Whats in a name?

One of the most universal conversation points of remote coal towns in West Virginia are their names. Many will debate the name origin of a town. Many are proud and loud about it. I personally do not blame them. There are however times when I must admit, I would LOVE to scream these town names......Before I go on about these place names, keep in mind, these places are named in such a way as to reflect their fiercely independent nature. I like that. To those that have a name that defies immediate convention, I say GOD BLESS YOU SIR!  So...how about:

ORGAS, WEST VIRGINIA

Orgas derives its name from the Orange Gas Coal Company. It is NOT as many people think populated by hordes of moaning people with their eyes rolling back biting their lower lip...Nope, sorry.

CUCUMBER, WEST VIRGINIA

Cucumber derives its name from the Cucumber tree. It is not a secret supply for pickles, or salt shakers.....There was at this time a small active underground coal opeartion there. Yes, its a coal town.

LEFT HAND, WEST VIRGINIA

Left Hand, actually has a normal naming origin, left hand of a creek tributary. How about that. I do not know if the post master is left handed...and NO there is no Right Hand WV...

ODD, WEST VIRGINIA

Odd West Virginia has so many naming origins, I just wanted to say, the folks there are rather nice and NO they are not odd.....

BLOOMING ROSE, WEST VIRGINIA

Bloomimg Rose West Virginia was indeed named for a persons love of the rose. How about that? A town named because someone liked something. I like that. I like that people can identify with their likes and stand by a name....

UNEEDA WV

.....YES, Uneeda was named after the cracker. Apparently, when naming the town, a box of Uneeda crackers was spotted on a shelf. NO I am not kidding.

 

BIM, West Virginia

AND I had to keep in Boone County and see BIM, West Virginia......I just loved the name..BIM. Bim was named after the cartoon character Bim Gump, a main character in the cartoon series, The Gumps.

Jumping Branch, West Virginia

SO, what do these names tell us? They tell us we can be happy, proud and yes, I am jealous...I have always wanted to say, YES, I grew up in ORGAS, West Virginia.....BUT I can dream..

I dream of walking on tracks for miles, in a fog finding all of those places.......

Charleston, WV beautiful city

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston WV is by itself, beautiful. The most visible landmark is of course the West Virginia Capitol building. When Cass Gilbert designed this building, a little known factoid was rarely talked about. This building is LOADED with symbols.....Example, our Capitol building was dedicated on June 20th, 1932....West Virginia Day!

The front, Lincoln Walks at Midnight a statue designed by Fred Torrey, tells of the founding of West Virginia on its base.. We celebrate this as June 20, 1863, (*a Saturday)....SO, why talk about the Capital of West Virginia in the context of coal towns?

When I drove to the Capital with my assistant we had driven up from McDowell County and followed a northern route that ended in Kanawha County. He had seen coal towns. Hard core, knuckle busting sweat down the back coal towns. Driving into Charleston, they were stunned....."My God, this is a city, a real one, it glitters.." In other words, it was the exact opposite of what we had seen.

HOWEVER, much like the coal towns, the dome was not just a gold thing meaning wealth, it was loaded with symbols, hidden in plan sight, very much like the coal towns we had visited. Symbols of power, wealth, strength industry......

The Eagle, 5 feet tall, at the top of dome exceeding 290 feet in height....AND NO, I did not forget the Lions

NOTE the garlands, being held at each lion head and the shells lining the roof

Eagles are ALL over the dome as well as the garlands

The Capitol allows us to understand that our state is strong, and yes, immersed in a need for prayer. Lincolns statue mentioned above has a curious element. Per the pic below, I believe Lincoln is in prayer, or meditation. Head bowed, looking onward to our state flag. 

His eyes are not closed and his facial expression is open eyed

AND YES, our dome has scripture, Proverbs 3:13. This is at the base on the dome, front of the Capitol

The rear of the Capitol, also continues this use of scripture Proverbs 4:7

MORE to come, please let me know what you think

And its name was Logan......

SO, I looked at the cities that were fed by the towns labor and work. I found Logan, WV....There are others but Logan was my first trip with my new assistant, named, the other child.

He has a keen eye, and we saw a very empty city named Logan.

The theater, and streets and buildings and even the security cameras that adorned every building....looked at an empty space.

I was the lucky one who had to explain an answer which I used to ask in coal towns..WHERE is everyone? This is a city..........

And everywhere was sparse.....and I looked at my then 14 year old assistant and said 2 words...no jobs. I got a little emotive, and just quietly said, IF you hear anyone say, OH coal is coming back....dont do that.