Landscape and Ambience on the urban fringe: From agricultural to imagined countryside

Environment and History

Volumn 15, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 413-439

  Goddard, Joseph ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Hobby farming; Horse equine industry; Suburbanisation; Urban rural fringe; Urbanisation; Viticulture

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE; HORSE; LAND USE CHANGE; LIVESTOCK FARMING; SUBURBANIZATION; VITICULTURE;

UNITED STATES;

EID: 77749329635     PISSN: 09673407     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3197/096734009X12532652871956     Document Type: Article

References (134)

1. Joel A.Tarr(2000) 'Urban History and Environmental History in the United States: Complementary and Overlapping Fields', in Historiography Series in Global Environmental History, H-Net. (http://www.h-net.org/~environ/ historiography/historiography.html)
2. See, for example, lifestyle magazines such as Country Living and Country Home, founded around 1980. These two magazines have over a million sales an issue, advertising revenues in the tens of millions, and with dedicated sections for capturing country style in the city.
3. The conceptual divide between nature and culture ultimately fuels a cognitive incompatibility which at least partly lies between the relative comprehension of urban fringe phenomena by cultural geographers and environmental historians. See Judith Gerber, 'Beyond Dualism - the Social Construction of Nature and the natural and Social Construction of Human Beings', Progress in Human Geography 21, 1 (1997): 1-17.
4. For more on hybrid socionatural landscapes, see Erik Swyngedouw 'Modernity and Hybridity: Nature Regeneracionismo, and the Production of Spanish Waterscape, 1890-1930', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 89, 3 (1999): 443-465
5. Amenity landscapes in a broader sense rely on differences in purchasing power between natives and incomers; made more extreme by a widening income gulf between winners and losers in an increasingly globalised economy and labour market. For more on the relationship between countryside, hybridity, and globalisation, see Michael Woods 'Engaging the Global Countryside: Globalization, Hybridity and the Reconstitution of Rural Place', Progress in Human Geography, 31, 4 (2007): 485-507. Woods sees countryside as being enacted upon, rather than an actor in its own right.
6. By functional, I mean beyond the administrative and even occasionally statistical limits to urban areas. These limits vary according to the specific urban area studies, the history of the urban area, the region in which the urban area is located, and the size of the area.
7. See Auguste Spectorsky, The Exurbanites (Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1955) ;
8. Albert LaFarge, The Essential William H. Whyte (New York: Fordham University Press, 2000);
9. Jean Gottmann, Megalopolis; The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States (New York: Twentieth Century Fund 1961);
10. John Herber, The New Heartland: America's Flight Beyond the Suburbs and How It Is Changing Our Future (New York: Times Books, 1986 [first published in 1978]);
11. Richard Louv, America II (New York: Tarcher, Inc., 1983);
12. Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (New York: Anchor Books, 1991);
13. Robert Lang and Jennifer LaFurgy, Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities (Washington, D.C: Brookings, 2007) ;
14. Arthur Nelson and Thomas Sanchez, 'Lassoing Exurban Sprawl', (pre-publication draft, 2002);
15. Arthur Nelson and Thomas Sanchez, 'Debunking the Exurban Myth: A Comparison of Suburban Households', Housing Policy Debate 19, 2 (1999): 689-709;
16. Arthur Nelson and Thomas Sanchez, 'Exurban and Suburban Households: A Departure from Traditional Location Theory?' Journal of Housing Research 8, (1997): 249-276.
17. Defined in general terms by scholars working at Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute and elsewhere, including Arthur Nelson and Thomas Sanchez.
18. 'Let's Look at Loudoun' - Loudoun County promotional brochure (1949).
19. 2006 U.S. Census estimates. See http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index. html
20. Anne Sorensen, Richard Greene and Karen Russ, 'Farming on the Edge', co-published by The American Farming Trust and The Centre for Agriculture and Environment, North Illinois University (1997).
21. Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberg and Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl, (New York: North Point Press, 2002);
22. James Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man Made Landscape (New York: Touchstone, 1993).
23. Joe Surkiewicz, 'Greener Pastures: When Suburb Meets Country, Conflicts Can Arise', Baltimore Sun, 29 Jan. 1995.
24. U.S. Agricultural Census figures are used throughout this paper except where otherwise stated. For Howard: Department of Commerce (1972) 1969 Census of Agriculture, Vol. l, Part 23 Maryland County Data;
