Story about a rural village's struggle to build community is one that can be done in almost any county in the U.S.

 Foothills Forum graphic; to enlarge, click on it; to download, right-click.

 An excellent story in the Rappahannock News of northern Virginia, about the rural village of Amissville, details the unincorporated place's efforts to build and sustain a sense of community. It's no easy task, Bob Hurley reports for the Foothills Forum, a local philanthropy that bolsters the weekly newspaper's coverage.

"With the expansion of U.S. Route 211 from two to four lanes in the 1970s, we lost what was considered our Main Street," third-generation Amissville resident Lorraine Early told Hurley. "Businesses, homes, even the fire department were lost or relocated. People used to congregate at places along the road, but now all that’s gone."

In 2000, another longtime local, Hal Hunter, documented Amissville's past through oral histories and photos of historic buildings, told Hurley it's challenging to build community without a central place for people to congregate. "The truth is there is no village in the village," Hunter said. "We need to continually look for ways to come together and talk with each other." The Amissville ZIP code, which lies in three counties but mainly in Rappahannock, has about 5,100 people. That is expected to grow with a major development four miles east, in Fauquier County. Land use is a big issue in the region.

The story details some of the community's history through interviews with a slew of locals. That's one of the reasons it was well-received, Foothills Forum Chair Andy Alexander told The Rural Blog. The paper's editor, Dennis Brack, was once a graphic director for The Washington Post. But a story like this doesn't require fancy graphics to make an impact and create a connection with readers. Here are some other key takeaways from the package, for other newspapers to remember:

• People like to read about themselves, their neighbors and their community. It’s their identity and their world.
• Let people tell their own story. About two dozen locals are quoted in Hurley's story. That required a lot of legwork, but it paid off: Hearing Amissville residents describe their community — in their own words — gave the story richness and credibility.
• In writing about any community, nostalgia is catnip for readers.