my family and i just moved to Morgantown WV in march this year from living in upstate NY and let me tell you the people here are super nice and having greenery around all the time is so beautiful!!! would like to get out of a college town in the next couple years but we love calling WV our home!! thank you for this video!
The Warner theater was absolutely gorgeous inside. Old time red carpet, ropes, gold trim accents. Carved moldings. A treasure left to ruin. Seen many movies there growing up. Love my town. Great video. Thanks.
I was born here! My dad worked for General Electric in the 90s-2000s but we relocated to capital region NY. I was too young to have any memories of Morgantown so thank you for making this video!
I love Morgantown. Born and raised West Virginian here and raising my family in these beautiful hills. We live in a very rural area within an 1.5 hours drive from Morgantown, where I work part-time. The area can get very busy during the school year. I do find it a beautiful, quaint town with a lot to offer, though. I have traveled all over the US and still say the friendliest people are from right here in WV. Glad you enjoyed your visit and shared this video. New sub here as I just found you guys and like the way you explore.
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia: BORING? - What We Actually Found 0338am 6.11.23 zackquill morgan looked a little like stewart granger or stewart granger looked a little akin to zackquill morgan. ohhhhhhhhhhhh.......
I live in Morgantown and I swear people like you should just move here and become part of our community... Because people such as yourselves would love it even more 😀😀 Thank you for this video
Thank you for making this video - I was born and raised in Morgantown, so a bit homesick after watching. :) I originally intended to comment on your mispronunciation of the name of the river, but after reading the comments now I just want to ask you not to cut out those parts! And please make more videos of this beautiful region of the country!
Some people might like boring or sleepy. They might see the insanity of NYC or Chicago and say: "Naw dog, let's go to Morgantown." I live in a small town myself. I want to live in some kind of civilization, but give a boring and sleepy place. Don Knotts calls Morgantown his hometown. I'm glad you were able to visit his statue.
Gator, I am an odd personification of what you mentioned lol. I grew up 20 mins up the road from Morgantown in Preston County. Through the course of life I have currently ended up living in The Bronx in NYC. I would move back home in a heartbeat if I could get a job making anything close to what I do, but the sad reality is it could not possibly happen. My goal though is that when I retire from where I work I can buy some little place in Monongalia or Preston county and live out my days in those beautiful mountains :)
i moved to morgantown from nyc, lived 21 yrs in nyc and my first year in morgantown, never missed nyc even a bit. morgantown is not boring if you love nature and have kids.. a lot to offer. plus pittsburgh is about 75 mins away, big city with everything you need. nice video✌🏻👍🏻
Thank you for making this great video, it kind of made me miss morgantown a lot. It's been almost ten years since I graduated from WVU. Hope that one day I can take my wife and kid to walk on the streets again which I was so familiar with.
It’s ingenuous to the town to completely omit the university, and the entirety of the divisions of Evansdale, Sunnyside, and Suncreat that also make up Morgantown. The culture of the university and the interactions between the students and townies are what make Morgantown special
The pepperoni rolls you got are from Fairmont from the original bakery of pepperoni rolls. It was started by an Italian coal miner who came up with them as a lunch the miners could eat requiring no refrigeration.
The absolute best pepperoni rolls are at this one gas station on Mid Atlantic Drive, I think they might come from PA, but they blow Chico’s out of the water.
Lol that hill you are looking at around the 7:45 mark is where I learned how to stop and start a standard vehicle on a hill, as well as most of my family. When I was a very young child my father used to be the manager of the Book Exchange store there on the right at the top of the hill when it was owned by John Fleming!
I admire and salute your reconnaissant missions into possibly sketchy parts of town prior to calling in "The Wife" for later ground support and incursions.
Graduated WVU in 1977. My daughter got her masters there a couple decades later. It has become a great little city. My family is from Preston County - which you have wandered through on another video. We had our 101st family reunion weekend before last, spent the night in Morgantown.
What was your major? My parents graduated in 77. Fine Art and Soil Science (yes, an artist and a scientist - no wonder it didn’t work out and I feel like my brain is constantly battling itself).
Thank you for making this video. Next time you are in town here are some things to try out (some of these are not downtown, but are in Morgantown). We have: putt putt and regular golf; a paint your own pottery place; two movie theatres; three live theatres; antique and consignment shops; an escape room; an art museum; a glass museum; art galleries'; rail trails; public parks and pools; music venues; a lot of unique dinning and much more!
