In a conversation with publisher Nikki Bowman a few days before he died, businessman and philanthropist Mike Perry said he co-founded Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Huntington to help instill visitors with pride for Appalachian history. Now they have something else to be proud of. Heritage Farm announced Wednesday it will become West Virginia’s first Smithsonian Institution Affiliate. Yes, that Smithsonian. The partnership will give…
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Recent Stories from the Magazine
The Flip
After more than eight decades as the minority party, state Republicans successfully recaptured the West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Focus takes a look behind the scenes to see what made this possible. Talking with Bill Cole, you get the sense he doesn’t use phrases like “over the moon” very often. But that’s how the baritone-voiced, serious-faced Senate President describes his…
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Room to Grow
Schools increase farm-fresh lunch offerings and need more farmers to help meet the demand. When Cristi Rulen, food service director for Mason County Schools, began purchasing food from local farmers three years ago, she came to a jarring realization—why hadn’t she already been doing this? On any given school day, Mason County serves about 2,500 hot lunches to students in 10…
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Leading Lenders
More than 1,000 of West Virginia’s top business leaders, entrepreneurs, and politicos all have one thing in common. They’re everywhere—in every corner of the state and every field imaginable, from manufacturing to law to arts education. They sit on boards, write books, run fundraisers, and start businesses. They could be your boss, your doctor, your accountant, or the owner of…
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Saving the Blue
Blue Sulphur Springs was once one of the region’s top destinations. Now the community is working to save it from ruin. We West Virginians tend to tell ourselves the same story about our past. We’re descended from hardscrabble mountain folk, we think—pioneers who settled here despite the rough terrain and hard winters. This place was a hinterlands, where no one…
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