For over fifty years, Bill Thompson has not only observed but been a part of hundreds of small towns across the South. Before there were interstate highways, he traveled the two-laned paved roads (and some of the dirt ones) to help celebrate every kind of festival and celebration imaginable, events that recognized what was good about the community. He has helped numerous civic organizations work to improve their communities. He has also watched the rise and decline of civic/service clubs.

In the course of his travels, Bill has met a wide range of people who have not only welcomed him in their communities but also their homes, and they have shared with him why they chose to live where they did.

In Lessons from a Small Town, Bill uses the lens of his home community of Columbus County, North Carolina to look at what is so loved about the small-town South, why there is a decline in numbers of such towns, and what we can do to preserve them.