[Ravensfort] The demographics of Raven's Fort

Fri Apr 4 11:26:02 PDT 2014

I'm about 5 minutes driving time from VNV.  From my driveway to the Fire
Station where we used to meet is a 40-45 minute drive by the freeway, if
there is no construction.  Going the back way because of winding roads and
New Waverly, it is still about a 40-45 minute drive (longer if there is a
log truck or a tractor in front of you).  From my house to Conroe is 20-25
minutes depending on the time of day.  From Conroe to the Woodlands is 10-20
minutes depending on where you're going.  We have members in Cleveland and
it's an even further drive for them to go to Huntsville.  Those in the
Huntsville area mostly work in that area.  We have several members in my
area who work in Houston.  Which means they have to hustle to make it to a
meeting in Huntsville.  Those north of Huntsville have an even longer drive
but fewer members live at the most north end of the Barony.  We're missing
out on a lot of people in the southern part as since I've been part of
Raven's Fort we've had one demo in a local park.  A lot of people consider
Huntsville to be Raven's Fort.  It isn't.  That is just a town where members
live in or around it and our post office box and bank account reside.  The
point to this meandering email is Raven's Fort is comprised of more than
Walker County.  I know personally of at least 10 people who are members or
would attend meetings and practices if it was more centrally located.
Huntsville may be the central town but going by the location of the counties
in Raven's Fort.  We're missing the mark by not involving Madison County
(again a sparsely populated area but still has potential), San Jacinto
County (sparse population), Montgomery County, and Trinity County (sparse
population) just to name a few.

I haven't been to Populace meetings for a while.  Between being ill, having
surgeries and it's a long drive I'd rather attend the Business Meetings in
Conroe.  I can get the gist of what's going to be said/done at Populace
without the long drive.  I do miss seeing everyone and joining in on the
discussions.  Plus since nothing is ever said online anymore about what went
on at Populace many in this area are less inclined to attend.  Baroness
Giovanna used to do an excellent job of giving a summary of Populace.  It
actually made you want to attend Populace the next month.  Now we either
have to attend or call someone and find out what went on during the meeting.

From: ravensfort-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:ravensfort-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Darlene Burns
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 5:37 AM
To: RF
Subject: Re: [Ravensfort] The demographics of Raven's Fort

I'm not sure I totally agree with you, Marius. It's a 35 minute drive
(according to Google maps) to downtown Houston and a 40 minute drive to
Huntsville (again according to Google maps). It would look as though The
Woodlands are pretty much balanced between the two points. 

Now my personal experience is that both of those time estimates are about 20
minutes too optimistic. If I lived on that side of the county, I'd give
myself an hour to get to either destination even in the best of traffic. But
in most cases, the stretch between Woodlands and Conroe is the heaviest
traffic...after that it thins out and you can drive faster. But heading
south, it just gets more and more congested. With being at such a balance
point, I think what would influence myself would be the people I was driving
to be with.

The Shire started initially because drive times into Houston were so
awful...and that is back in the 90's. It's only gotten worse in the last 20
years. If I had that history and moved to the center of the county to the
Woodlands, I'd have a tendency to drive North rather than South. If all I
were considering was the drive times involved.

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 4:40 PM, byzytym <byzytym at consolidated.net> wrote:

My point exactly.

We can only take advantage of the fresh blood if we have a presence in the
area.

People in The Woodlands will drive into Houston rather than Huntsville if
Conroe is not an option.

V NV

From: ravensfort-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:ravensfort-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Raven's Fort
Ansteorra
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 3:44 PM
To: Doug Bell; ravensfort at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Ravensfort] The demographics of Raven's Fort

Very true my friend.  On top of that we are about to have to deal with the
population explosotion due Exxon-Mobile woodlands new campus.  Many families
are about to move in our zip codes!
Which means fresh blood :)
D

On Thursday, April 3, 2014 1:02 PM, Doug Bell <magnus77840 at yahoo.com> wrote:

Baron Nicholas and I had this discussion back in the early 2000s while
looking at the demographic data for the barony both SCA and real world. He
had the data and I had taken some demography classes in my college's
Geography department.

Raven's Fort has the area of a small Principality with the population found
in many large shires. Rural baronies are not common in the SCA since a
barony is usually grounded in a major city. The Province of Mooneschadowe is
another example of a rural barony but centered around one small town and
college. Raven's Fort was founded as a rural barony with many small
population clusters in small towns but scattered over a large area. This is
an unusual distribution for an SCA group. This distribution is also why you
can't solve the problem of driving distance with cantons. One of these
population centers by itself is not large enough to support a stable
auxillary group over time.

As Houston grows outward the barony begins to look like Canada with the
population concentrating in the southern zip codes.

Given another 10-15 years this will get to the point where 80-90% of the
members will be in the southern quarter of the barony. You will have to
manage these changes as best as you can but every future officer in the
barony needs to remember the issue.

Countries like Chile, Indonesia, and Russia have some of the same
demographic population versus geography issues, so it is not just an SCA
creation. Real world nations haven't come up with a perfect solution to
population distribution trends either.

safe journeys my friends
Magnus

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-- 
Annes
"Munerius Ultra Sanitas" 

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