[URBAN NOTE] Noel Maurer on South Boston, Virginia

[rfmcdonald]

At the Power and the Money, Noel Maurer describes his encounter, with a friend, with the Virginia town of South Boston.

The closed road meant we had to turn off Route 360. The detour took us through Scottsburg, which seemed less a town and more a random collection of rather dispersed but also rather nice houses. No people were out and about, unsurprisingly. We turned down another road, navigating our way around felled branches and trees, when we saw the only sign of the election thus far this trip:

We got back on Route 360, which took us to our destination: South Boston, Virginia. How could we not stop in Southie? Well, South Boston turns out to be a surprisingly pleasant town. In fact, it seemed almost near perfect for a small town.

I say surprisingly, because most of the small towns that I have visited in further south, in Alabama and Georgia, have been dumps. They might have been cute once, but the automobile sucked the life out of their centers, quite literally demolishing many of the buildings to make way for parking. In some the outskirts are relatively prosperous, if generic sprawl; but in many the outskirts are also suffering. The strip malls are often filled with a collection of check-cashing places and consignment stores, interspersed with churches and (in South Carolina) adult stores. They are, in general, sobering places to visit.

South Boston is not one of these towns. There's more, including photos.