Introducing: Our Town

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
If you drive 90 miles northeast of Nashville, into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, you'll land in Gainesboro, Tennessee. How would you describe this place?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
I think raw would be a good word to start.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:12)
Just over a thousand people live here, many go back generations. I was related to pretty much everyone here. But in the fall of 2024, a group of outsiders started scooping up big tracts of land.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:25)
That piques my interest because most time, he would sell it to Jim Bob over the holler.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:30)
As the battle for the future of America plays out in one small town.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:35)
We were all flat-footed. We didn't have a clue.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:39)
Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:44)
The first thing you see when it pops up is pioneers in Appalachia.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:49)
Pioneers in Appalachia. But the goal wasn't just to buy real estate.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:54)
We need cities on a shining hill that exemplify and embody the healthy, natural, human way of life, the Christian way of life.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:02)
Stop right there.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:03)
Is that normal?

**SPEAKER_1** (1:04)
From Bloomberg News and the Big Take podcast, this is Our Town, a show about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:15)
God need manager rule.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:16)
We're on the cusp of, I think, a land grab in Appalachia. Our hometown is not a test tube.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:22)
And decides to fight back.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:24)
Do not use my hard work to sell your bulls**t.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:29)
They're not just opposing what's being planned for here. They feel like they're standing in opposition to an entire administration.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:37)
Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you?

**SPEAKER_1** (1:40)
Listen to Our Town starting August 7th on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.