Pinedale, Virginia

Pinedale on a map of Virginia

Pinedale is a fictional town located in Rockingham County, Virginia, located a few miles east of the city of Harrisonburg. Nestled in some mountains in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, it is fairly remote with a population of a few thousand. However, it's close enough to the city that it's not *too* out of the way, so it's like the coward's version of living off the grid! There are also a few unincorporated communities surrounding Pinedale, such as Massanutten, but most of them are similar enough that they are considered extensions of Pinedale proper. Pinedale is where Machipere takes place.

## Geography

Pinedale is a small mountain town located in eastern Rockingham County. Nestled in the mountains in eastern Appalachia, it is a heavily-wooded and very hilly town. To its north/west is Massanutten Mountain, which has its own community, and to its east are the Blue Ridge mountains leading into Greene County, which are sparsely-populated and may or may not be haunted. It is about an 18-minute drive to Harrisonburg, so it's just out of the way for it to be an inconvenience to leave town but close enough that those who work in the city can make a reasonable commute. Pinedale's heavily-wooded nature and unstable altitude means that there are plenty of foresty-backroads to crash your car in, since the only densely populated neighborhoods are the ones closer to the town center. These backroads lead to Page County heading north, the aforementioned Greene County going east, and the rest of Rockingham County heading west.

## Demographics

Pinedale has a population of a few thousand people, most of whom do not willingly live there. The majority of the town consists of old boomers who've lived in Pinedale their whole lives and never bothered leaving their hometown. These boomers are known to be scared of any kind of change from when they were kids, black people and immigrants, and anything they believe goes against their extreme fundamentalist Christian values. There's also a considerable population of younger adults who also didn't bother leaving their hometown; most of these people are white trash, Confederate flag-toting methheads who crap out more stupid white trash babies that will also never leave their hometown. The few adults who aren't white trash only live in Pinedale begrudgingly; most work in Harrisonburg/Charlottesville and live in Pinedale as a commuter town because they can't afford to live in the city, or were otherwise transferred due to various work-related reasons.

And then there's the children and teens, who never asked to live in Pinedale in the first place. These children come in a wide variety of types, the most common of which being depressed. In fact, there are a disproportionate amount of gay emo weeb potheads because all there is for teens to do in Pinedale is smoke weed, slit their wrists, and watch anime all day. After graduation, most new adults try to leave Pinedale as soon as they can for other, less depressing cities such as Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, and Staunton. As such, there's a positive correlation between age group and population number.

A vast majority of Pinedale is working-class, and many residents fall below the poverty line. Most of its residential areas are located on wooded backroads scattered away from the town center. However, its better-off citizens tend to live closer to the town center, the wealthiest of whom living in the fancy neighborhood on the hill. Wealthy residents of this area in general, however, tend to reside in wealthier gated communities and subdivisions in the communities located outside town limits, specifically Massanutten.

## Notable Places and Activities

Since Pinedale is a small town, there isn't really much to do at all. Most adults pass the time by going on meth binges or getting drunk to Fox News, but since teenagers generally don't have access to meth and are uninterested in the news, they have to make do with weed. The town mostly caters to its white trash population, so as a result it's pretty much an average white trash town. There are enough shady gas stations to make do, and enough abandoned buildings and meth labs to be sad enough. Everything east of the middle school is haunted. There are just a few restaurants in town of questionable quality, as well as plenty of fast food restaurants to feed all the fatasses that live here. Most notably...

### McDonald's Parking Lot

The local McDonald's, in particular, has a section of its parking lot that is separated from the rest, obscuring it from view. It is well-known for the sheer amount of drug deals conducted there every day; in fact, there are so many that the police don't bother doing anything about it unless one of the people involved isn't white.

### The Ghetto Park

Walking-distance from the fast food restaurant/drug market combination shop is none other than the ghetto park! The ghetto park has not been renovated in many decades, and there are often only a few people there at any given time. Many desperate teens use it as a makeshift hangout spot for when their parents won't let their friends hang out in the house anymore after fucking up the last time. Its facilities include a wooden playground which is no longer safe for children to play on; old, spider-infested pavilions, which have profanity carved all over the picnic tables; rickety COVID swings and a metal merry-go-round that have given people brain damage; an old basketball court whose baskets have long since had their nets torn off; bathrooms that are often locked off, and often lack running water and toilet paper; and lots and lots of dead grass.

### Pinedale High School

Pinedale High School is the local high school for the area. Built in the 80's, it has an "experimental" layout that includes multiple buildings and outdoor corridors; since this is Virginia, though, it's not practical as it is always either too hot or too cold. Pinedale High is filled with depressed zoomers who all hate each other and themselves. Most of the focus goes on the sports teams rather than academics or the arts. The marching band in particular is stigmatized for "unknown" (read: a *lot* of) reasons.