@@iammrbeat West Virginia is a pretty terrible name. Not only does Virginia go west of it, but people will get confused when you talk about the western part of normal Virginia
Fun Fact:During the Civil War at one Point West Virginia actually declared itself the Real Virginia in the Union because the real Virginia was in the Confederacy at the time.
Puerto Rico needs to become a state. We’ve had it for over a century and it has over a million people. Also maybe Mr. Beat can make a video about how the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, etc.
@@josephang9927 A lot of Native American history is available to learn today. People simply don't seek it out, and of course, our school's textbooks all have a Eurocentric perspective, leaving most of the local Indigenous history out. What was "lost" has been lost due to genocide. Not due to a lack of a writing system.
I'm from Lynchburg, most of the time I get "thats Falwell country", but I actually got one time, "Is that near Wheeling". It's nuts to me how many people get these to states mixed up.
@@iammrbeat it's also the same with Northern VA (or NoVA for short) compared to the rest of the state. It's insane how much more dense it is there. It reminds me of one time where I was at the state geography bee, and out of the 100 there, I'd say at least 90 were from NoVA. I was the only one from Southwestern VA, 5 were from the Hampton Roads area, and one was from Richmond
@@ErinS06 oh, yeah. I'm from Alexandria and the difference between NoVA and the rest of the state is striking. they're practically two completely different worlds.
Thats how it feels to live in Upstate NY where someone asks which state your from and you say NY and they go oh hows the city life and your like i live in upstate ny in a farm village not the city and they just have a hard time understanding that
people who are mad Mr Beat didnt compare Virginia and Maryland: not chad people who are happy Mr Beat compared two states to make another great video: chad
@@gillian1663 Too bad Mr. Beat already did PA vs Ohio and Delaware vs Rhode Island. The other states (besides MD) yet to be discussed are Michigan, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Maine, and Louisiana. My predictions that haven't been busted yet are OK vs AR, IA vs MO, ME and LA. If my predictions are correct, then MD gets stuck with Michigan.
Virginian here, I approve of this video. Fun fact about virginia, virginia has independent cities that are at the same level as counties unlike most other states.
I will admit as a former resident of West Virginia, that when you get into the right areas it is very beautiful. That said, there are large portions in the southern part of the state that have been completely decimated by the coal industry and corruption.
What’s weird is that 25 years ago, West Virginia was a Democratic stronghold whereas Virginia was a Republican stronghold. Now it’s the other way around.
Yeah because of changing demographics, economic issues, and West Virginia having always been a conservative state simply just supported whoever was the conservative party
@@Spongebrain97 West Virginia has not always been a "conservative" state it became conservative because the only people that stayed are the mine owners and the poor uneducated white workers please stop talking about my state that you know nothing about we literally voted against Reagan and the whole country loved him at the time
@@Professional_street_hustler no dude West Virginia has always been conservative even in the early 20th century. They did support New Deal programs but every state did during the 30s and 40s. And I looked up what you said and yeah West Virginia did vote for Reagan in the 1980 election albiet by barley. It was about split down the middle. In 1984 however they overwhelmingly voted for Reagan and have been firmly Republican voters ever since. As Mr Beat pointed out they do have a Democrat senator but he's very conservative. Which is a shame since they do have progressive Democrats like Richard Ojeda and Paula Jean Swearingin that want to help out the poor coal miners but West Virginia for some reason still prefers rich Republicans
@@Spongebrain97 I’m not saying West Virginia was a progressive wonderland but it has not always been overwhelmingly conservative and yea I wish big daddy O’Jeda won 😭and JFK LBJ and jimmy carter all had lots of support from the state
@@Spongebrain97 West Virginia has been socially conservative but for a very long time was heavily economically liberal, maybe less so today, but it was stronghold for Union and Labor activites for decades, hell the Battle of Blair Mountain happened in WV, of course today the Gov has done a number to combat Union activity, making striking pretty much illegal. Despite this, even as recently as 2018 there have been heavy Union activity with the teacher strike that spread to several other states. Even today, despite what you may here on the news, overwhelming numbers of West Virginians support liberal economic policy such as an increase in the minimum wage. We only became a red state in the 2000s when Al Gore had that big climate change debacle that scared people here as they thought if Gore won he was gonna close all the coal mines which were propping the state economy. That's also why we've stayed Red as people here dont want to get rid of coal, especially when no new jobs are coming in to replace the dying coal ones
After the founding of West Virginia, Kentucky should have changed their name to “Even Wester Virginia” given that they were once part of the colony as well
Virginian here, I always thought VA has more in common with NC. Northern VA (NOVA) is like a different state compared to the rest of VA and WV for that matter.
I think NOVA and central MD have a lot in common except they each think the other state has the worst drivers :p this is a 3rd party wvian opinion tho based on a commute i did for a while to NOVA....
@@nebulan the whole DMV thinks that any driver that’s not from the area they are from sucks at driving when in reality they all suck at driving in their own ways lol
Contrary to popular belief, John Denver is NOT singing about West Virginia in the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads". He is singing about western Virginia, specifically the Shenandoah Valley, which is located exclusively in the Old Dominion.
@@jacobstopper3804 Yes! Although he’s a former Republican U.S Senator from Virginia and has no relation to Mark Warner. You are way behind on politics unlike me 😂
There is no fucking mountains, go to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am from West Virginia myself and we drive 3 hours every week in the summer just to go over there and check out the beauty. You don't understand, West Virginia and Virginia don't even have mountains, not even the highest peak in Virginia is really a mountain it is just a big hill. Virginia has the Appalachian Trail (which if you aren't brainwashed from the almost heaven bullshit, you would know that it barely even goes through West Virginia) If you go into West Virginia outside of Fayette County (where every tourist goes) and look around it is the most decimated areas and no one talks about it because they are all brainwashed by the tourist industry and before everyone was controlled by the shitty coal industry but ever since they decided to make West Virginia a military base in around 2015 they wanted to "grow small towns" claiming they were "cool" but trust me they are the shittiest places. There is no cool museums outside of like the top 3 cities. Even the small towns in Virginia I checked out on my journeys are interesting, you *literally see peaks HIGHER than WEST VIRGINIA'S TALLEST "MOUNTAIN" casually driving down highways* IT IS SO MUCH FUCKING CLEANER IN VIRGINIA TOO. Prove Me Wrong
Virginia also has some amazing colleges like UVA, and William & Mary. If any of y’all are looking for some good public schools, both of those are here waiting for you.
