Hidden in the coal region of North Eastern Pennsylvania on the south side of the Appalachian Mountains lies the distinct area of Schuylkill County. Most outsiders have never heard of this place and struggle to pronounce the name. For locals, no place can compare to their home. Those that live here either love it or hate it. After going away for college, coming home for the summer was exactly what I thought it would be: uneventful. College was full of new opportunities and new people, so returning home would just be returning to the same people and the same things I’ve always known.
In the small towns that compose the Skook, nothing really changed since I left for college. The same buildings with the same family-owned stores still reside where they’ve sat the past 20 years. Nothing prominent ever seems to come into the Skook, but every couple months a landmark will disappear. Our favorite childhood shopping centers, the Fairlane Village Mall and the Schuylkill Mall, have all but dwindled down to a handful of stores. The best form of entertainment for a homecoming college student is a movie in Frackville or a drive out to Heisler’s. If you’re really bored, you might even loiter outside of Sheetz.
Within these small towns live the two types of people that come from small towns: the ones that will stay here forever and the ones that want to get the hell out. In a small area, it’s easy to see how most of the people here stick with the same mind sets and the same ideas they’ve had their whole lives. High school seems to be the center of Schuylkill County’s universe, with high school sports always being a top priority, and high school rivavlries persisting after graduation. For someone that has lived here her whole life, Schuylkill County is all I’ve ever known. Leaving opened up a world unlike the one I’ve only known before.
Coming home brings a lot of nostalgia from summers past. Waiting for my friends to come home from school, I think about all the hours spent around a bonfire, talking about our pasts, our futures and the lives we were living at that point. I remember the nights we went up to Centralia to take cool pictures and see something surreal while scaring ourselves in the process. We ignored “No Trespassing” signs and snuck out to see the boys we weren’t supposed to see. We drove around for hours, getting lost on back roads and trying to clear whatever was troubling our minds. Nothing changes in this county, so I can only expect a summer like the ones past.
No matter where I go in this county this summer, I know I’ll run into someone I recognize. The people around here are close-knit and everyone knows who everyone else is. After a year of getting away and being able to start over, you’re immediately thrown back into the life you lived before college. The phrase “it’s a small world” applies to the close-knit community inside of Schuylkill County. You have mutual friends with everyone you meet, or someone you don’t know recognizes who you are through someone you both know.
With its run-down malls, vast country roads, dilapidated coal mines and cut-throat high school rivalries, Schuylkill County is a special place to call home. No other place can quite compare to the Skook, and no one compares to the people that live in it. Coming home isn’t the most exciting way to spend the summer, and the emotions of coming home are conflicting. Though you wanted to get away from the past you left here, these are the things that make you who you are. The people you met, the places you’ve been to, and the things you’ve done here will always be a part of who your identity. It’s certainly a unique place to live, and it’s definitely not the worst. You can take a girl out of the Skook, but you can’t take the Skook out of the girl.
