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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The U.S. state of West Virginia has 55 counties. Fifty of them existed at the time of the Wheeling Convention in 1861, during the American Civil War, when those counties seceded from the Commonwealth of Virginia to form the new state of West Virginia. West Virginia was admitted as a separate state of the United States on June 20, 1863. Five additional counties (Grant, Mineral, Lincoln, Summers, and Mingo) were formed from the original counties in the decades following admission.

After the Civil War, Berkeley County and Jefferson County, the two easternmost counties of West Virginia, refused to recognize their inclusion in the state, and the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation attempting to reclaim them. In March 1866, the United States Congress passed a joint mandate assenting to their inclusion in the new state, and the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed this outcome in the case of Virginia v. West Virginia (1871). (Full article...)

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A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically

The history of West Virginia stems from the 1861 Wheeling Convention, which was an assembly of northwestern Virginian Southern Unionists, who aimed to repeal the Ordinance of Secession that Virginia made during the American Civil War (1861–1865). It became one of two American states that formed during the American Civil War – the other being Nevada in 1864. It was the only state to form from another state during this time, splitting from Virginia. West Virginia was officially admitted as a U.S. state on June 20, 1863.

The area that comprises West Virginia was originally part of the British Virginia Colony (1607–1776) and the western part of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia (1776–1788), and state of Virginia (1788–1863). Western Virginia became sharply divided over the issue of secession from the Union, leading to the separation from Virginia, and formalized by West Virginia's admittance to the Union as a new state in 1863. West Virginia was one of five Civil War border states. (Full article...)

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

Image 1West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 2Map 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 3Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from 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 5A slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 6Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 7Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 8West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 9Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 10Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (from West Virginia)
Image 11A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 12The West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston is home to the West Virginia Legislature. (from West Virginia)
Image 13From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)
Image 14Harpers 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 15A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)
Image 16The 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 17Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 18Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 19Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 20The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)
Image 21Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 22Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 23Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (from West Virginia)
Image 24Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 25Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 26State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 27Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 28The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 291751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 30West Virginia is situated in the Appalachian Mountains, bounded by Allegheny Mountains, Ohio and Big Sandy rivers, and the Cumberland Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 311715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)
Image 32Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia and the Allegheny Mountains. (from West Virginia)
Image 33John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 34Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (from West Virginia)
Image 35Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 36Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 37Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)

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... 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 the Vulcan Bridge, a bridge in Vulcan, West Virginia, was constructed after the mayor requested financial aid from the Soviet Union?
... 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 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 part of West Virginia's Princeton–Deepwater District railway was so steep that only shortened coal trains could ascend it?
... 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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List of films set in Huntington, West Virginia (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Samz73428091 (talk · contribs · new pages (2)) started on 2024-12-01, score: 20

Glassmaking at Blenko Glass Company (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by TwoScars (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-11-30, score: 23

S. Chris Anders (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by MoviesandTelevisionFan (talk · contribs · new pages (72)) started on 2024-11-29, score: 40
Bluefield Green Book Historic District (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Acroterion (talk · contribs · new pages (10)) started on 2024-11-26, score: 20

Richard Mitchell (racing driver) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Finn Shipley (talk · contribs · new pages (82)) started on 2024-11-28, score: 38

Uncle Abner (character) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Garethheathcote (talk · contribs · new pages (8)) started on 2024-11-25, score: 30

Thomasina Clemons (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Koala15 (talk · contribs · new pages (11)) started on 2024-11-23, score: 30

Yates Crossing, West Virginia (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Samz73428091 (talk · contribs · new pages (2)) started on 2024-11-22, score: 40
Citizens National Bank building (Martinsburg, West Virginia) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Acroterion (talk · contribs · new pages (10)) started on 2024-11-21, score: 40

Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dept. of Health and Human Resources (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Lethargilistic (talk · contribs · new pages (21)) started on 2024-11-21, score: 20
Virginia Faulkner McSherry (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Rosiestep (talk · contribs · new pages (23)) started on 2024-11-21, score: 20

Thomas C. Green (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by BD2412 (talk · contribs · new pages (329)) started on 2024-11-20, score: 40

The Golden Rule (Belington, West Virginia) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Acroterion (talk · contribs · new pages (10)) started on 2024-11-19, score: 20
Greene Formation (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SeismicShrimp (talk · contribs · new pages (5)) started on 2024-11-18, score: 52

Hewlet, West Virginia (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by West Virginian (talk · contribs · new pages (11)) started on 2024-11-18, score: 36
Jim Crutchfield (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by GPL93 (talk · contribs · new pages (14)) started on 2024-11-15, score: 40

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Sources

^ "Biggest US Cities By Population - West Virginia - 2018 Population". Biggest US Cities. March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.

[1] "Biggest US Cities By Population - West Virginia - 2018 Population". Biggest US Cities. March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.

[1]