I’m glad you finally made a video comparing my home state of West Virginia. Also, West Virginia has a history themed competition every year called the Golden Horseshoe where 8th graders take a test to see how much they know about West Virginia History and Government.
I find my state of Virginia to have many beauties, but West Virginia is breathtakingly gorgeous. It's hard to drive on their highways because the natural beauty is so eye-catching, and you may find yourself off the pavement if you aren't careful.
Also because our roads have too many pot holes, wind around mountains, and the ditch is is so deep but covered with brush and leaves so you can’t see it.
thx for the complement on my state and I think Virgina is just as gorgeous plus you have to be happy that your state has all the cool history artifacts
@@iammrbeat Obviously it's way too late to bring this up, but in the TN-KY video, you didn't mention how eastern Tennessee was so culturally and politically divided from the rest of the state that they considered rejoining the Union as a separate state, kind of like WV. And then after the Civil War, during Reconstruction and the Solid South, eastern TN was one of the most pro-GOP regions in the entire country (so much so that some counties have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.) Could be a good topic for a video, though, areas in the south that were pro-Union and areas in the north that were pro-Confederate.
The Battle of Charleston was a Confederate victory, although the Confederates withdrew from the Kanawha Valley soon after without a fight. More significant were battles like Allegheny Mountain, Carnifex Ferry, and Droop Mountain.
@@DDBurnett1 Those Republican counties also remind me of about 4 counties in WV that have either never voted for a Democrat since they were created or only have once or twice in their history.
Hey Mr. Beat, i dont usually comment much on youtube but i just had to this time. I recently discovered your content and have rapidly consuming all of it, you make amazing videos and you can really tell there has been alot of time research and even a sense of your pride in your work and it really shows the passion you have for both history and being an educator. Please keep the content coming as i can't get enough
Fun fact: some believe that this song is actually about western Virginia since the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shennandoah River are mostly in Virginia (only about 20 miles in WV).
Ya know I live in VA, down in Richmond, and both states are beautiful in their own way. I really liked the way you compared them too that was pretty comical.Great video!
I live towards the southern part of Virginia and every time I visit the Alexandria/I-95 area of Northern Virginia I’m just shocked at how much traffic there is. Seriously how do people deal with sitting in traffic for 20 minutes just to go 2-3 miles every day. I can imagine it’s worse in New York City
Yea NOVA traffic sucks. Usually whenever I go to Richmond, I notice that almost every single time without fail that there is a jam in or around Fredericksburg. And that’s like the southern part of NOVA it just gets worse
I wished I could have had this video when I was taking my US history class that seemingly mainly focused on Virginia... which I guess makes sense because I live in Virginia which is also a very historical state as this video showed. You covered the history very well in a way that wasn't boring (unlike most of my history teachers; which kinda sucks because I like history because of how people like you explain it), even though you left some of the information, that I would added, out. All in all, wonderful video.
Actually, WV is starting to bring big technology companies to the state. The Virgin One Hyperloop Certification Center will be built in WV. Other tech companies are looking to move to the state. West Virginia University is directly responsible for bringing the VW exhaust emissions fraud to light. Great video! You could easily do an hour long video on all of the coolest aspects of West Virginia.
There is actually a lab in Wheeling called Touchstone Labs where they make certain molds and parts that go on airplanes and rockets. They have created molds for SpaceX and NASA!
They are both beautiful states. West Virginia has gorgeous mountains, a great state song by John Denver, and arguably the best whitewater rafting and skiing in the eastern US. Virginia has the Shenandoah Valley, maybe the prettiest section of the Appalachian Trail, all of that history, and a coastline. All plusses.
I left WV ~7 years ago during the height of the Opiod epidemic. There was no economic growth or opportunity and the cities were shrinking, which further hurt financial opportunities. I go back occasionally to see family and not too much has changed. The Opiod issue seems to have slowed down, but still not a lot of growth or opportunity. Wish the people there the best!
Everyone here seems to think that coal is the way to go as far as industry still, but it isn’t. We’ve overexploited the coal reserves. It is currently cheaper to surface mine coal in Montana and ship it here than it is to deep mine it here. If we want to have an economy again, we’re gonna have to move on from coal and to other industry, like timber, alternative energy, and tourism.
Virginian here, though my father's side of the family is thoroughly (6 generations back) West Virginian. Awesome video! My favorite thing about Virginia is the strength of its public universities. Virginians may receive secondary education akin to an elite private school at a much cheaper price. That being said, there's nothing like singing Country Roads in Morgantown WV
@@eaglescout1984 In the town I live in in Pennsylvania, the geography is really messed up like that. The "East End" is the north section of town, past 1st street. Some avenues in the south have "west" prefixes. The eastern part of town has streets with "south" prefixes past 1st avenue, and the northwestern district has street names with "north" prefixes (well they at least didn't get that one entirely wrong).
i was literally just talking about comparing the 2 virginia’s a few minutes ago. then i looked to see if you made a video on it, and you did 3 hours ago.
