Tag: Noggy

Eleanor, WV is a town steeped in history from its foundation as a WPA town as part of the New Deal. Signs of the Roosevelt administration remain as a testament. The town is named for first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The Main Street is Roosevelt Boulevard and runs through the heart of the town. WV Route 25 runs through to Charleston about 20 miles down the road. The town is also connected to Charleston via the Kanawha River which is navigable and provides access to the Ohio River in Point Pleasant to the west.

The homes are all of the same stock style and the town was set up with a park, school, general store, post office, and a church. Over the years the homes have grown and evolved as the valley and hills have changed around them. You can see the different additions to make each home unique. Inside the original homes featured plank and rod-iron doors that have lasted for nearly a century.

A home of roughly 4x the size of the others was built as a general store. Residents were happy to have access to a public general store. Some had been used to Company Stores that charged enormous markups and only accepted company script.

Several WPA (Works Progress Administration) towns were constructed as part of New Deal stimulus spending. This spending was seen as essential to ending the Great Depression. The pace stopped during WW2, but at the time the families of Appalachia were thrilled to be offered modern homes in the valley. Historically rural homesteaders in West Virginia have built on the hill tops and left the valley for farming. This did not jive with the use of automobiles, and made the roll out of modern amenities such as electric, phone, and water services much harder.

In a move that might seem foreign to today’s citizens the residents readily packed up and moved so that their children could have a better life. Modern schools, roads, and running water seemed like a dream come true. Many of the residents lived on Red House Hill, but some as far away as Buffalo were resettled. As New Deal funding wound down the town reverted to a normal municipal charter under West Virginia law in 1966.

The advent of the automobile and highway construction also lead a radical realignment of life in West Virginia. Traditionally families lived in hollers that were owned and subdivided among the families. Each family would build there own house and subdivide their land as subsequent generations lived on the land. These family plots were handed down with many being held in families since the days President Washington was selling his land in the area.

As time went on and the automobile took over from the train and steam boat the organization of these hollers was flipped. Where as it made sense to build your estate at the mountain top and farm the valley. Suddenly you had to be connected to the road. Mail order catalogs and the prospect of a car in every driveway had hearty mountaineers who had farmed the land for a century ready to leave it all. As you drive through the hills in winter look and see all of the abandoned houses. Usually only a fireplace or stairwell has withstood mother natures advances.

Time and time again in West Virginia this moment was used to trick land owners into signing away rights to these family plots of land. When they refused life was made unbearable and their land was polluted until they had no choice but to leave with no compensation. These people became renters. They no longer own their homes, and if they do a bank holds the mortgage.

Such is progress, I think of the phrase “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” So, on one hand, their kids did get a better education, but they moved away when they grew up. The population is aging. The land is beautiful, the people resilient, but the universe grows restless.

On a side note I spent years living in the town of Eleanor in the old general store, and always have fond memories of it. An interesting thing about living in Eleanor is you do not get door to door US Postal service delivery. Instead everyone is given a PO Box at the town post office. I noticed on this visit that a lot of people had numbers on their houses that did not before. I wonder if the advent of DoorDash and Amazon have meant the lowly building number has finally made it to Eleanor?

Thank you for riding with me!

Recorded: 2/20/2025

Visibility: Cloudy / Snow

Destinations in chronological order:

South Charleston, WV: B-30:57, 2:11:05-E

Thomas Hospital Rear Entrance, Kanawha Turnpike, WV601/Jefferson Road, US119/Corridor G, Southridge, South Hills/Little Creek, Rock Lake Drive, US60/MacCorkle Avenue, Dunbar Toll Bridge

