“These Hillbillies Are Shooting Each Other” Life In West Virginia (#186)

“These Hillbillies Are Shooting Each Other” Life In West Virginia (#186)

hey there welcome to West Virginia what is considered by some also stats to be the poorest state in the United States with the poorest county growing up in New York I had always heard that this state was just poor people talked about it like was the armpit of America now having traveled around the world I know it’s always better to go and visit a place in person and find out what’s really going on there that’s exactly what we’re going to do today planned out the next few days rented a car we’re going to drive across the entire State there’s a really beautiful view right here this is the patomic river this is the same river that actually goes through Washington DC where we just were over here on the side of the railing you have a bunch of locks for people that died from fenel overdose which apparently is a big problem in this state and apparently this is another lock for somebody that passed away man this is this is like the depressing version of that bridge in France where they put the love locks well here’s some love locks for Carl and Clark and then Cali and Eric this one says mm plus LP sorry mm plus EP what is that like the Marshall Ms EP so this is the town of Harper’s Ferry if you look on a map you may notice that there are two virginas there’s the normal vanilla Virginia and then there’s West Virginia and the reason for that is the Civil War the African-American history uh exhibit seems to be Clos to renovation when Virginia decided to secede from the rest of the united states secede from the Union West Virginia or at least the counties of Virginia that would become West Virginia decided to stay was here in this town that in some ways the Civil War began the abolitionist John Brown LED an assault on an Armory here on a fort they captured it John Brown was hoping to spark a slaves rebellion was hoping all the slaves of the US would rise up and then take back the land but what ended up happening was the fort was captured ironically by forces led by Robert E Lee future commander of the Confederacy and John Brown was hanged along with all of his Cocos spiritus there go the cold trains [Music] I never realized until just now just how long those trains are that thing stretches on for like a mile now here comes another one going in the other direction many of the train cars are covering graffiti that probably happened as they were passing through DC or Philadelphia man this is uh quite the change after being in DC and this is probably one of the wealthier parts of West Virginia we’re only about a little over an hour from downtown DC people here will even commute into DC to work which I guess if you’re trying to have a much cheaper and bigger house that’s not not a bad idea but this is only the beginning of our journey across West Virginia I plan to drive from here on the Far Eastern Border with Maryland and Virginia all the way over to the southwestern border with Kentucky traffic out here in the middle of nowhere not sure why but the fire department is here uh excuse me can I ask what’s going on on car accident oh was a car accident up ahead yeah okay it won’t be long okay thanks all right now we’re moving again nice little West Virginia middle of nowhere traffic jam now cleared up a little Sun shower here how cool is that and I haven’t gone on a good road trip in America in a while so I’m pretty excited for this it’s a real Adventure in my own country although to be honest whenever I go to the southern states as a dude from New York I kind of feels a little bit like going to a different country so we’re now out here in coold country in West Virginia and right over here is a shipping container from a Chinese Shipping Company hanin fun little fact of all the countries that America exports coal to the number one importer China China has actually tried to invest in the coal industry in West Virginia and you know how I love anything related to China I wonder what the locals think about that doesn’t look like this place has seen much action yeah I would say this place is definitely out of business to be honest I get really afraid when I see signs like that because as kind as people are in Rural America they also have the potential to shoot you if you walk on their property wonder if there’s anyone around here that I could ask about the history of this place all right I assume you’re from here yeah oh yeah I’m just traveling around West Virginia and I stopped by here and I was wondering what happened to the coal plant over there what now the uh the coal plant where at uh right down the street there oh I used to be in Old School it looks like it’s abandoned well no they they work out of down did you qu down he’s Paving he’s got a p go around P driveways and things like that I see where you from I’m from New York New York yeah you one crazy I no no no I’ve been watch that I heard you’re a nice dog all right yeah how old is she 10 years old 10 years old okay so she’s got up there well I rescued her oh you did she that was no dog this house over here was abandoned for years one and there was a oldet dog got up on there and had PS oh yeah she’s the only one that survived she got on a bridge down fell off on some rocks knocked her eye out she’s had that one ey brought her over here when she was oh she’s only got one eye yeah wow yeah I’m f f I’m Tommy Tommy uh have you ever heard of hfield McCoy T I have there was