I'm from Virginia and when I was a kid we were taught to remember the states that bordered VA with the saying "Mustard with ketchup tastes nice" with the letter of each word corresponding to the first letter of the state that borders VA(MD, WV, KY, TN, NC)
@@flying0possum I live in WV. There's abandoned houses, abandoned businesses that once thrived, buildings that burned down "accidently", people just vanish randomly never to be seen again, there's drug addicts everywhere you look, you don't enter Beckley unarmed, you don't stay out once it gets dark, you hear screaming and guns go off but no one calls the police the police wont help, seeing ambulances and firetrucks speed down your road weekly, and there's many many more bad shit
@@nic-2144 WV's situation is currently really bad for sure. But who is gonna change that when everyone, who can, flees the state? WV probably has potential to recover but long term strategies are needed to actually use it
Thank you for recognizing WV's natural beauty. The New River Gorge in October is the 8th world wonder to me, but I'm biased . Fun history: West "By God" Virginia, the name Kanawha was floated for our state's name bc of the Kanawha River, but a member of our initial Congressional delegation during the Civil War said on the record we were West "By God" Virginia and the rest is history. Oh and we have top 10 best food, right along w KY. So much buttery goodness, and pepperoni rolls.
Having lived in both states, I would RUN SCREAMING to WV, for free, before I would dip my pinky toe into the toxic sludge that is Virginia. West Virginia is actually a chill state. People there really don't care what you're doing as long as you're not bothering anyone else. Virginia, especially on the east coast, they are all up in your business from the personal level to the state government level. I need more libertarianism in my state government.
One of the best so far from Mr. Beat. Very thorough. The only part you could've expanded upon more was how much better WV was doing than VA in the late 19th century. The populations were almost equal then.
I live in Virginia where the battle of Piedmont happened during the Civil War. The bloodiest Battle in the Shenandoah valley, over 2000 people lost their lives. I could tell you some ghost stories we see a lot around here, especially going out on our road at night you’ll see mist, people walking disappearing, screaming but there’s no one there. I had to cleanse my house with sage, lights were being turned off I would hear footsteps, my eight-year-old said he seen a man in his room that had a blue hat on then the man disappeared in his closet. Just crazy how history lingers. You can feel the energy it’s so sad.
Probably would be puerto rico and the Us Virgin Islands compared( then mabye also do Us Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands compared) Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands compared And American soma and The Independent State of Samoa compared.
Mr. Beat, I love your content and especially when comparing states very close to each other, although they have many differences, politically and historically. Keep up the great job! 👍👍👍👍👍
11:01 Did not expect to see my collage of Charleston photos I have on Wikipedia here. So cool lol Great video about two awesome states (especially the totally misunderstood WVA)
I live in WV and I sometimes to forget to lock my door when I go to bed. I don't make it a habit, but when I do, I wake up the next morning and everything is just fine. That's one of the reasons I like my home state.
In hindsight West Virginia really should've reunited with Virginia after the civil war. The land is beautiful yes but it doesnt have much to offer support for an entire state of people who depend on it whereas Virginia has been able to diversify its economy. It's essentially a giant national park that a few people live in and barely get by
As someone who lives in WV after fleeing the snobby and pretentious NoVa, that would be a terrible idea. No one in WV would support that idea anyway. In fact, some VA counties that border WV actually want to leave VA and join WV.
Everyone bad mouths WV because of the bad press we get. WV to most of us who live here is where we want to be and we get tired of being put down and called names. We are proud people who love our God, Family, freedom, guns and our state. We left Virginia in 1863 and sure don't want to go back. We are wild and wonderful just the way we are we don't want what Virginia has to offer Mountaineers are always free.
Can confirm. I work in Virginia. They could tell me to do a swan dive into a wood chipper and fire me for saying no, and the judge would uphold the employer as right.
West Virginia was part of the union but stayed neutral (Meaning the state itself didnt draft for either side in the war.), It was a mix of both sides which gave it balance.
Seeing DC come up spurred an idea: comparing DC to another preplanned/designated capital city like Canberra or Brasilia. Ooh, better yet, give lesser known ones some shine like Abuja!
No it’ll just be full of comments talking about how shitty awful racist and Inbred West Virginia is and how amazing Virginia is :/ I hate being from WV
The New River, which is (ironically) the oldest river in the world, flows through both Virginia and West Virginia, forming that picturesque gorge as seen in the video.
I’m from Florida and I’ve been to both states I never felt any thing that was close to Florida over there but I agree it is really Beautiful over there
From WV here-fun fact, our cities are so small that they aren't even considered 'urban', literally all of the state is considered rural-and we're a temperate rain forest! We get plenty of summer thunderstorms-and really beautiful seasons year round! So if you like rainy weather, we get our fair share :))
![ATEEZ(에이티즈) - [GOLDEN HOUR : Part.2] Preview](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X4PfgRPBUVo/mqdefault.jpg)
Any remote workers watching? Would you move to West Virginia if they offered you $12,000?
@@snapbacktoreality48 How do you like it?
West Virginia is underrated
Yes
Seneca South Carolina and Athens Georgia compared
@@iammrbeat From one to Joe Manchin, I would say Joe Manchin.
Fun Fact:
West Virginia is west of Virginia. However Virginia goes farther west than West Virginia.
OMG I can't believe I forgot to mention this!
Things like this are what keep me up at night
@@iammrbeat West Virginia is a pretty terrible name. Not only does Virginia go west of it, but people will get confused when you talk about the western part of normal Virginia
@@GreenWhaIe fr Just Call it North Virginia Or New Virginia cause that’s what most American states names are
That's ironic
Fun Fact:During the Civil War at one Point West Virginia actually declared itself the Real Virginia in the Union because the real Virginia was in the Confederacy at the time.
Virginia should have united again but with the capital being Charleston (West Virginia capital)
@@osberswgaming no absolutely not
based WV
Indeed. They called it Restored Virginia, and Francis Pierpont was their governor.
they should've named their state something better
Both states voted for me, so they’re on my good side.
Makes sense, Harry
Hi Former US President Harry S. Truman, how u been
@@jerk3554 Not bad.
@@formeruspresidentharrystru9240 how does dying feels like?
Hey Mr Truman, what's your stance on the Marshall Plan.