Saint Albans, WV: 30:57-

US60/MacCorkle Avenue, WV817/Winfield Road

Winfield, WV: 48:57-57:41

WV817/Winfield Road, Winfield/Eleanor Bridge

Eleanor, WV: 57:41-1:39:30

Eleanor/Winfield Bridge, WV25/Roosevelt Boulevard/Charleston Road, Old General Store, Fir Street, Elanor Circle, Park Road, Old School House, Eleanor City Park, George Washington Middle School, Eleanor Plaza, Eleanor City Hall, Old Red House, Locks and Dam, Navy Reserve / Army Reserve Base Entrance, Joseph Crossing, North Woods Drive, Lukhart Ridge,

Hometown, WV: 1:39:30-1:42:27

WV25/Charleston Road

Bancroft, WV: 1:42:27-1:47:16

WV25/Charleston Road

Poca, WV: 1:47:16-1:52:13

WV25/Charleston Road/Main Street

Nitro, WV: 1:52:13-1:54:02

WV62/Cross Lanes Drive

Cross Lanes, WV: 1:54:02-2:06:20

WV62/Cross Lanes Drive/Washington Street West, WV622/Big Tyler Road

Dunbar, WV: 2:06:20-2:11:05

WV62/Washington Street West, WV25\25/Roxalana Drive/10th Street, WV25/10th Street, Dunbar Toll Bridge

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My dash-cam is slowly dying so I am trying to raise $120 to get a new one with extra delivery work. If you got any value out of this video please consider donating to make future videos possible 🙂

Source West Virginia Blue Book Vol 81 1999

A long time ago in the county I now call home a college was founded. West Virginia’s only state operated specialized technical college was established by the West Virginia Legislature in 1895. It was opened 1/4/1897 as Montgomery Preparatory School. Operated as a branch of West Virginia University it was renamed the West Virginia Trades School in 1917. It began building a reputation in technical and business offerings and offering 4 year degrees in 1929. In 1931 it was renamed New River State College which it remained until another act of legislation in 1941 gave it the title West Virginia Institute of Technology. (West Virginia Blue Book Vol. 81, 1999, pp.580-581)

Montgomery, WV itself was incorporated in 4/1/1891 and named for James Montgomery who was one of the first settlers. West Virginia like many places derives a majority of its city and street names from families who settled there and owned land. It is a small town of just around 2,449 in the 1990s. (West Virginia Blue Book Vol. 81, 199, pp.914-915)

The area benefited from the proximity to Charleston, WV which was experiencing a boom in salt mining at the time. This lead to the nascent chemical industry developing a foothold. The explosion of coal production in the 20th century for steel production and eventually electrical production catapulted the area into a thriving hub in the 1950s. The population peaked in the 1950s at around 3484 residents. It peaked again in the 1980s at 3104. The Kanawha river is still navigable down to Kanawha Falls and allows transit through to the Ohio, Mississippi, and beyond.

Today 1200 people call the town home. It is the fourth largest incorporated city in Kanawha county which is the most populous county in West Virginia and home to the state capital. The Charleston, WV metro is approximately 250,000 as of 2010.

This school was always operated as a thorn in the side of the two land grant institutions in West Virginia. West Virginia State College in Institute, WV on the other side of Kanawha county was already offering some of the same programs. However, as a Historically Black College and University WVSC was forced to give up its land grant status after desegregation. Losing both it’s historically black student population and faculty once it was made clear West Virginia would have to fund the other in state land grant institution equally to it’s HBCU land grant institution. That other institution being WVU. Twice WVU’s budget was more than the state could afford so rather than cuts to the flagship institution, it was decided West Virginia State College would forego its land-grant status.

As time went on and WVSC and later WVSU regained their land grant status the funding issues were never resolved. By that time WVU had grown tired of the engineering program at Montgomery, WV competing with it’s program in Morgantown. To be fair, the state of WV also appeared to want WVU to be the flagship engineering school and did not want to spend the money on upgrades to the WVU Tech campus to have a competing program. By this time WVU had wholly swallowed up the branch college and began making plans to relocate the campus. So while WVSU was not powerful enough to be a threat to WVU Tech, they had more to gain by the school’s demise.

