60 Fun Facts About West Virginia

West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20 of which year?

It and Nevada were the only two states admitted during the Civil War, and it came in as a slave state that had promised gradual abolition.

Along with West Virginia, which other state was admitted to the Union during the Civil War?

West Virginia's western and northern counties had set up a 'Restored Government' under Francis Pierpont in 1861 before petitioning Congress.

What is West Virginia's state motto, Montani Semper Liberi, in English?

The whole state is inside the Appalachian region, which also explains the nickname The Mountain State.

What is West Virginia's capital and most populous city?

It sits where the Elk River meets the Kanawha and has only about 49,000 residents.

Which city served as West Virginia's first capital, from 1863 to 1870?

The capital moved to Charleston, back to Wheeling in 1875, and permanently to Charleston after the capitol burned in 1885.

West Virginia is the only state that lies entirely within the area served by which body?

That is the formal definition of 'Appalachia', and the state's average elevation of about 1,500 feet is the highest of any state east of the Mississippi.

How many panhandles does West Virginia have?

The northern one reaches up between Ohio and Pennsylvania toward Pittsburgh; the eastern one includes Harpers Ferry near Washington.

What is the highest point in West Virginia, at 4,863 feet?

It is also the highest point in the whole Allegheny range and sits inside the Monongahela National Forest.

Which town is West Virginia's easternmost and its lowest point above sea level?

It sits where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac at the meeting point of three states, and hosts the Appalachian Trail headquarters.

Which abolitionist raided the federal armory in the state's eastern panhandle in October 1859?

Colonel Robert E. Lee commanded the operation that retook the arsenal; 'John Brown's Fort' is the state's most visited tourist site.

How high above the New River is the roadway of the New River Gorge Bridge?

When it opened in 1977 it was the world's highest bridge carrying a regular road, and it is on the state quarter.

For how many years was the New River Gorge Bridge the world's longest single-span arch bridge?

Its 1,700-foot arch is now the seventh longest and the longest outside China.

On Bridge Day each October, what do people do off the New River Gorge Bridge?

Army veteran Burton Ervin made the first jump in August 1979 and is considered the father of Bridge Day.

In what year was New River Gorge redesignated a national park and preserve?

Jimmy Carter had made it a national river in 1978; the 53-mile stretch has some of the best whitewater in the country.

The New River, despite its name, actually rises in which state before flowing into West Virginia?

It joins the Gauley to form the Kanawha, which carries the water on to the Ohio.

Which two rivers meet in Fayette County to form the Kanawha, West Virginia's largest inland waterway?

The Kanawha runs 97 miles to Point Pleasant on the Ohio, and its valley has been an industrial hub since the early 1800s.

Which state borders West Virginia to the northwest, across a major river?

The Ohio River marks that border; it runs 981 miles from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois.

What is West Virginia's official state rock?

The state gemstone is a fossilised Mississippian coral; coal became the state's great treasure in the second half of the 19th century.

The 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest US armed uprising since the Civil War, pitted coal miners against whom?

About 10,000 miners faced 3,000 'Logan Defenders' for five days in Logan County.

Which Cork-born labour organiser was called 'the most dangerous woman in America' for rallying West Virginia's miners?

Mary Harris Jones took the name in 1897 and was still organising into her nineties.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud played out along which river on the West Virginia-Kentucky line?

'Devil Anse' Hatfield led the West Virginia side and Randall McCoy the Kentucky side from 1863 to 1891.

Which winged, red-eyed creature was reportedly seen around Point Pleasant in 1966–67?

John Keel's 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies linked the sightings to the Silver Bridge collapse; the town now holds an annual festival.

Where did the first witnesses of the Point Pleasant creature say they saw it, in November 1966?

Two young couples told police about a large black figure with glowing red eyes on November 15, 1966.

Which two songwriters wrote 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' with John Denver?

The married pair got the idea driving Clopper Road in Maryland; the single peaked at number two in 1971.

In what year did 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' become one of West Virginia's official state songs?

It joined three others; West Virginians have called their home 'Almost Heaven' ever since the song.

Green Bank, West Virginia hosts the world's largest fully steerable what?

It sits inside the National Radio Quiet Zone, where wireless signals are restricted so they do not swamp faint signals from space.

The Greenbrier resort hid a Cold War bunker built for whom?

Code-named Project Greek Island, it was decommissioned as soon as the Washington Post exposed it in 1992.

For its first 125 years, the Greenbrier resort was known by what name?

Visitors have come to 'take the waters' there since 1778.

The pepperoni roll, West Virginia's unofficial state food, was first sold in 1927 in which town?

Giuseppe Argiro sold them at the Country Club Bakery as a lunch that coal miners could carry into the pit.

West Virginia's official state fruit is which apple variety, first found in Clay County?

Anderson Mullins sold the tree to Stark Brothers for $5,000 in 1914; Clay County has held a festival for it since 1972.

West Virginia University's main campus is in which city?

