Years and years ago I worked as a community organizer in Atlanta, trying to help the little neighborhood of Mechanicsburg fight the city that wanted to tear apart this historic Black part of the city. Among the little houses that lined the shady streets were vacant lots and in the vacant lots were the plants you write about in this beautiful essay. From the residents I learned their medicinal uses that you celebrate. Eventually they, like the houses, were lost. My heart broke again after reading your story and I'm grateful to you for that.
I didn't know you had worked in Mechanicsburg! I hear it was a very special place, and the story is very sad (though also sadly familiar). Your comment has touched me so deeply, thank you so much Pat <3
You should see Brooklyn! WE moved here about 40 years ago when the skyline was still mainly church steeples and the neighborhood we moved into was a mix of old resident and immigrants and you could still find a very cheap apartment in one of the old houses. Many of the churches have become bases for tall apt buildings. And the food culture embedded in these neighborhoods were deeply rooted to even think about destroying them. Old neighborhoods are expensive and the people who once called them their own have been pushed out to the edges of the city and developers are eyeing those. So far our neighborhood has remained a catchall for new immigrants and old guard remains but we're all holding our breath and fighting development. I hear Detroit is a model for sustainable preservation and renewal. Maybe that's a good move there.
I can only imagine the amount of change there in 40 years! My first Brooklyn experience was staying in a BedStuy rooming house in 2009, and it's unrecognizable even just a handful of years later.
I do hope all of our cities embrace sustainable preservation and renewal. I just started on our Tree Conservation Commission here, so hopefully can be a helpful presence for some of it!
Oh, your story did the same for me. The neighborhood really was incredible and the people I worked with left an indelible mark and populate so many stories I've written. It's no longer there? Considering it's history as being settled by former slaves right after the Civil War, you'd think some government people with sense and guts would have fought for it. Totally breaks my heart
You would hope so. I worry about my home (Historic South Atlanta, also with its own important history) also losing many of its original residents and their homes. Mechanicsville is still listed as a neighborhood, but the area around Turner Field has changed dramatically and there are expensive apartments popping up in many places. I'm not sure how it looks block by block in Mechanicsville at this point, but next door in Summerhill whole blocks have been replaced with luxury townhomes. Agreed, it would be great if we could hold progress and preservation in the same hand: It is possible, just not something Atlanta seems to do well.
That's so terrific! I've read about it and it seems like such a great initiative and agent of change.
Yes, we're very lucky to have it!
Years and years ago I worked as a community organizer in Atlanta, trying to help the little neighborhood of Mechanicsburg fight the city that wanted to tear apart this historic Black part of the city. Among the little houses that lined the shady streets were vacant lots and in the vacant lots were the plants you write about in this beautiful essay. From the residents I learned their medicinal uses that you celebrate. Eventually they, like the houses, were lost. My heart broke again after reading your story and I'm grateful to you for that.
I didn't know you had worked in Mechanicsburg! I hear it was a very special place, and the story is very sad (though also sadly familiar). Your comment has touched me so deeply, thank you so much Pat <3
You should see Brooklyn! WE moved here about 40 years ago when the skyline was still mainly church steeples and the neighborhood we moved into was a mix of old resident and immigrants and you could still find a very cheap apartment in one of the old houses. Many of the churches have become bases for tall apt buildings. And the food culture embedded in these neighborhoods were deeply rooted to even think about destroying them. Old neighborhoods are expensive and the people who once called them their own have been pushed out to the edges of the city and developers are eyeing those. So far our neighborhood has remained a catchall for new immigrants and old guard remains but we're all holding our breath and fighting development. I hear Detroit is a model for sustainable preservation and renewal. Maybe that's a good move there.
I can only imagine the amount of change there in 40 years! My first Brooklyn experience was staying in a BedStuy rooming house in 2009, and it's unrecognizable even just a handful of years later.
I do hope all of our cities embrace sustainable preservation and renewal. I just started on our Tree Conservation Commission here, so hopefully can be a helpful presence for some of it!
Oh, your story did the same for me. The neighborhood really was incredible and the people I worked with left an indelible mark and populate so many stories I've written. It's no longer there? Considering it's history as being settled by former slaves right after the Civil War, you'd think some government people with sense and guts would have fought for it. Totally breaks my heart
You would hope so. I worry about my home (Historic South Atlanta, also with its own important history) also losing many of its original residents and their homes. Mechanicsville is still listed as a neighborhood, but the area around Turner Field has changed dramatically and there are expensive apartments popping up in many places. I'm not sure how it looks block by block in Mechanicsville at this point, but next door in Summerhill whole blocks have been replaced with luxury townhomes. Agreed, it would be great if we could hold progress and preservation in the same hand: It is possible, just not something Atlanta seems to do well.