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it would be great if there were a "four state" sub forum but then again how could it be done since it involves four states ?? One the other hand I guess it could be noted that who outside of broadcast media really does think of the Chambersburg to Winchester region as being "four state" ?? Back in 1989 there was talk among the four counties of Franklin/Chambersburg & Waynesboro ( PA ), Washington/Hagerstown ( MD ), Berkeley/Martinsburg ( WV ) and Frederick/Winchester ( VA ) about promoting the area as "four state" but unfortunately in the end only Martinsburg & Winchester were in favor of it while Chambersburg/Waynesboro didn't care but VERY sadly it was an "oh HELL NO !! "from Hagerstown. I guess it is a case of Hagerstown/Washington County being wrapped around calling thmeselves a "tri-state" area for just too long even though Washington County, MD is one of the very few counties in America that really does boarder FOUR states. One would think that they would promote THAT ???
Last edited by tantan1968; 05-31-2015 at 09:37 PM..
I think it's a natural. We live in a small state, but the EP is one of the areas where there is a lot happening and the population is growing. It makes sense for them to have their own forum.
There do seem to be a lot more relocation type threads involving the eastern panhandle than there are in the general and existing sub-forums. Whether that means a fourth sub-forum is now needed for a state our size, I'm not sure.
As you can also see the Area covers a LOT Not just Jefferson & Berkeley Counties! So calling it that Not going to help much!!
Thanks for the link! Sidebar, there's an interesting section on HOA in there that is worth reading, and maybe discussing elsewhere.
"Eastern Panhandle" might be a bit large and "overly inclusive". On the other hand, maybe "Eastern Eastern Panhandle" could carry a lot of traffic and put it all in the right place... but it sounds sort of silly. "I-81 Corridor" might sound better, but it also might be too fine a focus.
Maybe people could just put something in their new-thread titles like "I-81Corridor"? I'd say "put it in brackets" but I think that's a special character to the software.
it would be great if there were a "four state" sub forum but then again how could it be done since it involves four states ?? One the other hand I guess it could be noted that who outside of broadcast media really does think of the Chambersburg to Winchester region as being "four state" ?? Back in 1989 there was talk among the four counties of Franklin/Chambersburg & Waynesboro ( PA ), Washington/Hagerstown ( MD ), Berkeley/Martinsburg ( WV ) and Frederick/Winchester ( VA ) about promoting the area as "four state" but unfortunately in the end only Martinsburg & Winchester were in favor of it while Chambersburg/Waynesboro didn't care but VERY sadly it was an "oh HELL NO !! "from Hagerstown. I guess it is a case of Hagerstown/Washington County being wrapped around calling thmeselves a "tri-state" area for just too long even though Washington County, MD is one of the very few counties in America that really does boarder FOUR states. One would think that they would promote THAT ???
I do (bolded part), and have thought that since I moved to the nearby Harrisburg area in 2000 (and then the DC area in 2008). Chambersburg to Winchester is only about 65 miles, and though the Winchester area also has some strong ties to the areas in Virginia south of it in the Shenandoah Valley, my outsider impression is that Winchester and most of Frederick County, VA is really more in a region with Martinsburg/eastern WV panhandle, and by association Hagerstown, and then by association Chambersburg and Waynesboro (and to some degree Shippensburg). This entire portion of the Great Valley/northern Shenandoah Valley also has fairly strong ties to the DC area.
Incidentally, when I think of the eastern WV panhandle, I really only think of Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties (i.e. the three easternmost counties). Just my 2 cents.
I do (bolded part), and have thought that since I moved to the nearby Harrisburg area in 2000 (and then the DC area in 2008). Chambersburg to Winchester is only about 65 miles, and though the Winchester area also has some strong ties to the areas in Virginia south of it in the Shenandoah Valley, my outsider impression is that Winchester and most of Frederick County, VA is really more in a region with Martinsburg/eastern WV panhandle, and by association Hagerstown, and then by association Chambersburg and Waynesboro (and to some degree Shippensburg). This entire portion of the Great Valley/northern Shenandoah Valley also has fairly strong ties to the DC area.
Incidentally, when I think of the eastern WV panhandle, I really only think of Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties (i.e. the three easternmost counties). Just my 2 cents.
I agree completely. Ever since the late-90's/early-2000's, many new transplants have moved to the region that we know as the Four State Region. These transplants most likely looked at homes in all four cities (Winchester, Martinsburg, Hagerstown, and Chambersburg), only to decide by the depth of their wallet. If you couldn't afford Winchester, you looked in Hagerstown. If you couldn't afford Hagerstown, you looked in Martinsburg and Chambersburg. This cycle of new people moving into the area brought a lot of white-collar professionals (which is why the shopping and dining throughout the Four State has dramatically increased over the years).