It opened in 1867 as the Agricultural College of West Virginia under the Morrill land-grant act.

WVU's Mountaineer mascot carries what alongside a buckskin suit and coonskin cap?

A new Mountaineer is chosen every year during the last two home basketball games and gets a scholarship with the job.

Which conference have the WVU Mountaineers played in since 2012?

The school colours, old gold and blue, were picked from the state seal by the upperclassmen of 1890.

Marshall University is named after which number chief justice of the United States?

It began in 1837 as Marshall Academy, founded by a friend of John Marshall, who served from 1801 until his death in 1835.

How many people died in the 1970 crash of Southern Airways Flight 932, carrying Huntington's football team?

The team was flying home from a loss at East Carolina; a 2006 film about the aftermath premiered in Huntington.

Which West Virginia city hosted the 1861 conventions that led to the state's creation?

Its 1849 suspension bridge across the Ohio was the first to let the town spread onto Wheeling Island.

Which architect designed the West Virginia State Capitol, dedicated in 1932?

At 292 feet the buff limestone building is the tallest in the state and cost just under $10 million.

Blackwater Falls, one of the most photographed spots in the state, gets its dark colour from what?

The 62-foot falls drop where the Blackwater River leaves Canaan Valley for Blackwater Canyon.

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park runs what kind of historic engines up Back Allegheny Mountain?

Cass was built in 1901 as a company town for spruce and hemlock loggers; the railroad still owns eight Shays.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, one of America's largest hand-cut stone buildings, is in which town?

It took patients from 1864 to 1994 and was designed on the Kirkbride Plan.

The Gothic-style West Virginia Penitentiary, open from 1866 to 1995, stands in which town?

It was modelled at half size on the state prison in Joliet, Illinois, complete with turrets and battlements.

The 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant pitted Virginia militia against which Shawnee chief?

Most historians file it under Lord Dunmore's War instead; the town is better known today for Mothman.

Which West Virginia town claims the first Mother's Day service, held by Anna Jarvis in 1908?

Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church there is now the International Mother's Day Shrine.

Which West Virginia native was the first pilot to break the sound barrier, in October 1947?

He grew up in Hamlin and flew the Bell X-1 past Mach 1 on October 14, 1947.

Which Chelyan-born Lakers star's silhouette became the NBA logo?

Nicknamed 'Zeke from Cabin Creek' after the creek near his birthplace, he led WVU to the 1959 NCAA final.

Which West Virginia-born actor won five Emmys playing Deputy Barney Fife?

Born in Morgantown, he won for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy on The Andy Griffith Show, which ran from 1960 to 1968.

Which West Virginia-born gymnast was the first American woman to win Olympic all-around gold, in 1984?

She also took two silvers and two bronzes in Los Angeles and was named Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the Year.

Which West Virginia-born author was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Born in Hillsboro, she won the 1938 Nobel and the 1932 Pulitzer for The Good Earth.

Which West Virginia mathematician calculated trajectories for Shepard's and Glenn's spaceflights?

Her 33-year NASA career was dramatised in Hidden Figures.

Which country star, born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, is the son of a state DOT worker?

He is an only child; his mother was a teacher.

Which West Virginia ski resort's Cupp Run and Shay's Revenge have the biggest vertical drop in the Southeast?

The resort actually sits on Cheat Mountain, whose high point Thorny Flat is 4,848 feet.

Before 'Country Roads', West Virginia was called 'The Cog State'. What did COG stand for?

The song gave residents a new tagline, but the older nickname 'The Mountain State' survived alongside it.

How many counties does West Virginia have?

Property taxes in each of them are paid to the county sheriff, and the state imposes no inheritance tax.

West Virginia's center of population lies in which small Braxton County town?

The state's 2020 census population of 1,793,716 was a 3.2% drop from 2010, and it lost a House seat as a result.

West Virginia is the second-largest coal producer in the US behind which state?

Nearly all of West Virginia's electricity comes from coal-fired plants, and the state leads the nation in net interstate electricity exports.

The Trans-Allegheny asylum's hand-cut sandstone building is second worldwide to which building?

Originally Weston State Hospital, it is a National Historic Landmark on the National Civil War Trail and offers seasonal tours.

Which two West Virginia cities rank 9th and 10th in the US for number of cloudy days per year?

Both see more than 210 cloudy days a year, and dense valley fogs are common in the Tygart Valley.

In 2010-2013, West Virginia was the only US state where what demographic pattern held?

During 2010-2013 about 21,000 babies were born each year, yet the state recorded 3,000 more deaths than births over those three years; several other states have since followed.

After the 2020 census, how many seats did West Virginia hold in the US House of Representatives?

It lost one of its three seats, and its population is expected to decline by more than 19,000 residents by 2030.

Which state contest for 8th graders is named for Governor Spotswood's 1716 expedition?

Spotswood's Knights of the Golden Horseshoe were once said to have reached Pendleton County, though modern historians doubt they got that far.