I was surprised at how much development has occurred on and around Red Rock mountain.
On route 118 between Dallas and Red Rock, where there used to be nothing, there are now little restaurants, fair-sized businesses, clusters of houses, and even a few mini-mansions tucked in here and there. As little as three years ago, you'd have to drive 10 or 15 miles, to Benton or Dushore, to find a place for breakfast. Now there are several restaurants just a bit down the road. Amazing. There were even a few spots where a cell phone could be coaxed to work.
Not much has changed on top of the mountain on route 487 between Ricketts Glen and Dushore. In fact, what's amazing on that stretch is how little has changed, even after 40 years.
But I would not have recognized Dushore at all! Ten years ago it looked pretty much the same as ever - one grungy little 2-story hunter's hotel, buildings that were in desperate need of paint, one grocery store that anywhere else would be called a deli, a few family businesses, no buildings less than 50 years old. Now, it looks like the population has doubled. The whole 3 blocks of the main street is transformed! New bank buildings. Big new stores with national chain names on them! Even a little strip mall or two. If it weren't for the tiny old Sullivan Review building still hanging on in the middle, I would never have recognized it as Dushore.
I was even more confused, because I distinctly remember ice skating parties on the creek in the center of town. The creek was at least 50 feet wide, with a wide grassy area sloping down to it. The boys would burn a tire on the ice in the middle for warmth, and we'd skate all around it. The main street crossed on a bridge just above our party. On a street alongside the creek, there was a small store where we could get sodas and cookies. However, the creek passing through Dushore was less than 8 feet wide, with steep banks, and didn't pass under the main street. Maybe we had the skating parties in LaPorte? I'm very confused.
Late Saturday afternoon, we drove through Jamison City and Central (each village has maybe 20 houses, one bar/restaurant/hunter hotel, and a tiny store). Both villages looked like they'd had a major makeover, and the bar/restaurants looked prosperous, newly painted, packed with people.
On Sunday I drove through Benton. Something wonderful has happened to Benton - it's pretty! The last time I passed through in daylight was when daughter was in college, in the mid-90s. I wandered through Bloomsburg and Benton on my way back from a visit to Penn State. The town of Bloomsburg hadn't changed much then, but my old alma mater (Once Bloomsburg State College, now Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania or something like that) was almost unrecognizable.
Benton was downright depressing back then. The main street was lined with boarded up shops, falling-down porches, and peeling paint. Sad. Now, it looks like someone donated thousands of gallons of paint, and hanging baskets of flowers. There are big new buildings and businesses in the middle of town. Even the side streets look all beloved village spiffy! It really looks like a nice place to live. It looks happy!
When I lived on the mountain, in the early '60s, it was the kind of economy where people lived by doing for each other. Fathers of my friends were variously hunting guides, lumberjacks, highway crewmen, storekeepers, bootleggers, farmers. The county was poor, so "welfare" mostly consisted of year-round hunting licenses. You mostly bought from and sold to your neighbors, so the same dollar bills circulated until they fell apart. Barter and tax-avoidance were rampant.
Benton was similar, except that it was close enough to Bloomsburg that there was a bit more choice of salaried jobs, up the road a bit.
I wonder what happened? Everything in Dushore, Jamison City, Central, and Benton looks so much more prosperous and happy. Where did all the new people come from, and why did they go there? There's obviously more disposable income floating around. Where did it come from? What is supporting all this activity?
Gee - if there was a better medical center available, I'd consider moving back to Benton. I'd buy one of those old white Victorians with a mohogany circular staircase in the foyer and a porch with a cupola and wicker settees, and really retire.
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