West Virginia Day in Greenbrier Cty

West Virginia Day

On June 20, 1863, in the midst of the great event called, by most historians and others, the Civil War, this state was created out of the western portions of Virginia, composed of citizens who, mostly, were oppossed to the secession of Virginia from the Union. The validity of this act of Statehood has been debated for many years. The bottom line is that "legal or not" (whatever that phrase means in this time of "activitist courts"), statehood happened and it has remained a fact.

We chose to celebrate this day by going to one of our favorite spots in one of our favorite county in West Virginia. We went to the Blue Bend Recreation area, deep in the heart of eastern Greenbrier county.

The name comes, we think, from the color of the water, which is not really a Blue at all, but rather a Blue Green. Of course, when we lived in that area, we also found out that locals said the name stemmed from the fact that the water was always cold, even on the hottest summer day, and thus anyone who went swimming in it turned Blue.

Whatever the genesis for the name, the spot has alway rated up there as one of our all-time most beautiful spots. With tall trees (a lot of them Eastern Hemlock), and other flora, and lots of fauna this is a very popular place. This is a favorate spot for the fly fishermen and also a favorite hunting spot for many a "Great White Hunter" in search of deer, turkey, grouse, and even the occasional Black Bear.

But neither one of us are into the "guns & hunting" thing, even though we love small towns (sorry about that Obama) and so we were content to see some Mint in bloom, and the start of the Rhododendron blooms (sorry for the dark picture, but they are an under-story plant in the forest).

So, Happy West Virginia Day!

(You too, VP Cheney)