Looking at Small-towns in North-central Florida

Looking at Small-towns in North-central Florida

By MIKE WALKER

On a crisp and cool January afternoon I was standing in front of an antique store window in Micanopy taking a look over a vast array of glassware for sale inside. Some of the offerings were 

Mike Walker

fancy vases and crystal wine glasses which probably could fetch high prices, while other items were just old soda and milk bottles that I found hard to imagine as having much value, even as antiques. The overall effect though was one of a sincere if folksy snapshot of rural life, a collection of things that had spent their early days in someone's home-in someone's life-whether on the formal dining table perhaps for Thanksgiving dinner or on the back porch table between the old washer and a sleeping cat. In any case, it reminded me of what makes Micanopy and a lot of small towns in the region special: there is found in such places a sense of history but also of the everyday-of the unadorned depths of how we live. Micanopy, a hamlet in southern Alachua County, has long been known for its antique stores and its timeless beauty and sense of history. True to this picture of Micanopy, much of the older vernacular architecture of the town has been retained. Micanopy has also, due to its small size, always been the sort of place where families know each other and there are various quirks that make the town just a little bit more special. In example, I remember when I was in high school going to Micanopy and finding a handmade wooden rack for local kids to store their skateboards on while at the ice cream parlor.

Due to its scenic landscape, tight-knit community and location near enough to the University of 

Micanopy shop

Florida campus in Gainesville, Micanopy has been a place where a lot of faculty and staff families of the university have chosen to live. Perhaps most well-known of these were the late Dr. Archie Carr and his wife, Marjorie Harris Carr who lived on their farm, Wewa Pond, near Micanopy. Carr's repute as a founding figure in Floridian ecology and biological studies is so great that an academic building at the University of Florida is even named in his honor. In fact, Carr Hall is located next to Bartram Hall, which is named for William Bartram, the pioneering naturalist whose travels took him near Micanopy in 1774. (In his writings, Bartram described the area around Payne's Prairie with wonder: in example, alligators he compared to the fire-breathing dragons of European legends.) This situation for Micanopy has lead to two distinct aspects of the town: for one, it seems a bit more liberal than most rural communities in north-central Florida, and for another, its economy is more based in jobs in nearby Gainesville and to an extent in tourism than most small towns in the area. This wellspring of social and economic agency positions Micanopy more as a subset of Gainesville in some ways than as an outlying town.

In thinking about all this, I started to think about the contemporary situation of small towns in Alachua County and further afield in our region. There are other towns like Micanopy: towns that have a long history but have come into their current economy via providing attractive alternatives to living in larger cities where a lot of people are employed. Taylor, in Baker County, is another example of such a town: while fairly remote in location, Taylor provides the natural beauty of northern Florida and much lower prices on land and homes than Duval County, attracting a number of families who work in Jacksonville but don't mind the commute for the economic advantages and rustic appeal of the area. In contrast to a Micanopy or a Taylor, you have towns such as Newberry in Alachua County or Glen St. Mary in Baker County that also serve to an extent as bedroom communities for larger cities but have a larger basis of employment predicated 

Williston

on local industries and businesses. With both the towns above and many others in north-central Florida, agriculture has played a crucial role in the economy and very much still does today. If you drive out to Cross City, Bell, Old Town, La Crosse, Perry . . . most any rural town in the region in any direction, you will encounter an admixture of economy based on agriculture, timber products, and the businesses which support these industries and the people who are employed by the same. Phosphate and other mining concerns are also important to the economy and the naval stores industry-turpentine products-has been historically very important in areas such as Hamilton County, also.

More recently, the twin forces of tourism-especially ecotourism-and light industry have had a strong effect on small towns: in the city of Alachua, industry related to technology and connections with research at the University of Florida has been a powerful player in the economy while in nearby High Springs, ecotourism germane to the area's springs is a viable force. A diversity of economic bases is ideal for smaller cities and towns just as it is for larger ones, but this is a situation which has not been addressed as much in the towns of northern Florida as it probably should be, and development of new sources of jobs in some areas has been slow. In example, the decline in the overall economy currently has caused an expected decline in building construction which in turn has caused a decline in the immediate need for timber products. For counties such as Dixie, Lafayette, and Taylor counties, timber products have long been a key mainstay of the local economy and such a decrease in need could markedly affect these counties. The best defense against a situation where a trend in one industry affects the economy of an entire town or area is to have a diverse enough economic base to ensure that the area does not rely on a single, major, economic force. The tricky thing, of course, is exactly how such may become manifest.

What can we learn from towns that seem to have a diversity in their economic base and towns, moreover, such as Micanopy where the economy seems healthy? First, nothing is certain: with the recent budget cuts at the University of Florida, hard times may come to those who directly or indirectly rely on the university. This could include many in Micanopy, just as much as those who live in Gainesville. However, the presence of a panoply of types of jobs-those that require different levels of education and different types of backgrounds-is key, as is the diversity of industry providing such jobs. If, in example, you have a dual-income family where one spouse is a plumber and another is a teacher, the diversity of their careers should better ensure security than having two people employed in the same industry or certainly the same company. This may seem like common sense but with UF, it's surprising how many families exist where both spouses are employed by the university. Another key factor is that location is not always as important as other attributes: Taylor is a perfect example of this, as the town is fairly remote from Jacksonville but the economic and intangible benefits are great enough to encourage people to take a decently long commute to work.

