Robert E. Wise, Jr. took the Oath of Office to become WV's 33rd governor on January 15,2001. Before becoming Governor, he served the citizens of WV's 2nd Congressional District for 18 years. | The official seal of the State of West Virginia has remained unchanged since it was adopted in 1863.The design captures the essence of WV's natural resources and the resolve of the people. | The West Virginia State Capitol Building was origially built in Wheeling, WV. It now sits on 16 acres of land in Charleston, WV at a height of 292 feet. | As the second tallest bridge in the United States, the New River Gorge Bridge was completed in 1978 and weighs 88 million pounds! |
West Virginia's Proud Legacy
West Virginia was born out of the Civil War. In 1861 Virginia seceded to join the Confederacy, but the northern part of the state remained loyal to the Union. This mountainous region, characterized by manufacturing, mining, and subsistence farming, had little in common with the wealthier plantation culture of Virginia. On June 20, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially made West Virginia the 35th State.
Today West Virginians are proud of their state's independent spirit and the legacy of its early economic development. Grand homes, livable cities, and such firsts as the development of nylon and pressed glass are part of their history.
Residents also cherish many recreational parks and wildlife areas in a landscape thick with lakes, forests, and mountains—so many that some say that West Virginia, flattened, would be as big as Texas.
State Facts
Capital City: Charleston
Location: 38.350N, 081.630W
Admission to Statehood: June 20, 1863
Area: 24231 sq.mi, 41st Land 24087 sq. mi., 41st - Water 145 sq.mi., 50th
Bird: Cardinal
Border States: Regional List - Kentucky - Maryland - Ohio - Pennsylvania - Virginia
Economy:
Agriculture: Cattle, dairy products, poultry, apples.
Industry: Chemical products, mining, primary metals, stone, clay, and glass products, tourism.
Flag:
A white field is bordered in dark blue. West Virginia's flag displays a rock containing the date June 20, 1863, the day West Virginia became a state. The two men represent farming and mining. Below them are two rifles with a "Liberty Cap" on top the rifles. A banner ribbon includes the state motto " Mountainiers Are Always Free". Around the picture are a wreath of rhododendren and the name of the state on a red ribbon.
Flower: Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum)
Highest Point: Spruce knob; 4,863 feet
Largest Cities: Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling, Parkersburg, Morgantown
Lowest Point: Potomac River; 240 feet
Animal: Black Bear
Motto: ~Montani semper liberi~
Mountaineers are always free
Nickname: Mountain State
Origin of state's name: Named after
England's Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen"
Population: 1,808,344; 37th, as of 12/00
Song:The West Virginia Hills
West Virginia My Home
This Is My West Virginia
Topography: Image Ranging from hilly to mountainous; Allegheny plateau, in the west, covers two-thirds of the state; mountains over 4,000 feet.
Tree: Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
WV Ski Resorts
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West Virginia State Bird
The Cardinal
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The West Virginia State Flag
The West Virginia State Flower
The Rhododendron
The West Virginia State Animal
The Black Bear
The West Virginia State Tree
The Sugar Maple Tree
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Facts About WV
1. West Virginia is the only state to be created from another state (Virginia...in 1863).
2. Berkley Springs, a resort town, has more massage therapists than lawyers.
3. Berkley Springs is the only place in the U.S. to boast: "George Washington bathed here."
4. W.V. has had the nation's lowest crime rate for the past 26 years.
5. During the Cold War, a sprawling 112,000 sq. ft. bomb shelter was built to shelter members of congress in the event of a nuclear attack. It's located beneath the famous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
6. White Sulphur Springs has the only private residence in the U.S. that is made out of coal.
7. The city of Bluefield, WV bills itself as "America's Air-conditioned City." They back up their boast by serving free lemonade anytime the temperature reaches 90 degrees.
8. St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton was the site of the first Mother's Day celebration in 1908.
9. Two West Virginia men have built castles for their wives. Stephen Elkins built "Halliehurst" in 1890 for his wife Hallie Davis Elkins...the only woman in American history to be the daughter, the wife, and the mother of a U.S. senator.
10. In 1885, whiskey distiller Taylor Suite began building Berkley Castle for his new bride, Rosa Pelham, who was 31 years his junior. He died in 1908, a year before the project was finished. Rosa completed the castle but went on the squander her inheritance on extravagant living and wild parties and ended up losing the castle and living in a shack and raising chickens to make ends meet.
11. Philippi, WV was the site of the first land battle of the Civil War.
12. In 1921, West Virginia became the first state to have a sales tax.
13. The mother of Abraham Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, was born near Romney, WV.
14. The largest single shipment of matches...20 railroad cars full...was sent from Wheeling, WV to Memphis, TN in 1933.
15. In 1947, Chuck Yeager, a native of Hamlin, WV, became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.
16. The Old Stone Church, in Lewisburg, was built in 1796 while George Washington was President and has been in continuous service ever since. (It is Presbyterian)
17. At the end of the "Guilded Age" in the late 1890's, the town of Bramwell, WV had more millionaires per square mile than any other city in the U.S. Many of their mansions have been restored and can be visited by the public.
18. With an average altitude of 1,500 feet, WV is the highest state east of the Mississippi.
19. The first brick street in the world was laid in the city of Charleston in 1873.
20. The first concrete street in the world was laid in the town of Webster Springs, WV in 1903.
21. Indirect artillery fire (action against an unseen target) was used for the first time in military history at the Battle of Fayetteville on May 20, 1863 by a 19-year old Confederate, Sgt. Milton Humphreys. Virtually all modern artillery fire is now indirect fire.
22. James Rumsey of Shepardstown, WV invented the first steamboat. After he died suddenly in England, while raising funds for his project, his friend, Robert Fulton, took his
plans and completed the work and is now credited with the invention of the first steamboat.
23. In 1956, Cecil Underwood (age 34) became the youngest governor in the U.S. In 1996, Underwood ran again and became the oldest governor in the U.S.
24. The hardwood flooring in the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York was manufactured by the Meadow River Lumber Co. of Rainelle, WV.
25. West Virginia has the oddest shape of any state. This was because Union officials, during the Civil War, arranged all the pro-Union counties of Virginia into a state which then seceded from that Confederate State.
26. And may we add, Mingo County, WV, the Heart of the Billion Dollar Coal Field is home of the "Coal House", which holds the Chamber of Commerce. It is located in the county seat, Williamson, and is constructed entirely of local coal cut into blocks.
27. And lastly, WV was the first
state to utilize foodstamps!
Famous Folks From WV
George Brett, baseball player, Glendale
Pearl S. Buck, author, Hillsboro
Phyllis Curtin, soprano, Clarksburg
Joyce Dewitt, actress, Huntinton
Joanne Dru, actress, Logan
Thomas Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general, Clarksburg
John S. Knight, publisher, Bluefield
Don Knotts, actor, Morgantown
Peter Marshall, TV host, Huntington Kathy Mattea, country music, South Charleston
Alfred Moore, jurist, Molinosville
Mary Lou Retton, olympic gymnist, Fairmont
Walter Reuther, labor leader, Wheeling
Soupy Sales, tv comedian, Huntington
Eleanor Steber, soprano, Wheeling
Lewis L. Strauss, naval officer and scientist, Charleston
Cyrus Vance, government official, Clarksburg
Chuck Yeager, test pilot and Air Force general, Myra
Steve Yeager, baseball player, Huntington
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