This was further complicated by WVU Tech having access to the world class labs of Dupont and Union Carbide also in Kanawha county at the time. In fact Dupont, WV is just across the river and down a little ways. The rest of Bridgevalley Community and Technical College has its headquarters at the former Union Carbide laboratory in South Charleston, WV. This gave many engineers looking at careers with two of the largest players in the chemical industry from the 1980s-1990s a difficult decision to make. Once again WVU needed to allocate as much funding to the Morgantown campus as they could. The last thing they wanted was to fund their biggest local competitor. They would make more money off having those kids in Morgantown using existing facilities. This made the decision not to rehabilitate the existing Montgomery campus an easy call for WVU.

It was a smart business decision. One that left an undeniable daily impact on the thousand or so people that call Montgomery home. The surrounding communities of Smithers and Glasgow are all a stunning dichotomy of natural beauty and economic poverty. Beautiful landscapes marred by abandoned houses of families that fled for greener pastures. How many of the graduates of our state’s universities are now living abroad. Taking their whole families with them. The elderly relatives that remain will either relocate into their progeny’s homes abroad or remain in nursing homes should they be lucky to live long enough. There is nothing left here but the two faces of God’s divine work and Man’s destruction.

The community of Montgomery had already suffered the losses from the manufacturing and mining industries in the 1980s. The loss of the college was buffered by leaving the community college behind. It occupies one building on campus as near as I can tell. Much of the campus today is derelict and sporting “No Trespassing” signs. An odd aside is the plethora of For Sale signs giving a dollar amount for the property up front. Just something interesting I saw along the way.

The state of West Virginia attempts to operate its schools on as much of a for profit model as they can. Understandable in a state that exports all of its wealth at a loss. I don’t know if it would have been worth saving the school when it moved to Beckley. I am from Beckley myself and was happy to see the college take over our own defunct Beckley College. Once that for profit college was denied it’s accreditation after years of tuition gouging and mismanagement thank goodness WVU and the state government were there to save the day on the private for profit college. That way the people that lost all that money didn’t have to walk away with nothing.

As for Montgomery, I will let the video speak for itself. It is my opinion government and health entities should be run for the public good. They should not be run as a business where every dollar is extracted. When things get rough for a business it goes away. What is left behind are people and communities that need government resources. We need to import more people and resources to the state; not export them to where they are more profitable to others. Do you think something could be done to save Kanawha Counties eastern municipalities?

As always… thank you for riding with me!

Recorded: 2/19/2025

Visibility: Cloudy / Snow

Destinations in chronological order:

South Charleston, WV: B-4:26, 2:01:06-E

Thomas Hospital Rear Entrance, US60/MacCorkle Avenue, I64, Riverwalk Plaza

Charleston, WV: 4:26-14:50, 1:45:36-2:01:06

I64, I64/I77, US60/Midland Trail, WV61/US60/MacCorkle Avenue,

Belle, WV: 14:50-22:56

US60/Midland Trail/Dupont Avenue

Chelyan, WV: 22:56-37:30, 1:18:20-1:34:56

US60/Midland Trail/Dupont Avenue, WV61/2nd Avenue/MacCorkle Avenue

Montgomery, WV: 37:30-1:18:20

US60/Midland Trail/Dupont Avenue, WV6/Montgomery Bridge, WV61/Deepwater Mountain Road/2nd Avenue/MacCorkle Avenue, Harding Street, 5^th Avenue, 3^rd Avenue, Lee Street, 2^nd Avenue, WV61\27/Fayette Pike, WVU Tech/WV Institute of Technology (Defunct), Montgomery General Hospital, Bridgevalley Community and Technical College

Marmet, WV: 1:34:56-1:45:36

WV61/MacCorkle Avenue

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My dash-cam is slowly dying so I am trying to raise $120 to get a new one with extra delivery work. If you got any value out of this video please consider donating to make future videos possible 🙂

Yesterday was a special day for me, it marked 18 months since my last drink of alcohol. Vodka, in my case, showed up drunk to rehab, which is to be expected, but my blood pressure was something like 220/180. So I spent the week at Cabell-Huntington Hospital to detox and get my heart under control. Anyway, I don’t have to live like that anymore! Now I just take it one day at a time and just for today I’m feeling fine! Since it is my Soberversary, if you are reading this, I love you too.