Compare Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands even though they aren't states.
Yeah, several have suggested this idea and I dig it. :)
@@iammrbeat I think Puerto Rico will become the 51st state.
@@backtothefutureman1 so do i
@@GreenWhaIe I also did an essay on it in a class I had in high school called Politics in government and Economics also known as P.I.G and ECO.
Puerto Rico needs to become a state. We’ve had it for over a century and it has over a million people. Also maybe Mr. Beat can make a video about how the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, etc.
Thank you for always going over the WHOLE history including Native American history of the states.
Sure! I wish I could dedicate more time to them.
For real! It really puts things into perspective
Too bad Native Americans bad no writting system. So much was lost.
@@iammrbeat thanks for the slavery history too! A lot of people need to know in schools how slavery became so widespread
@@josephang9927 A lot of Native American history is available to learn today. People simply don't seek it out, and of course, our school's textbooks all have a Eurocentric perspective, leaving most of the local Indigenous history out. What was "lost" has been lost due to genocide. Not due to a lack of a writing system.
Last time I was this early Virginia was a solid red state and West Virginia a solid blue state.
Thank you, Robert Byrd, very cool 👍
And you were bringing home the bacon?
And both Virginias had a Senator Byrd.
Well played, Byrd.
Hello senator Byrd, have you brought the kkk back to West Virginia like you said you would?
Me, a person from Hampton VA, "ah yes, social studies all over again"
Lol I'm from richmond. I felt the same way.
I’m from a suburb of Richmond, but proud of my state and that its also in a series on RUclips. There’s nothing new I learned though.
I live in Norfolk
@@hamiltonhyla same lol but it's for out of state ppl.
@@maverickmissile801 I know but it’s still entertaning.
This is legit a 20 minute summary of what Virginians have to spend a few years learning In detail in school. Lol well done.
😄 well thank you
@@iammrbeat you should do a video of all the United States military medals and what they mean
Yeah basically
wtf you mean we dont learn this shit
I learned more from this video than I learned back in elementary school when we had to study Virginia history….
As someone from WV, when I would say I’m from West Virginia, I’d hear “are you near Richmond?” No im from a different state.
You're not the only one apparently! :(
I feel this Heavily
I'm from Lynchburg, most of the time I get "thats Falwell country", but I actually got one time, "Is that near Wheeling". It's nuts to me how many people get these to states mixed up.
So funny..I would get the opposite..When I tell people I am from Va..they always say what part of West Va...Coincidently I was raised in Richmond. 😁😁
What part? I'm from Charleston and currently live here actually
People in the Appalachians: "They're the same picture."
haha yeah I forgot to mention how much different western Virginia (not to be confused with West Virginia) was to eastern Virginia. :)
@@iammrbeat it's also the same with Northern VA (or NoVA for short) compared to the rest of the state. It's insane how much more dense it is there. It reminds me of one time where I was at the state geography bee, and out of the 100 there, I'd say at least 90 were from NoVA. I was the only one from Southwestern VA, 5 were from the Hampton Roads area, and one was from Richmond
@@ErinS06 oh, yeah. I'm from Alexandria and the difference between NoVA and the rest of the state is striking. they're practically two completely different worlds.
@@iammrbeat Parts of Southwestern Virginia are closer to seven other state capital than they are to Richmond, the capital of Virginia!
@@iammrbeat I’m from WestERN VA right on the border! Things are definitely different here. It would be cool to do a video on the Appalachia’s!
“I’m from West Virginia!”
“Western Virginia? Cool!”
Happens every time...
I got so exasperated by that at work that I literally had someone Google a map of the United States and pointed out that they are two separate states.
Yeah, that disheartens me
I only have this problem with foreigners when they ask what state I'm from.
Thats how it feels to live in Upstate NY where someone asks which state your from and you say NY and they go oh hows the city life and your like i live in upstate ny in a farm village not the city and they just have a hard time understanding that
@@dallyh.2960 Really? I've had that plenty of times.
people who are mad Mr Beat didnt compare Virginia and Maryland: not chad
people who are happy Mr Beat compared two states to make another great video: chad
The Chad Virgin-ias.
@@iammrbeat I normally go ‘ba doom tssss to something like that, but this one is actually good
Maryland v. Pennsylvania would probably be more fitting. Although comparing it to Delaware or Virginia would still be interesting.
You should compare Virginia to North Carolina
@@gillian1663 Too bad Mr. Beat already did PA vs Ohio and Delaware vs Rhode Island. The other states (besides MD) yet to be discussed are Michigan, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Maine, and Louisiana. My predictions that haven't been busted yet are OK vs AR, IA vs MO, ME and LA. If my predictions are correct, then MD gets stuck with Michigan.
Virginian here, I approve of this video. Fun fact about virginia, virginia has independent cities that are at the same level as counties unlike most other states.
I love that fun fact, and glad you approve!
And also some our independent cities are the size of counties, mostly in Hampton Roads land
@@usefulpineapple4538 All to keep Norfolk from annexing their land.
@@coolbreeze2.0-mortemadfasc13 Norfolk deserves it!! This city is edging a metropolitan classing. We need to grow!
I thought everywhere had that?
"but that democrat is Joe Manchin" perfectly describes him lmao
Honestly think that's what makes him a good senator. He would rather vote with what his state wants and not what California Democrats want.
@Jeff can you give me an example.
@@BorninVirginia he would’ve gotten elected if he wasn’t that way. He’s the new Biden of the senate
@@BorninVirginia Nope. He’s voting in favor of fossil fuel subsidies to protect his coal brokerage.
@@BorninVirginia There never going to come back West Virginia was doomed to fail.
I will admit as a former resident of West Virginia, that when you get into the right areas it is very beautiful. That said, there are large portions in the southern part of the state that have been completely decimated by the coal industry and corruption.
What’s weird is that 25 years ago, West Virginia was a Democratic stronghold whereas Virginia was a Republican stronghold. Now it’s the other way around.
