Born and raised there but left in ‘70. The people are kind and generous overall, very polite. The mountains are beautiful. Unfortunately there are very few jobs, the railroads, coal companies, DuPont and Union Carbide and other chemical companies are a lesser influence now. Often these employers left behind a poisoned and ruined ground, rivers and even drinking water which made for many EPA clean up sites. The poverty can be very crippling and sadly too many younger generation have fallen into drug addiction ( the pharmaceutical companies flooded small West Virginia towns with enough pain medication to treat 30% of the world it seemed) and you have addicts who have to commit crimes to afford their addiction. Very sad to me. I loved my youth there, it really is a unique and can be a fabulous place.

I'm a Yankee & drove big trucks all over the country. I always loved West Virginia. It's a beautiful state & the folks are the friendliest & nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

I don't know where you're from but you haven't seen rough or narrow roads and yes our fire hydrant work. The North central counties aren't rural for WV, head down to the southern part of the state. I've been here for 56 years and there are places you don't go unless you're invited. Glad to have visitors, so thanks for stopping by.

This is a man after my own heart. He loves the little things, the old things, even scary and confusing things. Love your passion brother. We're kindred spirits.

No HOA here as he passes what looks like the wrong turn😂😂😂👏👏👏 good one man had me rolling

Too long? There's no such thing as too long. I love these videos, they're so peaceful. Unless you're getting tired of filming, which I can understand.

I live in WV and love it. We are poor compared to other states however the people are friendly and I never feel afraid. I love being surrounded by mountains and rivers. We go 4x4 riding, kayaking, camping and sit on the porch. That's about it!!

I turned on Utube and was shocked to see the road that leads to my family’s home place! You passed the home my mother was born and raised in. Over 100 years ago my grandfather owned much of the land off the road in your opening shot! My parents lived there until they passed. Mother last in 2018. I moved back a few years to be with her after my husband died. WV holds my hearts fondest memories. I live in the big city now near my adult children 550 miles south. It’s far too sad how neglected WV has been treated from the start. You saw evidence of severe flooding on your route. But you saw little evidence of solid employment.

The town of Grafton is the home of Mother's Day. It was started there by a woman named Anna Jarvis. There is a museum and a school there in her name. It was also once a major hub for the B&O Railroad. That building you stopped at with the broken lamp globes was the passenger station where the used to board from 1911 to 1960.

I'm a new fan. Lot's of folks try to make these kinds of videos but they often just don't work. Yours really do. After a long day they're relaxing and your calm narrative and curiosity to view abandoned homes with their untold stories which we can only imagine along with you hits all the right notes. Nice blend.

Quiet, peaceful, beautiful. This is what the countryside looks like and a place I wouldn't mind spending my twilight years

🎶🎼"West Virginia.. Mountain MaMa, Take me home country road"🎼🎶 The buildings and the homes are massive in that State. Oh my God, I couldn't believe how tall they were.

West Virginia is a beautiful mountainous state with great scenery. I miss driving through that state.

From a fellow flatlander to another. These areas are truly amazing and unfortunately most are forgotten since their heyday is long gone. I moved to SW PA from along the gulf coast of Louisiana. What a difference between the two! But I'll say I fell in love with the areas and their residents. These are some of the most efficient and resilient peoples who have made the most with next to nothing. They live quite the symbiotic life with the land, which to me is amazing. You should look into when they do their festivals and or markets. The variety of fresh foods and canned foods that they know how to make and can sell is great! Being here has taught me so much!

I live here in WV born and raised. I always said I live in an ant hole, what I mean by that is mountains all around me. This state is absolutely beautiful!

Wow, what a gorgeous day for sightseeing beautiful countryside! This is the kind of video I love to watch after a stressful day working. I just hop in the car with Joe and he takes me on a relaxing trip away from all that for a while. Thanks, Joe!

New follower(started today😁). I've lived in WV most of my life. Our state is usually talked down upon, belittled or the star of a demeaning & crude joke. I absolutely love your approach and appreciation for its rural beauty and its uniqueness. I will absolutely be doing a deep dive into your content so that the exposure I get off each new town throughout our beautiful country, will be absolutely a positive experience. I feel like you'd be an excellent person to get to know.

Although I've moved on ,.WV will always be home ! Miss it ! Don't miss the snow . But West Virginians are my people ! ♥️🇩🇴

I'm from West Virginia and have been in this area . I want to thank you for all the positive comments about the state . Most people want to put it down !

I've never even heard of Grafton WV until this video but it's honestly one of the most beautiful towns I've seen. Love the narrow streets and the big, beautiful old homes built into the mountains. The old architecture downtown is spectacular also!

