West Virginia was once a part of Virginia. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Virginia and the other southern states seceded from the United States. However, the people in Western Virginia had far more in common with their neighboring states of Pennsylvania and Ohio than with the Commonwealth of Virginia. While a portion of its residents held slaves, most of the residents were yeomen farmers, so it was an area of Union support. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed an act that admitted West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state of the United States. It thus became the only US State to have seceded from a Confederate state. West Virginia was also the first to separate from any state since Maine separated from Massachusetts, and was one of two states admitted to the Union during the American Civil War (the other being Nevada).
The town of Romney, West Virginia, changed hands between Union and Confederate forces 56 times during the Civil War.
After the end of the Civil War, Virginia became part of the United States again in 1870, but the counties that had left to start West Virginia did not rejoin Virginia.
After Reconstruction, the new West Virginia state benefited from the development of its mineral resources more than any other single economic activity. It particularly benefited from the mining of bituminous coal, which would fuel much of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. and the steamships of many of the world's navies.
The West Virginia Legislature adopted the state's first official flag in 1905, based on the flag used by West Virginia's committee at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
West Virginia became the first state to legislate a broad sales tax in 1921, but did not implement it until a number of years later due to issues surrounding its enforcement.
The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm that paralyzed the northeastern United States and the Appalachians in 1950, brought winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, recorded 57 inches of snow.
In 1977 the mayor of Vulcan an unincorporated community in West Virginia, requested foreign aid from the Soviet Union after two years of requests to the state about repairing the town's only bridge. Within an hour of a Russian journalist's arrival, the state agreed to help repair the bridge.
West Virginia covers an area of 24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km2), with 24,077.73 square miles (62,361.0 km2) of land and 152.03 square miles (393.8 km2) of water, making it the 41st-largest state in the United States.
The state capital and largest city is Charleston. Wheeling was the state capital for ten years from 1875, until the it burned down in 1885.
There is a place in West Virginia called Big Ugly.
West Virginia is often called the "Mountain State" because it is entirely within the Appalachian Mountain Range, and there are many hills and mountains throughout the state. The highest one is Spruce Knob, which is 4,863 feet above sea level.
John Denver's 1971 hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" describes the experience of driving through West Virginia. The lyrics mention the Shenandoah River, which runs right through Harper's Ferry into the Potomac and The Blue Ridge Mountain Ranges, which runs in a strip from the northeast part of the state to its southwest across the eastern part of West Virginia.
John Denver wrote "Country Roads" with his friends Bill and Taffy Danoff, However, none of them had ever been to West Virginia. Bill Danoff got his inspiration from postcards sent to him by a friend who did live there, and from listening to the radio station WWVA out of Wheeling, West Virginia, which he picked up in Massachusetts when he was growing up.
According to a 2015 survey in the US West Virginia has the highest percentage of people who use drugs to relax (28%). Alaska has the lowest percentage ((13%).
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state of the United States. It thus became the only US State to have seceded from a Confederate state. West Virginia was also the first to separate from any state since Maine separated from Massachusetts, and was one of two states admitted to the Union during the American Civil War (the other being Nevada).
The town of Romney, West Virginia, changed hands between Union and Confederate forces 56 times during the Civil War.
After the end of the Civil War, Virginia became part of the United States again in 1870, but the counties that had left to start West Virginia did not rejoin Virginia.
After Reconstruction, the new West Virginia state benefited from the development of its mineral resources more than any other single economic activity. It particularly benefited from the mining of bituminous coal, which would fuel much of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. and the steamships of many of the world's navies.
The West Virginia Legislature adopted the state's first official flag in 1905, based on the flag used by West Virginia's committee at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
West Virginia became the first state to legislate a broad sales tax in 1921, but did not implement it until a number of years later due to issues surrounding its enforcement.
The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm that paralyzed the northeastern United States and the Appalachians in 1950, brought winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, recorded 57 inches of snow.
In 1977 the mayor of Vulcan an unincorporated community in West Virginia, requested foreign aid from the Soviet Union after two years of requests to the state about repairing the town's only bridge. Within an hour of a Russian journalist's arrival, the state agreed to help repair the bridge.
West Virginia covers an area of 24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km2), with 24,077.73 square miles (62,361.0 km2) of land and 152.03 square miles (393.8 km2) of water, making it the 41st-largest state in the United States.
The state capital and largest city is Charleston. Wheeling was the state capital for ten years from 1875, until the it burned down in 1885.
There is a place in West Virginia called Big Ugly.
West Virginia is often called the "Mountain State" because it is entirely within the Appalachian Mountain Range, and there are many hills and mountains throughout the state. The highest one is Spruce Knob, which is 4,863 feet above sea level.
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| View from Spruce Knob summit. By Wonderer84 |
John Denver's 1971 hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" describes the experience of driving through West Virginia. The lyrics mention the Shenandoah River, which runs right through Harper's Ferry into the Potomac and The Blue Ridge Mountain Ranges, which runs in a strip from the northeast part of the state to its southwest across the eastern part of West Virginia.
John Denver wrote "Country Roads" with his friends Bill and Taffy Danoff, However, none of them had ever been to West Virginia. Bill Danoff got his inspiration from postcards sent to him by a friend who did live there, and from listening to the radio station WWVA out of Wheeling, West Virginia, which he picked up in Massachusetts when he was growing up.
According to a 2015 survey in the US West Virginia has the highest percentage of people who use drugs to relax (28%). Alaska has the lowest percentage ((13%).
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