Highland County Va

Opposing winds: Feelings about Poor Mountain wind farm might depend on ...

Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Duo, a former coal camp that sits on the side of Shellcamp Ridge, is the closest community to the Beech Ridge Wind Farm in West Virginia. A few families who live in Duo can easily see and hear two of the 67 turbines (top left) from about 3,600 feet away.

Standing 388 feet tall, the turbines at Beech Ridge Wind Farm are slightly smaller than the ones planned for Roanoke County, but nonetheless dominate the view of a ridgeline in Greenbrier County, W.Va. At their base, the turbines are the size of a small house. Inside is an elaborate control board and a ladder that allows workers to climb to the top for maintenance work.

Wind turbines at the Beech Ridge Wind Farm in West Virginia are owned by Invenergy, a company that is planning a similar project for Poor Mountain in Roanoke County.

Standing 388 feet tall, the turbines at Beech Ridge Wind Farm are slightly smaller than the ones planned for Roanoke County, but nonetheless dominate the view of a ridgeline in Greenbrier County, W.Va. At their base, the turbines are the size of a small house. Inside is an elaborate control board and a ladder that allows workers to climb to the top for maintenance work.

"The harder the wind blows, the louder they are. Sometimes they will wake you up at night in the wintertime. There have been times when I turned the TV up a little bit" to drown out the noise," said Steve Lilly, a resident of Duo, W.Va., which is the closest community to Invenergy's Beech Ridge Wind Farm in Greenbrier County, W.Va.

"To tell you the truth, at night, I like to listen to it. It’s kind of a swoosh, but it’s pleasant," said Cordell Deline, a resident of Duo, W.Va.

DUO, W.Va. -- Up on Shellcamp Ridge, a cluster of ramshackle houses and junked cars lingers where a community once thrived on the coal beneath it.

The coal camp of Duo sprang up almost overnight in 1933, when the Raine Coal Co. built rows of identical frame houses for the men who came to work its mine. The coal is mostly gone now, and Duo is little more than a dot on the map that marks a half-dozen or so homes.

But over the next ridge, impossible to ignore, stands something that just might represent a break from dependence on coal, not just here but across the country -- a wind turbine nearly 400 feet tall, its white blades spinning slowly in the early June breeze.

The Sojourning Spinner: Sheep in Highland County, VA

Bought half a pound of local DorsetXHampshire roving from shepherd Theresa Wagner at Wool Becomes Ewe in Monterey.  Wagner says she plans to raise Rambouillet in the future, including some with natural colour because she knows that's desirable to handspinners and knitters.  One of the bumps of roving I bought was naturally dark.  That and the fact that it was raised locally may help you understand why I uncharacteristically bought down breed wool. Breathed the ambrosial smell of slightly burnt maple sugar at one of the sugar farms.  When I say maple festival, people usually ask me where the maple festival is.  I tell them, follow route 250 all the way out, almost to West Virginia.  It's the sort of place where the local cafe's window displays a spinning wheel with a bobbin full of plied yarn on it. I am a handspinner, twisting fibre into yarn with a hand-powered drop spindle. I am passionate about handspinning as a worthwhile and relevant skill. While I source from all over, I like to get local and independently-produced fibre arts tools and supplies. I read about textile production methods, historical and modern, and try them. I spin yarn in public as often as I can, talk about handspinning to anyone who will listen, and coach new spindle spinners. Giving useful information is a reflex action and a joy. I am an active member of my local handspinners' guild. I'm a homesick Canadian from the West coast living in Virginia. comb multicoloured Mohair locks craft pack continue knitting up early skeins learn sprang learn to knit a sweater learn to knit cables learn to knit socks make one handspun handknit item for each family member, continuing with the second-eldest generation spin from stash to cull stash spin the rest of the merino to get rid of it stash enhancement (more BFL fibre!

A history of Highland County, Virginia

Highland County, Virginia, Highland County, Virginia, Monterey, Virginia, Battle of McDowell, U.S. Route 250 in Virginia, Allegheny Mountain

Fossil collecting in the Mid-Atlantic states, with localities, collecting tips, and illustrations of more than 450 fossil specimens

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American chemical journal