Home to the annual Highland Games, Scotland County is an ideal recreational place with rich heritage. Scotland County is situated in northeastern Missouri. According to the census data of 2019, Scotland County has a population of 4,902. This small county of the United States is spread over 436 square miles and has a per capita income of $27,76.
The County was established and named for Scotland on January 29, 1841. The County has overall 2292 housing units and the majority of white race living there.
The Democratic Party controls the politics in Scotland County. The county is represented by Craig Redmon and it is the 4th district in the Missouri House of Representatives.
History
When Scotland County was formed it had all the perimeters of Knox County until this place was divided by the General Assembly in 1843. The Rhodes and Levi were the first families to settle in Scotland County. These white settlements happened in 1833 near sandhills.
Slavery was not the powerful symbol of Scotland state, Missouri, and it was not widespread like other states. However, slavery existed in this state long ago. It was Robert T Smith who introduced the first slaves to Scotland County and by 1860 this County had 131 people of colour with no freedom.
The economy of Scotland County was based on farming from the start. The main crops were corn, oats, wheat and potatoes. In the early days, Scotland County had just 334 farms, however the number of farms reached 1994 in 1880 and by then each farm was valued at $3.72 million.
The history of Scotland County Missouri includes the civil war as well. Multiple remarkable engagements occurred in Scotland County during the American Civil war.
The first breakout occurred in 1861 at Etna when Northern Missouri was protected under the leadership of David Moore but then attacked by the Missouri State guard. It was done to eliminate the rebel forces from rural areas of Missouri. The Missouri State guard was defeated by David Moore forces and the defeated forces were thrown out by the state to clear the rebels.
In 1862 Memphis was captured by Colonel Joseph C. Union Colonel John McNeil heard about the capture of Memphis and sent 3 companies of 300 men to rescue town Memphis. John McNeil had the support of porter forces. This battle between Porter and Federal forces is known as the battle of Vassar in the history of Scotland County.
How good is off the grid living?
As technology is sinking into our everyday lifestyle, people prefer the state of the art machines to facilitate a fancy lifestyle. But some people, surprisingly, prefer otherwise. There are communities in Scotland County that choose to live off the grid!
Off-grid lifestyle refers to the lifestyle and building characteristics structured in a way that doesn`t need one or more public utilities. The people who are living in this condition are called off-gridders. Off-grid lifestyle is legal in the state of Missouri.
Missouri is a nice state to establish an off-grid lifestyle since the state provides many incentives to support solar and wind power systems.
Living off the grid is advantageous since it is cheaper for homes to generate electricity. Electricity prices are increasing with time due to different factors which are encouraging the off-grid living in states.
In rural areas, the building codes are very minimum which allows the Scotland County residents to do as they please with their lands.
The laws regarding water are limited as well in Missouri Counties. There is no shortage of water in Missouri. The reasonable use of water is encouraged by the Missouri law to prevent water waste.
Moreover, rain harvesting is legal in Missouri state to further support the water needs for off-gridders.
Most of the people living off-grid in Scotland County Missouri are eco-activists who promote an eco-friendly lifestyle. Eco-friendly activists live in these conditions without many amenities to prove that an eco-friendly lifestyle is possible.
Off the grid living in Missouri has its disadvantages as well. People who want to shift their lifestyle to off the grid living consider other factors as well. Missouri is the state with one of the rising crimes rates and Scotland County is no exception.
Moreover, the education and health care system is fairly poor in this State resulting in a mediocre living standard. Majority of people in the state avail homeschooling services which understandably doesn’t meet the contemporary educational standards.
Apart from that, generators are recommended by the state to support grid living since solar panels might not be sufficient for electricity production. People in counties of these states complain of living boring life since there is not much going on for entertainment there.
Final Word
Scotland County holds a rich history of its formation and US civil wars. The state supports and encourages off-grid lifestyles and many off-griders living there are happy with their lifestyle choices.
Lifestyle cost is cheaper in Scotland County and has all the amenities available to support an independent lifestyle from public utilities. Limited building and water regulations encourage off-grid living in Scotland County.
However, the drawbacks of living conditions in Missouri make it hard for people in rural areas. The limited availability of public schools and healthcare services discourages settlements in this County. Lack of education means the literacy rate is fairly low.
Lastly, the cost of living in other states for off-grid living is much cheaper than in Missouri since there are better health care and schooling services available there. Scotland County, Missouri needs a lot of further developments to support off-grid living. Nevertheless, people at Scotland County continue to live according to their traditional customs and are still thriving even with the limited resources available to them.