The American pioneers traveled the old west in covered wagons. They braved the elements, decease, Indian attacks, outlaws and many other hardships in order to get where they were going.
A hundred years later, folks covered the country is wagons pulled on the back of their cars. These were called "house trailers". Today they are pulled by big trucks and we call them "mobile homes." Camping trailers are smaller and lived in for weekends or vacations. Mobile homes are much larger and are actually ment as homes. To be lived in the year around.
It wouldn't take long after the house trailer was invented for us to decide on where to put them...with other house trailer! So we created trailer parks, or, as they were originally called, Tourist Camps. These parks were small neighborhoods where the citizens all lived in trailer homes. Some were larger than others, but they were close together and had a homey feel about them. Nosey neighbors could now have a closer view of how you lived and what you did. You couldn't get from your car to your front door without having to wave and yell, "Hi Doris!" over the little white fence. But one thing that was great about these places was that there was almost zero crime. That's because everyone knew everyone and they looked out for each other. You always seemed to have a set of helping hands around you in the trailer parks.
But like everything else today, trailer parks, or mobile home parks, as we call them now, have grown into modern times. The trailers are spaced farther apart and there are wider streets and some of the people are the same jerks that live in the rest of the city. But the trailer parks of today is still an adventure to live in.
This blog is dedicated to the 20th century American pioneers who traveled the country with their home hooked to the back of their cars. And to those who, when needing a cup of sugar, could reach it to each other through their windows.