West Virginia

## History

After archaeologists discovered spear points used to hunt extinct species such as mastodons and mammoths, they realized that people have lived in what’s now West Virginia at least 10,500 years. Many thousands of years after these ancient people lived, Native American tribes including the Cherokee, Iroquois, Manahoac, Meherrin, Monacan, Nottaway, Shawnee, Occaneechi, Tutelo, and Saponi populated the land.

After the British arrived in the 1600s, the area that now encompasses West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and parts of North Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York was all called Virginia. In 1730, Virginia’s British-controlled government offered a thousand acres free to each European family willing to move to the area that would become West Virginia. As a result, Native Americans’ homelands were taken, and tribes began supporting the French in a land war against the British (often called the French and Indian War) from 1756 until 1763.

The British won that battle, so West Virginia was still part of Virginia during the Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783. But at the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865), West Virginia refused to secede (withdraw) from the Union along with the rest of the state. John Brown, an abolitionist—someone who wanted to abolish slavery—staged a famous raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. Brown hoped weapons gained in the raid would be used in the fight against slavery, but his raid failed. West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1861, and two years later, it became its own state.

## Why's It Called That?

West Virginia was originally going to be called "Kanawha," a name that honors a Native American tribe. However, even though the region separated from Virginia, officials still wanted that as part of its new name. (Virginia was named after a nickname of Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled in the late 1500s.)

West Virginia is called the Mountain State because it’s the only state completely within the Appalachian Mountain region, and its average elevation is higher than any other state east of the Mississippi River!

## Wildlife

At least 70 kinds of mammals inhabit West Virginia, including Virginia big-eared bats, West Virginia northern flying squirrels, raccoons, skunks, and black bears, the state animal. Wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, barred owls, bald eagles, cerulean warblers, and ruby-throated hummingbirds are among the 300 species of birds that live in the state.

Cornsnakes, mountain earthsnakes, fence lizards, stinkpots (a kind of turtle), and five-lined skinks are some of the reptiles that slither and skitter through West Virginia. Amphibians such as tiny cricket frogs, mountain chorus frogs, Allegheny Mountain dusky salamanders, and West Virginia spring salamanders also live throughout the state.

Some of West Virginia’s most common trees include hemlock, red spruce, cedar, ash, pitch pine, hickory, and cucumbertree, which has cucumber-shaped fruit. The state also has a large number of native wildflowers such as Virginia bluebells, Virginia buttonweed, Virginia potato (which has edible roots), and Virginia strawberry.

## Natural Resources

As the United States’ third most-forested state, West Virginia is known for its timber and protected woodlands. It’s also famous for its salt: Wild buffalo and deer gathered to lick natural salt deposits, and Native Americans and colonists gathered salt to cure butter and preserve meats. Today salt deposits are still mined for rock salt, which is then used to create chemicals such as chlorine.

Coal, oil, and natural gas are also important to the state’s economy.

## Fun Stuff

* The New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville is the longest steel-arch bridge in the western hemisphere. Built in 1977, it turned a 40-minute mountain drive into a one-minute crossing. It’s even pictured on the West Virginia quarter.
* Visitors to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park can learn about life in the 1800s, including old-timey trades such as dressmaking, blacksmithing, and dairy making. Tour guides in period dress hang out around the historical buildings and homes. Hiking trails take you to places such as the Point, where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet for a view of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia at the same time!
* Pedestrians and cyclists can follow the Wheeling Heritage Trail System along old, no longer used railway tracks for more than 13 miles.
* Wild onions called ramps are grown in West Virginia in spring. They’re so popular that they have their own annual festival called the Feast of the Ramson!
* Author and civil rights activist Pearl S. Buck, Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and pilot Chuck Yeager (the first person to break the sound barrier in flight) were all born in West Virginia.