Panhandle West Virginia: Becoming an exurb of DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The government considers WV part of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Statistical Area

Yup. It’s always been part of the DC area suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The panhandle will become a unique part of WV like northern virginia is to Virginia, it will eventually fade from being culturally similar to the rest of the state, racially, politically, industrially, etc.

Eventually? It’s been that way for 50 + years. We only got DC news growing up, except one Hagerstown station that has since moved to DC. People have commuted here to DC all my life. We took school field trips to DC and Baltimore at least 5 times growing up. The idea that you think this is new amuses me. It’s always been culturally similar to DC but still has WV ways. Don’t roll up in neighborhoods you don’t know anytime but especially after dark, neighbors watch out for neighbors, people open constitutional carry, concealed carry is pretty easy to get, we protect our neighbors, stand your ground laws apply, conservative overall but nobody cares if you’re liberal as long as you don’t care if someone else isn’t. Don’t act like a d in general or be a bad neighbor, myob, respect people they respect you. Don’t freak out by target practice, deer hunting, big trucks, barking dogs, 4 wheelers, horses on roads, and don’t drive like you do in DC - you’ll likely kill your self or someone else driving old horse and buggy roads like that.

+1
It's amusing that some of the newer transplants are *shocked!* that WVA is actually an exurb of DC and has been for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a place in Shepherdstown. We have met many people here who commute to NOVA and DC. It’s very common apparently.

Primary home or second home?

Second

[Anonymous]

I figured this out in 2008 when I moved to DC and saw an assload of WVU fans at a Gtown game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term for metropolitan DC has seemingly expanded throughout the last few decades or so, with places like Loudoun or even as far south as Fauquier or Stafford becoming part of this Northern Virginia/ DC area. demographic changes and the sprawl of new businesses have largely transformed what was once a rural Loudoun in places like Ashburn, Leesburg, etc. into major hubs, and is continuing to expand at a high rate into western loudoun close to the West Virginia border. Have also started to notice on a personal level lots of people moving outwards especially during the remote work era to Jefferson County and other places close to Harpers Ferry. Given the increasing changes, do you suspect we are soon going to be adding parentheses around the “W” to designate the DM(W)V area?

I grew up in Loudoun and I once had a friend from Fairfax tell me that he didn’t consider Loudoun to be Northern VA… but Fairfax was.(?!?) OP, you also may need a geography lesson. Yes, places like Loudoun are considered Northern VA, since that is as Northern in VA as you can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The term for metropolitan DC has seemingly expanded throughout the last few decades or so, with places like Loudoun or even as far south as Fauquier or Stafford becoming part of this Northern Virginia/ DC area. demographic changes and the sprawl of new businesses have largely transformed what was once a rural Loudoun in places like Ashburn, Leesburg, etc. into major hubs, and is continuing to expand at a high rate into western loudoun close to the West Virginia border. Have also started to notice on a personal level lots of people moving outwards especially during the remote work era to Jefferson County and other places close to Harpers Ferry. Given the increasing changes, do you suspect we are soon going to be adding parentheses around the “W” to designate the DM(W)V area?

I grew up in Loudoun and I once had a friend from Fairfax tell me that he didn’t consider Loudoun to be Northern VA… but Fairfax was.(?!?) OP, you also may need a geography lesson. Yes, places like Loudoun are considered Northern VA, since that is as Northern in VA as you can get.

You need a geography lesson. Frederick County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The panhandle will become a unique part of WV like northern virginia is to Virginia, it will eventually fade from being culturally similar to the rest of the state, racially, politically, industrially, etc.

Eventually? It’s been that way for 50 + years. We only got DC news growing up, except one Hagerstown station that has since moved to DC. People have commuted here to DC all my life. We took school field trips to DC and Baltimore at least 5 times growing up. The idea that you think this is new amuses me. It’s always been culturally similar to DC but still has WV ways. Don’t roll up in neighborhoods you don’t know anytime but especially after dark, neighbors watch out for neighbors, people open constitutional carry, concealed carry is pretty easy to get, we protect our neighbors, stand your ground laws apply, conservative overall but nobody cares if you’re liberal as long as you don’t care if someone else isn’t. Don’t act like a d in general or be a bad neighbor, myob, respect people they respect you. Don’t freak out by target practice, deer hunting, big trucks, barking dogs, 4 wheelers, horses on roads, and don’t drive like you do in DC - you’ll likely kill your self or someone else driving old horse and buggy roads like that.

I live in Fauquier County and most of this applies here as well. One of the things we love most is that your political party affiliation isn’t a litmus test. Our neighbors are all Republicans and we trust all of them more than we ever did any of our neighbors in MoCo. We also enjoy the big dogs and trucks, and our local law enforcement and military friendly brewery. The police department and fire department showed up for back to school night as part of the community. You couldn’t pay me to move back to the inner suburbs of DC.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in Martinsburg and easily 1/4 of my neighbors worked in the DC area. One guy was military and drove 1.5 hours each way to his office in the Pentagon. He got up at 4:30am, so there was not much traffic. The military types are always early risers anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long has it been called DMV?

Only since the early 2000s.

From the City Paper: https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/436482/area-codethe-termdmv-brought-to-you-by-the-hard-work-of-local-rappers-and-phone-cards/
"Rapper 20Bello, on the other hand, says he was the first to call this area the DMV and has been using the term since 2003. He offers compelling evidence. 20 possesses a flier from that year, and although a date isn’t listed, he can convincingly authenticate it."

From The Washingtonian: https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/07/06/whos-responsible-for-naming-greater-washington-the-dmv/
"As 20Bello tells it, he first heard the region called DMV by go-go musician Kibwe Galloway. Galloway had been calling the name out for about three years while playing with Brothers Need Brothers (originally called Buck Naked Band). He could also be heard shouting the name out over rap and go-go records he helped produce. Galloway says he was looking for a way to “try to break the little wall” between city dwellers and suburbanites."

[Anonymous]

The panhandle is not like the rest of WV anyway, with its relatively flat terrain. It was only added to the state of WV during the Civil War because Lincoln wanted to make sure that the B&O Railroad, which at the time crossed into Virginia at Harpers Ferry, did not fall into rebel hands.,

[Anonymous]

There are people who live in southern PA and DE who commute to jobs in the DMV. Are we going to add those states as well?

The core region of greater Washington includes the District, parts of Maryland, and parts of Virginia. Period. There's no reason to start adding distant exurbs in other states to suggest that, for example, West Virginia is on par with either Maryland or Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The panhandle is not like the rest of WV anyway, with its relatively flat terrain. It was only added to the state of WV during the Civil War because Lincoln wanted to make sure that the B&O Railroad, which at the time crossed into Virginia at Harpers Ferry, did not fall into rebel hands.,

Plenty of poverty and strip clubs in the Panhandle to make it more alike with the rest of WV than different.

[Anonymous]

I don't know of any strip clubs in Panhandle (maybe that's your thing) and there's plenty of poverty and bad schools in DC.

[Anonymous]

We have a second place in Hedgesville (near Martinsburg) and in theory I could commute. I don't think I would personally enjoy it, but it's about 90 minutes depending on traffic into DC. It could be done.

[Anonymous]

The health care options are poor - my inlaws retired there and had alot of issues - for serious care they were sent to frederick and if it was really serious all the way in to hopkins - not a great situation

The hospital in Charles Town was like a mash unit