Morgantown is always listed among the Top 20 College Towns in America. The first ranking I saw was over a decade ago by Huffington Post when WVU was a member of the former Big East Conference for all sports. Currently WVU is a member of the Big XII Conference and Morgantown continues to be ranked among America's best college towns along with conference rivals Ames, IA, Lawrence, KS and Manhattan, KS. Some conference fans refer to Morgantown as the Big XII's "mountain outpost" back East.
Morgantown is a college town, and college towns are almost never boring. I haven't been to Morgantown, but when I was going to UVA in Charlottesville one weekend a bunch of us girls went on a road trip to the annual Roadkill Festival in Marlintown, WV and it was a hoot!
It's precisely because it is a college town that makes it a problem. Because the college is buying up alot of the land and converting it to student housing, they are effectively making the properties untaxable which has the secondary effect of reducing the budget the town needs to fix and maintain the roads. Which is why most of the roads are crappy and depending where you are in town you can see the old brick roads underneath the asphalt.
@@Zombie-jn6iu that is only when the students are in town. When they are not in town all that money is pretty much nonexistant. Couple that with the fact that most of the roads that they do repave almost always dont need to be. take for example the roads over in the south park area, the only roads over there that get replaced are the ones adjacent to the super expensive houses while the not so expensive houses right down the road have roads that are practically gravel or brick. And do you want to know who mostly lives in those really nice houses? The college professors.
That’s cool! My grandparents got married there and their son (my uncle) spearheaded the idea for the PRT as an industrial engineering professor in the 70s.
It was the birthplace and hometown of Don Knotts (1924-2006). Hence, since it contributed to the formation of his ingenious, zany persona, it couldn't have been boring!
I spent a couple of weeks in Morgantown back in '83. I was visiting from Australia and spent some time at WVU. I remember the PRT and if I remember correctly it was built by Boeing. It's a beautiful part of the country and seems to have grown a lot since then. I was staying on a farm out of town a bit and enjoyed many walks in the countryside and my first sight of a groundhog! I'll never forget the hospitality of the people.
I grew up in the opposite end of the state but only went through Morgantown a few times via Greyhound when I was commuting to and from Pittsburgh for college. It always looked so inviting and I know they have a nice music/art scene, largely in thanks to the huge WVU student population. I've heard recently that the food scene is taking off there too. Really regretting not checking it out at some point. Oh well, maybe I'll take a road trip one summer and hit up Morgantown and Pittsburgh.
Looks like a nice little town. West Virginia doesn't have any real, true cities, but it sure has a lot of beautiful scenery. Too bad that state is so economically depressed.
That’s mostly the southern part of the state. Even though Mylan/Viatris left there are still several companies that are moving in to the area. There is a food processing plant that just got stated. There is also a battery or solar company that is building or buying a building to start production in 2023. The biggest issue with WV is that it’s land has been contaminated due to its history of being the chemical production capital of the US. All of that went to Texas, but many residents have health issues due to air, water, and soil contamination.
@@jeremiahallyn4603 Sosa Smith means that the chemical industry was located in the Charleston and Huntington areas. The rest of the state has ecological problems, but that's due to mining rather than chemical processing.
Actually, the metro population of Morgantown is over 120,000 and the influx of the student population is almost 30,000 more 9 months out of the year. On football Saturdays, the 65,000 seat stadium is packed with a great deal of out-of-town ticket holders, rendering roads and highways into gridlock. It's really not a small town.
Morgantown has a great Indian restaurant called Fresh Mint which sells dosas and a few other South Indian selections. South Indian is not overly commonly served at Indian restaurants in the US so it’s kind of unique.
It's how the bartender at the Morgantown Distillery told us to pronounce. Can't win for losing. I'm in the process of deleting all those parts of the video.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Must have pegged you as a tourist and tried to have a little fun with you. If you ever come to Alaska check in with me first and I'll clue you in on how various cities, towns, rivers, mountains and other features are pronounced.
Guys who work on the commercial tow boats just call it the "Mon" river. They say it's so crooked that it would break a snakes back. The Mon and the Allegheny River merge at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.
The pepperoni roll bought at the parmor gas station was not baked at Chico Bakery. It was baked at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont West Virginia. My sister works at Chico Bakery and their brand is Julia's pepperoni rolls. So glad you enjoyed our town and God Bless you!
did my childhood and teenager summer years in Peoria just east of Shinnston. Terrible what the coal mines did to that area stripping it away. can't even go mushroom hunting anymore and the huge turtles are gone. However, everyone around there knows how to make a pepperoni roll which was passed on to me.
