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 second state to separate from another state, after Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820. 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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There are 37 state parks in the U.S. state of West Virginia as of 2017^[update]. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) Parks and Recreation Section is the governing body for all 37 state parks and directly operates all but one of them. In addition to state parks, the WVDNR Parks and Recreation Section governs eight state forests.

The first West Virginia state park, Droop Mountain Battlefield, was acquired in 1928 and dedicated in 1929; and the newest state parks, Stonewall Jackson Lake and North Bend Rail Trail, were opened in 1990 and 1991, respectively. Four parks that later joined the state park system were established prior to Droop Mountain, the earliest being the Point Pleasant Monument (now Tu-Endie-Wei) in 1901. There are seven former West Virginia state parks: one state park was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS), one to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, one to the West Virginia Division of Highways, and one to a municipality, and three have ceased to exist entirely. (Full article...)

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West Virginia (USA)

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of West Virginia face legal challenges not faced by non-LGBT persons. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1976, and same-sex marriage has been recognized since October 2014. West Virginia statutes do not address discrimination on account of sexual orientation or gender identity; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (from West Virginia)
Image 2West Virginia is situated in the Appalachian Mountains, bounded by Allegheny Mountains, Ohio and Big Sandy rivers, and the Cumberland Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 3The 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 4State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 5Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 6Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)
Image 7Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from West Virginia)
Image 8Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 9Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 10John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (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 12Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (from West Virginia)
Image 13The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)
Image 14The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 151751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 161715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)
Image 17Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 18The West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston is home to the West Virginia Legislature. (from West Virginia)
Image 19Harpers 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 20Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia and the Allegheny Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 21Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 22Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 23Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (from West Virginia)
Image 24A slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 25Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 26Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 27Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 28West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 29Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 30From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)
Image 31Map 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 32Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 33Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 34Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 35West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 36A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 37A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)

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... that the China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West Virginia?
... 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 part of West Virginia's Princeton–Deepwater District railway was so steep that only shortened coal trains could ascend it?
... that in 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld West Virginia's largest punitive damages award in history, awarding $10 million – 526 times larger than the compensatory damages?
... that Babydog is "a fixture in West Virginia politics"?
... that James Dillon Armstrong was a Virginia state senator, a delegate to West Virginia's constitutional convention, and a circuit court judge while serving for more than 43 years as a Presbyterian church elder?

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