Really enjoyed this (as well as your original, very amusing essay). I took up a similar theme last week, looking at the tension between locals and tourists, and how historic preservation contributes to it.
Enchantment with the place you live - that reminds me of the joy I have in learning the history of my family and the current place I live. In this suburb of about 20,000, someone started a podcast about the town's history, which was a small farm town in the 1850s. My favorite bits so far have been the story of how the road I live on got this awkward wiggle about a quarter mile from me - turns out a farmer, by the name of Mr. Cleveland, held up the construction of the road for eight years because he wanted to protect the natural beauty of the lake that the road would have run through. Eventually, the county agreed with Mr. Cleveland to route the road closer to the edge of his property. Now that wiggle (in my mind) is "Cleveland's Bump." It's not where I live exactly - perhaps history is a lot like tourism - but it reminds me that what is mundane today is enchanting later, and it makes it enchanting just a little bit right now.
Really enjoyed this (as well as your original, very amusing essay). I took up a similar theme last week, looking at the tension between locals and tourists, and how historic preservation contributes to it.
https://www.ryanpuzycki.com/p/who-are-cities-for
Addison: is the link to Annemarie’s earlier piece correct? (Doesn’t seem so). Please check.
Yes it is
Enchantment with the place you live - that reminds me of the joy I have in learning the history of my family and the current place I live. In this suburb of about 20,000, someone started a podcast about the town's history, which was a small farm town in the 1850s. My favorite bits so far have been the story of how the road I live on got this awkward wiggle about a quarter mile from me - turns out a farmer, by the name of Mr. Cleveland, held up the construction of the road for eight years because he wanted to protect the natural beauty of the lake that the road would have run through. Eventually, the county agreed with Mr. Cleveland to route the road closer to the edge of his property. Now that wiggle (in my mind) is "Cleveland's Bump." It's not where I live exactly - perhaps history is a lot like tourism - but it reminds me that what is mundane today is enchanting later, and it makes it enchanting just a little bit right now.