like a battle between them or something right yeah was that close to here yeah uh my boys was over in Kentucky up here up here at Williamson okay and uh Hatfield was on the de Lan Hatfield then was on the West Virginia side oh really yeah we guy going around uh doing old cemeteries and stuff there’s a guy going around cemeteries yeah he was doing documentaries on Old cemeteries like back in 1800s you I don’t know if I could do cemeteries that’s a little creepy for me what do most people do out here well most people work surface mines or or uh these little on stops you know convenient stores okay Walmart a lot of people work Walmart uh Walmart has a lot of jobs but uh mostly it’s most of contract job r equipment you know things like that okay like I said I’ve done it for a few years or on on the surface now okay I like so most people aren’t doing coal mining you mean in the Deep mine down underground yeah oh yeah still people yeah this Bo down under me there I out him his mom she’s a ND yeah and he’s a boss Foreman up at a deep mine yeah wow over towards Madison over where he was okay I heard that’s like a really tough job yeah well it’s dangerous I put that yeah that’s imagine you’re going back in a hole under this mountain right yeah four miles four miles under the ground you’re back on miles under ground they go four miles under the ground that’s crazy oh I think it’s probably one of the most dangerous jobs in the US but uh main thing about underground mine is to have good ventilation you need a good intake that’s where you got those big fans blow that fresh air back in the mine yeah and then you got your outtake for it to come okay back nice talking to listen you be careful son I will so there you go what I thought was a coal plant turns out it’s a company that does Paving the pave roads I mean still looks incredibly abandoned to me but so I’m driving back on the road thinking about going up towards the coal plant that he was talking about or like a coal loading station is that what he was saying it’s pretty wild because there’s no signal out here so can’t use Google Maps got to just use directions the old fashioned way and figure this out he said I got to go over a mountain and then I’ll see some coal all right I think this time we actually stumbled upon the co plant hey how you doing I was just traveling around making a little Vlog is it okay if I take a video of this oh I can’t let people come in make videos sit over on the side of the road I can’t say nothing to you no I I I really can’t bu it what what is this this right here is just a uh coal load out coal load out yeah what we do we Dr coal in out there on train car down okay and it goes towards like what East Coast uh this these we send it to DTA Terminal ship it overseas okay sorry about that no it’s all good yeah I know it’s not your I love Southerners even when they’re telling you not to do something they’re very kind about it so apparently it’s here that they load on the coal to different parts or trucks that will eventually be shipped out to other parts of the country abroad and they will be used to uh Power your home possibly I love this I we don’t have coal trucks coal plants in New York never seen one in my life looks like a gas station over here still need some gas I’m just kind of in awe cuz every single car at this game gas station is a pickup truck we’re really in the South here I don’t think I’ve ever pumped gas in a video before I feel like the norm in every other country is there’s like a service attendant that helps you do it you need your receipt oh no sorry how far away from Kentucky I don’t know what part are you going to just the border and you get back on one 19 here and go that way you’re probably about 20 minutes that was pretty close yeah you’re very close thank you you know another thing that’s crazy to me is this was I think $4 or almost $4 with the tax that’s basically the same price as in New York and to me that’s crazy because the average salary out here is way lower than it is over there the average salary Statewide across West Virginia is I believe only something like 45,000 per year which I think is the first or second lowest of the entire nation who that’s wild some guy was just like I’m going to build my own MC mansion on the side of the highway here this is a beautiful drive though I got to say and uh here we go apparently right over here to the east across this set train tracks is Kentucky actually I was wrong apparently this is still West Virginia there’s a river right behind here and that is the border between West Virginia and Kentucky man that is a wild looking house have no idea if somebody’s still living there again in America you really don’t want to rock up on private property unannounced I wonder why this bridge is close hope it’s not because it’s falling apart oh wait yes I think that’s [Music] why I won’t tell anyone we’re crossing if you don’t so apparently right over here is Kentucky is that what it says on this [Applause] side no it says I shouldn’t have walked on that bridge all right we’ll go to Kentucky some other time let’s go back to West Virginia this train has been passing for like 10 minutes now this is officially the longest train I’ve ever seen in my life finally hear myself think again oh nice just found my fake pair of Ray Bans which is very much needed because it’s way sunnier and hotter than I was expecting it to be let me teaches uh yeah I’m traveling around West Virginia my grandfather Yeah used to run run the tow G was a