I grew up in Michigan. Every summer we'd go to WV to visit a large extruded family. I really appreciated when I was older when cousins would take me on day trip drives to mountain towns. It would be interesting to visit communities where large numbers of people's grandparents came from various European countries and possibly interview families willing to share historical photos and stories of the original settlers and what their lives were like.
Thanks for the video. Your mention of wheelbarrows used to deliver cash to the bank, is true. My family came from Bramwell and lived in one of the many hollows (hollers). They were dirt poor with 13 children. My dad went to the schools in Bramwell, graduating from Bramwell High School. After my grandfather could no longer work in the mines, he sold chicken eggs downtown from the trunk of his car, to feed the family. My father left West Virginia immediately after graduating from high school, and joined the military. He didn't want to raise a family in poverty like his parents had done. I'm very thankful for that. I've never lived in poverty, but have a lot of respect for those who had no choice, and endured.
High school students from Montcalm had no High School. The caught a bus to Bramwell and many graduated from there until the Board of Education built a high school. Now Bramwell high schools go to high school in/near Montcalm.
I too am not from poverty like this, but it is fascinating that almost every American even those whose ancestors emigrated a hundred years ago (like mine has) has a story like yours! thanks for sharing
Such beautiful mansions and a pretty town with rich history. Enjoying this armchair travelling at the age of 78 from Finland 🇫🇮 to West Virginia. WV and the Route 66 have always been places of great interest to me❤️
Greetings from Va, USA. My husband and I enjoy our couch sightseeing tours also. I was born and raised in WV and miss it very much. Beautiful landscape and charming people.
Enjoyed the vibe of this video. The music and scenery reminded me of a by-gone era that I imagine was much more anxiety free and where community interactions were more frequent and natural for the inhabitants. Great job!
I really enjoyed this video. I have visited this town a few times. It is like stepping back in time. I have eaten at The Corner Shop and the Mexican restaurant. I have to say the food is delicious at both places. The food portions at The Corner Shop is all you can do to eat it all. I enjoy the architecture of these beautiful homes. This town has some awesome history. I feel like this town has the makings for a Hallmark movie. Great job. Thanks again for sharing the history of the past.
Beautiful music and scenery! My father and Uncles' on both sides all worked in the mines at points in their lives. I wished I asked more questions. My Dad was born in 1919. He said the Movie How Green was my Valley was exactly what it was like.
I can relate, I wish I had asked more questions of my family before they passed away. It's a big part of the reason I'm doing this Exploring Appalachia series . Thanks for watching!
The Mansion across from the post office,dinner,and Mexican restaurant has a solid copper roof.....thats still blows my mind 😁 I used to trim those hedges around the property.
What an awesome place to check out...I'd sure love to have lived in one of those magnificent homes. God Bless and thanks for the trip to Bramwell.🏚🏚🏡🏡⛪⛪🏠🏠🏛🏛🛕🛕🏘🏘
I loved watching the video. I live in Bluefield.VA and love learning all I can about the rich heritage of both VA and WV. Bramwell is a beautiful place to visit.
I grew up on Hazel Mountain and back then, our families would load up and head to St Paul once a month to do our shopping. I have watched many a movie in the old Lyric theater and when we became teenagers, several of my cousins and I would hitchhike to watch a show and hope to catch a ride back to the mountain with the miners going in to work late at night. Thanks for this great look at a place I remember so well. Great job with the filming and music.
Born in 1945 I saw my first Black/White movie in the theater in Bramwell, WV. It was superman movie. Saw my first Color Movie in that theater. It was superman also. The soda pop machine dispensed paper cups and then filled them with your choice. Took my ATV to the Bramwell Trailhead and was surprised to see a large sign warning riders not to ride an ATV into town. Now I ride at the Coaldale WV trailhead. Really nice workers there and plenty of parking. Have not been in Bramwell in years. Antisocial city managers and even the people.
Bramwell is absolutely gorgeous! I suggest everyone go see it in person! I have pictures (actual pictures, like when you had to get your film developed) of the Bramwell church 5:44 , I always wanted to get married there. Breathtaking. ❤️
I would really enjoy a visit to this community. Of course, as part of that, I would want to do a lot of listening about the town and its history. These are wonderful video visits to truly historic sites!
Used to live there bit moved away a few years ago. Beautiful place and good people just not a lot of opportunity sadly. But still have family there. Also the Cornershop burgers are godly. Also i went to elementary school in the old high school
As a Filipino, I am truly amazed by the story and history of this town. How on earth Americans are leaving and abandoning this beautiful, elegant, and romantic town?!
Something funny, those Millionaire Mansions look a bout the same size as Middle Class development homes of today My, how things have changed! Good to see how all the environmental damage has been cleaned up, buried or overgrown. (I used to live in West Virginia and I've seen it first hand.)
Thanks- I always enjoy your videos. My immediate reaction to this video is seeing the opulent display of wealth by the mine owners and realizing this wealth was made on the backs of poor miners, mortal health problems, black lung disease, poverty, destruction of the land and blatant exploitation of the people in that area. The greed and avarice of these wealthy mine owners caused catastrophic destruction of the environment and , as we know now, irrepairable damage to the ecosystem, ground water and landscape. Income disparity , like this has created huge societal issues which linger to this day.
