Spencer and Charleston
Post By: Rebecca Burch
Town: Spencer
Website: Carpe You Some Diem
I feel sort of schizophrenic, because I am very much at home in both Charleston and Spencer WV, which are like two totally different worlds. I grew up in Belle, near Charleston, so I spent a lot of time in downtown Charleston as a kid. Now I work there but live in Spencer, which is very rural and kind of isolated. So I’m submitting two photos, if that’s OK — one of each of my “towns.” 
The first one is “Livestock Market, Spencer WV.” I took this photo during a beautiful golden sunset while checking out this old livestock market. I think it’s still in use, although it has sort of an eerie “abandoned building” feel when it’s empty… which seems to be most of the year
Livestock Market: Spencer, WV
The second is “At the Foot of the Bridge,” which is a composite-photo panorama that I did in January as an experiment with Photomerge. This was taken at the foot of the Southside Bridge in Charleston, standing on Virginia St. and looking toward the bridge. The two guys are two of my students, hanging out after school and eating Cheetos. Because, what else do you do when you’re 15?
At the Foot of the Bridge
Check out more of Rebecca’s posts at Carpe You Some Diem.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Great photos Rebecca. I can appreciate how you feel about having 2 completely different home towns.
I was born and raised on Cabin Creek, then spent a long time in and around Charleston before heading north to Morgantown. On my way home from the Dairy Queen tonight I was actually thinking about doing a series of posts comparing and contrasting Morgantown and Charleston. They are two totally different worlds.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I have no idea what Charleston is really like. I have a friend who was raised there and he talks about it like it’s Hell on earth, but he had a crappy time in school there and that’s tough to overcome. We’ll be spending Memorial Day Weekend there (at the Dalai Mama’s grandmother’s house) this year and I look forward to getting to know the area better.
$, do it up! There’s no better time for getting those posts going than during the “My Town” week. If you do it on your blog, let me know and I’ll point to it from PWV.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 am
Although I now live in Atlanta, I was born and spent the majority of my childhood in Hagerstown, Maryland which you all know is a stone’s throw from your border.
I may not qualify as a Mountaineer or West Virginian but I did spend plenty of time at the state parks and Civil War sites on family getaways throughout your beautiful state. I can still pick out our unique regional dialect even though mine has long ago faded like many of those youthful memories.
I do remember as child being perplexed at traveling through Pennsylvania, W.V, and Maryland all within a few minutes. Somebody should have better explained state boundaries to a naïve five year old who thought his dad’s Chevy station wagon was damn near a time machine.
Bryan is a great friend and I will stop by and support his efforts and contribute on occasion.
Rebecca: That is a cool shot of the livestock market. You can imagine the surplus of activity in its prime even as it sits somewhat dormant.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
MTB– I had no idea you grew up in Cabin Creek! Small world! Seriously, write it up. I don’t know much about Motown except that Casa has the best white pizza on Earth.
Bryan — You guys give me a call when you come to Chas! It’s a great city. I love it lots. It’s kind of my home, even though I lived about 8 miles south of Chas as a kid. A lot of my best memories happened there. I can see where your friend might hate it — bad experiences are hard to overcome. I still get sick to my stomach driving through Cincinnati, although it’s a perfectly lovely place.
Clash — Thanks! It’s a neat building. Spencer is definitely like a “time machine.” Go to any shop in town (besides Wal Mart) and you’ll think you’re in the 1940’s. I just about went into culture shock moving there… but it’s kind of nice.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I love that photo of the livestock market. Spencer sounds a lot like Petersburg, where I grew up. A bit less isolated, maybe. We didn’t have a decent grocery store, movie theater or fast food within an hour and a half! Which was kind of nice, actually. A great place to be a kid. Now, of course they have a Super-Walmart and movie theater 12 miles away. And a McDonalds right in town.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
We will for sure, Becky. On the Foot of the Bridge shot — how many photos did you merge there? I assume you used a tripod?
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
DM - Spencer actually has some shops, plus a Wal Mart (of course… I think the second moon of Saturn has a Wal Mart) a dollar store, Mickey-D’;s and Wendy’s. Oh, and a Pizza Hut. That’s all pretty recent, though, from what people say.
Bryan — I think there were 6 photos in this merge.