Even today, the economic links are extremely evident. Many Martinsburg/Charles Town residents commute to Winchester for work (and sometimes play/shopping), but just as many head toward other NOVA cities from both Winchester AND Martinsburg/Charles Town to their place of work. Many Martinsburg people work and shop in Hagerstown as well. Hagerstown is large enough that it can be self-contained, but many Hagerstown residents commute to nearby Frederick. Countless Chambersburg residents commute to Hagerstown for work, shopping, and dining. These economic ties sometimes get lost in thinking only about state boundaries.
Yes, the Four State is an economically vibrant region that many people seem to separate by state boundaries, which is an errant thing to do. All four large cities, and their respective counties, are connected by both I-81 and strong economic ties (in large part by Interstate access). I hope to see more collaboration between counties in the region in the future, as I see all of them contributing their own strengths to the collective region. Will that happen? I hope so, and maybe a new City-Data subforum could be the kickoff.
I'm not sure whether that is the boot or the bootleg of the EPWV, but it would be nice if somehow we can get our own sub forum folder. I've heard how some people still get confused between Charleston, WV and Charles Town, WV, so getting this sub-forum folder could be quite helpful.
Our new slogan: we put the handle in panhandle (of WV)
Last edited by cat1116; 06-01-2015 at 07:36 PM..
Reason: Added slogan
I live in Morgantown, but spend a lot of time in the EP because I have family living and working there. It is definitely my impression that the Chambersburg to Winchester corridor is a cohesive area, all of which is suburban DC/Baltimore. The government uses arbitrary county lines to formulate their designations, but in my view that is erroneous and does not really address actual conditions. This forum is designed in state format, so it won't account for that either, but clearly Jefferson-Berkeley-Morgan deserves its own forum as much as any other.
It is clear that we are going to keep growing here in Morgantown, but the sheer spillover from DC/Baltimore, in time, will easily make that area the most heavily populated in our state. I drove up I-81 just a couple days ago... there was building going on everywhere... just like there is here. In my opinion, this holds out real promise for our state long term.
Incidentally, when I think of the eastern WV panhandle, I really only think of Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties (i.e. the three easternmost counties). Just my 2 cents.
WHAGTV Weather broke it up to Eastern Panhandle is Morgan Berkeley & Jefferson & calls the rest Potomac Highlands cause the weather so different they did that 20 yrs ago WHICH makes it confusing to newbies.
I have a couple other, semi-related thoughts to add to the thread:
1) Those of you who live in the eastern WV panhandle (or more appropriately, the four state area) and follow minor league baseball probably already know the owners of the Hagerstown Suns have been pushing to move the team or have the city of Hagerstown to build a new stadium to replace the charming but outdated Hagerstown Municipal Stadium. The first place that was suggested as a new location for the team was Winchester, VA. I am reasonably sure Winchester was targeted because it is the second-largest city/town in that PA-MD-WV-VA I-81 valley corridor, and would have kept the team in the same region, which I think was an important consideration to the team owners. However, the city of Winchester, like the city of Hagerstown, did not want to build a new stadium, so the team has considered other options. (The owners have since looked to move the team to Fredericksburg, VA, but to my knowledge that effort has also fallen through.) I suspect they don't want to look at Martinsburg because it is distinctly smaller than Hagerstown and somewhat smaller than Winchester (and also seems to be not quite as well off as either of those two places, particularly Winchester), but perhaps they won't rule the eastern WV panhandle out as a location.
2) When you come right down to it, the Megalopolis region on the East Coast is defined to a significant degree by its cross-state connections that don't follow political boundaries. South central Pennsylvania, where Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York are located, has a fairly close relationship in many ways with the Baltimore area and to a lesser degree the DC area (as well as the Philadelphia area). The Lehigh Valley (i.e. the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area in east central PA) has an increasingly close relationship with NYC/northern NJ (as well as Philadelphia). Both Philadelphia and New York often use the term "Tri-State Area" in the local media (for PA, NJ, and DE for Philly, and for NY, NJ, and CT for NYC; in Philadelphia's case even a small portion of NE Maryland is part of its region). The DC area is often called the DMV for the District, Maryland, and Virginia. Finally, the large East Coast cities have fairly close relationships with one another, even though they are all in different states.
Though the valley/I-81 corridor, four state region is at the edge of Megalopolis, it still exhibits those cross-state relationships that are common in the region, and like some of the other smaller but not insignificant urbanized areas away from the I-95 corridor, it also has close ties to the nearby, larger regions (particularly DC but also Baltimore and even south central PA to a lesser degree). Truthfully, my impression is that the eastern WV panhandle has closer relationships with various regions outside of West Virginia than it does with most of the rest of the state, and that probably creates some political tension in the state.
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