I love southern w.va. and sw. Va.but the only way I see moving forward is to take advantage of tourism and green energy. What once employed hundreds of thousands is just not there anymore. Hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy will need installation and maintenance and someone has to do it and operate it and I can think of no better or smarter people than those of the southern Appalachian. These people can make anything work, sometimes with hay bale wire. Let's educate them through our community colleges and trade schools. If you want to see this area growing again there is little other choice. Coal is fine but it takes less people to do the job and there is less coal. God bliss these people.
Why don't they show the homes in behind the swinging bridge that have fallen in and all the poor that are barely getting by. I know how it is there I growled up and worked on summer youth program in the early eighty's.
You growled up? You're a very negative person. This video is about history. It's not insinuating that life, good and bad, rich and poor, doesn't still go on.
I know you meant grew up there. The mansions were built on the backs of, the sweat of, the blood of, and the missing limbs, broken bones, bent backs of the miners. Also, likely the pollution of the water and of the air, continuing by those nasty, noisy 2-cycle ATV engines. My opinion only, of course. The 99% paid for the 1% who likely wouldn't know coal mine safety and logic if it hit them in the face.
@@teresaforsyth6185 Do people like you look at life in general this way? What you say here is true of the building of this entire nation! The guys who busted their butts and broke their backs to build it made little money, got no recognition, and many died young. It still happens today. The people who made America the powerhouse of the world only wanted to raise their kids, feed them, cloth them, and put a roof over their heads. They weren't the self entitled, spoiled whiners this country is full of today. Stop seeing the glass half empty all the time! You get to live the way you do thanks to them. Be thankful to them and God!
@@bradlane3662 actually I'm one of the most glass half-full people you'd ever meet. No, I'm not grateful to God, but to the great humans who form in groups for the common good to represent the godly spirit in all of us. It was the "church-lady's" who likely kept the community strong. My original post was mostly in support of the person who was taunted because the world growled instead of the past tense of grow= grew. Also, the percentage of rich whiners is actually very small, although they show up the most in the magazines. No, my dad worked in the same foundry for 36 years. On the same machine for most of it. His arms would glitter from the brass shavings. No OSHA for most of his life-- wonder what his lungs looked like. He literally saw someone's hand ripped off one day. His own T-shirt short sleeve got caught in a machine one day causing the skin to rip, the scar was about the size of a fifty-cent coin. I've worked bedside healthcare for most of my life. One husband military. Not much I haven't seen. No, I'm not a whiner.
@@teresaforsyth6185 Unfortunately, the new generation of Americans ARE self centered whiners. Regardless of wealth or the lack thereof. Their hunger for attention is never sated. It gags me. But I guess they've been created by the generations from World War Two to me. I guess I'm seeing my glass half empty!lol Just venting. I respect you and your opinions.
I found Hinton the closest thing to a ghost town. I was there in Dec one year. Just me solo driving. I think it was only me and the brand new National Park ranger.
If you’re still in West Virginia, you should swing by the Madison - Danville area in Boone County. These two very small towns are basically together and just off of 119 (Corridor G). However, before you get to the Danville exit, you will pass The welcome center for the Hatfield and McCoy trails which has great shopping and souvenirs for travelers and visitors alike. Right next to that is “Waterways water park”. It’s an area full of things to do, but a very small town vibe. When arriving in Madison, you will find a charming small town, with flowers and beautiful old fashioned street lights on Main Street, Madison. They also have a very interesting coal museum and is the home of the annual Coal Festival, along with a beautiful library that takes you way back in time. It also has one of the most beautiful court houses in the state. You will also find very unique shops and stores such as “The Southern Pineapple” on Main Street Madison. In Danville there is the Park Avenue Restaurant that has great food! Throughout the years, the threshold of the restaurant has seen the likes of multiple former governors and also President Clinton that has dined there. You will find the Mercantile on Park Avenue as well the “lucky dog thrift” in the town Square. And you can’t forget about the close out store “Gracie and Tate”which are all very unique in their own ways, these stores take you back to old fashion charm of shopping with local shop owners. This area is very rich in coal history and you should put it on your list of great small town places to see.
So sad to see True America , our old way of life disappearing & outright dead. This reminds me when we were so proud to be an American (I'm happy I live in here don't get me wrong) but there's so much more strife now. Our Countries being torn apart. Where'd the 'nuclear family" go? Progress some say. I say everything we've shoved overseas has been an absolute disaster for America -we no longer have factories, car plants like the Old Ford used to be, steel plants where families would work dad, older son, younger daughter, etc...... makes you sick in your heart
@@MountainRoots Yes I know. Sad isn't it that a charming town and beautiful nature isn't enough. Come on where's the engine fumes and ear spliting loudness, you know the fun. I remember when trails were places you went to get away from that.
I live on the corner and we ain't complaining about the ATVs. This town appreciates the tourism the trails bring to the area. Without it, a lot of the towns would have crumbled into disrepair.
ATV's aren't my cup of tea, but the tourism from people in the Northeastern states and the Coast is what's keeping these little towns alive and people off welfare. The state DNR patrols the trails and tries to keep them clean. When coal left, people were left with a choice. Whitewater rafting is nice, as is rock climbing and mountain biking, but not every area has them. You use what resource you've got.
To hell with that Hatfield McCoy trail ride the outlaw Trails down there they don't cost nothing and you don't have to wear a helmet and you're allowed to drink
