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I don't hear about West Virginia that often other than stereotypes and caricatures of the coal mining hillbilly. I am wondering what life is like there. Is it an interesting state?
It depends. Do you want the experiences of those who live in the mountains? Those who live along the Ohio River? In downtown Charleston? Maybe in a college town like Morgantown?
I don't hear about West Virginia that often other than stereotypes and caricatures of the coal mining hillbilly. I am wondering what life is like there. Is it an interesting state?
Usually the people that believe things like that aren't very smart about different states and probably haven't traveled much. That's like saying San Francisco is all gay people or something.
I don't hear about West Virginia that often other than stereotypes and caricatures of the coal mining hillbilly. I am wondering what life is like there. Is it an interesting state?
It is a beautiful state, second to none. The people are extremely friendly and outgoing. Like others have said, your question can't really be answered with a single sentence. Too many variables. I live in Charleston and it is a great small city to live in. Plenty to do but small enough that you can get anywhere within 15 minutes. Lots of good schools, good shopping, good restaurants. People in WV have a real sense of unity and we are all proud to be West Virginians. I don't think a lot of other states have that same kind of loyalty and 'oneness' that is found in our great state.
I lived in the Martinsburg area and wife and I enjoyed West Virginia. Granted that area is very influenced by nearby Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and is the most rapidly growing part of the state. Still the weather was great. Plenty of sunshine for us and a mild winter (compared to the northeast). The people I found to be friendly. Cost of living wasn't too bad but was going up due in part to the migration of people from larger nearby metro areas. Property taxes I found to be reasonable. Housing costs were a little on the high side, again due to the demand from metro areas. But there were plenty of places to go and if you didn't want to drive you could ride the train to DC or Baltimore or take a bus tour on one of several tour lines (we went to Downtown DC, Baltimore Inner Harbor and National Zoo and Ocean City on bus tours) as well as cruises out of Baltimore. There are plenty of historic battlegrounds around to visit. Groceries were reasonable and WV got rid of the tax on groceries while we were there. Sales tax was 6%. Car inspections were 12.50 and they did not check emissions. From where we were we could drive about 1/4 of an hour and be in the country.
Like nearly every state, there are distinct areas here that are vastly different from each other. Living in one can be very different than living in another. Here, we basically have 6 distinct areas that are only connected to each other by a state government and our Land Grand University. All the folks who live in each of those areas are intensely proud of their areas, and because our state in unique in that all of it is considered Appalachian except for perhaps parts of the Eastern Panhandle, there is a common bond in that regard.
We are the perpetual underdog who almost always overachieves, because our people struggled for years making a living in inhospitable terrain to do so, and lived under the thumb of the super wealthy Brooklyn and Wall Street tycoons who exploited our resources to their own benefits mightily. Yet, we have survived, and we bear little resemblance to the stereotypes... especially those intentionally perpetuated by the scumbag, lowland pompadour descendants of the English planter class that inhabit east Virginia and eastern North Carolina.
Yet, we have survived, and we bear little resemblance to the stereotypes... especially those intentionally perpetuated by the scumbag, lowland pompadour descendants of the English planter class that inhabit east Virginia and eastern North Carolina.
Damn Skippy!!!!
(picked that saying up while in WV).
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