Wise Up: Southwest Virginia County Banks on Music and Nature in a Post-Coal Future
Wise County is building an economy on things that can’t be outsourced: natural beauty and traditional mountain music.
WISE COUNTY, Va. — On a warm day, Maddie Gordon props open the door of her downtown shop, and listens to the sounds of the great outdoors — the rumble of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes.
That’s the sound of tourism, and money, in this small town along the Clinch River in Southwest Virginia coal country.