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paper-mill
city
� is working hard to revitalize itself for a new generation of residents
Kemper Murray�s family has a long
history in
Alleghany
County, which surrounds the city of Covington. Born and raised in nearby Clifton Forge, which was settled by his
ancestors,
Murray
says, �It�s nice to live in a place where you know the mayor and the
commissioner of the revenue.� Now a resident of
Covington, Murray
is also a long-time veteran of the city�s largest employer,
MeadWestvaco. He has worked for the company 51 years. He started as a
timekeeper when he was just 18, and today serves as a foreman managing the
flow of stock and additives to paper machines. �It�s a good job with
good money and good insurance,� he explains simply.
Covington
has long been known as a mill town, and not just because of the presence
of what is now MeadWestvaco, the paper mill that has been here since 1900.
At the turn of the 20th century, the town�s population exploded as it
supported an iron furnace, a tannery, machine shops, flour mills, and
brick yards. Much of that industrial bustle has left
Covington
in recent years, however, as major local employers like Applied Extrusion
Technology and Lear Corporation have packed their bags and left town,
leaving a dearth of employment opportunities.
�
Covington
has gone through what a lot of rural communities have gone through,�
notes Jack Hammond, president of the Alleghany High�lands
Chamber of Commerce. �Manufac�turing
jobs have declined. We�re going through a lot of transition.�
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Alleghany
Highlands Chamber of Commerce president Jack Hammond.
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But Hammond, who moved to the area
from Ohio to work for Westvaco in 1961, and then came back to the area
eight years ago after a 14-year stint in New York City, doesn�t
necessarily see the decline of industry in Covington as a negative. He
believes
Covington
has the opportunity to become a haven for small businesses and
Internet-based companies. He also sees tourism as a component of Covington�s future since the city is located in the midst of a vast outdoor
recreation area with much of the surrounding mountains owned by the
National Forest. He sees
Covington�s location on Interstate 64 and its immediate access to CSX Railroad as
positives for drawing newcomers as well.
|
City
manager Claire Coolins.
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City Manager Claire Collins agrees
that
Covington
is perched on the edge of positive change. Collins, who came to
Covington
two years ago after serving for 14 years as county administrator in
neighboring
Bath
County
, says local merchants are working hard to revitalize
Coving�ton
�s picturesque downtown, and several new shops and restaurants have
opened there. �We have seen vacant structures get purchased in recent
years,� Collins points out. She also notes that
Covington
�s Peebles department store, also located on
Main Street
, is thriving. �We see small business as the future here,� says
Collins. �Big industry jobs are now going overseas.�
Collins points to the restoration and
opening of the old Covington C & O Depot as a museum, as well as the
continuing expansion of the Jackson River Sports Complex (which hosts area
baseball and softball games as well as soccer programs and a new
amphitheater) as signs the community is going to continue to grow, develop
in new ways, and thrive. Collins says Covington
is a unique place and needs to start marketing itself that way. For one,
the city itself is located in the midst of mountains with a 300-foot
change in elevation within city limits. Collins says the city is also
working to promote its mill history and embracing its identity as �the
paper-mill city.�
A change of heart
Once upon a time, Covington
might not have been so quick to embrace the mill run by MeadWestvaco, but
things have changed a lot in the last decade, according to the company�s
Environ�mental
Manager Tom Botkins. He says MeadWestvaco is constantly evaluating its
environmental footprint and has worked to reduce emissions, odor, and
noise. The company also works to minimize its nutrient impact on the
Chesapeake Bay, which is fed by the
Jackson
River
that passes through town. Botkins says the company has managed an 80
percent improvement, for example, in phosphorous discharge, winning a
Guardian of the River award from the James River Association.
MeadWestvaco�s Communications Manager
Becky Johnson, a
Covington
native who once worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington,
D.C., says she is proud of MeadWestvaco�s recent efforts and considers the
company a good corporate neighbor. It also employs some 1,300 people, more
than 75 percent of whom are residents of
Covington
or
Alleghany
County. She indicates that Mead�Westvaco
has a positive impact on the economy of the surrounding area as well,
noting that most of the company�s pulp wood comes from within 150 miles
of the mill.
|
Virginia
Review publisher Horton Beirne.
|
With the exception of Wal-Mart,
however, there are no other large employers left in Covington
besides MeadWestvaco. Local newspaper owner and editor Horton Beirne sees
that as problematic. �This was a thriving community in the �50s. But
there�s no new industry here to speak of, so young folks have to
leave.� Beirne�s grandfather started the Virginian Review in 1914, and
the paper has been in the family ever since. Beirne says he stayed in the
business mainly because that�s what he grew up in as a child,
remembering how his father always took him to the newspaper office when he
was a boy.
But even though he loves the area,
Beirne worries about Covington�s future, noting that the city has lost 600 jobs in the last two years.
�It will turn around one day,� he says, �but I don�t know if
I�ll see it. We haven�t turned the corner yet. We have to change our
mindsets from industry to tourism.�
One local business that�s drawing in
a fair share of out-of-town visitors is Aldena�s Arts and Crafts,
situated across the street from the Jackson River Sports Complex. Opened
in 1999, and run single-handedly by Covington
native Aldena Craighead, the massive store features an unbelievable supply
of holiday and home d�cor items, covering more than 8,000 square feet.
�I love this stuff,� says Craighead of her varied inventory. And her
customers do, too. She says she has regulars who come from as far away as Texas
to shop at her store. She attributes her success to lots of advertising
and hard work. �My shortest day this week has been 13 hours,� she
says.
Craighead says she�s had to go over
a lot of hurdles to make her business grow and believes that businesses
like hers are the future of
Covington
if the city will make the local business climate friendlier. �We need to
make changes in the area for businesses to survive here,� she says.
Future plans
Collins says the city is working in
that direction with plans for a streetscape project on Fraser Avenue and
hopes of promoting the work of local artists and crafters to draw more
tourists into the downtown area. �We�re taking steps slow and sure to
reinvigorate the city,� she says, noting how so many families have
continued to live and work in
Covington
generation after generation.
A lot of that devotion to the city has
to do with the area�s high quality of life. Native Tom Botkins
understands: �Here if you wave at someone inadvertently, they wave
back.�
