As most Virginia fourth graders learn, the southwestern
corner of Virginia is Daniel Boone’s famous stomping
grounds – the Cumberland Gap. Less well known is
the fact that some residents in this area, known as the
Old Dominion’s “arrowhead,” are closer
to Indianapolis, Ind., than their state capital. In fact,
far western Lee County, Va., boasts that it is closer
to seven state capitols than it is to Richmond. (Can you
name all seven? Answers below.)
Prior to 1784, however, the Commonwealth’s capital
was almost 1,000 miles from the state’s far western
boundaries. Virginia was a territory that stretched from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and from
North Carolina to the Great Lakes.
Illinois County, named for the Illini, a tribe of Native
Americans, was the first to go. It included what are now
the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
and even a small part of Minnesota. On March 1, 1784,
Virginia ceded the territory to Congress.
In addition, 10 Kentucky counties were formerly in the
Commonwealth, as was West Virginia, which seceded during
the Civil War. In sum, Virginia has been whittled down
from its original boundaries more than any other state
in the union.
Today Southwestern Virginia is comprised of 13 counties
south and west of the Roanoke metropolitan area, according
to the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia,
which analyzes trends in Virginia’s regions. Others
often include Roanoke and its surrounding counties as
part of Southwestern Virginia.
Topographically, Southwestern Virginia includes two different
geographic regions, the Appalachian Plateau, and the Ridge
and Valley Province. Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan counties
are in the rugged Appalachian area. But nearby Bland County
boasts that it is the only U.S. county that is entered
and exited via interstate tunnels. In this case the tunnels
are built through mountains – a testament to the
area’s former isolation. Ironically, Bland was formed
from parts of three other counties in 1861 because the
residents were unhappy with the distance they had to travel
to various county seats for official business (19th-century
complaints still resonate in the 21st century).
Southwestern Virginia was the place to be between 1750
and 1800, when 80,000 settlers traveled along the Wilderness
Road through the Cumberland Gap to the bluegrass fields
of Kentucky. In 1767, Daniel Boone supposedly carved his
initials on a beech tree near a salt lick in what is now
Dickenson County. By 1803, Meriwether Lewis chose the
Ohio River over the Cumberland Gap as a better way to
meet William Clark in Kentucky for their exploration of
the Louisiana Purchase.
The area grew again from the late 1800s to the early 20th
century, when the East Coast industrial barons built railroads
through the mountains and brought in labor to mine coal
and harvest timber.
Geographic isolation since then has given the area a unique
profile. Only six percent of Southwestern Virginia ’s
population lives in urban areas, compared to 67 percent
statewide, according to the Weldon Cooper Center. The
region’s rural nature is due in part to its geography.
Early urban centers usually developed on waterways that
allowed for shipping. Unfortunately, most Southwestern
Virginia rivers flow the “wrong” way, away
from the Commonwealth’s eastern cities.
Isolation may partially explain why Southwestern Virginia
has not experienced the population diversity that is characteristic
of the rest of the state. Less than 10 percent of the
region’s population is non-white. And not only do
relatively few people move into Southwestern Virginia,
few people move out. An Appalachian Regional Commission
study found that 70 percent of residents in Virginia’s
Appalachia counties were born in the Commonwealth, compared
with 50 percent statewide.
These and other factors have contributed to the region’s
slow growth rate. Between 1990 and 2000, Southwestern
Virginia’s population grew 1.5 percent, compared
to a 10.4 percent growth rate for the rest of the state.
Before I get angry e-mails from Southwestern Virginians,
let me say that it has quite a lot going for it! The region
has a reputation as a recreation area, and it’s
the home of country and bluegrass music, and boasts a
stop on the NASCAR circuit.
In addition, the June 2, 2003 issue of eWeek
reported that four counties in Southwestern Virginia –
Lee, Norton, Wise and Scott – have formed a nonprofit
organization to build broadband facilities by co-locating
fiber-optic cables with water pipes. If these and other
technology initiatives succeed, then the region may attract
a population that can connect and conduct business anywhere.
Of course, such projects still have to deal with the state’s
regulatory commissions – located in – yes
– Richmond, more than 390 miles away.
By the way, those other state capitals that are closer
to Lee County than Richmond include Charleston, W.Va.,
Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh, N.C., Frankfort, Ky., Columbus,
Ohio, Atlanta, Ga., and Indianapolis, Ind.
Readers Respond
Ray Pethtel, VDOT commissioner from 1986–1994, responded
to my January 4 column, “The
Dirt on Virginia's Roads.” Pethel reminisced
that during his tenure, the county with the fewest unpaved
roads was – believe it or not – the above-mentioned
Wise County in rural Southwestern Virginia . It only had
one-half mile of unpaved road! Northern Virginia ’s
Loudoun County had the most unpaved roads, and Pethel
remembers being vigorously lobbied over the issue of paving
a Loudoun road. Read
the full letter.
February 2, 2004
If you have a Nice & Curious question, e-mail
me at Edwin.Clay@fairfaxcounty.gov.
Nice & Curious
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