My sense of place runs from the corner of Washington St and Route 206 through Autumn Hill Reservation and Herringtown Woods. Through this is my house along with my neighborhood, the two reservations stated above, Van Horn Park, and Burger King where I once worked.

This area overall is flat land, with various gradual inclines throughout. It is by no means hilly and very easy for anyone to walk. This allows people to go and transport freely as there is no bad hill to go up or down during rough weather thus leading to economic growth as people can still run the errands they once wanted. Formerly the area was nearly all family farms. This flat land allowed farmers to be successful as all the nutrients seep directly into the soil. Since it was once farmland there was very limited tree cover in most of the area. Although due to suburbanization trees were planted throughout in order to enrich the soil for building along with aesthetic reasons. Now in this section all that is left is one family farm despite that being the prime occupation in the area back in the mid 1800s.

The built environment influenced my work, my quarters, and my recreation. My work was influenced as it is in walking distance. It was a 30 minute walk due to building trails that went through a small patch of woods. Building these walkways saved me a significant amount of time allowing me to get to work easier and quicker thus making more money. Living in a townhouse allowed me to get to my friends quickly as all of our houses were pressed up closely. Being so close allowed us at a young age to have a lot more freedom than most as since we were close by to each other we could walk around and explore. There was a large park built, which is close by so me and my friends could walk to it. We could play on the large jungle gym or more commonly play basketball on the basketball courts. Basketball was a great way to improve my skills along with improving my friendship with my friends. Over the summer as kids we used to go there daily. Autumn Hill Reservation and Herringtown Woods have not been built and have always been left untouched leaving 100s of acres of open forest. This not being a built environment allows me to have a natural area in the midst of suburbia.

The area has very good schools which has led lots of people to want to move here. Ever since the late 1800s, there has been more and more suburbanization in the area but more recently it has become hyper suburbanization due to the recognition that the school district has been receiving. Where once open fields lie have been turned into neighborhoods or shopping centers. Due to there being a mixture of farmers who have once lived there, stable families with children, and people who are barely making ends meet who move there in the hope of providing their children with a good education there is a wide variety of morals. Due to a mixture of types of motives for living in this place, I have learned a variety of different perspectives on issues. This has made me think that many things don’t have necessarily concrete solutions. Being in my place at home has made me realize how much hasn’t changed but how in fact I have.