WEST VIRGINIA — News that the Ascend West Virginia program has received more than 90,000 applications since its launch has prompted lifelong residents to ask several follow-up questions, beginning with, “On purpose?”
The program’s success attracting interest in the Mountain State was initially met with pride, followed by suspicion, followed by somebody asking whether the applicants had seen the driveway.
“I’m glad people want to come here,” said Kanawha County resident Vernon Puckett. “I just want to know which pictures they looked at.”
Puckett became concerned after reviewing promotional images featuring colorful mountains, whitewater rafting, and smiling people working on laptops beside large windows.
“That’s October,” he said. “Show them February. Same window. Nothing on the trees. Somebody’s blue tarp flapping.”
His wife, Linda, agreed that prospective residents deserved a complete picture.
“Did anybody tell them ‘twenty minutes away’ can mean six miles?” she asked. “And did they drive those six miles, or did somebody just show them on a map?”
The couple emphasized that they love West Virginia and have no intention of leaving, although Vernon said he would appreciate being consulted before anyone described the road to his house as “scenic.”
“That’s a very generous word for what happens after the pavement ends.”
Elsewhere, news of relocation incentives has generated interest among residents who believe they may be owed something for having arrived without assistance.
“I’ve been here 46 years,” said Boone County resident Curtis Bell. “Is there a form for back pay?”
Bell said he would accept a modest settlement, particularly if it covered gravel.
Several residents have proposed supplementing the application process with a practical orientation covering subjects they consider essential to long-term success.
Suggested exercises include identifying a pepperoni roll, passing an oncoming pickup on a road built for one vehicle, and following directions that begin, “You remember where the old Foodland used to be?”
Applicants who answer no would receive the same directions again, slightly louder.
A separate section would explain that being told a house is “right off the main road” provides no useful information about the climb that follows.
“You need to see it when the leaves are wet,” Linda said. “Everybody’s driveway looks manageable in a photograph.”
Despite their questions, residents said newcomers would be welcomed into their communities, invited to church dinners, and asked who they belonged to until a satisfactory local connection could be established.
One applicant reportedly passed that process after mentioning a coworker whose aunt had once lived outside Beckley.
“Oh, well,” a resident said. “Why didn’t you say so?”
Support for the program remained strong even among those expressing reservations.
Puckett said he would gladly help a new neighbor unload a moving truck, explain the trash schedule, and identify which nearby dog would follow them home.
He did request that participants avoid purchasing the little house beside his property.
“I’ve been meaning to buy that place,” he said.
County records indicate he has been meaning to buy it since 2015.
At press time, several lifelong residents were researching whether moving to Ohio briefly would make them eligible to come back.