West Virginia a great place to go for a vacation. Beautiful ❤️ I enjoy your videos, I don't mind long videos

Absolutely loving this! Always wanted to go to West Virginia - having a great time riding along! Thank you! 😊

Hi Lord Spoda Thanks for this beautiful video. Wow! It was a wonderful drive zigzaging through stunningly beautiful rural small towns lost in green mountains. Truly rural, not a trace of modernity, hustle and bustle as if the towns are meditating in natural ambiance!

Lived in WV my entire 58 years. It has some very beautiful areas especially in Summer and Fall. It has one of the lowest costs of living in the country. But along with that comes low wages unless you are one of the few working miners left or a nurse or doctor. Good paying jobs are very scarce. It can be a really good retirement location if you have a decent retirement pay out. The downside to that is healthcare leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you can make a trip to Pittsburgh, Columbus or Cleveland. One more thing if you want to see a rural version of Detroit type decay? Travel south to McDowell, Mingo or Logan County WV. And I am not just trashing those area's, I grew up in Logan County for 20 years. BTW, I love your videos.

You keep your windshield nice and clean for these drive arounds! Always loved West Virginia

Your reactions are very similar to my own as I drive around rural towns in West Virginia, a state where I am a newly retired transplant from a flatter area of our country and which I have come to love and appreciate for its beauty and amazing sights. Your video is much appreciated!😀

Thanks, nice.

Aha....Mr John Denver, now I get to see what you were saying...,. sure wish Ma could've seen it too,... 😔👍👍🏃😊😇

Would’ve loved to see more of that civil war burial site. How cool.

Appalachia has some of the most beautiful places on Earth, but it also has some squalor that's only matched on some reservations out west.

I am from Tunnelton. I remember Frog Holler road being a one lane dirt road where you had to pull over to let another pass. Thanks for the ride home.

Kingwood is where Camp Dawson is located, it’s a Special Forces camp, and it’s rugged. I’ve been there with the 19th SF Group, and there are exchange soldiers that train there. Like the SAS. And I have seen Navy UDT there, training SF guys on Zodiacs.

I was so glad to see someone enjoying the beauty of my home state without the negative stereotypes. 🙂 I have traveled all over this country but love WV the most. It is sad to see so many decaying downtowns but I have hope. More and more people from out of state are buying land here, it's one of the few places were land is still somewhat affordable. It's beautiful, the people are so friendly, and the GDP has risen the last few years. I hope your video encourages more people to visit us.

Loved the content of this vid. Last year we spent 2 weeks family vacation in very rural WV in Pocahontas County and the Monogohela National Forest. Also went as far south as Lewisburg, WV. Funny how all those small towns, villages and hamlets look the same. Signs of life…but, you never see anyone walking or standing around talking, or kids playing. Stores closed up and houses and trailers left abandoned right next to a nice house with a newer model car in the driveway. In a way it’s like the Twilight Zone.

Thanks for posting this. My great-grandmother's family was from this area and I was in Grafton and Clarksburg 14 years ago doing some genealogical research. It all looks so familiar - the narrow winding roads, the houses all built on the sides of hills or gullies. The gorgeous mountain scenery. A lot different from the Midwest where I'm from!

I was just driving through West Virginia for the first time on Friday! I came in near Morgantown and took a southwesterly route through the state. Saw mostly the same things as you. Towns with a mix of upscale homes along with older houses that needed a little TLC, but were examples of some gorgeous architecture. The state was nothing at all like the media would have you believe, and I enjoyed my time there.

In all my travels around the country, West Virginia is the most beautiful state.

Thanks for sharing with us the beautiful sceneries of the small towns. That is what I’d been wanting to do , experience exploring places like that ,for a long time. More power to you.

Thank you for your journeys, making them available for us to tag along. Love what you're doing!

You should go there in the fall when all the trees turn, it's even better especially in the mountains around Blackwater Falls

I love the old buildings and old houses! Lots of history! Thanks for the tour!

Born and raised in West Virginia. It is bar none the most beautiful state in the Country. Country Roads by John Denver explains perfectly how anybody that calls West Virginia home feels. It's imbedded in our Souls. We may be one of the poorest states in the country and didn't have all the materialistic things a lot of people had but we were far richer than most. You'll never meet kinder people. More giving people. More respectful people. More honest people. More loving people. I'll take that over money any day. They don't call it Wild Wondeful West Virginia for nothin.

In 1985 Rowlesburg and several towns along the river were just about wiped out from a flood. The devastation to homes and roads was incredible.