Yeah because of changing demographics, economic issues, and West Virginia having always been a conservative state simply just supported whoever was the conservative party
@@Spongebrain97 West Virginia has not always been a "conservative" state it became conservative because the only people that stayed are the mine owners and the poor uneducated white workers please stop talking about my state that you know nothing about we literally voted against Reagan and the whole country loved him at the time
@@Professional_street_hustler no dude West Virginia has always been conservative even in the early 20th century. They did support New Deal programs but every state did during the 30s and 40s.
And I looked up what you said and yeah West Virginia did vote for Reagan in the 1980 election albiet by barley. It was about split down the middle. In 1984 however they overwhelmingly voted for Reagan and have been firmly Republican voters ever since. As Mr Beat pointed out they do have a Democrat senator but he's very conservative. Which is a shame since they do have progressive Democrats like Richard Ojeda and Paula Jean Swearingin that want to help out the poor coal miners but West Virginia for some reason still prefers rich Republicans
@@Spongebrain97 I’m not saying West Virginia was a progressive wonderland but it has not always been overwhelmingly conservative and yea I wish big daddy O’Jeda won 😭and JFK LBJ and jimmy carter all had lots of support from the state
@@Spongebrain97 West Virginia has been socially conservative but for a very long time was heavily economically liberal, maybe less so today, but it was stronghold for Union and Labor activites for decades, hell the Battle of Blair Mountain happened in WV, of course today the Gov has done a number to combat Union activity, making striking pretty much illegal. Despite this, even as recently as 2018 there have been heavy Union activity with the teacher strike that spread to several other states. Even today, despite what you may here on the news, overwhelming numbers of West Virginians support liberal economic policy such as an increase in the minimum wage. We only became a red state in the 2000s when Al Gore had that big climate change debacle that scared people here as they thought if Gore won he was gonna close all the coal mines which were propping the state economy. That's also why we've stayed Red as people here dont want to get rid of coal, especially when no new jobs are coming in to replace the dying coal ones
After the founding of West Virginia, Kentucky should have changed their name to “Even Wester Virginia” given that they were once part of the colony as well
Virginian here, I always thought VA has more in common with NC. Northern VA (NOVA) is like a different state compared to the rest of VA and WV for that matter.
I think NOVA and central MD have a lot in common except they each think the other state has the worst drivers :p this is a 3rd party wvian opinion tho based on a commute i did for a while to NOVA....
@@nebulan the whole DMV thinks that any driver that’s not from the area they are from sucks at driving when in reality they all suck at driving in their own ways lol
Very true. Everything north of Spotsylvania is a completely different state than everything south of it.
Yes, very true, I've lived in NOVA since 1978, big difference from parts south
@@MG-ot2yr Richmond is quickly becoming like NOVA.
Contrary to popular belief, John Denver is NOT singing about West Virginia in the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads". He is singing about western Virginia, specifically the Shenandoah Valley, which is located exclusively in the Old Dominion.
Yep, which is why I specifically chose not to include the song in this lol
Well, like so many people, he said "west virginia", so we claim it. C'mon, otherwise we have only pepperoni rolls.
Virginia is one of my favorite states
Hey
Mark Warner and Tim Kaine suck though lol
@@koukkoufos2000 Does John Warner?
@@jacobstopper3804 Yes! Although he’s a former Republican U.S Senator from Virginia and has no relation to Mark Warner. You are way behind on politics unlike me 😂
@@koukkoufos2000 No I’m not behind I was just asking because he just died 2 months ago
West Virginia has the best mountains which are extremely under appreciated.
New River Gorge National Park will hopefully change that.
There is no fucking mountains, go to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I am from West Virginia myself and we drive 3 hours every week in the summer just to go over there and check out the beauty. You don't understand, West Virginia and Virginia don't even have mountains, not even the highest peak in Virginia is really a mountain it is just a big hill. Virginia has the Appalachian Trail (which if you aren't brainwashed from the almost heaven bullshit, you would know that it barely even goes through West Virginia) If you go into West Virginia outside of Fayette County (where every tourist goes) and look around it is the most decimated areas and no one talks about it because they are all brainwashed by the tourist industry and before everyone was controlled by the shitty coal industry but ever since they decided to make West Virginia a military base in around 2015 they wanted to "grow small towns" claiming they were "cool" but trust me they are the shittiest places. There is no cool museums outside of like the top 3 cities. Even the small towns in Virginia I checked out on my journeys are interesting, you *literally see peaks HIGHER than WEST VIRGINIA'S TALLEST "MOUNTAIN" casually driving down highways* IT IS SO MUCH FUCKING CLEANER IN VIRGINIA TOO. Prove Me Wrong
@@flying0possum never climbed spruce knob?
@@craftthemoon highest hill I climbed was in Grayson Highlands State Park, Wilburn Ridge. Lots of fun but I am not proud of it I want to hike higher
Soo beautiful
I love the Northeast Megalopolis gag.
Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Mega-City One irl
50 million people in less than 2% of the land and there's still no high-speed railway within it 😞
Virginia also has some amazing colleges like UVA, and William & Mary. If any of y’all are looking for some good public schools, both of those are here waiting for you.
Definitely
What about Virginia Tech
@@RTP780 Very popular school here in VA! Definitely a good one!
All the acc schools are great except maybe Louisville, Florida state, and Clemson.
Ummm VT anyone
I’m glad you finally made a video comparing my home state of West Virginia. Also, West Virginia has a history themed competition every year called the Golden Horseshoe where 8th graders take a test to see how much they know about West Virginia History and Government.
I’m a Golden Horseshoe recipient!
I keep telling people I'm a knight and nobody believes
AND there’s a thing called history bowl where students memorize wv facts and compete against other schools
@@pearlmoon3057 I competed in the state tournament for that! Got a clean sweep, too-two straight losses!
