By Linda Bilanchone, Hampton Heights resident
Hampton Heights is a neighborhood full of old houses and new attitudes. The old houses are beautiful and so are the new attitudes. The old houses were built between 1880 and 1920; the new attitudes are 21st century.
The new attitudes are focused on healthy living, building community, and saving the planet! And, there are three reasons why new attitudes are taking over Hampton Heights.
First, we are the downtown neighborhood. When I leave my old house, I can be standing in the shadow of the clock tower on West Main Street in 15 minutes – walking! Residents of Hampton Heights live near the Post Office, Headquarters Library, shops and restaurants on Main Street, the Chapman Cultural Center, the Hub City Co-Op Grocery Store, churches and the downtown campus of Spartanburg Community College. What more could anyone ask?
Second, because we can (and do!) visit all these places by walking or biking, we get healthier and we get to know our neighbors and the people who work around us -- we build community.
And, finally, we are helping to save the planet. Every time we depart for a destination by pulling out a bike, a stroller or a good pair of walking shoes and leave the car behind, we are helping to save the planet. We breathe purer and healthier air by pedaling, strolling, or ambling – and NOT driving. Now, all of that is well and good and we were making headway in this direction when we got a really fabulous boost toward our goal of being a neighborhood that walks! About 10 years ago, with a grant from the Mary Black Foundation, amber streetlights that look like the gas lamps of old were installed along South Spring Street, our pathway to downtown. These beautiful lights make walking downtown in the evening a stroll through the past – and you can see where you’re going! I fell in love with them from day one and even wrote a haiku to celebrate them:
Walking from Morgan Square
Amber lights lead home
The glow draws me past and past
A Spring’s in my step.
Every neighborhood should be as lucky as we are. Destinations within walking and biking distance are magnets that bring people the gifts of health, neighborliness and the good feeling that every time you walk or ride your bicycle, you’re acting out your love for Mother Earth.
For more on Hampton Heights, visit www.hamptonheights.net
