Decline of Small Town Life
“I’ll probably be one of the next ones to go,” says Lee Goldthwaite, 79, the caretaker of the Sheffield Township cemetery, as he walks through the tombstones.
Sheffield, the small Warren County town that sits along the edge of the Allegheny National Forest, shares a similar story to other rural Pennsylvania towns as the number of deaths outpace births and population loss accelerates. The town, which once was a hub for timber had the largest sawmill east of the Mississippi River, has lost nearly a quarter of the population it had 20 years ago. Many expect the decline of small-town life to be a topic in this presidential election.
Along Main Street, few businesses remain. The local bank and liquor store have closed, the town’s daycare shuttered as the number of children dwindled to the single digits. The local ambulance service was discontinued, and the town’s beloved Johnny Appleseed Festival doesn’t have enough volunteers or money to continue this year. When asked if the town has a doctor, Goldthwaite points through the cemetery. “The last doctor we had is buried right up the hill,” he says. While he sees the town’s decline firsthand, Goldthwaite isn’t ready to give up, “we’re gonna make it work,” he says.
Published in @washingtonpost.
