Portal:West Virginia

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The West Virginia Portal

Panorama northwest, northeast and east from a ridge along West Virginia Route 42 between Elk Garden and Sulphur City in Mineral County, West Virginia (2016)

West Virginia is a landlocked state in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is the 10th-smallest state by area and ranks as the 12th-least populous state, with a population of 1,793,716 residents. The capital and most populous city is Charleston with a population of 49,055.

West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key border state during the American Civil War. It was the only state to form by separating from a Confederate state, one of two states (along with Nevada) admitted to the Union during the Civil War, and the third state to separate from another state, after Kentucky and Maine separated from Virginia and Massachusetts in 1792 and 1820, respectively. Some of its residents held slaves, but most were yeoman farmers, and the delegates provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in the new state constitution. The state legislature abolished slavery in the state, and at the same time ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery nationally on February 3, 1865.

West Virginia's northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio to form a tristate area, with Wheeling, Weirton, and Morgantown just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Huntington in the southwest is close to Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the eastern panhandle region are considered part of the Washington metropolitan area, between Maryland and Virginia. West Virginia is often included in several U.S. geographical regions, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South, and the Southeastern United States. It is the only state entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission; the area is commonly defined as "Appalachia". (Full article...)

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Front page above the fold of an issue of the Virginia Argus and Hampshire Advertiser published on October 7, 1852.

The Virginia Argus and Hampshire Advertiser, often referred to simply as the Virginia Argus, was a weekly newspaper published between July 1850 and August 1861 in Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia). The paper's circulation of 800 copies was the second-highest in Hampshire County, after the South Branch Intelligencer's. The Virginia Argus ceased publication following its closure by the Union Army during the American Civil War, after which it was not revived.

The Virginia Argus documented the pursuit of fugitive slave Jacob Green by the Parsons family of Romney in 1856, and the ensuing dispute between the Parsons family and Charles James Faulkner over legal fees in 1857. At the time of the dispute, Faulkner was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia's 8th congressional district; he later served as the United States Minister to France, and again as a member of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia's 2nd congressional district. (Full article...)

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Brigadier General Chuck Yeager

Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (/ˈjeɪɡər/ YAY-gər, February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942, he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer), later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front, where he was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft (the half credit is from a second pilot assisting him in a single shootdown). On October 12, 1944, he attained "ace in a day" status, shooting down five enemy aircraft in one mission. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various West Virginia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 2Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 3Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 4Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (from West Virginia)
Image 5State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 6West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 7Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 8Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia and the Allegheny Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 9Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 10Map of Virginia dated June 13, 1861, featuring the percentage of slave population within each county at the 1860 census and the proposed state of Kanawha (from West Virginia)
Image 11From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)
Image 12Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 13Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (from West Virginia)
Image 14West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 15West Virginia is situated in the Appalachian Mountains, bounded by Allegheny Mountains, Ohio and Big Sandy rivers, and the Cumberland Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 161715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)

Racial plurality in West Virginia by county, per the 2020 U.S. census

Legend

Non-Hispanic White

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

(from West Virginia)

Image 181751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 19Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 20Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 21Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 22The West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston is home to the West Virginia Legislature. (from West Virginia)
Image 23Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (from West Virginia)
Image 24Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 25A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)
Image 26Harpers Ferry alternated between Confederate and Union rule eight times during the American Civil War, and was finally annexed by West Virginia. (from West Virginia)
Image 27Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from West Virginia)
Image 28A slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 29The Linsly Institute building in Wheeling, West Virginia, which served as the state's first capitol building from statehood in 1863 until March 28, 1870, when the capitol was transferred to Charleston, West Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 30Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 31The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)
Image 32John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 33The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 34Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 35Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)
Image 36Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 37Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)

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... that Babydog is "a fixture in West Virginia politics"?
... that professor Ruth Ann Davis made the largest-ever single contribution to Potomac State College of West Virginia University to support nursing scholarships in memory of her mother?
... that William H. Davis was the first teacher of Booker T. Washington and the first African American to be nominated as a candidate for West Virginia governor in 1888?
... that the Vulcan Bridge, a bridge in Vulcan, West Virginia, was constructed after the mayor requested financial aid from the Soviet Union?
... that the California Golden Bears men's basketball team won the 1959 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game by a single point over West Virginia?
... that the China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West Virginia?

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