West Virginians are big on heritage. Not just the history and culture of our families and communities here in the mountains, but the tidbits that make us different from others even here in the same state. We celebrate it. German, Italian, Lebanese, Swiss — the food, the music, the dance. Our ancestors brought it all with them, and we may have given it an Appalachian twist, but we hold on to it, still.

In one West Virginia community, the connection to the Old World remains so strong it continues to be recognized, according to a report by WBOY. Helvetia, in Randolph County, has been “Little Switzerland” since 1869, when German and Swiss immigrants decided these mountains were their home.

When the U.S.’s Embassy of Switzerland visited recently, its representatives were impressed.

“Helvetia is worth a visit year-round for anyone seeking to enjoy the tranquility of the village, the unique nature surrounding it, and the friendliness of the locals. In no time, visitors will find themselves completely immersed in the village’s history, traditions, and unique surroundings, discovering a little Switzerland far away from Switzerland — much like the Swiss immigrants did in 1869,” the Swiss Embassy wrote, according to WBOY.

I’ve been to Helvetia a few times, and was thrilled on one of my early visits to learn I had a family connection. As I was sitting down to eat in The Hutte Restaurant, a friend of mine introduced me to the server, and included my last name. The server’s eyes widened and asked if I knew an acquaintance of hers. It was my paternal grandmother. In fact, it turned out there were some last names on headstones in Helvetia’s cemetery that were very similar to the last names of some of my relatives on my dad’s side. The server confirmed the difference in spelling was just a matter of families having settled in different places, but that I was distantly related to families in Helvetia.

Until then, I hadn’t considered such a possibility.

But when she set down our home-cooked food several minutes later, it was all very familiar.

Nothing cements a connection like food. And thank goodness the way some of that food is made has not changed in generations.

Maybe the mountains provided just the right isolation to preserve what we celebrate on St. Patrick’s Day, or during the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival, or even on Fasnacht in Helvetia. But whatever the reasons, we embrace that cultural diversity now.

It wasn’t always the case, of course. Every wave of immigrants to this country has faced its own battle with those already established.

As The New Yorker points out, the Vietnamese who arrived here after the Vietnam War were bullied and accused of eating rats and spreading disease.

German, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Cuban, Irish … wherever they were from, the groups of people arriving on our shores to seek a better life have almost always faced harassment (or worse), been accused of crimes and atrocities, and been lied about in a way that organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan hoped would paint them as “other,” and therefore — bafflingly — unwanted.

We never learn. Each new generation fabricates a different invading “enemy” for itself — even if it takes outright lies to do so and despite the volumes of evidence that these new arrivals only make our culture richer and our economy stronger. Despite our clear pattern of eventually embracing and celebrating the newcomers and making their traditions our own.

Social media makes the poison spread more quickly now, and that makes this idea of vilifying the “other” even more dangerous.

Don’t buy into it. In fact, consider why in the world anyone is hoping you WILL buy into it.

Instead, let’s prove this time we HAVE learned, and stop history from repeating itself.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com