Some important things to remember: I’m unique, but I’m not special. I am not more important than anyone else. I am no less important than anyone else, even if I feel that way. Feelings aren’t reality, but perception is! Your beliefs will become your reality if you keep believing consistently. Find balance in all things. Avoid absolutes absolutely, and you deserve it!

Part of my recovery involved taking an inventory of what was important to me and keeping those things. Equally important was the realization that things could not be the same going forward. If you do the same damn things you get the same damn shit! I had already quit showing up to my job at Gino’s by the time my third stint at Harmony Ridge Recovery Center began. So new job was order #1 when I got out.

Leaving my old job was easy, but the challenges it brought my way were immediate and immense. We were renting an apartment from the company I worked for. Now my employment was not mentioned in the lease and I was not allowed to pay for the place as a payroll deduction. I also was told it was subsidized housing, but my rent was the same as my neighbor in the duplex with an identical place. Neighbor did not work for the company. Anyhow, that became order #2.

Well here we are, I have moved and left that company. It would be a lie if I said that my addiction stemmed entirely from my job. I was an addict and an alcoholic before I started and I left on that same note. I did leave of my own volition, and was not required to resign. I quit showing up because I gave up, it was over. I had spent 7 years with the company starting as a General Manager and within a year I was a District Supervisor. I managed 8-9 stores during the pandemic and was responsible for over 1/3 of my divisions net profits for a year out of 25 locations. During my time there I oversaw millions of dollars in transactions. I felt like I was on top of the world!

I got cocky, and decided to have a sit down meeting with an employee about their abusive and racist behavior. He got mad and went to the company owner. Now by this time they already had a sneaking suspicion that I had a problem. I had been on trips and to parties they knew what was going on. I was given a choice: accept a demotion to GM of the store they used to punish people, or accept a 1 week unpaid suspension. I chose the suspension, they chose the demotion.

That is about all I care to share on that today, come back for more! Thank you for Riding With Me!

Recorded: 2/18/2025

Visibility: Cloudy, but still a happy Soberversary overall.

Destinations in chronological order:

South Charleston, WV: B-4:28, 26:54-56:10, 1:14:54-1:26:53, 1:55:50-2:18:18, 2:27:44-E

Thomas Hospital Rear Entrance, US60/MacCorkle Avenue, I64, Rock Lake Drive, Kanawha Turnpike, WV601/Jefferson Road, US119/Corridor G, Southridge (broken intersection light), Dunbar Toll Bridge

Dunbar, WV: 4:28-8:17, 24:00-26:54, 2:18:18-2:27:44

I64, WV25/Fairlawn Avenue/1st Avenue, WV25/10th Street, Dunbar Avenue, 16^th Street, 21^st Street, 20^th Street, Dunbar Toll Bridge

Nitro, WV: 8:17-22:22

WV25/1st Avenue, I64

Cross Lanes, WV: 22:22-24:00

I64

Alum Creek, WV: 56:10-1:14:54, 1:26:53-1:55:50

Childress Road, Turly Drive, Cellular Way, Yeager Highway, US119/Corridor G, Cobb Creek, Buckeye Fork, McCorkle Road

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570980376051

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt53MMb1R6eOf49jw7LQkPw

https://venmo.com/noggynet

My dash-cam is slowly dying so I am trying to raise $120 to get a new one with extra delivery work. If you got any value out of this video please consider donating to make future videos possible 🙂 Celebrating my Soberversary with new goals.