One of the great books of the 1970s was about how people make their livings. Studs Turkel’s Working chronicled the lives of Americans by having them talk about their workaday worlds. It turns you can learn a lot about communities by how they view their work and by what people do to earn their keep.
A region might be known as a high-tech center, college town, farm community, tourist destination, bedroom community, or a land of entrepreneurs with a high concentration of self-employed people making it up as they go along. Jefferson County, it turns has a bit of all these.
Beyond the quaint shops and federal agencies,—the things everyone sees each day—there’s a wider world of work and life in Jefferson County. A lot of interesting people, too.
There’s a highly successful high tech business doing business worldwide located in Charles Town. It’s revenues and workforce have grown steadily since moving here in 2003. The company is American Public University System. It may odd to refer to a university as a high-tech company, look at it this way. This for-profit, totally online university has used bandwidth, creativity, and niche marketing to deliver its service worldwide. Existing  in cyberspace, it is a different kind of university—and many people hope it draws additional high-tech companies to Jefferson County.
Not all entrepreneurs wear chinos and polo shirts. Travis Bagent grew up here poor, without running water. He also grew up armwrestling in his father’s Big Arm bar. Now he is more than a world armwrestling champion—the only guy ever to hold it from both the left and right sides. He’s an enterprise. He’s created and is part owner of a new made-for-TV league that could soon be broadcasting across the United States and beyond. He’s taken a piece of Jefferson County’s history, the roadside armwrestling emporium, and turned it into a media project. He’s a marketing man with ideas as big as his biceps.
To see the county from completely outside the box, think about having a conversation with someone who has left the county—left this life, that is. Practitioners of alternative healing now may possibly outnumber dentists in the county. From reiki to hypnosis to soul readings, there’s a whole ‘nother world that used to be “out there” but now is here. And it wouldn’t be if there weren’t for supply and demand. Studs Terkel might have an observation about this convergence of culture and economy.
There’s a lot more to Jefferson County than what visitors might see on tourist brochures. If you get out a little, you can discover more diversity than you imagined. Or just have a day at the races—the Sport of Kings. The horseracing at Charles Town is one of the oldest entertainment establishments in Jefferson County. You can plop down a two dollar bet, or just enjoy a hot dog and watch the horses. Kids are welcome down at the track level; they love the horses, and the jockeys love the kids.
So if you wake up in Jefferson County of an August morning pondering a bit of travel, consider staying close to home to discover new things.