I've always been curious how drones play into air traffic control. We've been looking into moving to Morgantown and this helped us to get a feel of it. Thank you.
"When morning comes to Morgantown, the merchants role their awnings down, and milk drops make their morning rounds in morning Morgantown" Lovely lyrics from Joni Mitchell
My family came to West Virginia when it was Still Virginia and I've spent the last fifty years visiting my family in this town. I've spent many winter holidays and school breaks in Tunnelton. My uncle Johnny and aunt Nelma owned the grocery store there. If only i could put my years with them on repeat.
Glad you liked our town! I’m glad you visited the Morgantown brewing company-def a fav! I hope you took some pepperoni rolls with you for the road trip to the next town!
I am so grateful for your photography of this town. The hill and picnic table at 18:00 is calling my name! I’d like to set up my ham radio and operate for a little while. Keep traveling.
The Morgantown brewing company has tons of musicians every thursday night for an open jam! The constantly growing live music scene here is great with the Ruby ampitheater and al lthe various venues like 123 pleasant street. Also lots of talents regional artists are from Morgantown like Aristotle Jones!
The issue I have with Morgantown is with the student population being over 40,000 people it is made up of predominantly out of state students. Kids come to Morgantown for college and have the best times if their lives. The issue is kids leave and move elsewhere after they graduate so the city will never become a real city, rather just a wild fun college town.
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia: BORING? - What We Actually Found 0341am 6.11.23 in keeping with having fun.... these two guys gradually becoming worse for wear as the video went on and on... ahahah.. my kindda presentation.
For those that dont speak the queens korean: The place where I got married and had children.. My heart's hometown. I live in Korea now, but I always miss Morgantown. When I saw a familiar place, I screamed, thanks for the video.
I've lived in Morgantown for 10 years now. It's nice but can be a bit crowded when students are in. You should check out Preston county. It's right down the road from Morgantown basically. Preston has beautiful views but has absolutely nothing to do besides swim in the river, which is a lot of fun if you go to blue hole or some call it high bridge
The USA needs more tram systems in the cities, you have the road space to easily do the infrastructure. I rode the LA metro ten+ years ago and saw its potential. Nice place.
Agree. The plan for rapid transit in Milwaukee went to sleep. Would like to see rapid transit connections statewide. A positive step to get fossil fuels off the road.
@@jjbigfoot9077 Don't be too sure. It may well happen by foreign owned investors literally buying this country on the open real estate market. It's called capitalism. Sell to whoever can pay. Part of the two trill has a Bush, Jr signature six months before he left office by getting a loan from China to pay for the Iraq war. Where I live 13k acres of restoration nature sanctuaries in 2013 were sold to private equities venture capital groups to foreigners. An entire stretch of the IL freeway I forget which. Dan Ryan or Kennedy I think. Hello everybody.
Lives there for years. Sad about the Warner Theater, it used to play cult classics like Ricky Horror and Ghostbusters. Also, surprised you didn't go to thw 123 Pleasant St. Bar.
I was a movie reviewer on the DA (school paper) and saw many films at both it and Met. As a reviewer I had a free pass for all films. Plus the owners would sometimes toss in free popcorn and a drink. :)
Fairmont, WV is the original home of Pepperoni Rolls. They were made by miners wives for their husband's, who worked in the coal mines, for their lunches. Sorry that someone has misinformed you. I'm a native of Fairmont.
Since you've probably not had a pepperoni roll from Chico's bakery AND assuming those you bought are from Country Club bakery, you have no idea how fortunate you you were. Country Club is among the best of the best. There are numerous bakeries around and they all make many things but mainly focus on whole loaf Italian or French bread & pepperoni rolls. Hope to find you enjoyed them as I paused the video. Oh, pepperoni rolls are improved with peppers (sauced or hot) & cheese, heated in an oven (preferably).
The funny thing is how you go past all these shops that are currently closed, but walk right past one of the coolest shops in town with its huge "open" sign right out on the sidewalk.
Enjoy your videos. Btw. The river is pronounced mon on ga HEEL a. But the county is MON in GALE ee ya. It's the same word in the original language. We couldn't pronounce it either.
I invited my mom to visit Morgan town for Texas hate week, she's getting out of Texas for the first time in like 40+ years, my grandparents passed on and I'm asking her to come live in WV with me :) It's a beautiful state.
