west Virginia

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)

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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North and west sides of Capon Chapel viewed from the northwest lawn

Capon Chapel ( /ˈkeɪpən/ KAY-pən), also historically known as Capon Baptist Chapel and Capon Chapel Church, is a mid-19th century United Methodist church located near to the town of Capon Bridge, West Virginia, in the United States. Capon Chapel is one of the oldest existing log churches in Hampshire County, along with Mount Bethel Church and Old Pine Church.

A Baptist congregation was gathering at the site of the present-day church by at least 1756. Primitive Baptist minister John Monroe (1750–1824) is credited for establishing a place of worship at this site; he is interred in the church's cemetery. The land on which Capon Chapel was built originally belonged to William C. Nixon (1789–1869), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates; later, it was transferred to the Pugh family. The first documented mention of a church at the Capon Chapel site was in March 1852, when Joseph Pugh allocated the land to three trustees for the construction of a church and cemetery. (Full article...)

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The eastern panhandle of West Virginia (highlighted in red)

The eastern panhandle is one of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the northern panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources and regional associations only identify the eastern panhandle as being composed of Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties. Berkeley and Jefferson counties are geographically located in the Shenandoah Valley. West Virginia is the only U.S. state with two panhandles. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Seneca Rocks, Pendleton County (from West Virginia)
Image 2Slave woman tending to a white baby in West Virginia, 1865 (from West Virginia)
Image 3Map 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 4Historical coat of arms of West Virginia (illustrated, 1876) (from West Virginia)
Image 5Shaded relief map of the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-valley Appalachians (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 7Bluefield, a major center for coal mining, in 2014 (from West Virginia)
Image 8Köppen climate types of West Virginia, using 1991-2020 climate normals (from West Virginia)
Image 9Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a statue on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol (from West Virginia)
Image 10Saturday afternoon street scene, Welch, McDowell County, 1946 (from West Virginia)
Image 11Map of West Virginia counties (from West Virginia)
Image 12The summit of Spruce Knob is often covered in clouds. (from West Virginia)
Image 13West Virginia population density map (from West Virginia)
Image 14Votes by county in the October 1861 statehood vote (from West Virginia)
Image 15Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 16Packed circles diagram showing estimates of the ethnic origins of people in West Virginia in 2021. (from West Virginia)
Image 17Harpers 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 181751 Fry-Jefferson map showing early ferries and established colonial borders before the French And Indian War (from History of West Virginia)
Image 19A toll plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (from West Virginia)
Image 201715 Nicolas de Fer map showing the Native American areas known as Tionontatacaga and Calicuas (from History of West Virginia)
Image 21Francis H. Pierpont, a leader during the Second Wheeling Convention (from West Virginia)
Image 22Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, changed hands a dozen times during the American Civil War. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 23Child labor in the coal mines of West Virginia, 1908 (from West Virginia)
Image 24John S. Carlile, a leader during the First Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 25West Virginia Independence Hall, site of the Wheeling Convention (from History of West Virginia)
Image 26Counties (in blue) approving Virginia's secession from the U.S. (from History of West Virginia)
Image 27A view of the New River in West Virginia, the world's third-oldest river geologically (from History of West Virginia)
Image 28Bituminous coal seam in southwestern West Virginia (from West Virginia)
Image 29State of Westylvania proposed to the U.S. Congress (from West Virginia)
Image 30Turnout by county in the October 24, 1861, West Virginia statehood vote (from History of West Virginia)
Image 31The iconic New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville (from West Virginia)
Image 32Escaped slave broadside, Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1845 (from West Virginia)
Image 33Thomas Lee, the first manager of the Ohio Company of Virginia (from History of West Virginia)
Image 34The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries US 22 from Weirton WV into Ohio. (from West Virginia)
Image 35The 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 36From left, Senator Joe Manchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley (2017) (from West Virginia)

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... 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 California Golden Bears men's basketball team won the 1959 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game by a single point over West Virginia?
... that part of West Virginia's Princeton–Deepwater District railway was so steep that only shortened coal trains could ascend it?
... 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 after Lew Dickey Sr. broke into the radio business by buying a station in West Virginia, his son would go on to own Cumulus Media?
... that professor Ruth Ann Davis made the largest-ever single contribution to Potomac State College of West Virginia University to support nursing scholarships in memory of her mother?

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List of third-party and independent performances in West Virginia state legislative elections (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Longestview (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-04-12, score: 20

Tornado outbreak of April 1–3, 2024 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by MarioProtIV (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-04-11, score: 27

Saint Charles Catholic Mission Church (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by WV Veritas (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-04-10, score: 20

Yutaro Tsukada (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by RedPatch (talk · contribs · new pages (19)) started on 2024-04-09, score: 40

Dooley Run (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Veg Mapper (talk · contribs · new pages (14)) started on 2024-04-04, score: 36

Chris Miller (West Virginia politician) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by MountainDew20 (talk · contribs · new pages (5)) started on 2024-04-04, score: 60
Wyatt Milum (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by BeanieFan11 (talk · contribs · new pages (59)) started on 2024-04-03, score: 40

Geocarpon groenlandicum (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Tom Radulovich (talk · contribs · new pages (160)) started on 2024-03-30, score: 32

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Portal:West Virginia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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