Driving west from Virginia on the Charles City Pike and crossing into Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the elevation offers an expansive view of Charles City. Then vacationers attain the Millville Dam Bridge, which takes them throughout the hazel waters of the Shenandoah River. With homes dotting the panorama, the plush greenery, blue skies, and the outlying hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it’s troublesome to not hear John Denver’s “Take Me House, Nation Roads” making the drive.

West Virginia is my adopted dwelling. If somebody advised me, a man born in Queens, dwelling on Barnett Avenue in Sunnyside, that I’d someday stay in West Virginia, I’d have laughed. Although I’ve lived in 5 different states since my days in New York (New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia), I by no means thought Martinsburg could be the place I name dwelling.

For a number of years now, the information centered on folks leaving states resembling California and New York and settling in Texas and Florida. The previous states each misplaced Home seats following the 2020 election, whereas Texas gained two and Florida gained one. Is West Virginia a progress state as nicely? No. West Virginia additionally misplaced a Home seat as a result of its total inhabitants has declined since 2010. Nonetheless, the japanese panhandle of the state, an space that juts out from the west, bordering Maryland and Virginia and, in some areas, a stone’s throw from Pennsylvania, is a special story.

Berkeley County, the place I stay, grew 22% between 2010 and 2020. Jefferson County, dwelling to Harpers Ferry, Ranson, and Charles City, grew by 11%. In 2021, Doug Copenhaver, president of the Berkeley County Council, responded to a query about what contributed to the expansion. He mentioned the business-friendly surroundings, relaxed way of life, and proximity to the east coast are all a part of it (the japanese panhandle, relying on location, is anyplace from 60 to 75 miles from Washington, D.C.).

The decrease value of dwelling can be enticing. The governor, Jim Justice, and the state legislature handed the most important earnings tax lower invoice within the state’s historical past. Its prime earnings tax price of 5.12% now makes it decrease than Virginia and Maryland, the place residents are topic to separate state and county earnings taxes. The price of actual property is one other draw.

COVID-19 utterly upended the employer/worker relationship, particularly with the dynamic of distant and in-person work. Three years after COVID-19 turned a lot of the United States right into a mammoth ghost city, the impact of this unprecedented workforce “disruption,” to borrow the cliche, nonetheless lingers. Distant work and hybrid work are frequent nomenclature for employers and job seekers, and it little question components in folks making a transfer to West Virginia, because it did for me.

When my spouse and I started trying to find a home, we knew that buying in Arlington, Virginia, the place we lived, was probably out of the query. Based on the true property web site Redfin, the present median worth of a single-family dwelling in Arlington County is $640,000, and that’s down 1% from a yr in the past. The median worth for a single-family dwelling in Berkeley County, West Virginia, is $289,000, which is a ten% enhance from final yr.

(Amanda Trypanis / Washington Examiner)

We lived in a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot condominium in Arlington, in a terrific constructing on Columbia Pike close to the well-known Bob and Edith’s Diner. The fifth flooring supplied a good looking view of the road beneath and the clubhouse of the Military Navy Nation Membership. Our all-in prices, together with lease, water, rubbish service, and pet lease, had been simply over $2,300 per 30 days.

The house we bought in Martinsburg is on a nook lot, with double the sq. footage, a two-car storage, a screened-in patio, a deck, and a fenced-in yard. After we left Arlington, we had two cats. Now, we’ve two cats and two canine, they usually all benefit from the open air. The associated fee is similar as what we paid for the condominium. Within the morning, we get up to the sounds of birds chirping and the quiet rumble of visitors a mile away on Interstate 81, relatively than buses, hearth engines, and the beeping horns of drivers on Columbia Pike.

For individuals who commute to the Washington space for work, the MARC prepare in downtown Martinsburg provides three departure occasions within the morning on to Union Station. Freeway routes by means of Maryland and Virginia present numerous means for drivers to get to work. The japanese panhandle is simply an hour from Dulles Worldwide Airport. I-81 offers entry to Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. One may drive by means of 4 states within the span of about 40 minutes. These on the japanese panhandle can go to Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, West Virginia, someday and the Amish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the subsequent, each about the identical distance. Gettysburg Nationwide Navy Park is a mere hour away.

The world is wealthy in historical past, as nicely. Martinsburg was established in 1778. Harpers Ferry, 1734, and Charles City, 1801. Harpers Ferry figured prominently within the Civil Warfare with a battle that occurred Sept 12-15, 1862. The garrison was an essential a part of the Maryland marketing campaign. When Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland, a few of his military, underneath the path of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, surrounded and captured the Union garrison, taking management of the realm, culminating in probably the most vital surrenders by federal forces throughout the warfare and the seize of over 12,000 Union troopers. Close by Martinsburg, whereas not a fixture of any main battles, factored in due to the railroads. Martinsburg was a northern city in Accomplice nation, actually on the border between North and South. The town reportedly modified fingers between the Confederacy and the Union 37 occasions.

(Jay Caruso)

At the moment, in fact, it’s fully completely different. Downtown Martinsburg has an array of previous buildings and houses, a few of which constructed within the 1800s exist on a stretch often known as “millionaire’s row.” The center of downtown options an eclectic combination of retail retailers, together with a small old-school ironmongery shop, espresso retailers, eating places, tattoo parlors, and a puppet theater. There may be even a used bookstore in an previous financial institution referred to as, appropriately sufficient, Financial institution Books.

The folks listed below are pleasant and alluring. Neighbors will wave hey as they stroll by with their canine or youngsters. Whereas most individuals don’t put on their politics on their sleeve, that is undoubtedly Trump nation. Alongside Williamsport Pike, a highway that served because the principal thoroughfare to the southern a part of city, a resident has a join on the fence that claims, “Repair 2020 First!” There may be typically a gentleman on the facet of the highway throughout good climate promoting large Trump flags, and alongside I-81, after crossing into West Virginia from Winchester, Virginia, somebody has a really tall flagpole on his or her property with a flag that reads, “F*** Joe Biden.” And on uncommon events, one can drive previous a property that can have a Accomplice flag displayed someplace.

With all the nice West Virginia provides, it additionally has its downsides. Whereas it’s a very reasonably priced state, additionally it is one of many poorest within the nation, with over 17% of individuals dwelling beneath the poverty line. The gradual demise of coal lowered these employed within the trade from over 100,000 to underneath 13,000 at present, the bottom quantity since 1890. The opioid disaster has hit the state arduous, and it has the very best overdose demise price per 100,000 folks within the nation by far. With 81.4 deaths per 100,000, it dwarfs Kentucky, which is second, at 49.1 per 100,000. West Virginia has the very best weight problems price within the nation. It ranks within the prime 10 states for coronary heart illness deaths. It isn’t troublesome to identify pockets of poverty right here within the japanese panhandle, and among the extra western areas of Berkeley County don’t but have entry to on a regular basis conveniences resembling high-speed web.

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Each state has its faults, and West Virginia isn’t any completely different. Nonetheless, right here on the japanese panhandle, the expansion is noticeable. New small companies pop up on a regular basis, and due to the central location, it’s drawing the curiosity of builders for warehousing and distribution, much like its northern neighbor of Hagerstown, Maryland. New housing development continues regardless of inflation and better rates of interest, peeling away folks from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington who need the homeownership a part of the American dream.

The japanese panhandle of West Virginia has grow to be the most recent Washington, D.C., suburb.

Jay Caruso is a author and editor residing in West Virginia.