Why West Virginia? (Charleston, Huntington, Elkins: crime, good credit, high school)

[tallydude02]

Originally Posted by nikongirl24

I was born in the eastern panhandle, in Mineral County to be exact. Little town called Keyser, but actually I'm from New Creek. (Right beside it.)

It is SOOOO true that the eastern panhandle thinks they are more of a suburb of DC than part of WV. So sad. My family has lived there since we arrived in the US a few generations back and they still try to talk like they are from MD. I moved down to the southern part of the state and found out what a real WV accent was like! I am a pure blood WV girl and I sound like it now. My family loves this state, but they try and act as though they are more like MD because of all of the negative stereotypes about WV out there.

WV is beautiful.. I love it here. Proud to be a WV girl. (Thundering Herd only though, no Mountaineers in my house.) :P

Well you would think with Keyer bordering on Maryland they would be similiar anyway. Cumberland, MD to me seems more like a WV or PA town to me. Atleast to these ears, the accents don't change much from Cumberland to Keyser. The people I've met from western Maryland are very similar to West Virginians. Now Baltimore/DC is a different animal.

If you are talking about the extreme eastern part, than yes, it does seem like a mini-Maryland because so many of the people who live there are in fact from Maryland originally. But many are from the areas around DC and Baltimore.

[Newtgirl]

Why West Virginia? You'll see when you get here! Elkins is pretty country. I have only driven through the western part of the state, but it seems nice from the interstate. You'd be hard-pressed to find 'ugly' parts of WV. Even the panhandle has its charms (well, at least Hampshire county). Reminds me a lot of home, rolling farmland.

I'm a Michigan native, myself. I spent 7 months in WV (Tucker County) last year for work at the National Wildlife Refuge. I was blessed with another job in the same area this summer.

My goal for life is to stay here permanently. I don't ever want to leave

The hardest part is adjusting to the 'friendliness'. Back home, nobody waves. Nobody offers help. They all stare at the stranger coming through. I know, I grew up in a small town. We're wary of 'outsiders'. Not here. I've been welcomed with open arms.

I have many friends who have asked the same question. One 'city folk' friend went ape-poop over my living in WV, and threw out every stereotype in the book. I just laughed and said "well, come visit". He still hasn't, and I suspect the charm would be lost on him anyway. That's okay. I'll keep it to myself.

[harborlady]

Originally Posted by David Kennedy

Perhaps Virginia would take us back and solve this problem once and for all.

Hmmmm I think WV expansion is in order. We should take everything in blue ridge too since they're only interested in HOA's and waterfront property. Even their own hill folk are inconvenient to them. Virginia proper as a commonwealth and an attitude seems more like Rhode Island to me.

[snorpus]

A while back we were discussing the expansion of Appalachia, although expanding towards Cleveland won't go over well up here in Steeler Country.

(Good to see you back, HL )

[David Kennedy]

If GM pulls out of Detroit...Michigan will be in Appalachia too.
Consider it an annexation of everybody who went there for jobs in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

[Newtgirl]

I think those flatlanders from the Great White Mitten would be more than happy to join the hill-folk. I speak from experience!

Also: western VA would probably jump at the chance. They're so far removed from places like VA Beach it's not even funny.

[DinahMills]

are you "from" arkansas? Why are you moving to Wv? I love Wv and its people. But not knowing where you are moving to and WV is a very diverse state. From the eastern panhandle to the northern panhandle to northcentral wv to southern wv.... all is different... So where do you plan to locate?

[MeganAK]

We are actually from Alaska (AK), not Arkansas (AR), but we have family in Arkansas! Why west Virginia? Well, the short answer is that we had two years here to research while I finished my contract. During our research, we looked at almost every state in the Lower 48. We settled on West Virginia because it seems to have everything we would want in terms of climate, topography, large pieces of land that are affordable, recreation, hunting, favorable gun laws, etc, etc.. We do not know yet where we will be moving to. We are driving down in a few weeks and will decide then. I have interviews tentatively set up at a number of hospitals, but are not willing to commit until we get there and walk the land with our own feet. As of now, we are leaning towards the central area- Clarksburg, Elkins, Glenville, etc., but that may change when we get there! We will know in about a month. Who knows, after 5,000 miles of driving, we may not care where we settle!!!

[suecen]

Megan - I envy you - that sounds like a wonderful journey!!

[MeganAK]

Thanks! We won't have much Internet access, but we'll try to post some pics and updates throughout the journey! I'm getting excited, but I hate packing, which I just started. Yuk.