SW Virginia musings

Well it has been a couple of days since i have written anything on here. i have been pretty busy with a variety of different things. I am a college student, so i have been pretty busy wrapping up the last few days of the semester. I am attending school for Maritime technology, which in case any of you wonder what that is, it is a program dedicated to learning all things related to boats and seamanship.
I am really enjoying what i am learning, and hope to one day apply it to  obtaining a job in the field.
I am very happy to have some time tonight free to write a little. It feels pretty good to sit down in front of the ole CPU and put some of my ideas out there for yall.
I am thinking tonight about writing a little about a corner of Appalachia that a lot of you may not be familiar with: SW Virginia

this is a pretty decent map of the area

This part of the state of Virginia is probably the least well known part of the whole state.I grew up in the county on the map called Dickenson. I technically only consider the area that is West of I-77 to be part of SW Virginia. Dickenson county, as well as Russell, Scott, Wise, Lee, and Buchanan are all part of the Appalachian Coalfields.
The coal in the hills of SW Virginia has been a blessing and a curse to the region depending on who you talk to and their general political persuasion. Whatever one may think, the presence of coal in the area has been a major one over the course of the last 120 years or so.
SW Virginia, especially the Western county's is locally known as "The mountain empire" that is what i grew hearing the region described as. The region is a very pretty area, full of rolling hills and mountains. Dickenson county has often been referred to as "Virginias baby" because it is the youngest county in the whole state, being formed during the 1880s, which was pretty late considering Virginia was the site of the 1611 Jamestown colony. I guess it took the Scotch-Irish people who settled the hills quite a while to settle the Westernmost county's. As far as Appalachian Scotch-Irish people go, i found this short documentary to be interesting:
https://youtu.be/DHOyYQ0Wm_I?list=PL7VT-jUhCZhJ3qyfkP8OsY1f0-BN8fmLt
  It gives a little bit of a history lesson about the role the Scotch-Irish played in Appalachia in the early days of American history. I am mostly Scotch-Irish myself my mothers family heritage comes from Northern Ireland. Around 10 years ago i had a chance to visit the area of Northern Ireland that my family came from,I had quite the experience there, because i was traveling around Northern Ireland by hitch-hiking, which allowed me to meet all sorts of interesting people. Someone even picked me up and gave me a lift and allowed to me to stay in their home overnight! And then they fed me a good breakfast the next morning! Irish people are very friendly and welcoming as are Appalachian people. SW Virginia is also known throughout the world as the birthplace of Country music. A lot of early country music artists began their musical careers performing in Bristol,VA/TN.http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/tn/es_tn_bristol_1.html Bristol gave both the famous Carter family their start, as well as the famous Jimmie Rogers, who was originally from North Carolina. Appalachian mountain music is simply something that reverberates throughout the whole Southern Appalachian region. Being from Dickenson county, i am very proud of the contribution to old time/ Bluegrass music that the Stanley Brothers have made. Ralph Stanley and his brother Carter Stanley were icons of the early Bluegrass music scene. on that note, i will share one of my favorite Ralph Stanley songs with yall.https://youtu.be/dFcrn4o2Xlo. riding on that midnight train... it brings back many fond memories of my hoboing on trains through the mountains riding on the old Clinchfield railroad. Its pretty late here now, i will write more about SW VA soon... until then... take care of yourselves!

Picture of John W. Flanagan lake where i have spent many an hour fishing.