I'm right there with you. I love this video and sadly last year due to the pandemic the teacher that did the golden horseshoe was not there
*"A Mr. Beat a day keeps the problems away"*
@Greater Fascist Persia why facism tho you larper
How many Mr. Beats are there?
@CIA not yet.
@Greater Fascist Persia IDK.
@@jasoncabanday457 XD
I find my state of Virginia to have many beauties, but West Virginia is breathtakingly gorgeous. It's hard to drive on their highways because the natural beauty is so eye-catching, and you may find yourself off the pavement if you aren't careful.
Also because our roads have too many pot holes, wind around mountains, and the ditch is is so deep but covered with brush and leaves so you can’t see it.
@@pearlmoon3057 And its the state where you are most likely to hit a deer.
thx for the complement on my state and I think Virgina is just as gorgeous plus you have to be happy that your state has all the cool history artifacts
you should tell that to the drunk drivers! those suckers are everywhere here.
"Almost Heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River......"
Already seen this on your patreon, personally this is one of my favourites of your videos and also thanks for the shoutout!
Well thank YOU so much.
Fun fact: The only billionaire who lives in West Virginia happens to be their governor.
Ah I love my corrupt backwards piece of shit government 😩
Somehow it makes perfect sense to me that one of the poorest states would have one of the wealthiest governors.
It's a republican state, that's their thing.
Big Jim justice
He's not the only billionaire in Best Virginia.
People from Appalachia aren't going to like how you pronounce Appalachia.
Say App-a-latch-a or I'll throw an apple at ya.
Does he say it the other way? Also, known as the wrong way.. God, I hope not. Not even sure I want to find out.
App-uh-latch-ee-uh.
You forgot to include that the southern half of West Virginia did not vote to secede and was taken by the Union army with the Battle of Charleston.
Yep, good to bring up that!
@@iammrbeat Obviously it's way too late to bring this up, but in the TN-KY video, you didn't mention how eastern Tennessee was so culturally and politically divided from the rest of the state that they considered rejoining the Union as a separate state, kind of like WV. And then after the Civil War, during Reconstruction and the Solid South, eastern TN was one of the most pro-GOP regions in the entire country (so much so that some counties have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.)
Could be a good topic for a video, though, areas in the south that were pro-Union and areas in the north that were pro-Confederate.
The Battle of Charleston was a Confederate victory, although the Confederates withdrew from the Kanawha Valley soon after without a fight. More significant were battles like Allegheny Mountain, Carnifex Ferry, and Droop Mountain.
@@DDBurnett1 Those Republican counties also remind me of about 4 counties in WV that have either never voted for a Democrat since they were created or only have once or twice in their history.
Hey Mr. Beat, i dont usually comment much on youtube but i just had to this time. I recently discovered your content and have rapidly consuming all of it, you make amazing videos and you can really tell there has been alot of time research and even a sense of your pride in your work and it really shows the passion you have for both history and being an educator. Please keep the content coming as i can't get enough
I love my state of Virginia. The shenendehoah valley is one of the most beautiful part of america, it is very green over there
“Country roads
Take me home
To the place
I belong
West Virginia
Mountain momma
Take me home
Country roads!”
-john denver
Fun fact: some believe that this song is actually about western Virginia since the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shennandoah River are mostly in Virginia (only about 20 miles in WV).
@@That_Millenial_Guy I live 5 minutes from both so I always say it’s about western Virginia
Rip John Denver
Norfolk is actually pronounced “Nor-fik” or “Nor-fuck”
Lol!! I had a feeling he wasn't going to pronounce it like we do..I can always tell a non Virginian by that and also Suffolk. Lol
People in Central VA say Naw-fuck lol
@@VaRockerDude I always thought it was old-timers from Norfolk who said Naw-fock almost like they were from Boston haha
I used to drive from Delaware to Virginia Beach via the bridge/tunnel. 10/10 definitely recommend.
Ya know I live in VA, down in Richmond, and both states are beautiful in their own way. I really liked the way you compared them too that was pretty comical.Great video!
I live towards the southern part of Virginia and every time I visit the Alexandria/I-95 area of Northern Virginia I’m just shocked at how much traffic there is.
Seriously how do people deal with sitting in traffic for 20 minutes just to go 2-3 miles every day. I can imagine it’s worse in New York City
People hitch rides on "Slug Lines" so they can drive on the express lanes for free. Public transportation is also readily available.
I used to live in northern Virginia and yea the traffic is horrible there
Yea NOVA traffic sucks. Usually whenever I go to Richmond, I notice that almost every single time without fail that there is a jam in or around Fredericksburg. And that’s like the southern part of NOVA it just gets worse
🥲 Are there back roads?
@@samieD22 There are no back roads, just sprawling housing.
I wished I could have had this video when I was taking my US history class that seemingly mainly focused on Virginia... which I guess makes sense because I live in Virginia which is also a very historical state as this video showed. You covered the history very well in a way that wasn't boring (unlike most of my history teachers; which kinda sucks because I like history because of how people like you explain it), even though you left some of the information, that I would added, out. All in all, wonderful video.
Virginia is truly the clearer winner here .
Why don't you make a video about the medal of honor. And give your top 10 favorite medal of honor recipients.
I can't believe you're the first to suggest this idea. I love it!
As someone from West Virginia I'm so happy to see a video about us on your channel!!!
Yay! What part of the state are you from?
@@iammrbeat greenbrier county, so very close to our Virginia counterparts
but im from virginia
same I was so happy to see some do a video on my home/former state
Actually, WV is starting to bring big technology companies to the state. The Virgin One Hyperloop Certification Center will be built in WV. Other tech companies are looking to move to the state. West Virginia University is directly responsible for bringing the VW exhaust emissions fraud to light.
Great video! You could easily do an hour long video on all of the coolest aspects of West Virginia.
Hyperloop? Oh those poor West Virginians are falling for Elon Musk's scam. I almost feel sorry for them.