Thank you for your videos, I live in Tampa fl and I enjoyed your videos so much, the beauty of West Va is absolutely beautiful. P.s. your videos are never to long 😊

I'm from Parkersburg wva love your video I have been all over the state I live in ga now and miss wva I'm 70 now and thinking about going back thank you for doing this ❤

This made me want to hop in the car and go on a road trip! Beautiful! Thank you!

Thank you for another very fine video. I really appreciate your calm , "matter of fact" style and camera use . These are towns most of us would never see and it is the next best thig to being there. West Virginia is beautiful but I would miss the comforts of a major urban area after awhile.

Thank you for the trip don't know if I'd ever live in the mountains but some of them homes are really gorgeous

Good tour...thnx good job.

I like it. Thanks for posting this!

Im from New Zealand and I absolutely love love LOVE your clips. Thank you so much for sharing your world with us !!!

Been through Huntington and fell in love with the Harper's ferry area ...spent as much time there as I could in 95-6 working on Dulles airport... A Californian felt at home there....Thanks...good fishing holes around there too ..Falls Church and such....hope to visit again soon... Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High school CA ✌️❤️🇺🇸

The beauty of WV is unmatched within the US. If your still filming there you should drive to southern WV thru my hometown of Bluefield

Enjoyed this video so much. I love small towns

Turn your phone to airplane mode then off airplane mode after a couple seconds. Your phone will pick up the nearest tower. Thank you for beautiful videos. I love my W.Va.

Love this video. Dare I say, WV is almost as beautiful as the mountains of central Pennsylvania. Awesome state!

You said it as I was about to comment, I can’t imagine these roads in the winter!! Whoa.

Thanks for the ride along. When I was able I would stay at relatives in West Virginia and visit the small towns.

I lived in Wheeling WV as a foreign student in the early 80s and I have to say those are the friendliest Americans I have ever been around.

Beautiful to look at and being from UK 🇬🇧 very interesting to see those lovely styles of houses . I can see myself in a rocking chair taking in that view sipping a G&T and chewing the cud with anyone who pops in to visit for a while . Now I'll wake up , not going to happen but I will visit 🙂 now I've seen it . Really enjoying your videos , I'd pay good money to watch them on TV . I'm a little late to the game but subscribed now .

Thank you! I live in Kearneysville, WV and never been to any of these towns. I enjoyed your video.

Thanx for the video! I can sit in the comfort of my home w/o spending 💰 for ⛽ gas or lodging and enjoy the scenery with you all! 🤠✝️🤷

Loved that nice little tour that was really interesting. I would love to see one of ur fun tours

This would have to be the best "Small Town USA" video I've so far seen. Greetings from Australia.

I just found your channel and subscribed!! Looking forward to browsing thru your explorations!!

I am so glad I stumbled on your video, thank you so much for taking me along! Beautiful places and wonderful history, every corner. I hope you drove on into Elkins and on into Romney. Romney has a lot of history and a beautiful town and the people are so humble and nice to you. Such a great video, well done sir! God Bless you and your family! (Glen). WV.

Cool, i live and work in NC but i have a nice little hideaway in Quinwood WV, that down Sandstone mountain, just a reminder, don't rely 100% on your GPS there. Yes hills and curves, it has its share of beauty and some dilapidated homes, trailers, etc. Where i live it's quieter than a library, when i move there permanently i will have to do much more sightseeing. Less than 300 people in Quinwood, but i am 30 mins from Lewisburg and the Dollar stores are popular there. YES they are legal there, side -by-sides are sold at Lewisburg for 10 grand

Born and raised in the beautiful state of WV in the 70's & 80's when steel was booming but even after college and marriage we remained in the OH Valley to raise our family and have never regarded it. Absolutely love WV, it beauty and people.

How fascinating and picturesque, nestled amid multiple lush hills. Thers was a corner in Grafton that had four examples of magnificent architecture, each on a corner and each very different from the other, yet in such isolation. In Newburg, I marvelled at how well maintained were the enormous lawns. Definitely a practical problem for outsiders to have, it seems, Chuck's General Store as the only place to get basic provisions, including gas. Still, one of your best videos.

im backtracking again Joe and watching the older vlogs. your newer ones are much better. i like that you give some stats and local news about the towns. i really like it that youre taking the time now to tell a bit of history of the towns. wow the comments have alot of history from these towns. the grand old buildings date back to the civil was i read. wow

Ahoy from Morgantown! It’s nice to see someone exploring our part of the state!

I use to go to WV for work and I would take trips on some of the backroads. Some of those roads were just plain scary Beautiful country but some very sad poverty. Further down in coal country it gets really bleak. Wonderful people but there is not a lot of opportunities for people sadly

I think I could live in West Virginia. Thanks for showing us and educating us on these beautiful, interesting towns.

