Nodes are the stopping points or the gathering points along the paths of the rural area. Nodes occur when and where there is an occasion along a path to pause, slow down, or for travelers to repeatedly converge in the same place. A node is generated, for instance, at a stream crossing or ford during times of highwater when a farmer might wait a while for another farmer with wagon and team to arrive to assist in the crossing should some difficulty arise. Another kind of node is generated at the intersection of two trails where a campfire is built and a trapper or trader waits to meet someone. In time nodes are monumentalized or made permanent by the erection of a store or tavern or inn.
Nodes are the primary anchor points, the major intersections, in the rural lifescape.
There are many kinds of nodes which will be discussed in more detail below. Places are a more general kind of node and healthy rural communities recognize a wide variety of places that are visited or used from time to time in the life pattern of the community. Places are less structurally significant in rural life although they typically are more numerous than the nodes which are associated with the intersections of trails and roads. Places are more occasional where nodes are typically sustained in usage. Nodes tend to be associated with the economic and organizational structure of the rural area while places are often associated with the recreational and social life or with the common local lore of naming the convenient reference points of the landscape.