Prior to 1784, however, the Commonwealth’s capital was almost 1,000 miles from the state’s far western boundaries. Virginia was a territory that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and from North Carolina to the Great Lakes. 

Illinois County, named for the Illini, a tribe of Native Americans, was the first to go. It included what are now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and even a small part of Minnesota. On March 1, 1784, Virginia ceded the territory to Congress.

In addition, 10 Kentucky counties were formerly in the Commonwealth, as was West Virginia, which seceded during the Civil War. In sum, Virginia has been whittled down from its original boundaries more than any other state in the union.

Today Southwestern Virginia is comprised of 13 counties south and west of the Roanoke metropolitan area, according to the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia, which analyzes trends in Virginia’s regions. Others often include Roanoke and its surrounding counties as part of Southwestern Virginia.

Topographically, Southwestern Virginia includes two different geographic regions, the Appalachian Plateau, and the Ridge and Valley Province. Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan counties are in the rugged Appalachian area. But nearby Bland County boasts that it is the only U.S. county that is entered and exited via interstate tunnels. In this case the tunnels are built through mountains – a testament to the area’s former isolation. Ironically, Bland was formed from parts of three other counties in 1861 because the residents were unhappy with the distance they had to travel to various county seats for official business (19^th-century complaints still resonate in the 21^st century).

Southwestern Virginia was the place to be between 1750 and 1800, when 80,000 settlers traveled along the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap to the bluegrass fields of Kentucky. In 1767, Daniel Boone supposedly carved his initials on a beech tree near a salt lick in what is now Dickenson County. By 1803, Meriwether Lewis chose the Ohio River over the Cumberland Gap as a better way to meet William Clark in Kentucky for their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.

The area grew again from the late 1800s to the early 20^th century, when the East Coast industrial barons built railroads through the mountains and brought in labor to mine coal and harvest timber.

Geographic isolation since then has given the area a unique profile. Only six percent of Southwestern Virginia ’s population lives in urban areas, compared to 67 percent statewide, according to the Weldon Cooper Center. The region’s rural nature is due in part to its geography. Early urban centers usually developed on waterways that allowed for shipping. Unfortunately, most Southwestern Virginia rivers flow the “wrong” way, away from the Commonwealth’s eastern cities.

Isolation may partially explain why Southwestern Virginia has not experienced the population diversity that is characteristic of the rest of the state. Less than 10 percent of the region’s population is non-white. And not only do relatively few people move into Southwestern Virginia, few people move out. An Appalachian Regional Commission study found that 70 percent of residents in Virginia’s Appalachia counties were born in the Commonwealth, compared with 50 percent statewide.

These and other factors have contributed to the region’s slow growth rate. Between 1990 and 2000, Southwestern Virginia’s population grew 1.5 percent, compared to a 10.4 percent growth rate for the rest of the state.

Before I get angry e-mails from Southwestern Virginians, let me say that it has quite a lot going for it! The region has a reputation as a recreation area, and it’s the home of country and bluegrass music, and boasts a stop on the NASCAR circuit.

In addition, the June 2, 2003 issue of eWeek reported that four counties in Southwestern Virginia – Lee, Norton, Wise and Scott – have formed a nonprofit organization to build broadband facilities by co-locating fiber-optic cables with water pipes. If these and other technology initiatives succeed, then the region may attract a population that can connect and conduct business anywhere.

Of course, such projects still have to deal with the state’s regulatory commissions – located in – yes – Richmond, more than 390 miles away.

By the way, those other state capitals that are closer to Lee County than Richmond include Charleston, W.Va., Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh, N.C., Frankfort, Ky., Columbus, Ohio, Atlanta, Ga., and Indianapolis, Ind.

Readers Respond

If you have a Nice & Curious question, e-mail me at Edwin.Clay@fairfaxcounty.gov.