BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania — When the COVID-19 pandemic swept through Central Florida and workers settled in, remotely, at their kitchen tables or makeshift offices, Lauren Beal began to think of this walkable town she loved in rural Pennsylvania.
Beal, 36, recalled the bucolic park, the surrounding hills, its coffee shops and restaurants, and that cavernous antique store.
“Once we knew we weren’t renewing our lease in Florida and my job was going to let me go remote, we were both like ‘Bellefonte,’ ” Beal said recently. “We missed it. Where we lived in Florida there was no walkability at all. You have to drive everywhere.”