25. U.S. Department of Agriculture (1999) 1997 Census of Agriculture, Vol.1, Part 20 Maryland State and County Data;
26. and 2002 Census of Agriculture website, http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/ (for 1997 and 2002 data).
27. For Loudoun: Department of Commerce (1972) 1969 Census of Agriculture, Vol.1, Part 24 Virginia, Section 2 County Data;
28. U.S. Department of Agriculture (1999) 1997 Census of Agriculture, Vol.1, Part 46, Virginia State and County Data;
29. and 2002 Census of Agriculture website, http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/ (for 1997 and 2002 Data).
30. For Niagara County: U.S. Department of Commerce (1972) 1969 Census of Agriculture, Part 7 New York, Section 2, County Data;
31. U.S. Department of Agriculture (1999) 1997 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, Part 32, New York State and County Data;
32. and 2002 Census of Agriculture website, http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/ (for 1997 and 2002 data).
33. Missy Zane, 'Farmettes: New Way of Life', Times, Ellicott City, 16 Nov. (1974)
34. Scott and Helen Nearing, Living the Good Life: Being a Plain Practical Account of a Twenty Year Project in a Self-Subsistent Homestead in Vermont, Together with Remarks on How to Live Sanely & Simply in a Troubled World, (Harborside, ME: Social Science Institute, 1954);
35. Spectorsky, Living the Good Life: Being A Plain Practical Account of a Twenty Year Project in A Self-Subsistent Homestead in Vermont, Together with Remarks on How to Live Sanely & Simply in a Troubled World, op cit, 1954;
36. interview with Corey Childs, Director, Loudoun County Office, Virginia Cooperative Extension, 29 Oct. 2003.
37. Michael Clark, 'Farming Withers Under Developer Pressure', Baltimore Sun, 18 Mar. 1979.
38. Jamie Smith Hopkins, 'Farmer Wannabes Warned', Baltimore Sun, 11 Nov. 2001.
39. Personal interviews with extension agents in all three counties were carried out in the fall of 2003.
40. See the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County homepage, http://www.cce.cornell.edu/niagara.html/ local-programs and the VirginiaAgricultural Extension Services Department of horticulture, http://www.hort.vt.edu/ for winemaking regionalism.
41. All three were available in Loudoun County. For wine tours see Loudoun County Wine Trail, http://www.rural-loudoun.state.va.us/wine-trail.htm, Loudoun 2003 Farm Color Tour, http://www.rural-loudoun.state.va.us/fguidl.htm, and the Loudoun County Bed & Breakfast Guild webpage featuring many farm B & Bs, http://www.vabb.com/ vabblist.asp.
42. st Century', Loudoun County Rural Development Task Force, 1998.
43. See Judith Weinraub, 'New American Farmers', Washington Post, 15 Oct. 2003.
44. Joan Thirsk, Alternative Agriculture: a History from the Black Death to the Present Day (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997), agues historically that marginal farmers are often by necessity the most innovative.
45. Emphasised in regular Loudoun County surveys that analyse the most important factors why people move to the County. See: Loudoun County Department of Economic Development, Survey of Loudoun Residents, Mar. 1990;
46. Choices and Changes Survey Results Summary, Department of Planning Zoning and Community Development, Loudoun County, 1 May 1990 (4,000 respondents);
47. 1997 Survey of Loudoun County Residents, commissioned by the Office of County Administrator, Loudoun County, 1997 (1,000 respondents);
48. 1999 Survey of Loudoun's Residents, commissioned by the Office of County Administrator, Loudoun County, 1999 (1,000 respondents);
49. 2001 Survey of Loudoun's Residents, Department of Economic Development, Loudoun County, 2001 (1,000 respondents);
50. 2002 Survey of Loudoun's Residents, commissioned by the Department of Economic Development, Loudoun County, 2002 (1,000 respondents).
51. At a national level, see successive Gallup Polls asking on place of living preferences (city, suburb, small town, country), George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935-71(Vol. III), (New York: Random House, 1972), Volume III, 1996 & 2238;
52. George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1972-77 (Vol. I & II), (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1978), 78 & 112, and Vol. II, 914;
53. George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1978, (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1979), 83-86;
54. George H. Gallup, 'Urban America: A Special Gallup Report', in the Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1978, Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 83-86 Released March 2;
55. George H. Gallup, 'Urban Problems Special Survey' in the Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1981', (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1981), 82-83;
