The Setting - Geography

The setting of my book takes place in Alleghany County, Virginia on a farm. Alleghany County is a very vast place, is very mountainous, and is the location of the Allegheny Mountains. Alleghany County is right on the border line of Virginia and West Virginia. My farm is located on the most westerly part of the county in a field. These two geographical features effect my story. The county lies on the border of West Virginia and Virginia had split and West Virginia became apart of the Union in their support of the abolition of slavery. In my story there is a fence between the two states, to identify that they are two seperate states. This fence runs through my main character's farm and my other character's property, seperating the two families, one black, one white. These geographical features make an impact on my setting. The other major effect of where my story occurs is that Alleghany County is a place that is very unpopulated and where the Allegheny Mountains run through. The Allegheny Mountains are very tall and rural, much like the Adirondack Mountains. This makes an effect on my story because when the slaves escape, they can try and work their way through the Allegheny Mountains to West Virginia where they can be free. When they run into the mountains, it would be difficult to capture the slaves back. The first picture I chose, that I thought best described my setting, was taken in Virginia looking at the West Virginia Mountains. You can see that it is very mountainous, but there are places where there are farms. The second picture are farmlands looking at the mountains, very much like my setting as well. The two images together are what I visioned as the geography of my book.

My sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleghany_County,_Virginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mountains_of_the_Alleghenies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleghany_Mountains