When trains stopped serving parts of the United States, rural counties lost population, and whole towns in West Virginia became ghost towns. The business districts that I remember in Elkins and Richwood were bustling in the 1950s with active middle class shop owners and service providers in both towns. The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area is helping to give wider recognition to nine towns in the Mon Forest Towns Partnership (MFTP). Partnership towns are Cowen, Davis, Durbin, Elkins, Franklin, Marlinton, Parsons, Petersburg, and Richwood. I sincerely hope the New River Gorge National Park and Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area will bring an environmental and economic revolution to our West Virginia part of the Rust Belt.