Walking In Welch, West Virginia 

If anyone hasn't, I recommend reading "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. Part of it takes place in Welch, and I think a lot of people who grew up in West Virginia can relate to parts of it. Thank you for the video!!

Ladys and Gentelmen, I was born in this little town of Welch, West Virginia. It was the year of 1944. The place Welch Grace Hospital. Which was torn down long ago. either Fire or Flood. It's strange to watch this video, because as a young boy with a paper route I would walk this very road coming into Welch everyday delivering the evening paper to the folks that lived along the way. A lot of the homes have been torn down but the route is still the same. I remember how hard it was to get the folks to pay for the delievery of the paper they would just about every time put me off to the next day to collect for the paper. I ended up having to give up delievering the paper because my mother got tired of paying the News Paper for them. lolAs the video comes on down the road to where the walker cross's the road to the right. That bridge which he walked across is over the ElkHorn River. which flowed from north to south behind a large Apartment Building which faced old Train station. NOW a police dept sets there. and the station is gone along with the tracks. Even the Apartment Building I'm talking about is gone to, torn down. I lived at 65 and 1/2 Elkhore st. welch , W. Va. . The hill behind the police dept is where the old Court House Stood. Couldn't tell of it is still there from the Video angles. the fella walking , never took the time to pan the camara , he just held the thing straight ahead. lol As the Fella proceeded up the street towards the next hill, I could tell that the First Babtist Church still stands, It was just as pretty back then as it's today, the structure is built out of granite. I was babtised in that church.I was just 4 years old. I remember going to the Flat Iron Drug store for MILK SHAKES , the best milk Shakes ever made. just can't buy one today that tasted as good a those milk shakes in Welch. I went to gradeschool on the hill behind the east bank of the Elkhorn river. that's in front of the police station. The walker never turned to the left during his walk. Some time I miss Welch, and some times I'm very happy I no longer live there. The times of living in Welch were good and bad especially for a little child. Back then millions of tons of coal went through Welch, and the train's would stop at the station to take on water. All of them were coal burners. and the town had a layer of fine coal dust over every thing. The Town of Welch , truly was the hub of commerece and wealth for southern West Virginia alright. The town had 2 movie theaters many dept stores major names. My father worked in the coal mines. and we had a fairly good life . until my sister was kidnaped and murdered down a lonly dirt road just out side of welch. It was at that time , I learned who true friends were and who the fakers were. not long after that we moved away. Since then , I have seen that God as taken his rath to Welch. multiple Floods and fires to change the face of Welch.The people have scattered to the 4 winds of the earth. I don't care how many books are make about Welch. I don't care who reads them. All I know is I LIVED WELCH. to me it's just another place that God got tired of and destroyed. Who in their right mind would want to live in Welch. where you don't see full sunlight until 10 oclock in the morning. or with stand a cold bone freezing winter in a place like that. There IS A REASON the stores are still closed. NO ONE WANTS to live there anymore.JOB? what jobs , there are none , All that is there now is a hole in the road and no one who gives a shit. MY advice , If you want some where to live ,Go where people treat you with respect. move to Virginia, and buy a farm . learn how to grow your own food and take care of animals. Because the end of days is near and you don't have a lot of time left.

I attended Welch High School in the 60’s Welch was a thriving little city , all the mines were working it was a great place to grow up and some of the greatest people you could ever meet

I was born in Welch also in 1957. Always loved to visit McDowell County. Great memories

My dad was born and raised in Gary, several miles outside of Welch. It was a big deal to go to Welch when he was young. It was the “big city” to him... busy and bustling with action and commerce. After college he moved back to the area and coached basketball and football at Gary HS. Lots of stories about playing Welch, Ieagar, Big Creek and others. After many years in Maryland he and my younger sibs moved back to Welch where he taught at Mount View HS

What a cool looking little town, I want to visit it. Greetings from San Diego CA.

Welch is my hometown. However, because of schooling and employment I have spent all of my adult life in the north. Frankly if you blind folded me and dropped me in the middle of town I would have no clue of where I was. I remember when they built the by-pass to take the traffic congestion out of downtown, when you had to step off into the street to get around the press of people on the sidewalks. I remember the packed dances at the Moose Lodge and the American Legion, hanging out the Sterling and West Virginia Drive-Ins, shooting nine ball at the “Rec”. What a pity; if Welch was like it was when I was a lad I would move back in a heartbeat.

I wish everyone in a small town would do this for future generations to see. Great job and thank you for uploading!

enjoyed the walk havent been there in years but it sure brought back memories

Hey man you are bringing back memories👍🏿, my grandmother stayed at No.7 mountain in Gary West Virginia however she left this Earth in 1995😢

Hollywood should make movies here. A good Steven King movie......I can see it.

Wow I love those big houses..so beautiful.

I went to Welch to visit kin way back in the late fifties to early sixties. It was a great town with even greater people. I lived in Big Rock, Buchanan county Virginia as a kid but had kin all around here.

Thank you for this work. Welch is interesting.

Very interesting, quite a few motor vehicles around, but hardly anybody walking around there. Kind of like a modern day ghost town.

Thank you i work for Sperry rail service on the Norfolk and Southern Railway been to a lot of these small coal-mining towns brings back memories

Thank you for posting this!

Great video.

really cool upload James East. I crushed the thumbs up on your video. Continue to keep up the exceptional work.

