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In Tennessee county, an aging population means business opportunity

Monday we kicked off our series “The Age of Work,” which is about how demographic shifts are shaking up the U.S. and global economies. We’re starting this series in Cumberland County, Tennessee.

ADP Research funded this reporting, and according to its data, Cumberland County has one of the oldest workforces in the country. ADP is a global payroll and human resources tech company that processes payroll for more than 40 million workers globally. 

Here in Cumberland County, about one-third of the population is 65 and older. That compares to less than 18% in the U.S. as a whole.

The county seat here is Crossville, population around 12,500. About 10 miles away is Fairfield Glade, a retirement destination with 9,500 residents.

In this second episode of “The Age of Work” from Cumberland County, we look at how the aging population in town is affecting businesses. Click the audio player above to hear the episode.

There’s always a lot to do in Fairfield Glade

When Adria and Wendell Cook moved to Fairfield Glade from New Jersey in 2020, they received a welcome packet with lists of clubs, classes and other activities — 75 by our count. 

“You can’t say there’s nothing to do here,” said Adria Cook, 67. “My neighbor’s in a German club and she plays bridge, but I play mahjong. [Wendell] plays pickleball, he golfs, sometimes I pickleball, and we dance.”

Cook, with help from her husband, teaches line dancing classes at the Druid Hills Library in Fairfield Glade. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal and ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson attended a Thursday morning class and found a sample of the retirees who are changing Cumberland County’s demographics. 

Adria Cook, who moved to Tennessee from New Jersey, prepares to teach a line dancing class. (Andie Corban/Marketplace)

“I taught line dancing back in New Jersey and ballroom and swing and Latin and country,” Cook said. “And then when we came down here, we started taking line dancing classes, and the teacher, she’s 87 years old, was like, that’s it. I’ve had it, it’s yours.”

Around 25 people in their 50s through 80s came to class — all women except Wendell. They paid $5 for the hourlong session, which covered the cost of renting the room for Adria, who teaches a second class afterward. She stood front and center in the room, wearing a microphone headset and a CamelBak water backpack.

“When I call every single step to every single song for two hours, I get dry. So I have to drink and I tell them it’s vodka,” she joked. 

Bringing commerce to a local craft

About 20 miles from the library in Fairfield Glade, in a more rural part of Crossville, a store opened up about six months ago: Mountain Top Fabrics & More

David Mahan, the owner, grew up on the store’s property back when the whole thing was a dairy farm. Last summer, he retired from more than four decades in the ministry. 

“I thought, what am I going to do now?” said Mahan. “My dream was always one day to do something like this, but I never thought it’d be a possibility. And so when I stepped down, I just jokingly asked my mother, who lives here, won’t you let me have that front part to open up a fabric store?”

David Mahan opened his fabric shop after retiring from the ministry. (Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace)

Mountain Top Fabrics & More is located in a garage on the property. Mahan’s quilts line the walls, and the entire space is stocked with fabrics, patterns, sewing machines and the like. 

“My daughter-in-law is in the cosmetic industry, and she’s in the high end. She goes, ‘So what kind of studies did you do?'” Mahan said about opening the store. “I just knew there were a lot of quilters here, so I just opened up a quilt store. We have a large quilting guild society here because of retirees.”

Mahan said being able to use his mother’s garage was key to opening the shop. 

“The only reason I was able to do this, because I’m just a middle-class guy, is because I don’t have much overhead,” he said. “To rent a place in Crossville is extremely high. You’re looking at at least $100 to $150 a square foot on retail space.”

Cumberland Medical juggles needs of locals and newcomers

Cumberland County’s hospital covers a whole block just off Crossville’s Main Street. Randy Davis, president and chief administrative officer of Cumberland Medical Center, has been running the hospital for about two years. 

“We’re a community hospital, the sole community provider,” said Davis. “We’re it. And so because of that, everybody comes here for all their outpatient services.”

Cumberland Medical typically has about 100 beds staffed, according to Davis, and about 800 people work at the hospital. The hospital is part of Covenant Health, a system based out of Knoxville. Davis described the state of community health in Crossville as “classic Appalachia,” citing heavy tobacco use. 

Randy Davis is president of Cumberland Medical Center. “Access to care has always been a challenge in this area,” he said. “Not enough primary physicians.” (Andie Corban/Marketplace)

“We are one of the counties that are in the opioid settlement due to the over-prescription of opioids in the area,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of addiction. And overall, access to care has always been a challenge in this area. Not enough primary physicians.”

The patients Davis described are part of Crossville’s native population. The retirees in Fairfield Glade, he said, are “a different consumer of health care” and more likely to be orthopedic patients. Richardson asked Davis how he delegates resources when dealing with these different populations. 

“First and foremost, you have to satisfy the immediate needs of your immediate community,” Davis said, referring to the Crossville locals. “When you’re starting to look out at these growing communities like Fairfield Glade, there are a lot of times that I’m sitting in front of them saying, ‘I need to satisfy my primary care physician need in Crossville proper before I begin really trying to get aggressive in putting additional primary care physician resources out here.'”

The older population in town also adds an unusual dynamic to physician recruitment. Davis said many of his physicians are older than you might find in other places — think around 55 years old, nearing retirement — because of Cumberland Medical’s location. 

“They’re looking at it strategically,” he said. “They’re saying, this is where I want to retire.”

Retirees moving to town means growth for Cumberland Exterminating

John Barnwell is the owner of Cumberland Exterminating, which services around 30 residences in town daily. He has five employees, plus he and his wife Tina, who also works for Cumberland Exterminating.

“I’m kind of the fireman, now,” Barnwell said. “If a truck breaks or if there’s a problem, I deal with that.”

John and Tina Barnwell at their office in Cumberland County. (Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace)

He works regularly with real estate agents, who refer people who are moving to Cumberland County to his business.

“We talk every day to people from California, New York, Illinois, everywhere, people that are moving here,” Barnwell said, citing Fairfield Glade as a big growth area. “They need a report because they’re closing on a house, and we do a lot of that. So we can see the growth firsthand here, because we do so many inspections on new transactions for real estate.”

The Barnwell’s son is in the military, and he’s planning to move back to Cumberland County when he’s out.

“He is my key to retirement if he wants to come on board and help run the company,” Barnwell said.

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