to bridge you see all those FRS out there it used to be a toll bridge yeah oh wow if you walk out there you see the old concrete thing yeah he died in 1951 oh wow but it was a to brid then they it was a we call a sing Bridge okay when did it stop being a toll bridge uh probably about 12 years ago 12 12 something years ago oh wow so there’s just not many people passing through anymore well all the bridge got need repair and the people who owned it didn’t want to repair it so they closed it Ah that’s the way things go 11 19 opened up to that way and they got people get to Kentucky without having to go all the way oh I see where you from I’m from New York actually a little house that little House St there P to 3 cents 5 5 cents for a car three cents wow it sounds like he’s getting a little angsty so I’ll let you guys go but thanks for the little tip have a safe for you too appreciate that there you go that’s used to be a toll bridge between West Virginia and Kentucky this been a while 20 years ago would have driven your car up to this bridge paid apparently a very small toll couldn’t have been 5 cents 10 years ago might have been a bit more than that and then you’ll be over in Kentucky wonder if they have a lot of car accidents out here in West Virginia guess you got to watch yourself on the roads here it would be terrible if you got into a car accid than yourself but if you do thankfully this video has been sponsored by Morgan and Morgan a personal injury firm if you are ever seriously hurt from an injury that injury could literally be worth millions Morgan and Morgan will fight to get the justice and the payout that you deserve and you don’t have to pay anything unless you win just in the past couple of months in a case in Florida Morgan and Morgan was awarded $12 million that’s 34 times higher than the highest insurance offer Morgan Morgan does not accept lowball offers so did you know you could start a claim with America’s largest personal injury law firm in just a click you don’t even have to get off your couch it’s easy just go to forthepeople.com sabatical you can also click the link in the description that’s F [Music] hollerwood all right back on the road so we’re currently in a part of West Virginia called Mingo County and the biggest town that I could find on the map that’s anywhere close to here is called Williamson and that’s where I’m currently driving to it said on Google Maps there’s even a Cuban restaurant there I don’t know how that’s possible but we’re going to go find them no there really is a Cuban restaurant here and it looks like a diner I was driving along the road and I saw there was a Cuban restaurant thean sandwich no [Music] okay hi how are hi how you [Music] doing okay okay I oh good yeah okay that was good Cuban sandwich in the middle of nowhere in West [Music] Virginia got a little FL also we were just talking about Cuba but WG West Virginia okay okay Sami Cuban beast in case you ever find yourself on the border with Kentucky thought his wife was like uh an American woman that he just married and convinced him to come over here but no she was Cupid too she didn’t even speak English most random thing ever but uh he just gave me some Evangelical material so I think I figured out why he moved there but I mean hey he can preach whatever he wants to me if the food’s that good got a train stuck on the tracks here that looks more like liquid gas I don’t know my trains but anyway let’s see what the rest of Williamson looks like the big town of the region look like this street has se better days all these are abandoned at some point this town had enough going on for them to build one of these overhead walkway things I thought it was only big cities that do that more abandoned storefronts here we had a bar that was called the border line no more border line where am I supposed to drink it feels like everything here is closed permanently Paul’s Place is also closed is the liquor store [Music] open the liquor store is open I don’t know if the whole town is like this but a lot of it looks you postapocalyptic God Bless America God Bless [Music] America generally speaking when I’m in America I do not walk into dark underground tunnels but I think we’re deep enough in the countryside where it’ll be all right a little signboard here explaining the history of the Town unsurprisingly it seems to have grown because of coal and according to that there used to be 10,000 people living here on Google it says there’s less than 3,000 now of course all of those coal mining jobs seem to have disappeared as with most of the [Music] population West Virginia is of course an extremely conservative state but it does have a Democratic senator how you all doing good good little comfortable I just wondered do you know cuz I’m just traveling through do you know what’s the history of this town how it got started no not really I really don’t know either and we’ve been here our whole lives it’s just a bunch of crazy asses that lives here basically bunch of crazy asses yeah basically sounds like a great place to be that’s all we are okay this is bad town really bad Town drive by shootings and everything there’s driveby shootings in honey our doors got shut out of where we live right here seriously about a week ago I thought this was a nice little Country Town had no idea around here gets SLI over the road was absolutely not expecting that shootings in West Virginia oh yeah boy they got some crazy Hill Builders out here however this is by far the biggest building