My Home town
My home town is Hickory, North Carolina. Hickory is located approximately 2.5 hours west of Chapel Hill. It lies on the border between the Piedmont region of NC and the mountains. The town has a population of around 40,000. It used to be one of the major furniture manufacturing centers of the United States- possibly even the world. In recent years, the industry has slowed down and has moved to other locations such as China. Hickory's economy has suffered a fair amount because of these developments.
Downtown Hickory:
Hickory's history is not especially interesting. I believe that Hickory was first founded/settled in 1790 as a trading center for travelers in Western NC. Since then, it has continued to grow fairly steadily thanks to industry, and immigrant migration from places such as Vietnam, Mexico, Eastern Europe, . One event from its past which brought the town to national attention was the so-called "Miracle of Hickory" that occurred during 1994. I've cribbed a paragraph on it directly from Wikipedia:
"Hickory was known in the years after World War II for the "Miracle of Hickory." In 1944 the area around Hickory (the Catawba Valley) became the center of one of the worst outbreaks of polio ever recorded. Residents who were then children recall summers of not being allowed to play outside or visit friends for fear of contracting the disease. Since local facilities were inadequate to treat the victims, the citizens of Hickory and the March of Dimes decided to build a hospital to care for the children of the region. From the time the decision was made until equipment, doctors, and patients were in a new facility, took less than 54 hours. Several more buildings were quickly added. A Red Cross official on the scene praised the project "as the most outstanding example of cooperative effort he has ever seen." (Hickory Daily Record, June 30, 1944)."
Hickory has two famous residents: NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett (whom I lived next door to for many years), and comedian Jon Reep. The city takes great pride in Dale Jarrett, and not just because of his fame on the race track. He is an outstanding person who has donated a great deal of time and money to bettering the community through various charities and service projects. The Hickorian attitude towards Mr. Reep may not be as favorable. After all, his comedy routines consist almost entirely of jokes about Hickory and its residents. If you've seen Jon on Last Comic Standing, Premium Blend, or any other stand-up show, there's a very good chance you heard more than a few cracks at my home town.
Local hero, and local yokel: Dale Jarrett and Jon Reep
What do people do in Hickory? That's a good question. We have a fairly active downtown which is home to a number of bars, coffeehouses, and locally-owned craft stores. Hickory is a restaurant mecca as well, and new places to eat seem to be opening up on a weekly basis. The SALT block (Sciences, Art, Literature Together) which is home to our local art/science museum as well as our beautiful public library is also quite a popular place to be. The modified car/street racing community seems to love Hickory, and every Friday and Saturday night you will find a wild variety of customized race vehicles speeding down 64/70, the main road travelling through the commercial district of town. Oktoberfest, our annual street fair, also draws big crowds.
Overall, Hickory is not a bad place to live. While it has nothing on Chapel Hill in terms of entertainment or educational opportunities, it is a pleasant place to grow up and raise a family. I always enjoy going back to visit, and maybe sometime in the future I will move back.