Hello, and welcome. Please, make yourself at home. Grab yourself a steaming hot cup of coffee and come sit by the fire, while I tell you a little about my hometown.

First of all, I've was born and raised in the state of West Virginia, in a little town called Bluefield. Bluefield is at the very southern tip of West Virginia, bordering another town called Bluefield in Virginia. We're known as the Two Bluefield's of the Two Virginia's down in these parts, and it's a very cozy, warm place to live, let me tell you.

The best way to come into my town, if you know of this interstate on the East Coast, is to run I-77, if you're coming from the south, up till you reach East River Mountain Tunnel, and come on through the tunnel. The Bluefield Exit will be the first one on the right after that. Coming to the first red light on the interstate, make a left, and you'll be in the city limits within a few seconds. Right after you come through that tunnel, and just before getting to the red light, some ways before, you can see the house that I grew up in. It sits upon a hill to the left, behind alot of trees right now, so it's a bit hard to see till the leaves begin to fall. That's where I grew up, on the side of East River Mountain, with the entire stretch of mountain sitting at my backdoor. Yes, we, my sister and I, along with our parents used to hike up through those mountains quite often. It was a real sight to see up there, all the beautiful pines and elms, and up just a little ways, the remains of what used to be a very old farmhouse, with only some of the stone foundation still left, a few slabs of stone walls, and off to the left of that, an old dairy building still sat, most of it's walls still intact. I remember how I could never get enough of those old, gutted out buildings back then, when I was a kid. I would always stand inside one of them and try to imagine just what the people were like that lived there so long ago, what they'd done during their days, if their nights were spent by candle light and a roaring hearth fire. Up in those mountains, it's the most wonderful feeling in the world. The fresh smell of pine trees everywhere, the earth smell of dirt, cedar, and fresh rippling water in the little stream that flowed down the mountainside, just up and off to the right a ways from the old Dairy Farm. Just sitting here telling you about it brings back good old memories.

Coming in town, and don't worry, you won't be leaving those wonderful mountains as you enter town; they surround you all the way - East River Mountain will always be on your left as you enter into town, and more mountainous hills and valleys are scattered throughout the town as you enter and cruise. My house sits atop quite a steep hill, and the road you come up on to get to my house, if you keep going straight, you'll be riding along the very tip top of another mountain, looking down from both sides. It's a very neat thing, riding along the ridge like that. Once you get into town, you'll see quite a few Hotels and Motels, especially if you get off of the interstate at the second red light and come onto Cumberland Road, where you'll find several very nice hotels and some places to eat as well. There's Windy's, then KFC, Dairy Queen, as well as several others along this street.

Our town's local newspaper is called The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, and it's really quite a nice paper. They maintain a website where you can get the paper there, and I'll give you the link to that on another page. It's a fantastic website, with all our local news and interests in it. I think you'll enjoy it. Our local t.v. station is called News Center 6, and it's on the NBC network, and they too have their own website, which I'll also be giving you the link for here. We're the proud owners of the Bluefield City Orioles minor league baseball team, and all home games are played in our very own Bowen Field at the City Park, of which half lies in West Virginia, the other half in Virginia. The Northfork & Southern Railroad runs directly through town, from the east to the west, and it's been there so long, I couldn't even begin to tell you how long. These people in West Virginia made their start from that railroad, from the mines that filled those cars so long ago, and to this day still do. My Grandmother can tell you tales of how that railroad used to hop back in her day, and it was the center of life back then, in the 20's and 30's. Now'adays, it's not thought of too much, except by the people who still work on it, but many coal cars still run through, and for the people who watched the railroad from infancy till this day, it will always be one of our main attractions.

The majority of the homes you will see in this town are old, mostly built from the late 1800's through the 1950's, and you don't see too many newly build homes around here, although there are some, and they're very nice too, but myself, I like the nastalgic look of the older homes. I myself live in a hundred year old house that we're presently renovating and remodeling. Ah, but that's another story in itself, now isn't it, and I've taken up about enough of your time telling you about my little hometown. I'll tell you what -- I'll go dig around for some of those local links I told you about earlier, and you can visit those, and see for yourself. How's that sound?

Till next time I update this page, so long!

Write to me at [email protected]