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[quote=Anonymous]I used to live in the area. Cumberland used to be the 2nd biggest city in Maryland, due to the C&O canal terminus being there, and before there were many highways or routes to Ohio. Hagerstown did well also -- the city's nickname is Hub City because it's where major highways (81, 70) and rail lines converge.

Washington County is just close enough to be a DC exurb, and they are building on that, with lots of logistics centers there, including Amazon and FedEx. Allegany County has it tougher as they're about an hour further up the road and sort of out there. Garrett is a tiny county and spread out -- more people live in one zipcode in Rockville than all of Garrett county.

There is great scenery and state parks in the area, but the cities are indeed a shell of what they used to be, and the opioid epidemic hit hard. I remember taking my kids to the library one afternoon and there would be people crouching in the corner outside shooting up. It's typical rural poverty, so almost all white and lower education levels. I volunteered at the food bank and 90% of the people coming in were white, matching the demographics of the area.

Depending on where you are in Western MD, WV or PA are a few miles away, and it's a pretty similar story there. Some cities have done a better job reviving (Chambersburg and Waynesboro, PA come to mind) while others have not (Martinsburg, WV).[/quote]

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