Yes, this is true. In this area, there are huge rural gated communities, usually centered on a golf course (or courses) with some approaching ten thousand acres in size and with development going back more than 50 years.. There is possibly a wider chasm between these kinds of rural areas and the rest of the rural south than exists in American cities..
There are huge issues with the suburbanization approach to rural areas as you allude to.
In the area of electric infrastructure, there is a strong tradition of rural co-ops, who originally electrified many remote rural areas, but most of them have now become reliant on the large monopoly energy providers. There is a discussion of the issue here:
https://appvoices.org/energydemocracy/