Welch, West Virginia

When most people go to McDowell County West Virginia to do col town photography, they rightfully pass by the city of Welch.  Welch was incorporated in 1893 and named after Isaiah A. Welch, a former captain in the Confederate States Army who came to the region as a surveyor, and helped establish the plan for the beginning of a new town at the confluence of Tug Fork and Elkhorn Creek. It is also, the county seat of McDowell County.

Welch is also very much like the gateway to the very very south of West Virginia, and it points to some of the most unique and rugged coal towns in the state.   I have NO desire to discuss drug abuse or poverty here. That subject has been milked to the point where the tits on the cow are bleeding. I wanted to show how local artists and the past, show Welch as something of a treasure. It is however, fleeting...

This is a DRAFT. I will have revisions. PLEASE do make comments and if you want to see the full size of a print just click on the image. I can be e mailed for prints to order and those prints will have the watermark reduced.

The McDowell County Courthouse. A classic structure with its clocktower, and front stair case. The very same staircase to see the murder of a major labor leader in the union movement for coal.

Local artist Tom Acosta, makes Welch a symbol of old and new. He is, in my estimation, a mural master.