That is an image treasured by officials at Federal Express and United Parcel Service, the dominant services in the rural Northeast, who tout their couriers as involved members of the communities they serve.

For example, a trend sweeping Northern America, especially in the rural Northeast, is the conversion of abandoned railways into rail trails.

Items for sale include hand-embroidered cotton tablecloths, painted clay figurines from the rural Northeast and baskets woven locally from white creeper vines.

In parts of the rural Northeast and nearby Canada, springtime brings the time-honored process of boiling sap into syrup.

Almost anyone who lives in the rural Northeast can attest that the forest has expanded its range in the past century.

The resurgence of interest in the rural Northeast this year also has other roots and implications.

For instance, Internet usage at home is 61.7 percent in the urban South, a number actually on par with the rural Northeast (61 percent).

The liberals in the urban Northeast accepted the position, while the Fundamentalists in the rural Northeast rejected the position but remained in the Triennial Convention (AAAS).

The traditionalists in the rural Northeast supported President McKinley (Oxford 482).

The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art's mission is "dedicated to providing art education programs and projects for children and families in rural Northeast and Middle Georgia communities.