56. George Gallup, JR., 'Ideal Place to Live' in The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1985, (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1986), 64-65;
57. George Gallup, JR., 'America's Large Cities' in The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1989, (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1990), 207-9;
58. George Gallup, JR., 'America's Large Cities', in The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1998, (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1999), 238.
59. See Maryland Equine Census (2002) online, http://www. marylandhorseindustry. org/census2.htm,
60. Virginia Equine Report (2001 ) online, htttp://www.nass.usda.gov/ va/2001 equinereport.pdf ,
61. and New York Equine Survey (2000) online, http:// www.nass.usda.gov/ny/ Equine2000/equine.htm
62. Interview with Caragh Fitzgerald and Martin Hamilton, Howard Cooperative Extension, 11 Nov. 2003 confirm underreporting.
63. State organisations exhorted owners to report, see New York State Horse Council Newsletter, September 2007: http://www.nyshc.org/newsletters/SeptOct05. pdf
64. (http://horsecouncil.org/about.html)
65. U.S. Agricultural Census. See note 7.
66. See Maryland Equine Census (2002) and Dawna Klosner-Wehner, 'Howard Farms Still a Growth Industry', Baltimore Sun, 'Howard County Hometown Guide', 21 Mar. 2004
67. See Virginia Equine Report (2001). Louis Nicholls, Agricultural Development Officer at the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development confirmed the county's interest in equine industry research during an interview on 16 Oct. 2003.
68. With the exception of Saratoga County. See New York Equine Survey (2000).
69. U.S. Agricultural Census online:
70. U.S. Agricultural Census, see note 7.
71. Lockport Sources: Lockport City Directory (Buffalo, NY: R.L. Polk & Co., 1949);
72. R.L. Polk & Co; and Lockport City Directory (Livonia, MI: R.L. Polk & Co., 2000);
73. Loudoun Sources: Leesburg, Middleburg, and Purcellville City Directory (Richmond, VA: Hill Directory Company 1962) ;
74. C & PTelephone, Bell Atlantic; and Loudoun-Fauquier Yellow Pages (Verizon, 2001).
75. Loudoun Directories are on hand at the Thomas Balch Historical Library in Leesburg, VA. Howard Sources: Columbia Directory 1972;
76. Howard County Telephone Directory, 2003 (all lodged with the Columbia Archives, Columbia, MD); and
77. The Community Phone Book Columbia, Ellicott City, MD, 2004 (online).
78. See Joseph Goddard, 'The Creation of Penurbia: AGeography of the Heart, 1945-2005 ', (Ph.D. diss., University of Copenhagen, 2005).
79. See '58th Annual Howard County Fair', 2-9Aug., (2003 programme): 14 & 119.
80. For the 2007 fair, see http://www.howardcountyfair.org/fair-schedule.htm.
81. th Annual Loudoun County Fair', 28July-2 Aug., (2003) programme): 23 & 35.
82. For the 2007 show see: http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/events/ search/?category=100&q=&age=&cost=&start date=2007-07-19&end date=&x=35&y=13.
83. See the '2003 Niagara County Fair'July 30-Aug(press packet.) For the 2006 fair, see http:// counties.cce.cornell.edu/niagara/ 2006%20fair%20events%20schedule.pdf
84. 'First Annual Howard County Fair', 21-22 Aug. (1946 programme).
85. '58th Annual Howard County Fair', 4-H Sheep-Lead, (2003 programme): 237,
86. and '68th Annual Loudoun County Fair'. Department 3.1 Non-Ownership Sheep (2003 programme) p. 19.
87. 'Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival' website, http://www.sheepandwool.org/ index.htm.
88. 'The 2003 Niagara County Fair' (2003 press packet).
89. 'Maryland Wine: the Next Vintage', Maryland Wine and Grape Advisory Committee Report, 2004: 4. http://www.marylandwine.com/mwa/media/stories/ wgacreport.shtml
90. 'Economic Impact of New York Grapes, Grape Juice and Wine', 2005, MKF Research for the New York Wine and Grape Foundation: http://www.nywines.org/ articles.root/804/Econonic%20Impact%20of%20New%20York%29G rape%20%Juice%20%and%20%20%wine%202005.pdf
91. Virginia 2006 Commercial Grape Report', Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, online at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ Statistics-by-State/Virginia/Publications/Grape-Report/ 2006%20grape%20publication.pdf
92. Maryland Wine: the Next Vintage', Maryland Wine and Grape Advisory Committee Report, 2004: 33.
93. The 'County Wine Trail' was established in cooperation with the Loudoun Rural Economic Development Office, http://www.loudounfarms.org/Default.asp?Page= 16
94. See New York Orchard & and Vineyard Survey, 2001, online at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ny/FruitTree/fruittree2002txt.pdf,
95. and Thomas Prohaska, 'Niagara County Legislature Panel Won't Vote on Trucks-Only Bridge', Buffalo News, 18 Mar. 2004
96. The 'Niagara Wine Trair is described on the Niagara USA website, http://www.niagara-usa.com/attractions/winetrail.html.
97. The 'Wine in the Woods' festival webpage is recorded here:http:/www. howardcountry.com/calendar/event-details.asp?ID=25466
