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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Main façade (north elevation) from U.S. Route 50, July 2016

The Sloan–Parker House, also known as the Stone House, Parker Family Residence, or Richard Sloan House, is a late-18th-century stone residence near Junction, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It was built on land vacated by the Shawnee after the Native American nation had been violently forced to move west to Kansas following their defeat at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1975, becoming Hampshire County's first property to be listed on the register. The Sloan–Parker House has been in the Parker family since 1854. The house and its adjacent farm are located along the Northwestern Turnpike (US 50/WV 28) in the rural Mill Creek valley.

The original fieldstone section of the house was erected in about 1790 for Richard Sloan and his wife Charlotte Van Horn Sloan. Originally from Ireland, Sloan arrived in the United States after the American Revolutionary War and became an indentured servant of David Van Horn. Sloan eloped with Van Horn's daughter Charlotte and they settled in the Mill Creek valley, where they built the original stone portion of the house. The Sloans had ten children, including John and Thomas Sloan, who each (later) represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates. Richard Sloan and his family operated a successful weaving business from the stone house and their Sloan counterpanes (woven coverlets with block designs) became well known in the South Branch Valley region. (Full article...)

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Downtown Huntington

Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Guyandotte rivers. Huntington is the second-most populous city in West Virginia, with a population of 46,842 as of the 2020 census. Its metro area, the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, is the largest in West Virginia, spanning seven counties across three states and having a population of 376,155 at the 2020 census.

Surrounded by extensive natural resources, the area was first settled in 1775 as Holderby's Landing. Its location was selected as ideal for the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which founded Huntington as one of the nation's first planned communities to facilitate transportation industries. The city quickly developed after the railroad's completion in 1871 and is eponymously named for the railroad company's founder, Collis Potter Huntington. The city became a hub for manufacturing, transportation, and industrialization, with an industrial sector based in coal, oil, chemicals and steel. After World War II, due to the shutdown of these industries, the city lost nearly 46% of its population, from a peak of 86,353 in 1950 to 54,844 in 1990. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Map 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 2Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (from West Virginia)
Image 3Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 4Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from West Virginia)
Image 5Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 6John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 7Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 8Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 9A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)
Image 10Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (from West Virginia)
Image 111715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)
Image 12West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 13Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 14Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 15State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 16From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)
Image 17Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 18The summit of Spruce Knob is often covered in clouds. (from West Virginia)
Image 19Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 20Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)
Image 21Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (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 23West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 24Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 251751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 26A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 27Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 28Harpers 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 29Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 30Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 31Slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 32Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 33The 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 34Map of West Virginia counties (from West Virginia)
Image 35The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 36The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)

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... that West Virginia nursing professor Christine Elizabeth Abrahamsen wrote science-fiction and Gothic novels under the pseudonyms Christabel and Kathleen Westcott?
... 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 general manager of a West Virginia TV station called changing its network affiliation "the hardest decision I've ever had to make"?
... that after nearly killing a man in a duel, Edgar P. Rucker went on to become the attorney general of West Virginia?
... 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 the first exhibit of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame came from founder Michael Lipton's record collection?

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