Does anyone here know what it’s like, generally or specifically? I MIGHT be moving there temporarily to help care for an elderly aunt. Is it as depressing, backwards, deplorable, and dilapidated a shithole as it seems? Or is it the only tolerable place in an intolerable state? I know Marshall University is there.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | November 5, 2021 7:22 PM |
They named a terrible disease for it.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | November 4, 2021 4:24 PM |
You know from reading DL that the only livable place in the world is New York, so why ask?
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | November 4, 2021 7:37 PM |
I fucking hated those fat cunts.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | November 4, 2021 7:38 PM |
Isn't WV the state where some cunt mayor called Michelle Obama a gorilla in heels? I mean, you're in WV and you're throwing shade?!!! WV home of my sister my mother
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | November 4, 2021 7:45 PM |
The location evaluation troll rears her ugly head again!
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | November 4, 2021 7:46 PM |
Massive inferiority complex. Well-deserved.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | November 4, 2021 7:51 PM |
We used to have an office there. It is. Not good. The whole state is generally pretty bad but Morgantown is the big college town. Charleston is okay, as is much of the area up by the MD/VA border: Charlestown, Berkeley Springs, shepherds town, etc. Also there’s a small gay area near Lost River. But that’s nowhere near Huntington I don’t think.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | November 4, 2021 9:53 PM |
Dollar stores. Hard looks from hard looking people. Fast food franchises. Dollar General stores. Dollar Tree stores. For luxury goods, there's the Tractor Supply Store. Grocery stores with the charm of that gas station/meat shop in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only a little bigger, and with flickering fluorescent lights and a static charge to everything. Eternal mood: suspicion and distrust. Pizza Huts and food franchises you had forgotten for 25 years. Wild and wonderful.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | November 4, 2021 10:25 PM |
My husband grew up in the Eastern panhandle. We both went to WVU, then moved for jobs. We dreamed about moving back after we retired, until about 10 years ago. Now we wouldn't live in WV---not even Morgantown---if you paid us.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | November 4, 2021 10:31 PM |
Don't drink the water, OP. It's full of coal slurry that'll kill you (but it tastes delicious!)
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | November 4, 2021 10:35 PM |
Marshall University is there. We are Marshall with Matthew McConaughey was about it.
I was there for a conference in the 70s. Even West Virginia was decent then as the economy had not been complete destroyed. From what I read above, and the opiod crisis, it sounds horrible now.
But it is a college town.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | November 4, 2021 10:41 PM |
I mean you might find some cultural events and people to befriend at Marshall.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | November 4, 2021 10:56 PM |
Oh God, about 10 years ago, Jamie Fucking Oliver had a TV show about going to Huntington WV and trying to get healthy food into the schools, because it had been named "The Unhealthiest City In America".
And that was before the opioid crisis.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | November 5, 2021 12:15 AM |
[quote] I was there for a conference in the 70s.
What were the dinosaurs like?
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | November 5, 2021 12:17 AM |
At least they prescribe opioids for people with back pain. One of the few places left where it hasn’t been made essentially illegal. For better or worse.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | November 5, 2021 2:57 AM |
Beautiful charming town with a large vibrant and active gay community.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 19 | November 5, 2021 3:18 AM |
My suggestion is move your elderly aunt out of WV. It's a shithole and will always be one.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | November 5, 2021 4:08 AM |
That’s kind of you to go help care for your aunt OP.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | November 5, 2021 4:11 AM |
The people are friendlier than in many states. Crime is fairly low. Housing is relatively inexpensive, a lot of activities if you are the outdoor type.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | November 5, 2021 4:30 AM |
That's as far as OP's money will get him with a Greyhound ticket.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | November 5, 2021 4:42 AM |
[quote]The people are friendlier than in many states. Crime is fairly low.
Friendly? West Virginia comes in 45th place in the ranking of friendliest states — or in 5th place for unfriendliest states. I've found people in West Virginia to be suspicious as fuck, not exactly warm or welcoming.
In violent crime it is the 29th most dangerous state, so mid-range, more or less, but Huntington itself doesn't fare so well:
[quote]The 2019 crime rate in Huntington, WV is 450 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 1.7 times higher than the U.S. average. It was higher than in 93.8% U.S. cities. The 2019 Huntington crime rate fell by 19% compared to 2017. The number of homicides stood at 4 - a decrease of 12 compared to 2017. In the last 5 years Huntington has seen increasing violent crime and decline of property crime.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 24 | November 5, 2021 12:38 PM |
I've been to Huntington three times. It's not the worst city in WV - Marshall Univ. isn't bad, there are some really good, old fashioned hot dog stands (they put cole slaw on them and call them slaw dogs), and my favorite Italian restaurant is Rocco's Ristorante in nearby Ceredo next door. But even with Marshall it is still a blue collar city with blue collar incomes and a blue collar mentality.
Charleston is the nicest town in WV, but overall it's impossible not to notice how the coal industry has fucked up the environment and landscape in that state.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | November 5, 2021 1:37 PM |
R25, meet Veda.
"And this town and its dollar-days and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 26 | November 5, 2021 2:36 PM |
Go into your sojourn with the attitude that you've been posted to a strange and foreign land with the assurance you can return to your home country when it's over. It's not 'here' so enjoy it for what it is and be grateful you can get out when you're done.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | November 5, 2021 3:34 PM |
This is a thread that reminds me of how glad I am that I was never close enough with any family members outside my immediate family to go to any effort on their behalf.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | November 5, 2021 3:49 PM |
I think there is a Russian Orthodox monastery near there. The church built one because the land is inexpensive and isolated. Worthy of a day trip?
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | November 5, 2021 3:55 PM |
It has a real lack of pretentious assholes, so you won't fit in.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | November 5, 2021 4:02 PM |
[quote] Eternal mood: suspicion and distrust
I can't imagine why they would be suspicious and distrustful of the sort of people represented on this thread
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | November 5, 2021 4:39 PM |
The comment that it’s a “hard place with hard people” is right. I know very good people from WV but they grew up with a lot of money so were insulated from what it’s like to live on a small paycheck there. It is a difficult life. The joy of life there is in the beautiful wilderness that still exists there, not things like restaurants or shopping. OP, if you like hiking, skiing, or - yuck- hunting, you can find a way to have a pleasant time. It is a Wild and Wonderful place but not a Warm and Welcoming place for anyone (not just snobs).
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | November 5, 2021 4:51 PM |
When I was there about 7 years ago I found that people would often say hello and actually look at you when you passed on the sidewalk. I asked a bus driver where I could catch my bus and he said the closest would be the terminal, and when I thanked him and walked away he stopped me and said to get on the bus since he was heading to the station anyway, no charge.
We had 7 shootings here in Phila. over the weekend, people rarely say hello unbidden or look at you. The same is true for most of the NEast. Those state rankings people like so much are just BS, I looked at two, one had Ohio as one of the friendliest states, the other had Ohio as the rudest.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | November 5, 2021 6:13 PM |
Ol' Earl up the crick will play cards with you, on some evenings.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | November 5, 2021 7:22 PM |
