2004 Student Essay Winners First Place Winner Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation Student Essay Contest, 2004 Economic Growth in Bedford County By Amanda Albach, AP Government Staunton River High School April 8, 2004 Imagine living in the outskirts of a big city for the first few years of your life, five minutes away from the beach, and a grocery store within a one-mile radius. Yet with all those materialistic luxuries there were downfalls. Break-ins and robberies started to consume our suburb, not to mention the highly polluted air we breathed in with each breath. Our suburb would become our past when my dad searched through the morning paper one Sunday, and found in the classifieds, a little farm for sale located in a small town in Virginia. We packed up our things and prepared ourselves for our new life in Bedford County, Virginia. When we moved here, it was a culture shock to say the least. Farmland, tractors, and cows took the places of suburbs, BMWs, and small pets. In 1991, the year we made Bedford County our home, it seemed to us that this small town was behind in modern day life. The town seemed like a huge family, and at first we felt like outsiders. Everyone knew everyone; they were either related or grew up together as small children. The adjustment was definitely a difficult one, but we soon came to love and become a part of the “local family.” Development in this small town has grown between 1991 and present day Bedford County. Woods and farmland that were here when we first moved are now cleared out for houses and roads. Century old barns there were so necessary to the history of the town have now been knocked down for various developments along the way. Sure, everyone loves modern day lifestyles and easy access for everyday materials, but isn’t that what my family moved away from? Is Bedford County straying away from the family-friendly town that it used to be to catch up with modern day technology? People in this town love the close knit feel it brings to the plate, but with each new development that goes up, the closer we get to that suburban way of life. Not every town in America has to be modern. We still need those rolling hills, farmland, and historic barns that make up our beautiful town. People move here for a reason, to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Bedford County is a placed to relax and enjoy life as it comes. We don’t want to have to worry about robberies and break-ins. We want to extend the farmland and preserve the family-like community that Bedford County has to offer. Some land was made to look at, and Bedford County was one of them. Second Place Winner Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation Student Essay Contest, 2004 Economic Growth in Bedford County By Liz Baker, AP Government Staunton River High School April 8, 2004 When America was first discovered this area was populated by trees, wild animals, and fertile soil. As time went on the first settlers turned that fertile soil into farmland. In Bedford County those farms remained until Smith Mountain Lake was created. Now the area is becoming more populated, and the farms are shrinking in number. People are moving in more and more to enjoy beautiful summers on the lake. There is scarcely any land left on the shores, and what is left is very expensive. Bedford County is a developer’s dream. They are making a mint on buying up farmland, and turning it into rows of little houses that are carbon copies of one another. The fresh green land is disappearing. Houses are springing up in a matter of weeks. Before long everything is going to look the same. The land behind my home went from being pasture land to being a hay field. Now it is slowly being sold off in parcels, neat little packages, that represent suburban America. If this continues Bedford will no longer be considered country. It will be heavily populated, and lose some of its appeal. The whole reason people are moving here is to be a part of the beauty of the lake, and its surrounding areas. If this growth is not slowed down we may be richer in pocket, but poorer in heart. Then all those people who moved here for the beauty will be left wondering where it all went. It was sold to the highest bidder. Even the Blue Ridge Parkway is feeling the effects of economic development. As more jobs fluctuate in this region even the, until now protected, beauty of the Blue Ridge has been touched. You cannot drive on the parkway anymore without at least once seeing some new development or business not far from the roadside. What ever happened to protecting the wild beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains? Economic growth is good for the pocket, but not necessarily good for the land. As more businesses enter the areas so do more people looking for work. And, with those people come new developments. Before long you will see nothing but small yards, look-alike cottages, and buildings of other various assortments. For people who love the open space, cows, and farmland this may be a sad future. Yet that future is so far away that we do not have to worry, because what we do now never effects what happens in the future. Right?