The Oldest Town In The State And Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, Shepherdstown and Romney both lay claim to being the oldest town in West Virginia – but there’s some confusion as to which town is actually correct. Shepherd Snyder spoke to Appalachian historian and Shepherd University professor Benjamin Bankhurst about why the answer is more complicated than it appears.

Also, in this show, officials are encouraging vigilance as smoke from intense Canadian wildfires makes its way south on changing wind patterns. Emily Rice has more.

The nation’s drug czar visited West Virginia University Thursday as the start of a multi-day tour of the state. As Chris Schulz reports, the purpose of the trip is to discuss local and national efforts to address the overdose epidemic.

And, this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage features one of Americana music’s most heralded and admired writers, James McMurtry. Our Song of the Week is McMurtry’s song “Vaquero,” where his writing manages to capture the unique human experience in particularly vivid ways.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from CAMC and Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Eric Douglas, Bill Lynch, Caroline MacGregor, Liz McCormick, Emily Rice. Chris Schultz, Curtis Tate, and Randy Yohe.

Eric Douglas is our news director. Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and producer.

Teresa Wills is our host.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning