The rebirth of Norwood?
A Birmingham neighborhood’s struggle to be the place it once was.
I wish I could find the quote from William Faulkner about living in the South and his love/hate relationship with it. I am a Southerner in many ways, though I find it difficult to live there. The mentality and the climate are things I could live apart from.
Edward Carter mows the lawn of a 30th Street North lot owned by an Atlanta-based realtor. Speculation is high in Norwood.
But, I love it anyway.
Whenever I visit my parents and friends back in Birmingham I remember some of those things that I love and hate about the region. Over the years I have started a few projects to photograph them. With four days on the ground last week, it was rushed and action-packed, but as always, exciting to visit some of those areas.
Norwood is a neighborhood on the north side of Birmingham. In the first decades of the 20th century it was the place to be for the city’s upper middle class. Starting in the late ‘20s suburbs like Homewood and Mountain Brook started drawing the inhabitants away from this neighborhood. In the 2000's interest in the neighborhood was reignited. White middle class Birmingham-ians tired of the commute from the suburbs started moving back to places like Crestwood and Glen Iris. Norwood was the next frontier, with grander houses often in worse condition. After stalling some in the Great Recession, interest is there again.
Here’s hoping.
