VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week on our program, we tell you about a popular
area for outdoor activities in the state of West Virginia.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The song "Country Roads" was very popular when John Denver first recorded it
in 1971. It still is popular with people who live in West Virginia and visitors
who have fallen in love with what is known as the Mountain State.
VOICE TWO:
West Virginia is a small state. But it has many different areas of interest
to visitors who like to hike, camp, climb rocks, raft in rivers, fish and hunt.
One area that offers many kinds of outdoor activities is called the Potomac
Highlands. It is in the eastern part of the state, not far from the border with
the state of Virginia.
The Allegheny Mountains divide the area from north to south. Rivers on the
east side of the Potomac Highlands flow into the Potomac River and continue on
toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Monongahela National Forest is in this area. It covers more than 350,000
hectares of West Virginia, mostly in the Potomac Highlands.
VOICE ONE:
A good place to begin a visit to West Virginia is at Spruce
Knob. It is about 1,500 meters high, the highest mountain in the state. You can
drive your car slowly up a rough road to the top.
There are places to stop along the road to look at the fields and forests
down below and far in the distance. At the top, you follow a short path to a
stone-and-steel observation tower. On either side of the path are what look like
river beds of big rocks. Wildflowers of different colors brighten the rocky
land. From the tower, you see wilderness in all directions.
VOICE TWO:
Whispering Spruce Trail follows a circular path around the observation tower.
The path leads past an open field covered with huge rocks, through a group of
tall spruce trees, and past a field of blueberry bushes. Off in the distance you
see a valley way below and lines of bluish gray mountains that seem to reach
forever.
Spruce Knob has more than one hundred kilometers of hiking trails. Some of
them are paths made in the early 1900 by men who climbed the mountain to cut
trees. It also has a lake for fishing and a campground where people can stay.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Near Spruce Knob is one of the best-known places in West Virginia -- Seneca
Rocks. This rock formation is made of white-gray quartzite , a kind of sandstone. It is
about 300 meters above the river that flows below. When the sun shines on the
almost straight-sided rocks, they look like bright shining wings rising out of a
mountain of green trees.
VOICE TWO:
Experienced rock climbers love Seneca Rocks. The rocks are very difficult to
climb. Not many people were known to have climbed them until the Second World
War began. Then the Army used the rocks to train troops for action in the
mountains of Europe. Now there are almost four hundred mapped ways to climb
Seneca Rocks.
Visitors who are not experienced rock climbers can follow a steep man-made
path that takes them to the top. The path begins at Seneca Rocks Discovery
Center at the base of the rocks. The Discovery Center has exhibits about the
earliest American Indians who lived in the area. The center also has information
about the wildlife and plants of the area.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
West Virginia is a state divided by mountains. But the area has also been
divided in other ways during its history.
In the early years of the United States, it was the western part of the state
of Virginia. It was part of Virginia until 1861. Then, as the American Civil War
began, the Virginia state government voted to rebel against the United States.
Virginia joined other southern states in forming the Confederate States of
America.
But representatives from the western counties opposed the decision to leave
the Union. So the area separated from Virginia. In June of 1863, West Virginia
became the 35th state.
VOICE TWO:
Many Civil War battles were fought in West Virginia. Even though West
Virginia had remained in the Union, about half of the people in the state
supported the South. Many families were divided. Sometimes brothers fought on
opposite sides. After the North won the war, divisions in the state slowly
healed.
Most of the people in the state were farmers in the eighteen hundreds. Then
two natural resources -- coal and trees -- became important. Mining of coal and
logging of the forests became major industries as transportation improved on the
rivers and railroads were built. Coal and wood continue to be important to the
state's economy.
Toward the end of the 20th century, tourism became an important
industry. The number of visitors to West Virginia continues to increase every
year.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The Potomac Highlands area of West Virginia has a lot of sandstone. Sandstone
is a soft rock. The action of wind and water can form cave openings like natural
rooms within the rock.
Two major caves are open to the public near Smoke Hole and Seneca Rocks.
Seneca Caverns and Smoke Hole Caverns have been used through the ages. Native
Americans used them to build fires to dry their food. During the Civil War,
soldiers from both sides used them at different times to store weapons. Now
these caves provide underground experiences for visitors.
VOICE TWO:
Guides lead groups on lighted paths down into the ground and through the
caves. Visitors see wonderful formations hanging from the ceiling and growing up
from the floor. It takes centuries for water dripping through the rock to make
these beautiful formations.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Breathtaking. Wonderful. A treasure. These are words that visitors use to
describe Dolly Sods, a large wild area in the Potomac Highlands of West
Virginia. About 150 years ago, a magazine described this same area as very
dangerous. It said the forests and undergrowth were so dense, no one could get
through them. Bears and panthers lived there but no people.
In the 1800s, a German family named Dahle raised sheep on wet, grassy open
places called sods. Local people changed the spelling of the name and the area
became known as Dolly Sods.
Dolly Sods once was covered with a dense ancient forest of red spruce and
hemlock trees. By the late 1800s, railroads reached the area. Loggers cut down
the huge trees and trains carried the wood to fast-growing cities in nearby
states.
VOICE TWO:
For years, fires from lightening and logger's campfires burned through the
areas where the forest had been cut down. The constant fires burned everything
down to the bare rock base.
In 1920, Congress created the Monongahela National Forest. The United States
Forest Service soon had trees planted in some areas and a rough road system
built.
In 1975, much of the Dolly Sods area became part of the National Wilderness
Preservation System. The Forest Service is protecting the area from too much
human activity so it will return to its natural wild condition. Native plants
and animals are returning.
Dolly Sods is up high, almost 1,000 meters. So plants and animals
there are more like those found in northern Canada than in the rest of West
Virginia.
VOICE ONE:
The northern part of Dolly Sods is called the scenic area. You can walk among
the large rocks known as Bear Rocks and pick blueberries and huckleberries from
low-growing bushes. You can spend quiet time looking at the mountains off to the
east. You are up high, so even in the summer the air usually is cool.
VOICE TWO:
People come to Dolly Sods to get away from the noise and crowds of city life.
They camp in the wilderness far from other people. They pick wild blueberries
growing on the rocky fields and red cranberries growing in wet bogs. They hunt
deer, turkey and rabbits. They fish in rivers that flow through the area. And
they walk on rough, rocky paths, many of which follow old railroad tracks and
roads used by loggers long ago.
VOICE ONE:
Signs along roads entering the state welcome you to "wild, wonderful West
Virginia." Visitors to the Potomac Highlands have a chance to experience some of
those wild, wonderful places.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Marilyn Christiano and directed by Caty Weaver. To
see pictures of West Virginia, and to download transcripts and MP3 files of our
shows, go to voaspecialenglish. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA
Special English.
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