In 1998 I moved from the 6th largest city in the nation to a small town on the Tennesse River. My first impression was this was Mayberry. After more careful observation, I saw that most of the small family owned stores were empty and closed, Super Walmart was where everyone shopped now. Some of the major employers were clothing factories where locals made Tommy H, and other well known clothes and collected minimum wage or slightly more. You could buy a decent house for $40K, if you could get the credit somewhere but the job/pay/credit thing seldom balanced out in your favor.
The local people all pretty much knew each other and their personal business, who they were related to and so on. My girlfriend grew up there and filled me in on all the local culture. Seems most people were on some sort of prescription meds which were handed out in bulk and paid for by Tenncare with little oversite into quantities issued or required. The ones that couldn't get pills bought them from those with excess at a stiff premium.
The brother in law of this girl collected unemployment and worked 10 hour days making roads for $12 an hour. The unemployment check helped pay the wife's drug bills and keep the 4 kids in clothes from wallyworld.
A job paying anything close to a liveable wage was nearly impossible to find and in 2000 most of the local manufacturing went overseas or south due to NAFTA. This has lead to more crime, drugs and poverty.
The one thing that hssn't changed much in decades is that kids that go to church all day Sunday every week, all discover reproduction at a very early age and practice every chance they get. Many do not finish high school due to having children to care for.
I had left there in 1999 for practical reasons but stay in touch and find out the latest from time to time. There are some sad stories that I will not relate here. I do miss the town with 3 traffic lights and no traffic and I miss the people I know. What I miss most is the dream that there are places like Mayberry. The dream is gone for me, I have come to the conclusion that the world has changed some for the better and some not.