98. The role of women's' organisations as pioneers in local environmental struggles has been well documented elsewhere, not least by Richard Walker, The Country in the City (Seattle: University of Washington, 2007).
99. Maximum zoning in Niagara measured around one acre in 2003, less than in Howard or Loudoun.
100. Townships, not the County determined land use policy in Niagara County.
101. See Howard General Plan, 1960: 63.
102. See Erie-Niagara Regional Plan Summary Report, 1961: II-N-25.
103. See Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) for the adverse effects of self-servicing.
104. Anne Keisman, 'Development Races the Court', Loudoun Times Mirror, 5 May 2004.
105. Agricultural land could be assessed for reduced levels of tax in all three counties.
106. Adrian Higgins, 'Teaching Woodlot Owners to See the Forest Beyond the Trees', Washington Post, 22 Jan 2004; Cornell Cooperative Extension, local programmes in Niagara: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/niagara/local-programs;
107. Basics of farming short courses in Maryland, Howard Ag. Newsletter, 2:2006 at: http://www.hceda.org/uploads/;pdfs/HowardAg-2006-Issue-02.pdf.
108. American Farmland Trust (AFT) and Chesapeake Bay Foundation 'Conserving the Washington-Baltimore Region's Green Network: The Time to Act is Now', report, released May 2004. http://www.farmland.org/greennetwork/ Conserving%20a%20Green%20Network.pdf.
109. Dolores Hayden, Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2003): 238.
110. Gill Chamblin, 'Fighting for Their Land', Howard County Times, 29 Oct 1981.
111. See Howard County Department of Zoning and Planning website: http://www.co.ho.md.us/DPZ/Agricultural/dpz-agricultural-preservation.htm
112. See The Loudoun County Purchase of Development Rights Program webpage, http: //www.co.loudoun.va.us/omagi/pdr/index.htm
113. Virginia Agricultural Protection Act, 1981, and New York's Agricultural Districts Law, 1971.
114. Including the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Howard County Times, Times, Ellicott City, Niagara Gazette, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun. Local historical societies in all three counties maintain clippings of conflicts in their archives.
115. In Roderick Frazier Nash, ed., American Environmentalism: Readings in Conservation History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990), 33;
116. and Carolyn Merchant, ed., Major Problems in American Environmental History (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1993), 383-384.
117. See also Witold Rybczynski, A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century (New York: Touchstone, 1999).
118. See Audubon Naturalist Society Rust Sanctuary website, http://www.audubonnaturalist.org/rustsanct.htm.
119. See Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park website, http://www. patapscofemaleinstitute.org/friends.htm.
120. See Claude Moore Park, Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation & Community Services website, http://www.loudoun.gov/prcs/parks/claude.htm. The National Wildlife Federation owned the park from 1975 to 1986.
121. Howard County General Plan, Howard County Planning Commission. 1960: 39.
122. Byline: 'Parks Needed: Merging Cities Threaten Open Space', Times, Ellicott City, 8 May 1963.
123. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1962).
124. Loudoun County, Loudoun County Choices and Changes General Plan, 1990-2010, 1991.
125. Anne Sorensen et al., Loudoun County Choices and Changes General Plan, 1990-2010, 1991, op cit.
126. Bill Michelmore, "The Parkway Problem', Buffalo News, 20 Feb. 2000.
127. The Niagara Heritage Partnership maintains an extensive electronic campaign archive of articles and letters. See: http://niagaraheritage.org/index. html.
128. See the National Wildlife Federation's 'Backyard Wildlife Habitat' website, http: //www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/southriding.cfm.
129. Loudoun County Department of Economic Development surveyed local residents' attitudes regularly from 1990, as did Howard Research and Development - builders of Columbia new town. George Gallup polled nationally. Local newspapers in the counties also carried out irregular and relatively unscientific self-reported surveys.
130. See Rudy Maxa, 'Western Loudoun's Rural Landscape - It's Not Your Father's Farm', June 2001,online, http://www.rudymaxa.com/article.php?ArticleID= 45
131. John Hanchette, 'Mountain Views: Exploding Deer Population Presents Problems for Officials and Motorists', the Niagara Falls Reporter, 28 June 2005.
132. Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, 'Deer Management', http: //www.co.ho.md.us/RAP/RAP-Deermanagement.htm (accessed 25 Jan. 2008)
133. Amy Gardner, 'Swelling Herds, A Growing Risk', in the Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2007.
134. See Woods, 'Engaging the Global Countryside', 487.