For more than two years, Williamston’s local hospital has sat empty. The closure of Martin General Hospital has meant much longer ambulance rides and big concerns about the state of healthcare in this rural county.

For the past 65 years, St. Andrews University has been a major economic engine for the small town in Scotland County. That all changed on May 5, when the university shut down for good after years of financial challenges. County leaders have been working to draw industry and development to multiple sites, and they hope the St. Andrew’s campus can be one of them.

Midway, about 15 minutes south of Winston-Salem, wasn’t even a town for most of its history. The Davidson County community became a municipality in 2006 in an effort to avoid getting annexed into the nearby city.