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 to the north and east, Maryland to the east and 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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John Rinehart Blue (October 13, 1905 – May 27, 1965) was an American military officer, educator, businessperson, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Blue was a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates representing Hampshire County, from 1953 until 1959.

Born in 1905 in Romney, West Virginia, Blue was a grandson of Lieutenant John Monroe Blue, a member of the 11th Virginia Cavalry during the American Civil War. Blue graduated from Presbyterian College in 1928 and completed his graduate studies at West Virginia University. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served from 1942 until 1946, and afterward served as a first lieutenant in the 398th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 100th Airborne Division of the U.S. Army Reserve. From 1948 until his death, Blue operated a Ben Franklin five and dime variety store in Romney. He also served as principal of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind Advanced School for the Deaf. (Full article...)

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West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment protects students from being compelled to salute the American flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

Barnette overruled a 1940 decision on the same issue, Minersville School District v. Gobitis, in which the Supreme Court ruled that such laws were valid because they had been passed by elected legislators. The Barnette ruling was a significant victory for Jehovah's Witnesses, whose religion forbade them from saluting or pledging to symbols, including those of political institutions. The ruling is also influential for its focus on freedom of speech principles rather than freedom of religion. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)
Image 2Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (from West Virginia)
Image 3The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)
Image 4Slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 5Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 6The 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 71715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)
Image 81751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 9Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 10Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 11Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 12The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 13A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 14Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 15Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 16State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 17Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 18Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 19Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 20Map 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 21West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 22Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (from West Virginia)
Image 23Map of West Virginia counties (from West Virginia)
Image 24Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 25Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from West Virginia)
Image 26From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)
Image 27Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 28West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 29Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 30Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (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 32Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 33A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)
Image 34The summit of Spruce Knob is often covered in clouds. (from West Virginia)
Image 35John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 36Harpers Ferry alternated between Confederate and Union rule eight times during the American Civil War, and was finally annexed by West Virginia. (from West Virginia)

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... 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 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?
... that American lawyer and politician Armistead Abraham Lilly was also a principal owner of Ruffner Hotel in Charleston, West Virginia, and resided in its penthouse?
... that prior to becoming West Virginia's first African-American judge, Leon P. Miller was McDowell County's assistant prosecuting attorney, a Welch city councilman, and U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands?
... 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 China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West Virginia?

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