You por west virgin
There is actually a lab in Wheeling called Touchstone Labs where they make certain molds and parts that go on airplanes and rockets. They have created molds for SpaceX and NASA!
Let's gooooooooooooo I’ve been waiting for this comparison for so long. Great video!
Literally 99% of my state history classes that I’ve been learning since 4th grade in 1 video! 😂 Nice job.
Being from Maryland, I'd love to see a VA/MD comparison video!!
YESSS NOT ONLY DID YOU DO A VIDEO ON MY HOME STATE BUT YOU ALSO MENTIONED THE CITY I WAS BORN IN
Wait, where you born?
@@iammrbeat Virginia Beach Virginia. 757 gang
They are both beautiful states. West Virginia has gorgeous mountains, a great state song by John Denver, and arguably the best whitewater rafting and skiing in the eastern US. Virginia has the Shenandoah Valley, maybe the prettiest section of the Appalachian Trail, all of that history, and a coastline. All plusses.
@@jacobmuraco4276 He said in the East. Which is still wrong because I understand there is some pretty good skiing in Vermont.
Hey Matt - thanks for posting these! We like to watch them before each new state we visit! ❤
I love my state of West Virginia. We just have a lot of work to do to become more of a presence. We just need to get over our reliance on coal.
Y'all ain't even the south foh
Thats not going to happen anytime soon
You’re politicians are rotten. More than usual. They are blatantly in bed with coal lobbies. The people need to fix that with the vote.
Yeah, the rest of the counties need to fallow the lead of the Eastern ones, Timber, tourism, and alternative energy is the way to go.
I love this series. I've been to Virginia but not West Virginia. That's cool that West Virginia will pay you to live there.
I'm actually going back to Virginia next week. DC baby!
@@iammrbeat it was 2001 when I was there last. We started in DC and ended in NYC. I saw the twin towers 6 months before 9/11.
Congrats your first 🥇
Can you do a video on "Missouri vs Arkanas compred " ?
I left WV ~7 years ago during the height of the Opiod epidemic. There was no economic growth or opportunity and the cities were shrinking, which further hurt financial opportunities. I go back occasionally to see family and not too much has changed. The Opiod issue seems to have slowed down, but still not a lot of growth or opportunity.
Wish the people there the best!
Everyone here seems to think that coal is the way to go as far as industry still, but it isn’t. We’ve overexploited the coal reserves. It is currently cheaper to surface mine coal in Montana and ship it here than it is to deep mine it here. If we want to have an economy again, we’re gonna have to move on from coal and to other industry, like timber, alternative energy, and tourism.
Actually from NOVA here, and I’m just gonna clarify that I’m not a lobbyist lol
Virginian here, though my father's side of the family is thoroughly (6 generations back) West Virginian. Awesome video! My favorite thing about Virginia is the strength of its public universities. Virginians may receive secondary education akin to an elite private school at a much cheaper price.
That being said, there's nothing like singing Country Roads in Morgantown WV
Fun Fact: the Mothman Myth in WV was so popular that WV decided to tear down all confederate statues and replace them with the mothman
Based
Oh, the irony! If you look at the map, Virginia extends farther west than West Virginia. Virginian btw
In keeping with this theme, in West Virginia, South Charleston is WNW of Charleston
@@eaglescout1984 In the town I live in in Pennsylvania, the geography is really messed up like that. The "East End" is the north section of town, past 1st street. Some avenues in the south have "west" prefixes. The eastern part of town has streets with "south" prefixes past 1st avenue, and the northwestern district has street names with "north" prefixes (well they at least didn't get that one entirely wrong).
As a person from Charleston West Virginia , I love this video lol
I would love to see Virginia compared with Maryland and or North Carolina!
i was literally just talking about comparing the 2 virginia’s a few minutes ago. then i looked to see if you made a video on it, and you did 3 hours ago.
Was nice to see a WV video!! Appreciate it Beat! I’m a big believer that WV, with the right leaders, WV will turn it around!
Yeah and I’m the pope
I'm from Virginia and when I was a kid we were taught to remember the states that bordered VA with the saying "Mustard with ketchup tastes nice" with the letter of each word corresponding to the first letter of the state that borders VA(MD, WV, KY, TN, NC)
Pretty cool
Mine was.. "My White Kitten Takes Naps"
Great series. From Virginia
Thank you!
Big ups for Maryland vs Virginia!
Thoroughly comprehensive and the hypnotic historical data records were told with imaginative dramaticness
I’m really glad that West Virginia now has a national park. This should bring more tourists and more money to a region that’s struggling.
If a state will pay you to live/move there, that’s a huge red flag
Yep. Don't move here. It's bad
@@nic-2144 Finally someone agrees with me.
@@flying0possum I live in WV. There's abandoned houses, abandoned businesses that once thrived, buildings that burned down "accidently", people just vanish randomly never to be seen again, there's drug addicts everywhere you look, you don't enter Beckley unarmed, you don't stay out once it gets dark, you hear screaming and guns go off but no one calls the police the police wont help, seeing ambulances and firetrucks speed down your road weekly, and there's many many more bad shit
Alaska pay you but is not bad
@@nic-2144 WV's situation is currently really bad for sure. But who is gonna change that when everyone, who can, flees the state? WV probably has potential to recover but long term strategies are needed to actually use it
Fun fact, I live in Northeast Virginia, I guess I'm a lobbyist🤔
hello lobbyist ;)
Damn lobbyists
I KNEW IT
greetings fellow northeast virginia lobbyist :)
Thank you for recognizing WV's natural beauty. The New River Gorge in October is the 8th world wonder to me, but I'm biased .
Fun history: West "By God" Virginia, the name Kanawha was floated for our state's name bc of the Kanawha River, but a member of our initial Congressional delegation during the Civil War said on the record we were West "By God" Virginia and the rest is history.
Oh and we have top 10 best food, right along w KY. So much buttery goodness, and pepperoni rolls.
