The Mountain State

Sitting astride the Elk River where it joins the Kanawha River, Charleston, WV, is the State Capitol and largest city in West Virginia. Established while Virginia and West Virginia were still one state, Charleston has the distinction of having Squire Daniel Boone as an assemblyman in the Kanawha County Assembly. The name "Kanawha" is from the Iroquois tongue and means "the waterway," a reference to the two navigable rivers and numerous tributaries. Charleston became a state capitol during the Civil War. Union troops occupied Northwestern Virginia to control the coal mines, an important resource for the Union. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln decreed that Virginia would be divided into two parts; Virginia, that had seceded from the Union and joined with the Confederacy, and West Virginia on the Union side. West Virginia is called "The Mountain State" and "Wild and Wonderful" for good reason. Most of the state is very mountainous and heavily forested. Outdoor activities of all types are readily available; hunting, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, camping, and boating. Present day Charleston is the convolution of three major Interstate Highways; I-77, I-79 and I-64, that connect Charleston to many major USA population centers. Charleston is only a few hours away from 60 percent of the US population. Charleston has a population of 53,000 in a market area of 203,000, certainly not a huge metropolis, but large enough to offer services and attractions of much larger center, without urban crowding. The school system is highly regarded and the residential areas are attractive, as is the downtown civic center and capitol center. Shopping is provided by two modern enclosed malls, one of which is the largest east of the Mississippi River. Charleston Town Center houses 132 stores on three levels and is anchored by several major department stores. Culture is provided by a number of museums and the Clay Center for Arts and Sciences. A planetarium provides visitors a view of our universe. Haddad Riverfront Park is home to a number of fairs and festivals, among which is the West Virginia Dance Festival, held every April. The Dance Festival features performers from all over West Virginia performing ballet, modern and jazz dances. As the state capitol with many visiting politicians and business people, Charleston has many more restaurants than most cities of its size. There is an eclectic mix of American, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Greek, Mexican and Mediterranean cuisines, most of which receive high marks from reviewers. The original industrial attraction to the Charleston area were the salt pits discovered along the Elk and Kanawha Rivers. At one time Charleston was a major supplier of salt, one of the largest in the world. An explorative drilling for salt tapped into a major natural gas deposit and another industry was founded. Coal discoveries in the mountains around the river valleys led to further development as an energy center. Today, salt, natural gas and coal are still important industries, but Charleston has diversified into support services for the state government, information systems and retail and wholesale establishments serving a large area of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. For more information on Charleston, Virginia visit http://charlestonmicroblog.com and http://westvirginiamicroblog.com

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