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The spectrum

When I visited those towns in the Shenandoah Valley, I knew I’d need to make more trips – they only represent the rosy side of small town America. On my way to Pennsylvania today, my heart is delighted with gentle hills that are imbued with colors: while the corn stems begin to dry out, soybean fields are turning yellow, and goldenrods are still bright. In York, however, I am appalled by its level of decline: the historical town does not evoke a feeling of history; it’s just aged badly. Four gunshots coming from a traffic intersection in downtown seal a somber experience at the end of the day.

I also visited Frederick and Gettysburg and drove past Abbottstown on the way to York, and saw different spectral colors in these towns.

Frederick MD

In Frederick I find a town for everyone: an evangelist of faith, a hippie with bright blue hair, an entrepreneur, or a professional working for the federal government. The town feels like an intelligent man with wild experiences and somehow organically in harmony.
Not all are bright in Frederick, but there is unmistakably a hopeful vibe as shown by these paintings in the art gallery DISTRICT Arts.

Gettysburg PA

Lincoln is everywhere in the town of Gettysburg; thus one does not need to visit a battlefield to feel history here. But tourism can only sustain a town’s economy to some extent: while the center of the town looks nice, decay is visible just two or three blocks away where you begin to spot houses that are unoccupied or not well maintained.
Lovely wooden awls and African metal work in Gettysburg’s craft stores. In an art gallery I also find a large collection of paintings dedicated to American Indians, and some celebrate the camaraderie between native Americans and colonists.

Abbottstown PA

Abbottstown might be realistically pronounced as “abandoned” town; the goddesses seem to have long been forgotten.

York PA

I found very few bright spots in downtown York. It felt a bit uneasy walking there. Since I quickly fled after hearing gunshots in downtown, I didn’t get to photograph its residential neighborhoods. As I drove through the city, it looked even worse outside downtown: those rundown houses along its major streets were nothing but depressing.

According to the 2010 census, the median income for a household in the city was $26,475, and the per capita income was $13,439. About 23.8% of the population were living below the poverty line. In 2017, York had a population of 44.1k people with a median household income of $29,834 and a poverty rate of 35.8%. (data source: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/york-pa/ )

It might be OK to allow towns like Abbottstown with a small population of 1,000 to disappear, and could even be a strategy to help people there migrate out. But it’s impossible for a city like York, which once ranked among the nation’s top 100 most populous urban areas in the 19th century and is home to about half a million people today, to vanish. It needs serious thinking and real efforts more than tinkering. (On the bottom right: a metal sculpture titled “The Tinker”)
Placing them on the map, we see how geography matters. I have no doubt that Frederick has benefited from its location near Washington DC, and I know some of its residents are employed in the DC metro area.

According to the 2010 census, the median annual income for a household in the city of Frederick was $64,833, and the per capita income was $31,123. Approximately 7.7% of the population ( 65,239) were living below the poverty line. In 2017, Frederick had a population of 69.3k people with a median household income of $67,828, and the poverty rate was 11.4%. ( data source: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/frederick-md/ )

It seems to me that how friendly a town’s residents are toward strangers can best tell the town’s renewal efforts and predict its position on the hope-despair gradient. In Frederick (and Staunton), I got warm greetings from many on the streets, and some tried to offer help without me asking.