West Virginia ?

[Average American]

I know this is irrelevant,.. but I'm curious about your take on the overall identity of West Virginia. I know, in addition to sports knowledge, a lot of CF'ers are conversant in American history/culture.
Do you consider West Va. a Southern state, or Northern state (?)

@ times, I've both lived in & travelled around the state.. I love it.
In terms of political, racial, religious attitudes/demographics how would you generally characterize the state ?, and I guess you can't forget weather, geography, basic physical characteristics..

throwing in this map too, showing WV counties when they were still a part of VA in the early 1860s.. Green counties were the ones who voted for Virginia to secede into the Confederacy, but it became a moot point as they all eventually left VA shortly after & stayed in the Union,..

 

[jaxvid]

Looks like the state has joined the "Solid South" recently, voting R for the last 3 presidential elections. Before that it supported Clinton and Dukakis, of all people, but did vote for Reagan in his landslide election.

What I remember most about the state was Hillary Clinton wooing the "working class white people" as a candidate in her primary battle with King Obama. When you have an election where the elite-est of the elite NY Senators is trying to convince West Virginia coal miners that she is the candidate that will protect their interests it is pretty clear you have a broken candidate selection process.

One of the best songs of it's genre ever: Country Roads: Almost Heaven, West Virginia-John Denver

[video=youtube;MWzeInQaUk4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzeInQaUk4[/video]

 

[Average American]

Looks like the state has joined the "Solid South"

that was basically my impression living there.. but I was just a few miles from the border of VA. The county I lived in had a lot of exchange with Virginia, ppl coming & going for work. I would routinely see Confederate flags & the local power structure was Republican.
I think WV held onto the old Democratic model for a long time.. the party of working class, but socially Conservative Whites.. but it's hard to be that kind of Democrat anymore.

I've never been into the northern panhandle, Wheeling, etc.. Anyone know if it looks, thinks more like a blue state (?) I know it's closer to OH & PA, than VA & Kentucky..

and yeah you're right, the idea of Hillary as the White working man's hero is comical in any state I think :whip:

 

[moose]

did you live in hardy county?

 

[Average American]

did you live in hardy county?

Northeast of Hardy county, up into the eastern panhandle..

Does Hardy have many commuters to VA (?) I noticed where I lived back in the day, was very connected to Winchester & other parts of northern (& northwestern) Virginia.
There were still Winchester, Front Royal natives, etc who seemed very Southern to me, also like eastern West Virginians.. but NoVa's gotten a lot of transplants & yuppies tied to government jobs in & around DC.. & the sprawl and transformation is heading west.

@ one point recently, some of those counties in the eastern panhandle were talking about seceding back into Virginia.. so I guess they feel Southern and/or have more confidence in Virginia's government & tax-base (?)

 

[Leonardfan]

Average American,

I lived in northern Virginia for many years. I recently moved but yes Northern VA is a multicultural nightmare - everyone is moving to the area to live within that government bubble - the federal govt and govt contracting keeps that area out of the economic realities the rest of the country faces.

The more dense that area gets the further the distance people travel to and from their jobs. Going west on Route 50 I think most of the development stops in Chantilly/South Run but people still commute from further out west. Same goes for people commuting from points south into DC. People in that area spend hours going to and from work every day just mortgaging their lives for a paycheck and the security of being employed by Big Brother.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

I consider the western/southern part of WVA as "de facto" Dixieland (albeit not Deep South). I know it's a state with many good, hard working folks. I've driven thru thru the I-81 corridor (eastern panhandle), but never been in the western Appalachian side.

 

[Bronk]

West Virginia is not part of the South. I've never met a Southerner who thought it was. It also does not belong in the Big 12 conference.

 

[Westside]

Average American,

I lived in northern Virginia for many years. I recently moved but yes Northern VA is a multicultural nightmare - everyone is moving to the area to live within that government bubble - the federal govt and govt contracting keeps that area out of the economic realities the rest of the country faces.

The more dense that area gets the further the distance people travel to and from their jobs. Going west on Route 50 I think most of the development stops in Chantilly/South Run but people still commute from further out west. Same goes for people commuting from points south into DC. People in that area spend hours going to and from work every day just mortgaging their lives for a paycheck and the security of being employed by Big Brother.