Thank you so much

You need to pan your camera more while doing these tours. I vaguely saw some beautiful brick homes on the first part of your tour. Same with the Gary, WV, tour.

McDowell county is where I was born but olny stayed till I was 4yrs old then was raised in Chicago now live in mi.im very proud of where I came from an was born

Wow! my grandparents were coalminers in wv. i will always remember going to welch to shop ❤❤

I am going to Welch this weekend to check out a few homes for sale.. Nice scenery and looks bigger than Quinwood where my previous house/hideaway was.

THIS IS WHERE I WAS BORN IN WELCH WEST VIRGINIA , I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE ONCE N MY LIFE , I WANNA GO BAK THERE JUS TO REMINISCE MY CHILDHOOD DAY'S & SEE MY GRAND PARENTS & GREAT GRANDPARENT'S GRAVESITE & GET MORE PICTURES OF PLACES AROUND THERE I'M MISSING IT I BELIEVE IT WOULD DO ME GOOD TO GO AGAIN I LOVE THIS VIDEO U MADE I JUS LOVE MY BORN PLACE TOWN IF NOBODY DUZ OR NOT I WANNA LEARN MORE OF IT

I love these videos

West Virginia almost Heaven

Thank you very much for your walking tour! It is a beautiful part of our country! God bless you!

Thinking of relocating and watched this twice. It is so quiet over there like a ghost town

A very unique video. 💚.

what a cool video

scarcely a soul, if not for the traffic, you would think no one was there...

I spent a lot of time in Welch and surrounding Tug Fork communities after the April 1977 flood. Welch was a vibrant community back then and its discouraging to see how empty it looks now. Beautiful stone and brick buildings and the riverfront park is wonderful. Hope that this classic Appalachian town is revived someday. Thanks for this walking tour.

My Grandmaw is from english and my grandpaw from war, but my dad was born in welch in 1961 kind wish i had grown up there and not here in Boston, haven’t been there in 25 years would love to go spend a few weeks roaming around taking photographs

It's a beautiful place to live an the people are wonderful

Hello James East, Nice video What is the name of that street at the start that you were walking on? Is it near Stewart Street? Thanks

I really enjoyed the video.I have some family members in Welch,but have never been there.Sad that it isn't populated more,as it was years ago.It looks very clean,although most buildings are abandoned or need repair.Thank you!

I think I should move to that town for retirement. I dig the vibe of the town and the location in the mountains.

this Georgia boy loves WV

A very nice city well kept up but were are the people

That First national bank building looks nice, anyone knows when it closed and is it abandoned?

This is my home town lol

The buildings are gorgeous but the towns are nearly deserted.

just out of curiosity, what camera was used to record this?

I loved working there at SSA 3/13/78-11/22/78. My wife didn't care for it.

Cool, i had an 'encounter' with someone in Welch about 8 years ago, she had a nice house and the neighborhood was fine, a drug store down the street had the 1908 flood marked on their building, wondering if thats the same drug store?

I was born in Welch and raised in alittle place called Mohegan no one has ever heard of in between Welch and Davy but I live up a holler

I was born in Welch Wv,,raised in Michigan

Love there ,Born there ! Viki m montague

parking meters at the church 😵‍💫😵‍💫 Municipal Parking is chained off 😵‍💫😵‍💫

This place is beautiful but strange like a episode from the twilight zone no people any where yet someone must be running the town? We want to move from calif to WV because of one main thing they say that WV has the nicest people and that is really important to me and my wife we are in our 70 's and have had it with the hateful people in southern calif. I dont care if your dirt poor as long as you are half way moral another words you still treat older people with a little respect and kindness. We went to tenn looking for better folks was disappointed After checking out WV seen this town but of all the videos on Weltch there has not been one with a person talking. This lends to the mystery and I guess hesitance to come see the place . . Is there any apartments for rent ? where do you shop for groceries?

Where the heck are all the people ?

WOW!!!!! WEST VIRGINIAAAAA

What waz no longer is. What IS will never B the same. What will B the SAME, IS not told NO LONGER. Life like time is over the moment it is given...

They did make a movie glass castle it was a good movie rented from RU-vid

My mother was born in Welch...1928.

I went in Aug. Saw about ten people down town at the one gas station. Maybe there are more at night when the zombies come out. I dunno...

Couldn’t imagine walking around there at night 🤭

sad...the economic destruction...west virginia deserves better

As far as u can see…. Not one person in site Strange

Apart from the guys on the quad tracks….there were only 5 people in the entire episode One man stranding on the sidewalk and a man and woman sitting on a park bench and a two persons walking near the end

"Walking" some side streets would be helpful too, get off the main routes, please. Carry on!

I think I would lose my mind if I had to spend 24 hours here

They sure don’t believe in sidewalks.

I thought he was my only friend, and he gives me his middle finger

How has the most junk car in town 'The car guy'

Steve Harvey

West Virginia reminds me a lot of a poor Eastern European country - like Moldova or Bulgaria.

Is that where Biden sent Commander?

All those empty buildings would be perfect for make shift COVID-19 quarantine facilities.

no pedestrians. only unnecessarily loud dune buggies.

Is that water nasty or what??? My God it's black! Is that from coal? No way could I live there.

THERES A SAYING WHEN YOU VISIT THE COUNTRY. GET EVERYTHING YOU NEED STACK UP N THE PARTY WILL NEVER STOP. UURRAA. 1