in the town and it looks like it’s a kind of housing project in America if you want to find some of the most ratchet Behavior if you would like to get robbed the best place to do it is somewhere in the proximity of a project building am I on camera I don’t see a camera anyway I mean I’m sure they’re trying to like prevent drug dealing on this corner or something but hopefully the hillbillies don’t realize there’s no actual camera that makes me want to get back to the car some junky breaks anyway let’s go all something that’s like a little bit strange is that back there in Williamson West Virginia there’s almost no like big box store there’s no major brands that I saw but they’re right over the river literally just a short Bridge away he Kentucky and then you got everything you got CVS Pizza Hut I see Taco Bell down there uh which I would guess would indicate there’s also more jobs over here what is uh West Virginia doing wrong and what is Kentucky doing right why did they all set up here or could also be the opposite depending on your views on capitalism man this is just such a foreign world to me doesn’t matter that it’s America but like look over here we got the Tractor Supply Co tractor supply shop if you want to buy a tractor and then over here what’s going on over here it’s like a bunch of like barns sheds I guess you could just roll up here and buy a barn for your farm although they don’t seem to have that many farms out here in West Virginia and then they’re also selling tombstones I really hope those are not real Graves that’s disrespectful this is just so different you can pick up this shed for just $3,213 less than one month’s worth of rent in New York City and hell you could probably live in there if you wanted to oh look this one even has Windows lofted garden shed this one’s fancy $874 got to pay a premium for the Windows apparently there something just very very beautiful about West Virginia seems like the geography made it difficult to build up a thriving economy there not a lot of places where you can Farm here obviously many of the coal mining jobs have left but man it is a beautiful state so I’m on my way now to Charleston not Charleston South Carolina Charleston West Virginia Which is also the capital and as much as I like geography I did not know that until yesterday I actually passed through Charleston yesterday on my way to the western part of the State uh didn’t stay too long you know to City more interested in the countryside on this trip but tonight I think I’ll stay there has more hotels and we will see what the big city of the poorest state in the US looks like um I should add an asterisks when I say uh that West Virginia is the poorest state apparently New Mexico has a lower average income but I know what one of the poorest states how you doing I’m all right man so $3,000 vet show and everybody hand off it what’s that that’s off of the show I got lady when we get fix my hands don’t work right I have stroke I’m Andy and they grab out to kill them with okay man I got to give that back on that yeah I’ve been out Hospital right good luck with that be honest with you I have no idea what that dude said I think he had a stroke wish him the best of luck so this is apparently the capital area of Charleston capital of West Virginia and there is another man with a metal pipe smacking things over there what is going on in this city I don’t know this has to be the smallest common City I’ve ever been to In America where’s the people just seeing a bunch of guys with metal pipes this is one of those times where I wish I actually had a drone I wish I was one of those dudes that used one because this is actually kind of an interesting looking City basically all of the towns and cities and West Virginia are built in river valleys like the Confluence of different rivers and they can only build up housing along the banks of the river so everything has to be built closely packed together and it results in a city that kind of reminds me of like Chongqing in China or Hong Kong just with way few were skyscrapers you smoke I don’t [Music] smoke we like yok a lot more bu yeah all right maybe I’ll help this guy out I know they have taxes on these in West Virginia yeah okay I don’t know what they arex they just $93 thanks man I don’t know why but I was expecting everything in West Virginia to be like way cheaper I don’t know what I was expecting I think I was expecting like Mexico level prices but still America hey buddy say yes oh no man I didn’t mean that consider me a brother not a friend damn my name is Matt Matt all right I’m Tommy what do you put on it like a I try to find just interesting places go on adventures try to show things that the rest of the world’s never seen before like pictures of our capital for example or animals let me tell you in the US people don’t know anything about West Virginia if they do they think about I don’t know maybe like coal miners or something I don’t know man but i’ I’ve had a feeling for the last I don’t know couple months or so a little bit long West Virginia finally hit the map I think really well you’re here yeah but I’m a little bit random I’m not uh well random is what we want cuz you know you roam random you’ll talk about us now that’s true and if you go talk about me well I’ll represent West Virginia that’s good in a good way you’re doing a fine job of it well thank you are you going to put me on YouTube Do You Want To Be yes now do you want me to say send a message to americ and I yeah please send a