Small towns

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I've found that I'm really enjoying exploring Ohio but what I've been finding particularly interesting lately are all of the small NW Ohio towns that have almost nothing in them now but were probably once thriving towns. I grew up in a town exactly like this. When I grew up there we had very little and there's even less than that now. Most of these towns have a church and maybe a playground and possibly an old school that is no longer in use. There's also usually a random cemetery and these towns are often out in the middle of nowhere. Lots of fields around them. The town I grew up in had a railroad that went through it and at one time was a very booming town not that you'd know that looking at it now. When I was growing up we had a little carryout that eventually shut down and now the building is no longer there. The house that I grew up in is also no longer standing, however, the trees we planted when I was a kid are still standing and are huge now. I love going by and knowing that I had a hand at leaving something for the future. I've found that a lot of these small rural towns were once big booming towns that had everything anyone could need. There used to be cable cars that went through towns until they built highways in some of the towns. The town I currently live in used to have a cable car that went through town and the roads were brick (I currently live in another random small town like the towns I mentioned only this one is much closer to a town and not miles out in the middle of nowhere). I love learning about the history of these towns. I like to think about what they were like at that time. Unfortunately, it seems there isn't a lot of information on a lot of these towns. I'm always amused when some of these small towns will have something so random in them like a hair salon, bank, lawyer, or car dealership when there is literally nothing else in them not even a store, gas station, or restaurant but they somehow will have a random business and I'll have to wonder how much business they get out in the middle of nowhere. I also really like small towns that do have things like stores and restaurants but aren't huge. I think a lot of the little shops and restaurants they have are neat. There's a small town here that has an old General Store that has been in operation since the 1800s that has the original creaky floorboards. The same town has a great restaurant we like to go to when we are there. I think small towns often get overlooked for big cities and I love the quaintness of small towns. For me, the small towns with nothing in them but houses are just interesting because I often wonder what they were once like. I love to learn about the history of them when I can actually find information on them. I wonder what would bring people there in the middle of nowhere? It would make sense if they had a farm or enjoyed the country without all of the houses but when it's a small town where there are neighbors I am interested how they even knew it existed because there are towns I never knew existed. My only guess is if it's anything like the town I grew up in is they had people they knew that already lived there and maybe wanted to live nearby and a lot of those smaller towns have cheaper houses. I am always so fascinated with these towns and I wonder about the people that live there. I know I loved growing up in my small rural town but as an adult I can't imagine living there away from everything. I like that I'm only two miles from town now instead of twenty minutes. I liked it better when I lived in town but the rent there was much higher. I like being closer to things but I understand that's a personal preference. I also know that you live where you can afford so I imagine that plays a part too. It's just interesting to think about.