If you want to have the OG pepperoni roll go to Country Club bakery in Fairmont it's on Country Club Road and it is the best roll in the world. It's also the home of the original, you can call them and ask them when they will have some hot and they will let you know and they do at least two sometimes three bakes a day so you can get them fresh when they are crispy. It is totally worth it! The truck driver picks them up in the morning after the first bake and then delivers them all but by then they have been cooked for about four or five hours by noon so they are not near as good as if they were pulled out of the oven within a minute or two which you can have if you just call them first. The ones in a store are good but if you want the real experience you need to go in house.
I remember a song by Joni Mitchell from the early 1970s called, "Morning Morgantown." A nice little song. I noticed in the tram area the lack of grafitti; that was nice. At 7:52 one can see an observatory on top of the building at the end of the block. I noticed also, alot of concrete streets and later on asphalt. Wow, gas for $3.77 a gallon at the green station. Here in Northern California it is still over 5 dollars a gallon. Nice exposé on the city and the environs. Thanks.
I've heard rumors that Joni Mitchell's song is based on Morgantown. Well, maybe if she saw it on a map and thought it was a cool name--but that would be about it. The real Morgantown is nothing like the town described in her song.
Thank you SO much for your videos. You have become our favorite travel V'Logger because, with all respect, my family was getting grossed out and commenting about another travel V'Logger's tongue piercings which they so wanted to show each time... Plus, you go to so much more diverse places... Keep up the good work.
I used to ride the PRT and get scared because of how deceptively fast it is and how high up you are at many parts. That thing was vital to getting to my geology class and it never seemed to have issues.
I went to WVU and I LOVED it so much!! One can fall in love with Morgantown and that’s a fact. The PRT was brand new. I was there 1975-1979 and the party was on!!
Morgantown may be a viable alternative to Fayetteville,. AR. for me. College town vibe is important to me as are (most) college town rental rates. It's great to have that youthful energy but even better when they are on break and the town belongs to the townies! Seems the bus system is twice as used as in Fayetteville so that indicates a more robust mass transit. The one sticking point is Morgantown gets four times the snow! Thought Florida was going to be my destination for my 60s. But times have changed.
I live in Morgantown wv, and the people here are very friendly inviting and helpful, we also got a rail trail system that goes miles on end for biking into deeper beautiful woods. The jobs and education options are nice also. Some of the buildings have culture and design if you truly look for it. The best is the Morgantown hot air balloon and the frat culture downtown makes you feel like you are forever young and free.
You know what's worse than driving through there in the winter? Driving through during the university's classes. I work on campus and there are literally pedestrians crossing ALL day. Not to mention, the traffic between classes as the commuters head back and forth. I drive from a small town 1.25 hours away. I travel roughly 70 miles in that time. However, it takes another half hour of university traffic to get to my workplace, which is just a two mile trip. Then, the parking 0_0...
The PRT is a great way to get across town when it's running. Anybody that's spent any time in Morgantown will tell you it's broken down more often than not...lol
Same when I was an undergrad in the mid-70s. It was out of order more often than not. And then it would suddenly stop in the middle of nowhere and have to wait for it to start again.
Best pepperoni rolls in Morgantown are from mid-Atlantic market off Pierpont exit and from hometown bakery in Clarksburg, which are sold in gas stations
when i was a kid my favorite DON KNOTTS MOVIE WAS the shakiest gun in the west he was such a good actor i thought he was for reel then i saw him on the tonight show with johnny carson when i was about 20 he was then the funniest man on tv
My favorite spot in Morgantown is the hill above the U Club apartment complex. (There is a road at the top of the hill with a small pull off) You can see all of downtown and watch the sun set over the city.
I lived in Morgantown, in the late 80s. I remember a wall mural which had the words "stepping out" on it, and a Chinese restaurant that did a $2.50 lunch. I did a radio advertisement for The Elegant Alley Cat store. Is it still there?
Gotta come back and get the pep rolls from Chicos. They’re called “Julia’s pepperoni rolls.” Just a side note, you can order them online and get them shipped to you from their website 😊
I have always liked Morgantown ! Morgantown is geographically located in a great area in the east. Not too far from Pittsburgh and close enough to great areas of Maryland and Virginia and Ohio ...
Zackquill Morgan lived in a home very similar to the Old Stone House, just a couple blocks away from it. It survived until the 1950's. Too bad historic preservation didn't become a thing until the 1960's. Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Methodist Church in America will know the name Francis Asbury. The Old Stone House was on Asbury's circuit. Everyone thinks the Old Stone House is the oldest building still standing in Morgantown. It isn't. I know of a private home that was built in 1772. The tall, skinny building you were admiring on High Street (the one with the two giant flagpoles on the roof) was originally built in Pittsburgh. Then it was dismantled and brought up the river on a barge and rebuilt in Morgantown.
