Empowering Your ‘Sense of Place’

Do you have special memories of certain places, communities, and people that, when brought to mind, make you relax, close your eyes and smile? Perhaps your mind’s eye pictures you fishing from a streambank with someone special, listening to the katydids sing in the humid inky darkness of a summer night, tasting the cinnamon fruity twang at a community apple butter boil, feeling the warm smoothness of a freshly laid hen’s egg in your hand, hanging out at the neighborhood market, or smelling newly cut hay in the summer.

Those collective memories give us each what is called “a sense of place;” they root us to a community in a symbiotic way that defines who we are. Communities with a strong sense of place become passionate when threats loom that could alter their way of life. However, that passion is often accompanied by feelings of powerlessness regarding how to counter those threats and protect what they feel is important.

That’s where we at the Alliance come in.

We understand zoning, governmental machinations, networking, and conservation work, but we can’t operate in a vacuum. We need to partner with families and communities, gaining a better understanding of their unique sense of place and then empowering them with the necessary tools to ensure that their sense of place is enjoyed for generations to come.

When the Atlantic Coast Pipeline threatened the cultural resources, family farms, and water through 57 miles of proposed construction in Augusta County, we successfully tapped into the communities’ deep sense of place to mount a vigorous and successful campaign.

But protecting a sense of place does not always mean fighting a threat, sometimes it means finding ways to enhance and preserve what is already there. A perfect example of that is the proposed Shenandoah Rail Trail, a nearly 50-mile trail that turns a defunct and decaying rail line into a path of history and community alongside the Shenandoah River and in the shadow of Massanutten Mountain.

Through this process, a fading cultural resource built by and for the Valley people, that has served the Shenandoah Valley through times of war and peace, bounty and depression, will not be lost, but will, rather, become an enduring, visible, and dynamic legacy.

Empowering passion for each community’s sense of place is the key to success. Through the Alliance’s work, we connect with the people and the land by preserving vibrant family farms, protecting places that tell our history, helping communities tell their stories with important educational outreach, and finding ways to ensure that clean water flows through the Valley now and forever.

Have you thought about what defines your sense of place? If so, are there ways we can partner with you to ensure that future generations can also celebrate what makes your place special? Reach out!