NPPF

Miller High School students make their way to the bus stop . Guided by the glow of fairy lights strung up outside their new home, foster siblings Tori Hiles, 17, Jacey Stivison, 14, Evan Freitag, 12, Anna Freitag, 15, and Payton Hiles, 15, make their way through the fog toward the bus stop early Friday morning, April 22, 2022, as dense fog settles in New Straitsville. Tucked away in the foothills of Southern Perry County is the Village of New Straitsville, a community long-marked by a spirit of tenacity and self-determination in the face of change. Like many small post-industrial towns across Southeast Ohio and Appalachia, New Straitsville has endured steep and persistent population decline since the 1880 peak of the Hocking Valley Coal Boom, one of the most productive coal fields in the world. Despite cycles of prosperity and devastation, a strong community remains in the town, reinventing its identity with each turn in the road. “New Straitsville has always been a surviving town,” said Village Clerk and lifelong resident Susan Miller. “No matter what the hard time might be—economic downfall, whatever it is—we managed to get through and then start building. New Straitsville is on the uprise.”