The State Capitol

Although the city of Charleston, West Virginia may not be the epitome of glamour to most people, to the characters in Missing May, it's practically Oz. The streets appear to be gleaming, the buildings are massive in scale, and there are very important things going on:

Then… there it was, and I know it was better than all three of us figured it would be. The capitol building sprawled gray concrete like a regal queen spreading out her petticoats, and its giant dome glittered pure gold in the morning son. I felt in me an embarrassing sense of pride that she was ours. That we weren't just shut-down old coal mines and people on welfare like the rest of the country wanted to believe we were. We were this majestic, elegant thing sitting solid, sparkling in the light. (9.25)

For Uncle Ob, Summer, and Cletus, the capitol and its big, impressive buildings represent a future that they didn't even think was possible. Cletus starts to think about going into politics, and even Uncle Ob contemplates selling his whirligigs at the gift store. When they are at the capitol and outside of their little town, they realize that there's a lot more possibility than they'd realized in the world, and that they cannot settle for a mundane existence.

It makes sense then, that the visit to the state capitol is what brings Uncle Ob back to life and helps them all to move on from Aunt May's death. They are able to keep looking forward in order to achieve their dreams after that capitol lets them know how big the world is.