West Virginia

West Virginia is a place that I will always feel deeply and personally connected. I was born and raised there as a child. West Virginia’s environment always made you feel like you were, “Almost in Heaven”. Fall was always my favorite time of the year in West Virginia. It would be that time of year that we started wearing our sweaters during the cooler weather. Fall foliage would begin, turning the trees vibrant colors of red, yellow and orange. Neighbors would get together to start…

Location: The Great Teays River was a river that flowed north and north west in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The river was named after the valley found in Putnam County, WV (Teays Valley). Teays Valley was named after Stephen Teays who was an early settler. A few places I was familiar with that the river ran through was Scioto County and Chillicothe in Ohio and along the Interstate 64 in West Virginia from Charleston toward Huntington. The river during this…

During the early 1900's miners in southern West Virginia were fighting, literally, for simple rights that every worker deserves. A 40-hour work week, decent pay that wasn't in scrip, and a sense of safety. On May 19 of 1920, members of the Baldwin-Felts detective agency arrived in the town of Matewan to evict union miners from houses owned by the Stone Mountain Coal Company. After catching wind of the detectives’ activities, Matewan Mayor Cabell Testerman and a pro-union sheriff named Sid…

Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945, by Ronald Eller explores the devastation of traditional culture and land use in the Appalachian region at the hands of the coal industry and local, state, and federal leaders and policy makers. His perspective comes from one that separates growth from development and is highly critical of efforts to force Appalachia into a national economic model that is not aligned with the regions unique historical situations. After briefly setting the stage in the Civil…

Despite that the American Civil War officially began April 13, 1861 at Fort Sumter; the Civil war had been in a making for quite some time. Ever since America was barely formed the differences between the people of the North and the South arose, and as time and progression continued so did the tension in between the two. The geography was considerably dissimilar. The North dealt with bays and harbors, frozen winters and warm summers, and rocky and infertile soil. While the South managed with…

The Buffalo Creek Disaster is a book by Gerald M Stern, about how the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal-mining company. The book … by Gerald M. Stern is about a disaster that happened in 1976 …The book was review by prominent persons search as the former President of the United States who termed it as “A shocking, timely book”. Also, The New York Times Book Review talked of the book as “a fascinating tale of how investigative lawyers…

region tend to believe these stereotypes, and the life of an Appalachian tends to revolve around coal mining. The Film, October Sky, was directed by Joe Johnston in 1999, portraying the life of Homer Hickam. The movie takes place in Coalwood, West Virginia revolving about the main character Homer Hickam, played by Jake Gyllenhaal,…

Lincoln announced that they would be using this plan on April 19, 1861. The Union first traveled down the Mississippi River into New Orleans and gained control of the Mississippi River. Once they blocked off the west portion , the south could not transport any weapons to and from lands toward the west. Then they advanced from the Mississippi river to Georgia to block off more land. Once this land was blocked off, they didn’t have…

Outcomes: The 4-H Extension Agent directly taught 1,635 youth and 85 Educators during 22 separate STEM events: • 634 K-5th grade children received quality 4-H science program through 4-H Outdoor Classroom Days and through partnership with elementary schools’ outdoor classrooms. • 200 youth participated in 4-H science activity at the Clay Center for the Arts and Science Engineering Day. • 132 second, fifth and sixth grade students received in-school STEM training. • 143 participated in STEM…

various daily challenges? One could argue that the unusual and destructive behavior of Rex and Rose Mary forced her into a few unique situations that resulted in surprisingly her acting as a resilient and successful adult. In moving back to Welch, Virginia, Jeannette lost what minimal sense of security she may have enjoyed while living in her grandmother’s home in Arizona. The culture and climate (both socially and geographically) along with an increased awareness of her and her family’s…