have kids. Bought a house a block from my parents for 40k and remodeled. Lived there for 15 years. Now we live in the metro Atlanta area, an area that was just farmland 20 years ago but is now one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The growth is staggering and awful. We didn’t really know that when we moved. The problem for us is our kids. If it weren’t for them I’d probably move back to the small town where lots of family still live. There’s scant Catholics. My boys have all met good Catholic girls here and are beginning their lives. The families of the girls are here as well. And north of us is becoming too expensive to move to. We also now see a reverent Catholic community as just as, if not more important, than other factors. I think you’re right on the mark with the potential of the small town. Now I just have to convince my kids to move too!
Katherine, I completely get that -- that's a lot of why we're here. Small Diocesan Parish where ~75% of Parishioners receive on the tongue and the 70's-era wreckovations have been un-done... and a few miles from an SSPX Latin Mass Church as well. Bought our place for $33k... there are FOUR other houses in our village for less than $50k...
Anyway, God bless you and your family on your journey!
Having lived for 18 years on the south side of St Louis City, and raised/are raising 9 progeny, we have found ourselves to be easily within walking or biking distance of all needed amenities or services.
The public transit is a bit sketchy but does provide access to farther flung localities and even extends across the state line into Illinois!
We grow much of our own food, have personally been acquainted with the likely to be next elected mayor, and are well aquinted with a plethora of people in our immediate and surrounding areas.
Really, this "city" (there are some taller structures downtown) is like unto multiple villages closely placed with many green spaces (parks.)
The largest urban park in the US is in St Louis City limits.
Of course, all that is resulting in re-evaluations of property worth and hikes in taxes plus many outsiders moving in to take advantage of less expensive real-estate.
Oh, there's a great community of business incubation/innovation as well as variety of eating possibilities.
Funny that you mention Madawaska, ME. I knew the town and the area many years ago, courtesy of Uncle Sam. What you write is true: if you're in the "downtown" of towns like Madawaska, Limestone, Caribou, even Grand Falls, NB, you do have a "walkable, 15-minute city" (at least until winter comes along, and maybe even then).
Is it for everyone? no, it's not. Yet one shouldn't automatically say, "Ewww, the boondocks?!" Especially in Anno Dominai 2025. "Laptop jobs" allow one to at least try the life there and see if it fits.
Especially when Madawaska is awesome. My wife and I passed through after our honeymoon last summer, and we both agreed — if ever we do actually leave NYS, if we were to live anywhere else in the US, Madawaska would be at the tippy top of our list. Everyone was so friendly, housing is affordable, and the climate is ideal by our standards.
Truly a fantastic place to visit and to live by all I can tell — nothing to be scoffed at!
And right across the river from Edmundston NB! We used to go up there to get the better (at the time) Canadian beer duty-free. Load up the vehicle with 5 of us and come back with 10 cases. Guys that smoked also appreciated the duty-free sticks.
If I were there today, I'd seriously consider living there, or at least in the northern part of the County.
In my Life 3.0, I'm finding my semi-rural WNY Town suits my needs quite well. 2 supermarkets, a good pharmacy (there are 3), hardware store, Tractor Supply, adequate medical facilities, gas stations, mercantile establishments, produce vendors, etc. All within a 15 minute drive. Why travel further and in traffic to accomplish the tasks of daily living if not required?
Community building will be quite important for future survival, so why not do it and enjoy the process?