Welcome to the daily304 – your window into Wonderful, Almost Heaven, West Virginia.
Today is Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
Take a hike! A Fayetteville outfitter offers perks to encourage folks to get out and explore the great outdoors…the WV SBDC launches a program to increase access to affordable childcare in coal counties…and learn how Appalachia got its name (hint: it’s a mix of Native American, Spanish and French influence)…on today’s daily304.
#1 – From WOAY-TV – Got those midwinter blues? Shake it off with a hike in the great outdoors.
Hike three trails a month and receive 10% off a store purchase, plus a free coffee drink from Waterstone Outdoors in Fayetteville.
The retail store is just a stone’s throw from the New River Gorge National Park, which offers countless miles of hiking trails and breathtaking scenery.
To help kick off the trail challenge, Waterstone Outdoors has partnered with Active Southern West Virginia to host a free group hike every month.
To receive your reward, submit proof of the hike. Waterstone Outdoors is accepting photos from the trailhead, in app trackers and mid-hike photos.
Read more:
https://woay.com/waterstone-outdoors-issues-trail-challenge/
#2 – From BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH – The West Virginia Small Business Development Center has launched a pilot program intended to increase access to affordable child care.
The initiative, “Childcare West Virginia: Building the Business that Supports Business,” aims to establish new profitable childcare businesses, help existing childcare providers operate more efficiently and allow employers to recruit and retain workers by offsetting childcare costs.
The project is funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER Initiative and is in partnership with the West Virginia Workforce Resiliency Office and private childcare development firm Wonderschool.
The project area for the pilot program will include eight coal-impacted counties: Boone, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam, Roane and Wirt.
Read more:
https://www.bdtonline.com/news/state_region/childcare-west-virginia-building-the-business-that-supports-business-initiative-launched/article_af0625c4-3bd1-5f11-8c28-8cc14b7a9ac8.html
#3 – From WOWK-TV – Did you ever wonder how Appalachia got its name? According to legend, the name traces back to early European expeditions.
In 1539, a Spanish expedition under the command of Hernando De Soto came across a Native American tribe near modern day Tallahassee, Florida and named them and the province Apalache (Apalachee) as a derivative of the neighboring tribe of Apalachi. In 1540, De Soto’s expedition named the mountainous region of Appalachia after the tribe.
As for naming the mountain range Appalachian, the distinction goes to French artist Jacques le Moyne de Morgues, who travelled in the 1564 French Huguenot expedition of René de Laudonnière.
While at the mouth of St. John’s River on the Florida coast, Le Moyne painted a scene of natives collecting gold from streams running from the “Apalatcy Mountains.”
Read more:
https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/how-appalachia-got-its-name/
Find these stories and more at wv.gov/daily304.
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That’s all for now. Take care. Be safe. Get outside and enjoy all the opportunity West Virginia has to offer.