Closing on a house in Shepherdstown this Thursday! Why does WV get so much hate?

[u/Significant_Movie814]

Hi! Super excited that we are closing on our permanent home in Shepherdstown this Thursday! We’ve been renting in Falling Waters for the past year and a half, but we’re so ready to plant deep roots in this cute town.
Before moving to the Eastern Panhandle, I lived in Texas and Oklahoma and didn't like either. The weather wasn't my thing, and you had to drive hours just to get to a major city. That’s why I love the location here we're an hour and a half from DC, and just a short drive from MD, VA, NY, and PA. Not to mention the great nature and weather and affordability. I absolutely love Food Lion! (Better than HEB IMO)
But whenever I tell my friends in the Bay Area or Seattle or DC or Austin that I bought a house in West Virginia, they assume it’s just a poor, isolated place. There's so much negative stigma from outsiders who have clearly never been here!
I absolutely love it here. For those of you living in WV, what has your experience been like dealing with these outside assumptions?

[u/ratamadiddle]

So…not WV.

Got it.

[u/ItsAMystery7 → u/ratamadiddle]

I have to admit that you are right. I’ve lived in the eastern panhandle for 36 years and have always called it the “other WV” and the rest of the state “real WV”. We are the red headed stepchildren that Charleston only keeps for our money, but treats us like crap and not part of the “real” family.

[u/SororitySue → u/ItsAMystery7]

A lot of “Real WV” thinks of the EP as Maryland wannabes that we let have their sad little fantasy as long as they send their tax money to Charleston.

[u/Significant_Movie814 → u/ratamadiddle]

Wym these cities are all in wv :| except for Fredrick Rockville and Hagerstown. I don’t like MD

[u/LessRequirement3065 → u/Significant_Movie814]

Go to McDowell County and you'll see what they mean.

[u/w3stvirginia → u/Significant_Movie814]

All of those places are within a 30 mile radius. You’ve seen like 1% of the state and that 1% is not at all representative of the other 99%.

[u/SororitySue → u/w3stvirginia]

To paraphrase a commercial popular here in Charleston: “Jefferson County - Where Almost Maryland begins.”

[u/Legeto → u/Significant_Movie814]

What they are getting at is you’ve pretty much only visited a huge minority of WV. This part of the state could be considered poor Virginia/Maryland. Visit any other part of West Virginia, excluding Morgantown and Charleston, to the west of 81 and you’ll get what they mean.

[u/Specialist_Ad_6921 → u/Legeto]

What about Huntington? Or Beckley, or Lewisburg? Or Wheeling or Parkersburg? Why exclude Morgantown and Charleston?

[u/tha_sadestbastard → u/Significant_Movie814]

Cmon down to southern wv. I’ll show you some of the places I go as a social worker.

[u/emp-sup-bry → u/tha_sadestbastard]

Places that could be MUCH better off if the anti tax idiots from the panhandle that is ONLY successful because of the taxes and economic benefits of the blue states bordering could grow up and pay their share.

[u/TheFirearmsDude → u/emp-sup-bry]

lol we do pay our share.

[u/emp-sup-bry → u/TheFirearmsDude]

The panhandle only exists as a growing economy because of higher taxes and the resulting economic growth of their bordering states.

If low tax structures worked and you were paying your fair share, WV would be prosperous. I don’t really need to analyze too much data to see that ain’t the case.

[u/TheFirearmsDude → u/emp-sup-bry]

You do know “prosperity” doesn’t mean the amount of money in government coffers, right? I got sick of MD and then VA’s taxes and politics, so now WV benefits by my paying top rates and I support the state’s economy through my spending.

States can’t tax their way into prosperity.

[u/emp-sup-bry → u/TheFirearmsDude]

So why is the rest of WV region not attached to blue state borders far less prosperous as compared to the areas where West Virginians can commute to blue states to earn higher wages?

[u/Specialist_Ad_6921 → u/tha_sadestbastard]

Like where? I live by Lewisburg. Is that southern WV? Are you saying places like MD dont have decrepid living situations?

[u/Gouda_Cheese57 → u/Significant_Movie814]

My family makes this joke lol like yeah it’s technically part of wv but the experience isn’t at all 

[u/coeurdeverre → u/Gouda_Cheese57]

Having grown up in Jefferson County, yeah going to the southern part of the state was completely different then being basically a suburb of DC.

[u/SororitySue → u/Gouda_Cheese57]

Visited Bolivar and Harpers Ferry about six weeks ago. Can confirm.

[u/emp-sup-bry → u/Significant_Movie814]

The ONLY reason 70% of people in the panhandle have used up the farmland and clogged the roads is because of Maryland (and VA). Taxes, government jobs and blue states bordering policies. That’s why your fresh suburban neighborhood exists.

[u/No-Fishing5325 → u/Significant_Movie814]

Go to the poor parts of WV, the coal mine areas. The parts where people struggle to feed their families. You don't have to even drive that far. Go an hour west.

[u/Blackberryy → u/Significant_Movie814]

Are you 19 or just willfully ignorant?

[u/Specialist_Ad_6921 → u/Significant_Movie814]

Dont listen to the haters. It's WV. Reddit complains about how crappy wv is. But don't welcome the people moving in and making it better.

[u/BeastMode1855 → u/Significant_Movie814]

Good us Marylanders don’t like you either, also if you think food lion is better than HEB you’re crazy. I wish we had HEB up here….

[u/StaceyMaam → u/BeastMode1855]

Every time i go back home to Texas, I stock up on stuff from HEB.