Appalachian Loop, Part 1 (The Quest)

It began with a simple premise. Finish Virginia. The Commonwealth of Virginia was a particularly difficult journey for County Counters due to its odd configuration of 95 counties and 38 independent cities. It also happened to be my home state. I’d long been irritated that I still hadn’t completed it. I’d chipped away at the 133 different borders that needed to be crossed until I finally got it down to a mere 5 last summer. That’s when I decided I simply had to hit the road and get it done.

That was the plan, a single weekend of constant driving because of course the residual counties remained at far-flung, inaccessible western edges of the state. Then my wife suggested we could move it from a solo quest into a family adventure during the kids’ spring break. We could see more of the area in depth and actually enjoy a few places along the way. That was fine with me. We could go to the moon and back for all I cared as long as we hit those five remaining Virginia counties.

Route through Appalachia. Underlying map via the Mob Rule county counting website
The Route Through Appalachia

Thus the route switched from a simple out-and-back to a counterclockwise loop through the rugged Appalachian terrain of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and of course Virginia. That allowed me to pick-up some new counties in West Virginia and Kentucky (in blue) in addition to the five in Virginia (in red) as well as revisit some old favorites (in teal). That pushed my total of new captures up to an even dozen.

Still, Virginia remained the true goal so I focused an inordinate attention on the missing five.


Dickenson and Buchanan Counties

Breaks Interstate Park. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Dickenson and Buchanan Counties abutted each other about as deep into southwestern Virginia as one could travel. I didn’t know much about either place. Their populations, frankly, surprised me. Many of their towns hugged riverbanks as did their roads — a logical consideration given the steepness and density of surrounding mountains — so maybe those conditions concentrated most of the people along our path. It seemed like a lot more than I expected. Afterwards I checked. Dickenson had 15,000 residents and Buchanan had 25,000 so my perception was correct. Many more people lived there than I would have expected. The area also felt downtrodden. Residents had been fleeing the mountains for the last couple of decades as coal mining jobs continued to disappear.

They were both stunningly beautiful places. We stopped at Breaks Interstate Park, straddling the boundaries of both counties and the Commonwealth of Kentucky (map).


Craig County

Craig County Public Library, Virginia. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I crossed into Craig County the following day and added it to my list of successful captures. We were in a hurry, in the midst of a long day of driving, and there wasn’t much in the way of “attractions” found in Craig other than its winding roads through verdant countryside.

A momentary stop at a local convenience store in the center of town — it’s only town, New Castle — offered a brief opportunity to stretch our legs. I noticed the nicest little public library across the road, not much larger than a shed (map). It was open although we kept rolling. When would I ever be able to return a book? I suspected that this might be the one and only time I’d ever get to see Craig County in person. I better take a picture.


Bath and Highland Counties

Bath/Highland County Line. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Enter Highland County — Leave Bath County

Bath and Highland Counties shared a common border, yet they couldn’t have been more distinct. Bath became one of Virginia’s premiere romantic weekend getaways, only about three hours away from Richmond or Washington. Twelve Mile Circle featured it in Taking a Bath in 2014. The county hosted a number of well-known spas and resorts including The Homestead.

We drove through quaint towns, past several golf courses and along opulent country estates with exceptionally manicured lawns. I’m not sure why I’d never managed to touch Bath County before. I’d certainly known a lot of people who stayed at The Homestead.

Then I arrived at the final remaining Virginia county, Highland (map). Of course I had to stop at the border and memorialize this momentous occasion as I finished the state. Everything Bath was, Highland was not, well, except that they were both exceptionally rural. One must really want to see Highland to actually visit it in person because it wasn’t along any easily accessible path that one would normally take.

It seemed appropriate that my final county also had Virginia’s smallest population with a little more than two thousand residents where cattle vastly outnumbered people. Highland’s single town, Monterey, had only 150 people living there. Several mountain ridges ran through Highland, cutting it into parallel ribbons of rock and valley.

We entered from the south using a valley. We exited to the east — towards the state’s centers of population — on U.S. Highway 250. That was Highland’s major road and it was a difficult, twisting climb. I’m certain that’s why so few people ventured into Highland and why it remained on my list of missing counties until the bitter end.


Done!

I finished Virginia. I hadn’t expected much else as I planned the trip. There didn’t seem to be a lot of things to do out there on the looping mountain roads, or so I thought. I’m not sure I’ve ever driven so long without ever encountering a level grade or a straight stretch of roadway before, and never once did I ever encounter an opportunity to put the car on cruise control. However I was wrong about nothing to see. Twelve Mile Circle will shift into travelogue mode for the next several articles as I describe a fascinating journey at the intersection of three states in a corner of Appalachia.


Appalachian Loop articles

See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr


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7 responses to “Appalachian Loop, Part 1 (The Quest)”

  1. Jasper Avatar
    Jasper

    Highland is gorgeous. I came by last year. Little Switzerland they who clearly have not been in real Switzerland call it.

    Craig indeed has not much to offer.

  2. Mike Lowe Avatar

    Congratulations on finishing Virginia. I acquired most northwest Texas counties by using creative directions to places even farther west. I live in the Houston area so there is no short wander to get, say, Loving county. I used multiple vacations to Arizona and Colorado creatively.

  3. Andy Avatar

    Congrats on the big finish! With all the terrain and the independent cities, that is /not/ an easy state to complete.

  4. Philip Newton Avatar
    Philip Newton

    Congratulations, and good on your family for supporting you in your hobby and letting you turn the capturing into a small holiday and time with them!

  5. Weekend Roady Avatar

    I congratulate you! Completing Virginia was on my bucket list of things to do before I left the D.C. area last year but I never was able to get a trip or two together to go after all those remote ones. My biggest problem was I had just too many gaps and had to criss-cross the state just to get to one of a few odd groupings of counties I’d bypassed before. Alas, I sit 43 short.

    My favorite Virginia county is also its extreme western outlier – Lee county. If you want to get a true feel for just how big and diverse Virginia is, drive from Arlington to Ewing – and then do a big loop back via Virginia Beach…

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      Back in 2013 I drove from Arlington to the farthest corner of Lee County at the Cumberland Gap. As I noted at the time, "I drove nearly eight hours and 500 miles (800 km) before I crossed a state border." ‘Tis indeed a l-o-n-g state.

      1. Jasper Avatar
        Jasper

        I still have to make it to Lee county, despite a Jasper being there.
        I like the fun fact that Lee County is west of Detroit.
        Don’t know where I heard that first, but I bet is was here.

        [I’m at 114/133 in VA. I was in SE VA recently and cobbled up some counties there, including City of Charles County and Poquoson, but sadly missed out on Franklin…..]

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