Demographics

51°f/10.5°C, supposed to be a very warm day. 

The Hartley cabin, no longer occupied, was the old Simon's homeplace. Photo taken about 10 years ago.

The other night while I was trying to go to sleep, I got to thinking about the demographics of our road. I call "our road" the lasso-shaped loop the comprises Joe's Run from where it joins Mill Creek, to where the road splits into the left and right fork of Joe's Run, and then the 2-mile stretch of our ridge road (called Railey Ridge) that runs between where each fork ends on our ridge. The whole road as I have described it measures about 11 miles.

Forks of Joe's Run 

So, on our road I counted 46 homes, with 92 occupants, or 2 people per house. This surprised me until I realized how many homes have single occupants---10 of them, at a rough count. Only one of these is a woman. Some have never married, others are divorced or widowed. There are less than 20 children. When my boys were young, there were at least 30 kids, 12 of them on this ridge.

All of the generation above me, except 2, have died. Homes and land rarely come up for sale here, as property is passed to children, and land is often split up, with new houses popping up and descendants moving in. Most of these new houses are modular construction. 

There are still some farmers, not as many as there were, I think; farming here is very small scale, and all are cattle farms. Education levels are higher than the state average--there are 3 of us with Masters degrees, 3 are medical professionals, and there are three or 4 teachers, a veterinary technician. Two girls who were raised on our road but now live elsewhere are veterinarians. One man is an architect. 

Many of the men are skilled workers--electricians, millwright, Larry was a bricklayer, and several are auto mechanics or body work specialists. One drives a school bus and has a side business in taxidermy. Five are self-employed with small businesses, one of which is a thriving auto body shop that employs a dozen people, mostly family members. One is a county tax assessor. About a dozen are retired; two are disabled, one of those a disabled vet.

In the 50 years I have lived here, I have seen the shift away from farms and especially away from home gardens. Only 7 of us have any kind of garden, and only 2 with gardens of any size at all. Very few put up food, although they may freeze beef or venison. Religion is still a big part of life for most, although attendance at the little church on this ridge is less than half of what it was. People prefer the bigger churches out on the highway.

I have also noticed a shift away from college education. At one time, there were 7 women on our road attending college. All were married and had families. Right now I can't think of a single person attending a school beyond high school. That could simply be due to the ages of our current residents, either too young or already established in a career or job.

Every person on our road is white, and as far as I know it has always been so. I think the only ones to join the military were 4 of my sons, although of course most of the men of my generation were drafted back when that was done. No women vets I know of. One man who moved here from elsewhere is a disabled vet, and another couple, also from elsewhere, are retired veterans. These families, and maybe a dozen other people, are the only ones not raised on this road.

I wonder how these demographics measure up against other communities. Are we average? I don't know, but it was interesting to think about during a sleepless night.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.