David Morgans house is still standing in Rivesville where David and a few other Morgan family members are buried. Also a neat monument there where David had his encounter with Natives. Pretty much across the river from Pricketts Fort.
The Warner! My buddies and I used to see movies when we were in school there. It was pretty run down then, with holes in the seats and an occasional rat. Sad to see it's now closed, maybe they'll consider restoring it in the future.
i live in morgantown and i’ll admit it’s not all that but it’s a cozy place to live for small town living but not super small(he just happened to come on our towns pride block party lol)
you should check out st. marys and sistersville st marys has a train track running thru the middle of town and sistersville is an old town with large houses built during the oil boom
I also generally prefer the older downtowns with character and some wear versus shiny new ones. There are exceptions of course, but generally speaking.
All people I know say it the same but I'll try to spell it sorta for you Mongălya the a is just said like the letter exactyly like the a in the name Gale, basically just say "Mon-gail-ya Mongailya" Some people do it a little with a extra "on" like Monongălya like "Mon-un-gail-ya Monungailya" but depends really on how many times they've said it as in people who live beside it or cross it alot say it shorter with more wv slang but if I'm describing it to someone that dosent quite know it well I pronounce it the longer way so to not confuse them. Hope this helps! PS if you don't wana sound like a tourist refer to it as just "The Mon" that's what we all say who are natives!
I agree that's true today--but the Tamaro's pepperoni rolls of today pale in comparison to just about any pepperoni roll from the 1970's. Nobody uses the right kind of pepperoni any more. You've got to get a really greasy variety so that the bottom of the roll will turn bright orange.
I really enjoy your videos . Love to see you do one in Tarpon Springs Florida . Touristy ,kitschy and outstanding seafood and authentic Greek cuisine . Some beautiful homes as well as some not so beautiful homes . Low crime and a beautiful pristine beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
Hi, It's pronounced MAH-non-gah-Hee-la River. You mispronounced it on the Pittsburgh video too. Thought I'd tell you. Interestingly, the county Morgantown is in is Monongalia, pronounced MON-on-Gāl-yah. A map make way back misspelled Monongahela.
Hmm. We asked a bartender at the brewery on the river and that’s how he said to pronounce it. Can’t even ask a local and get it right. Now I’ll have to cut all those sections of the video out. ☹️
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip No, don't do that. Most West Virginian's can't even pronounce the word. You did great. My son lives a few minutes from where you did this video. By the way, he's running against Joe Manchin in 2024. His name is Christopher Rose.
Some predictions for next place: 1. Altoona 2. College Station (Penn State) 3. Pottsville (Yeungling and the Pottsville Maroons) 4. Centralia (coal fire since 1962) 5. Willes-Barre 6. Scranton
A friend and I took the trip out to Centralia in 2019. Not much left of it but was still a cool trip. Graffiti highway was still there, but it was covered up in 2020. There are still a few people living there
I was born in Morgantown and I still live here. When you came across the Westover bridge, coming into Morgantown that's my favorite view also. A lot of red brick.
Hi there! I often visit Pittsburgh but have never come to Morgantown. I was wondering if the lanternfly problem exists in Morgantown or other parts of West Virginia. From my time in Pittsburgh they have been a real nuisance... Thank you in advance!
@saiii.42 I have 3 young boys who are always finding bugs. We even have over a dozen books on insects. I have seen those around here, but not this year.
@@robertdobson2846 oh wow, that’s super cool! Hope you and your boys are doing well. In previous years when you’ve seen them, would you say they were absolutely everywhere, or just a few here and there? In some areas of Pittsburgh, they were in swarms with 100s of them and even coated entire walls of certain buildings!
@saiii.42 we get swarms of mayflies this time of year. I'd like to think if they were here in swarms I would know, considering how much I like to teaching others about local invertebrates.
That's the first Dollar General shown in your videos that is situated in a higher grade older stone and brick building. Morgantown has a sinewy, gritty beauty the economic bolstering of which is indispensably reliant on the university students; but there's nothing wrong with that. They typically have low incomes but money to spend from other sources.
Before there were dollar stores, there were five and tens. (Some people called them five and dimes.) That particular dollar store in the video was a G. C. Murphy's 5 & 10 before it became a dollar store.