Beyond these circumstances, I have isolated a list of aspects that small towns can improve upon to increase their economic outlook and also their overall sociocultural quality of life:

-North-central Florida is rich in historic architecture and a strong blend of the natural and man-made landscape: by encouraging the preservation of architecture, especially vernacular architecture (buildings designed in traditional building styles most often without the input of professional architects) the overall feeling of a town and its history may be retained. The economic benefits of such physical culture are intangible as the beauty and sense of history they offer are a draw to both prospective residents and tourists. High Springs and Micanopy are both great examples of towns where the preservation and adaptive reuse of extant historic buildings has been a boon to the overall quality of life.

-Continuing the above, strong relationships between town and county governments, non-profit groups, and individuals are key to encouraging a climate that promotes all aspects of a town that favor it as a community. In example, in Alachua County library services are extant in Micanopy, Newberry, and other towns in that county. Libraries not only provide books and related services for these towns' populations but can be great points of contact for historical research and promoting these towns, a mission best accomplished in tandem with broader efforts to promote the county.

-The sociocultural basis of communities is important and is in many ways changing in its diversity. In example, while in Williston in Levy County recently, I noticed that downtown there was a storefront Hispanic church and a latin grocery, indicative of a strong Hispanic population. Driving through rural parts of Georgia and South Carolina I have noticed the same trend in small towns with agriculture-based economies. A latin grocery was, in this part of Florida ten years ago, something you would find in a larger city like Gainesville or certainly Orlando, but now the Hispanic presence in smaller communities is great enough to allow such stores to thrive there.

-For agriculture, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida (IFAS) has long been a key resource for smaller locales in terms of research and education. IFAS has satellite research stations and extension agents throughout the state plus its headquarters in Gainesville on the UF campus-the diversity and scope of IFAS's resources are staggering in their depth. Many individuals, corporations, and communities with vested interests in agriculture benefit from IFAS, but I foresee an even broader role for it in rural development should there be funding to encourage such a role. Currently, IFAS was the worst-hit unit of UF in the recent budget cuts and I find this a shame given the mission of IFAS and its impact not only in student education but in so many other aspects of agriculture in Florida. Community leaders not already established with IFAS and other university and state-level institutes which may be helpful in their communities should make such connections and maintain them.

-Likewise, even in times of funding shortages across all the various levels of government, grants and loans exist for improving rural communities and the local leaders of such communities need to investigate and fully take advantage of such offerings. Historic properties and historic districts may qualify for various tax breaks or loans, grants may exist to improve upon downtown districts or things like education and youth programs; there are many situations for partnership with larger governmental entities. The cost for the operation of the physical plant of small towns-utilities, roads, even signs and the like-plus services such as police and fire departments are often higher than most people would imagine. In meeting these needs with tax income, towns are often at a loss to finance other services leaving things like youth programs underfunded, yet such programs are so essential to the overall quality of life.

-The point above brings us to the need for a focus on youth in small towns. Without malls, with smaller schools offering less in the way of clubs and often athletics, rural youth often lack quality activities to become involved in and of course, they say that idle hands are the devil's playground. Moreover, often youth who are uninterested in traditional sports such as baseball and football (which are often most popular in rural locales) find themselves without activities that interest them; things like BMX and skateboard parks are thus a great addition to communities as they encourage young people to have other alternatives for recreation. The BMX track in High Springs is a prime example of this: a friend from High Springs told me that while the track has become very popular with local kids, it was something of a chore to get it built in the first place. Apparently, some in the community felt that noise would be an issue and according to my friend, others believed for some reason that BMX was an unwholesome activity and some churches even were against it. Personally, I am biased having ridden BMX myself as a kid and being someone who is still involved in skateboarding now, but in any case, I feel that adults need to look beyond their own preconceptions and actually learn about the quality of a sport such as skateboarding or BMX before opposing it. Kids need to be provided with the positive options for recreation that appeal to them, not just what adults imagine to be best based on their own childhood experiences.

-Another factor facing youth directly and the economy of small towns more indirectly is the quality of rural schools-especially high schools. Many rural high schools do not offer, and cannot offer, the selection of Advanced Placement courses that their big-city counterparts provide and this is a disadvantage to college-bound students. Schools face a couple unique obstacles in this regard: for one, if the majority of students are not interested in top-flight university education it may make more sense to invest resources elsewhere and second, the funding may simply not be available in the first place. Still, mechanisms need to be created to allow for students from rural schools to be competitive with students from Florida's vast urban areas in the south. Otherwise, not only will individual students suffer but families who have aspirations for a high-level of education for their kids will be less apt to move into these towns.

These are all things that small towns need to be thinking about and I know I am not the first to consider them and many leaders in rural towns are already addressing these issues and others. I simply feel it's important, no: essential, for all of us who live in small towns and value them to think about the economic and social forces at play in our communities and how to constantly strive to improve our environment. We do not want to face the problems of drugs, crime, and sprawling growth which many of us left larger cities to avoid but we don't want to have communities that deal with endless poverty and trouble attracting jobs, either. Nor do we want to attract jobs based in industries that are poor stewards of the natural environment, knowing that the beauty of rural Florida is a large part of its attraction in the first place. We value our communities and we intend on not only keeping them strong, but improving them for the future.

 

MIKE WALKER is a Gainesville, Florida, writer and journalist. He is also an avid mountain biker and skateboarder. His journalism mainly concerns ecology, the outdoors, and sports. Mike may be reached at:  cloudrace@pron