Hannity had a great expose on the "Boomtown" that encompasses DC and Northern Virginia. He made all of the points you made. fedgov, friggen racket for those that are blood sucking us. Man, something is going to have to give, or those making around 200K will see close to half of their income go to the fedgov and dems who controll it. Funny, these morons are some that cheered the loudest for BO and his dem enablers. Funny.

 

[Don Wassall]

West Virginia is the 3rd Whitest state, behind only Maine and Vermont. Only 3.4% of the population is black, and just 1.2% "hispanic." Western Pennsylvania, where I'm from, is similar demographically to West Virginia, excluding Pittsburgh, which is one of the Whiter big cities at almost 68% White. West Virginia is pretty much a combination of rural Pennsylvania with some Southern influences. Most of the small towns and rural areas are poor. A major part of Appalachia may be the best way to describe West Virginia as most of the state is quite hilly and mountainous.

 

[Thrashen]

West Virginia is the 3rd Whitest state, behind only Maine and Vermont. Only 3.4% of the population is black, and just 1.2% "hispanic." Western Pennsylvania, where I'm from, is similar demographically to West Virginia, excluding Pittsburgh, which is one of the Whiter big cities at almost 68% White. West Virginia is pretty much a combination of rural Pennsylvania with some Southern influences. Most of the small towns and rural areas are poor. A major part of Appalachia may be the best way to describe West Virginia as most of the state is quite hilly and mountainous.

I live in an area of delightfully-rural Pennsylvania that closely resembles areas I’ve seen in West Virginia. That is, an exquisite mixture of farmland, mountains, dense forest, and watercourses of every sort. Despite this similarity, many rural Pennsylvania’s make fun of them with Marxist-instructed verbiage (“inbred hicks†being the most popular terminology) and I instantly defend them and denigrate the retch-inducing inner city areas of PA. Given their proximity, I can only fathom how ruthlessly Pittsburgh’s white Marxists belittle the lily white population of WV. In the few times I’ve been to WV, nearly every “man’s truck†I saw proudly featured a confederate flag insignia…

Of course, this is also highly common in rural PA and Ohio, which are hundreds of miles from Dixie. I never got into displaying the “stars and bars†(I was an SS and Swastika kind of guy), but I think in the northern U.S. the Rebel Flag has come to loosely represent “white solidarity.†Have other northerners noticed this trend in the rural areas of their state?

I’ve read that nearly 80% of WV is covered by forested land, which is among the highest in the lower 48 states. Back in 2010, WV was 93% white, which without the tyrannical soldiers of Cultural Marxism, would likely still be the racial demographics in every U.S. state other than possibly New York, California, Hawaii, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and much of the deep south.

 

[Leonardfan]

On a sidenote - Western Maryland is one of my favorite places. Rolling hills, Mountains, great for biking - just a really timeless beautiful place in my opinion.

 

[Average American]

On a sidenote - Western Maryland is one of my favorite places. Rolling hills, Mountains, great for biking - just a really timeless beautiful place in my opinion.

you're talking like west of Hagerstown (?).. Frostburg, etc.. That part of MD, would be another stretch where I'd ask how you guys characterize it.. North or South. It looks almost identical to it's WV neighbors..

Maryland has that Border State split identity.. when I go thru Maryland's Eastern Shore, I feel like I'm in the deepest South, but as soon as you get in between DC & Baltimore you know you're in a more NorthEastern culture.. I used to go Frederick Maryland which was an okay place, probably breaking right down the middle in terms of Southern-Northern culture & world view (?)

 

[Leonardfan]

you're talking like west of Hagerstown (?).. Frostburg, etc.. That part of MD, would be another stretch where I'd ask how you guys characterize it.. North or South. It looks almost identical to it's WV neighbors..

Maryland has that Border State split identity.. when I go thru Maryland's Eastern Shore, I feel like I'm in the deepest South, but as soon as you get in between DC & Baltimore you know you're in a more NorthEastern culture.. I used to go Frederick Maryland which was an okay place, probably breaking right down the middle in terms of Southern-Northern culture & world view (?)

Yes - bascially Cumberland, MD on west following I-68. I loved going on trips out that way and just being outdoors - very serene and quiet.

 

[Average American]

new West Virginia stamp.. released last month.