message to America American stay in the country yeah cuz uh it’s getting dangerous when you go out of the country they hate us and want you know they do are you sure about that yes why wouldn’t they I mean look at it what all we got look we got good looks yeah look at all the good looking put that on YouTube huh are you still getting women am I still getting women yeah every day I have no problem getting women at any time I’m very happy to hear that you know what cold showers are for me no I don’t have running water okay so imagine what a cold show is for me going the river it’s a decent question no that’s a deep bath and don’t never stay out of the river okay anyway and don’t eat fish out of it either if you’re okay it’s polluted but a cold Sher for me is a cold sh for the woman I’m thinking about too if you know glad we started that out how’s it going man all right I got to get going m w is a good one hey thanks a lot bro yeah no worries you enjoy made somebody’s day today Charleston apartment buildings actually I think that building in uh Williamston was bigger maybe they also have more shootings over there what’s going on in that town good morning from the lovely City of Charleston I think this my last day driving around West Virginia so going to get going pretty quick it’s early in the morning it’s 8:00 a.m. generally don’t like being up at 8 a.m. but we got to drive today we’re going to drive to what is not only the poorest county of West Virginia but the poorest county of the entire United States kind of curious how life is over there let’s go so I’m just driving along the highway going towards the furthest Southern point of West Virginia and once again we’re passing by abandoned storefronts abandoned buildings but one thing that remains constant seems almost anywhere I go here anywhere with a town there’s always a set of train tracks there’s always a railway and of course that would be the transport coal although down here probably used to be to transport coal the poorest counties in West Virginia are those that that used to have places with coal mining jobs but then they disappeared you know a crazy thing about West Virginia that most people don’t know is originally when West Virginia took jobs in the coal mines they weren’t even paid in cash they were paid in company vouchers that is to say they could only spend those vouchers on things owned by the mining companies that is to say that the mining company controlled everything people people had to spend their vouchers at supermarkets owned by the mining companies they had to send their kids to schools run by the mining companies and people couldn’t build up any savings they couldn’t save for their kids college tuition fund they couldn’t build up any kind of generational wealth and I think even though that system disappeared a long time ago it did play a big role in West Virginia’s poverty so this is McDow County and all the roads I’m driving along look like this just deep in the Hills I found some coal money or coal processing whatever you call it we have reached the town of war or the city of War according to them that is a wild name for a place right there apparently it’s also the most southern city of West Virginia hopefully people are nice thankfully do not have to pay for parking in the town of War there’s little signs like this all up and down the street honoring former members of the military and I guess we’re from this town people from war that literally went to war even a black dude West Virginia does have black people way fewer black people than other states but they’re here guess that would be the sheriff’s car over there how you doing yeah I’m just passing through making a little Vlog if that’s okay okay yeah good don’t need I if I think of something I’ll let you know but thank you heard them talking over there about a guy making a video wanted to make sure I wasn’t in trouble man but this is wild this entire street is like bombed out the thrift store is closed over there the beauty salon is closed here’s the old McDow Medical Clinic just have a bunch of binders lying on the floor there wonder what this massive building over here used to be probably something related to PA but man this place is like being transported to a different era all the buildings look very old timey I don’t see a McDonald’s anywhere a attack dog is coming to get me hey who whoa whoa that’s right you back up not much of a guard dog got some old houses up on the hill up there houses from a bygone area if you’re curious I looked up the average housing prices in this County and as of 2024 says the average is about 100,000 us but most of the listings I see online are like 50 or $60,000 $50,000 for a house in the United States that wouldn’t even get you a carboard box in New York just a lot of cars sitting around a lot of them don’t look that old I don’t know maybe they’re using it as like an extra parking space of course we have the Dollar General store let’s see if things are actually still $1 hate to say it but there’s nothing here for a dollar although I guess the drink prices are slightly cheaper the only drink not in stock water man that is such a cool looking garage right there like a imagine if that was your garage and that was the view you would get every day it’s kind of wild to see an abandoned church usually in a town the church would be the very last thing to go for the church to be abandoned that means there’s literally nobody left that was a wild looking situation what happened to the house over