Mount Gilead Rd Southwest, Southwest

Though there are no mountains here, there are certainly rolling hills in the older, suburban homestead called Mt. Gilead. If you look closely, you can see from its 1960-70’s ranch style and split level homes peek through worn siding, peeling paint, and cracked cement driveways. You can see that from the architecture, and the quality of the open floor plans were way ahead of their time. Gigantic front yards, towering pine trees, frolicking squirrels and cheerfully chirping birds, generously wide streets, and low crime – nonetheless create one very charming place. Any notable deterioration can certainly be fixed with a can of paint!

Mt. Gilead has seen a lot of family history – two and three generations of families have lived and still live there. Don’t get me wrong. This is not a bad thing. The neighborhood has remained immensely stable; everyone seems to know one another with revealing recollections of stories told and retold from the generation preceding. I know people that were born there; and inevitably others who have also died there.

Younger families are now attracted by its location. Fairburn and Cascade Roads, Greenbirar Mall, public schools, and every key interstate worth mentioning is nearby, too. Last week, while driving through the Mt. Gilead, I noticed that the cycle continues: some new family was moving into a home.

The cycle continues...