I was interested in the lovely old buildings in Grafton and looked them up. The one is the Willard Hotel, and the one next door to it is the depot/passenger station. So cool. Thanks for sharing.

Always loved going through West Va. Being a traveling musician out of NC I was able to to that many times. Some of the prettiest places in the world right next door to me. Thanks for the video !

For some reason I can't stop watching. Well done sir!

Hi, I'm picturing Grafton covered in a thick blanket of snow with all the home lights on & blurred on a snowy winter night. Wouldn't that be lovely? It's less depressing than looking at the rapidly spreading decay in the light of day. In 50 years or less, these little dying towns will be like old west ghost towns with 0 population. You're doing a worthwhile service for today's & future generations ....AND possibly some colleges & courses right now. (Please look into that).....as you document on video these small towns on life support as the times, local economy, globalization, offshoring jobs & technology affect jobs & population demographics ...that will never stop changing. Most people will never see any of this as they rarely leave the highway, except to gas up & supersize. Thank you. :)

Brilliant ,would love to drive round like you do.

Thank you for saying Chuck Story because that’s what everyone called my dad. So special.

West Virginia doesn't get enough credit, it's a wonderful state. I used to visit family/vacation there as a kid. WV might have a bad reputation but here in Texas we ran our mouth about how great it was and half the country showed up and brought their problems with them. Then half of Mexico showed up so it's pretty crowded these days 👎🏼 Maybe we could pick an abandoned town in West Virginia and call it New Texas, try to capture a bit of the old magic?

Just magnificent. Thank you. Those hills with home! Beautiful

Great video. I live in Masontown and its neat hearing others opinions of the surrounding area.

Grafton is a beauty, that’s for sure. Thanks again for the video

This is pretty cool to see, I was born and raised and kingwood. Still living here today. Pretty neat the someone would want to just come explore Preston county.

Thank you for sharing it's great to see small town America

ahh u turned onto raccoon valley right before getting to my place lol. Thanks for visiting :). Seeing videos like this and seeing reactions to some of the views we have really makes me realize I need to take more time to appreciate my state. And you are right about the remote working. Its the way to go here if your lucky enough to find a remote job. Other then that you have coal mines, medical fields and your normal stores. Allot of people who live up here travel to Morgantown everyday for work. Witch you could imagine in the winter sucks. I actually watched your Morgantown video first the other day and enjoyed it. Was coming back to check out what other states you've visited and seen this thumb nail and was like "hey!" lol. You got me checking out your page so you earned my Sub :) Safe Travels!

Just love your videos. I’m getting a kick out of “How about that “ , “ This is something “ , “Look at this “. Is this code for Texas southern style “ Bless your heart ?”

I really enjoy your videos. When I started driving in 1972 at 16, cruising to interesting places outside of Chicagoland was our past time. After moving to central Ohio in 1973, I discovered many "almost" ghost towns in the vicinity, very similar to those in this video. I felt safer in Chicago.😊

just started looking at this video but compared to the s holes I regularly see on you tube ,west Virginia seems 'mighty fine" . I've lived in Thailand ,for the past 20 years and the absence of rubbish or litter is stark . Kudos to you West Virginia , "mountain home town" or something like the song

Thanks for sharing 👍

Beautiful state and towns!

The steepness and hilliness reminds me of the far northern counties here in NJ. I'm in the south, in Atlantic County, where it's quite flat, and most roads are straight. Great exploration. Grafton had some amazing buildings.

West Virginia is a beautiful state! Enjoyed

That was fascinating! Thanks for doing this.

I just want to say how much I have been enjoying traveling with you on your journeys through some of the more remote parts of the U.S. I really have learned such a lot from you about how folks live in these communities. I also live in a remote community in the very far north of Scotland (over 200 miles from the nearest motorway or freeway as I think you call them). It's been fascinating to see the range of similarities and contrasts between where I live and where you visited. Thank you so much.

Wow❤It's really something 😅.beautiful lush green

It blows me away every time I see it, video or in person, how much West Virginia looks just like PA and parts of upstate NY. Building-wise especially if you go back to when I was a kid and a lot of the towns up here which are now gentrified were still at the height of their rust belt rot. I think a lot of people are taught or pressured to think of WV as some alien landscape a world away, but it's just... right there for a lot of us. Especially those of us in the northeast who, apart from rural Pennsylvanians, frequently forget as a unit that we also live in the very same Appalachian mountains right on through Maine. I am glad more and more people are getting to see what it's like in that state. In several ways it is much nicer than many are lead to believe.

Great video.Newburg is my favorite too.

This is so great

great buildings in such a small town , the history of this place would be fascinating ,many stories