here you don’t mind me asking down it burned down yeah oh there was a fire yeah the one that’s standing there yeah right there yeah and just everybody like Parks their cars over there now I bought it I’m going to oh you bought it yeah oh wow so you got to remodel it no I just to tear it down and make my driveway biger sounds like a good idea something just traveling through yeah I’ve been traveling through West Virginia I began in Harper Ferry oh yeah yeah yeah just came from Charleston yeah just been going around how is life out here generally I’m from New York so it’s very different yeah it’s just he all right Country Life yeah a too B all right well I got to get going I got a long day ahead yeah take care take care honestly most of the time if you rock up to like some dude’s house in New York they’re not going to come out and have a conversation with you by the way for the foreign viewers the word hillbilly I’ve never heard of that before uh hillbillies are if the people that live in the mountains uh specifically in the south of the US basically like the rural areas uh it’s a bit different from the term redneck you may have heard that one before that refers to country people that live in like I don’t know the farm areas the regular country areas and uh hillbilly is I mean could be used as an insult but you know if you just own it like the people here do nobody can make fun of you I don’t know how to accurately describe this but a lot of West Virginia looks as you can see a bit dystopic but at the same time it’s extremely beautiful just look at these old houses up here dat it back 50 years ago there would have been a general store here maybe a pharmacy look at this I think this house might still be inhabited actually but walk up these stairs to get to your house people that work in coal mining do absolutely back breaking work 6 day weeks very difficult labor that’s terrible for your health I know that environmentalists like hate coal mining and there are are some good reasons to hate it but the truth is that still for a while I’m talking decades coal mining isn’t going anywhere everybody still needs it there isn’t enough renewable energy to fill all of our energy needs and coal still has a role to play when people in New York and DC think about West Virginia if they think about it at all they tend to think think of it as this backwards Place full of hillbillies that keep voting against their own interest and I don’t think that’s a completely Fair depiction of the state in fact West Virginia was home to two pivotal events in US history two pivotal events that any American both Republican and Democrat can get behind events that shaped the course of the nation I told you about the first of those events at the start of our journey that was when John Brown let a band The the Abolitionist to capture an Armory in an effort to end slavery and of course just a few years after that the Civil War kicked off you could refer to that as The Unofficial start of the Civil War West Virginia culturally is the South but during the Civil War it fought for the union and speaking of the Civil War the largest Uprising fact the largest battle on American soil that took place after that you know where that was that was right here in West Virginia except in that battle it was literally big business against the people most Americans have never heard of the battle of Blair Mountain but it was a very important battle in the history of this country it was when coal workers rose up against the owners of the coal mines to demand more rights to demand basic Humanity I told you about the vouchers before how they couldn’t even have savings buy a house conditions were horrific back then for co-workers and they’re not even that great now and during that battle 10,000 coal miners rose up with weapons with guns and fought the literal US Army because the Army came in to support the owners of the mines is a crazy crazy thing ultimately the miners lost but it did set the stage for greater labor rights later on down the road so West Virginia has always been screwed over Often by its own government and it’s because of that plus the geography that the people here are somewhat reclusive but with that said to be honest driving through here can’t say I’ve met anyone I didn’t get along with these are some of the friendliest people I’ve met anywhere in America and I kind of wish New Yorkers could pick up just a bit of that southern hospitality I’ve seen all over the place here anyway I just crossed the state boundary into Virginia the other Virginia and I think that wraps up our little tour around the region man it was kind of wild going from Washington DC to West Virginia I don’t think you could pick two different two places that were any more different than those two of course if you want to get into the uh socioeconomic side there are some similarities but that’s a that’s a deeper discussion anyway had a fun time had a fun time in both places and next up we will continue on in the US uh I’m not sure where just yet but I have a few ideas so until then until next time yall take care now

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West Virginia. Often derided as the poorest and most backwards state in the US, it’s a land dotted with mountains and abandoned coal mines. For me as someone born in New York, it was like a whole other universe. I wanted to go experience culture shock in my own country–and I wasn’t expecting what I found.

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