Ahhh. . . pepperoni rolls, and Tudor's biscuits. . . . now I'm homesick and hungry!
@@kristalrose29 I just had Gino's yesterday. Such iconic food here haha
yea if you didn't know we created pepperoni rolls😄
Virginia’s a cool state, I’ve loved visiting there. Never been to WV but I bet it’s beautiful!!
if you go go during fall
4 of the 5 wealthiest counties in America are in Virginia. Truly a monetarily underrated state.
Your tax dollars at rest.
Having lived in both states, I would RUN SCREAMING to WV, for free, before I would dip my pinky toe into the toxic sludge that is Virginia. West Virginia is actually a chill state. People there really don't care what you're doing as long as you're not bothering anyone else. Virginia, especially on the east coast, they are all up in your business from the personal level to the state government level. I need more libertarianism in my state government.
Not in the mountains western part of the real Virginia were just like west Virginia in that way
One of the best so far from Mr. Beat. Very thorough. The only part you could've expanded upon more was how much better WV was doing than VA in the late 19th century. The populations were almost equal then.
I live in Virginia where the battle of Piedmont happened during the Civil War. The bloodiest Battle in the Shenandoah valley, over 2000 people lost their lives. I could tell you some ghost stories we see a lot around here, especially going out on our road at night you’ll see mist, people walking disappearing, screaming but there’s no one there. I had to cleanse my house with sage, lights were being turned off I would hear footsteps, my eight-year-old said he seen a man in his room that had a blue hat on then the man disappeared in his closet. Just crazy how history lingers. You can feel the energy it’s so sad.
i was always curious about this subject. thanx!
Virginia is for Lovers, West Virginia is beautiful scenery
I missed my chance to end the video saying that!
It might be interesting to compare some of the United States territories.
Probably would be
puerto rico and the Us Virgin Islands compared( then mabye also do Us Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands compared)
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands compared
And American soma and The Independent State of Samoa compared.
Mr. Beat, I love your content and especially when comparing states very close to each other, although they have many differences, politically and historically. Keep up the great job! 👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you so much! :D
@@iammrbeat 😊😊
11:01 Did not expect to see my collage of Charleston photos I have on Wikipedia here. So cool lol Great video about two awesome states (especially the totally misunderstood WVA)
I live in WV and I sometimes to forget to lock my door when I go to bed. I don't make it a habit, but when I do, I wake up the next morning and everything is just fine. That's one of the reasons I like my home state.
In hindsight West Virginia really should've reunited with Virginia after the civil war. The land is beautiful yes but it doesnt have much to offer support for an entire state of people who depend on it whereas Virginia has been able to diversify its economy. It's essentially a giant national park that a few people live in and barely get by
Fat chance that will ever happen.
It has recently become clear that southwest Virginia should have joined West Virginia.
As someone who lives in WV after fleeing the snobby and pretentious NoVa, that would be a terrible idea. No one in WV would support that idea anyway. In fact, some VA counties that border WV actually want to leave VA and join WV.
@@lwilliams7448 You are right, I don't know anyone who is lucky enough to live on the WV side of the border that would move.
Everyone bad mouths WV because of the bad press we get. WV to most of us who live here is where we want to be and we get tired of being put down and called names. We are proud people who love our God, Family, freedom, guns and our state. We left Virginia in 1863 and sure don't want to go back.
We are wild and wonderful just the way we are we don't want what Virginia has to offer Mountaineers are always free.
I personally like Virginia more. Mostly because they voted for me in 2020.
I knew it! lol
Don’t mind having less people in West Virginia, who wants to live crowded?
Its not crowded in va exept nova the majority of Virginia's population lives there in the tiny section so outside of there ther re e barley anyone
You only live crowded in Virginia in richmond and nova very small bit if the state
Thank you so much for talking about West Virginia and Virginia because I live in West Virginia
Love this series. Would you do NorCal vs SoCal?
Virginia ranks 50th in labor rights. 51st if you include DC.
The ;lower ranks still have many attributes that the higher ranked states does not, however.
Can confirm. I work in Virginia. They could tell me to do a swan dive into a wood chipper and fire me for saying no, and the judge would uphold the employer as right.
West Virginia was part of the union but stayed neutral (Meaning the state itself didnt draft for either side in the war.), It was a mix of both sides which gave it balance.
Seeing DC come up spurred an idea: comparing DC to another preplanned/designated capital city like Canberra or Brasilia. Ooh, better yet, give lesser known ones some shine like Abuja!
One I have been waiting for. Excellent!
Great video all around! Loved seeing the Alexandria Waterfront at 10:04.
Not a state comparison, I got an idea for countries; how about:
Marshall Islands vs. Federated States of Micronesia?
I'm sure this video's comment section won't be nearly as controversial as last week's video was
IDK, buddy, West Virginia's pretty controversial
Lets ruin this vid
No it’ll just be full of comments talking about how shitty awful racist and Inbred West Virginia is and how amazing Virginia is :/ I hate being from WV
The New River, which is (ironically) the oldest river in the world, flows through both Virginia and West Virginia, forming that picturesque gorge as seen in the video.
Nice to see West By God Virginia again. Been a Tennessean since 1984 but my Mountain Mama remains Almost Heaven 💖. Danke Herr Beat!
I’m from Florida and I’ve been to both states I never felt any thing that was close to Florida over there but I agree it is really Beautiful over there
A good companion would be Manchester and Liverpool in England or Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland
Almost heaven, West Virginia!
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, grown like a breeze
"This is because they were tricked into selling their land and resources to wealthy corporations"
The true Appalachian way.
YESS HE MENTIONED NORFOLK MY HOME CITY
From WV here-fun fact, our cities are so small that they aren't even considered 'urban', literally all of the state is considered rural-and we're a temperate rain forest! We get plenty of summer thunderstorms-and really beautiful seasons year round! So if you like rainy weather, we get our fair share :))